My favorite part of Season 2 of “Full Swing” on Netflix was when the interviewer asked Justin Thomas, shortly after missing the FedEx Cup playoffs, how he felt about his performance from the previous season. Taking a deep breath, Thomas stared off into the horizon and pondered. After a brief pause, he delivered his assessment.
“Sh—y,” uttered by him.
He was not in error. Thomas is a very competitive, honorable, and skilled athlete. It helps him maintain his reputation as the PGA Tour’s toughest worker and occasionally turns him into his own worst enemy.
WAY TO
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WAY TO
An interesting tip from Jack Nicklaus regarding a move that can be impairing your golf swing.
Even if the season was lackluster, missing the FedEx Cup might have been advantageous in the long run. It allowed Thomas the valuable time he needed to improve his performance. Thomas has emerged from his rut with a strong Ryder Cup effort and four top-15 performances in five outings this season.
We spoke with Thomas in advance of the 2024 Players Championship to get a brief overview of the procedure and what the rest of us may take away from it.
Accept making mistakes off the course.
You need to have the energy to practice as hard as you can. This entails understanding when to take a break and positioning your body to function physically.
Thomas changed to a gluten-free diet last year. Another well-known player who avoids gluten is Rory McIlroy, and JT wanted to give it a shot to see if it would help him feel more energized on the range as opposed to the course. Ultimately, the experiment came to an end in November.
After examining his Whoop recovery data for over five years and not seeing the anticipated benefits, both on and off the course, JT came to this conclusion. Even if the experiment didn’t work out in the end, it’s important to use the trial-and-error method to look for little deviations from the norm that could boost your chances of succeeding in the future.
“We put so much stuff in our food in the U.S. that it’s not necessarily that healthy or good for your body,” Thomas stated. “There wasn’t as much advantage as there maybe should have been as a result of that. However, it’s also a bit of a trial and error process. I gave it a shot. I observed the outcomes. I gained some knowledge, and I’m now more experienced.”
Organize and define your technical practice.
JT claims that technical difficulties played a part in his failures from previous season: He was just not hitting the positions he wanted to with his swing. Though he was aware that he needed to make some adjustments, it’s simple to get sidetracked by striking balls with no end.
“Practicing on my swing is really particular to where I think my game is right now. It might imply that someday I’ll be doing maintenance and check-in a few times a week. That might only take an hour or two one day, or it might only take ten or fifteen. Other times, I might need to perform more mechanical work. That can entail several hours of exercises, repetition, and intense concentration on how I’m feeling [when in the zone]. In any case, I make an effort to focus on one thing at a time.”
Imagination can help to increase the pressure.
Thomas states he sets aside two or three days a week for intense performance work, regardless of his golf swing condition.
As previously said by Thomas, performance practice calls for attempting to hit shots and put yourself in similar pressure scenarios as you would on the golf course, while swing work necessitates meticulous repetition. That could entail shooting a shot with repercussions if he misses, or it could mean making a specific amount of consecutive putts.
JT discusses why defining your goals and determining how long to focus on them are the best ways to improve your swing.
During these intense performance practice sessions, Thomas uses his Whoop to monitor his heart rate in an effort to simulate golf course conditions that are harder than practice. It’s not an easy task, he says, and it takes some creativity.
It’s very challenging to imitate. To almost use your imagination and transport yourself to a certain location where your heart is pounding, you have to put in a lot of effort. It’s almost like something out of a fairy tale. I attempt to do it with drills. Anything that could cause me extreme discomfort or force me to look forward. I might be required to hit a certain number of approach shots inside a given distance, make a specific number of consecutive putts, or accomplish anything else that resembles a count or tally. As soon as you begin planning ahead, you realize that you missed something and have to start over. Even though it is really challenging, I believe that the more I can use my imagination to attempt to put myself in those circumstances psychologically, the more it benefits me.
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