How Using Your Breath Can Help Improve Your Golf Game

Anyone who has tried understands that improving your golf game is hard work. Learning a new motor pattern requires that a student goes through three different stages of motor learning: cognitive, associative, and autonomous. The cognitive stage is the starting point and deals with developing an understanding for the concept you are trying to achieve. After that has been established, the student will need to spend a large amount of time in the associative stage. For the associative stage, you can think of drills and feedback such as Trackman and high speed video while the student works on improving the motion. The final stage of motor learning is the autonomous stage. In this stage, the motor pattern is fired with little to no mechanical thought.

As we move into the winter offseason, a large number of our members spend the majority of their time working on improving motor patterns to help correct for ball flight issues. This requires a good deal of time spent in the associative stage. The associative stage requires a player to be fully immersed in deliberate practice. Deliberate practice is highly specific, meaning you are isolating one specific motion. Use the takeaway for example, and you are working on a specific drill or drills to improve the quality of that motion. The reality of deliberate practice is that it isn’t much fun. Think about it, you are working on something that needs improvement so it will be challenging. This means that it will be highly demanding from a mental standpoint and will require a good deal of focus and concentration. 

Due to the difficult nature of deliberate practice, it is imperative that the student embodies a growth mindset as opposed to a fixed mindset. When it comes to the challenge of deliberately practicing something that needs improvement, players with a growth mindset embrace the challenge while players with a fixed mindset view the challenge as a threat and therefore back down and avoid the challenge.

When we interview players during their initial assessment, we often talk about having a growth mindset as opposed to a fixed mindset. Players often like to think that they embody a growth mindset, but the reality is that the response triggered by those with a fixed mindset is natural to our being. The human body contains something called the autonomic nervous system. The autonomic nervous system is split into two parts: the parasympathetic nervous system and sympathetic nervous system. The parasympathetic nervous system triggers a rest and relax response, while the sympathetic nervous system triggers a stress response. Both systems are always present, and challenges naturally trigger your sympathetic nervous system leading to a fight or flight response. This response is hardwired into our nervous system and helps the body either confront or avoid danger. 

Now, just because this is a natural response doesn’t mean that it needs to dominate and force us into a fixed mindset. One way that we can help quiet our sympathetic nervous system and trigger our parasympathetic nervous system is through the practice of deep breathing. Deep breathing enables more air to flow into your body which has been proven to help slow your heartbeat, stabilize blood pressure, calm your nerves, reduce stress and anxiety, and even improve your attention span and lower your pain levels.

When you are stressed or anxious, your breathing tends to be irregular and shallow. This type of breathing comes from your chest and leads to tight shoulders and neck muscles. Deep breathing, also known as diaphragmatic breathing, allows you to take deeper breaths all the way into your belly. This relaxing method of breathing is essential to helping students tap into a growth mindset which is essential to making a true long lasting improvement.

Start practicing deep breathing today by following this guide provided by the Mayo Clinic:

1. Get into a comfortable position. Close your eyes and bring your attention to your body and breath.
2. Inhale deeply through your nose, allowing your abdomen to fill with air, gently expanding out. Exhale by relaxing and releasing all of the air through your nose.
3. Place one hand on your abdomen, right below your navel, and the other hand on your upper chest. Take a deep breath in through your nose and out through your nose. Feel the coolness of the air as it enters in and the warmth as it flows out.
4. As you breathe in and out through your nose, focus on shifting your breath so that you can feel the rise and fall of your breathing in your abdomen more than in your chest. In other words, make the hand that rests on your abdomen move more than the hand on your chest. Take a deep breath in through your nose, sending it through the back of your throat and down to your belly. Let your abdomen slowly deflate as you exhale through your nose.
5. Take three more slow, deep breaths with conscious focus on the rise and fall of your abdomen. Continue to breathe fully and deeply, allowing and trusting the body as the breath slows and becomes more relaxed.

Lundman, Susan. “Decrease stress by using your breath.” Mayo Clinic, https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/stress-management/in-depth/decrease-stress-by-using-your-breath/art-20267197. Accessed 29 October 2021.

The stress and anxiety of everyday life unfortunately means that many of us go around chest breathing. As a result, incorporating deep breathing into your daily routine might take some work. Once you become more mindful of employing this type of breathing, you will find that you can calm yourself more easily in challenging situations and think more clearly. This will not only significantly improve your golf lessons and practice sessions, but will also help improve your performance on the course. Each shot on the golf course triggers a natural stress response, particularly poor shots. Deep breathing will help you respond better and keep your mind clear and focused throughout your round.

Take a deep breath, relax, and start practicing today.

About the Author

Nick Cuca is an Award Winning PGA Professional who is focused on the future of the game and is passionate about developing golfers. In 2017, Nick was named the Illinois PGA Assistant Professional of the Year, and has twice been named an Honorable Mention Top 50 Kids Teacher by U.S. Kids Golf.

Over the course of his career, Nick has dedicated himself to continually learning about the golf swing, biomechanics, motor learning, and coaching. He has been fortunate enough to hone his craft while teaching thousands of golf lessons at two of the most prestigious clubs in the Chicago area, Exmoor Country Club and Indian Hill Club. His expertise on coaching golf has been featured on 670 The Score and in the Daily Herald.

Click here to learn more about Nick.