The Pre-Shot Routine, Part 2
The ritual is a process that shuts down your conscious thought and allows your subconscious to take over. The golf swing takes about one secondone and a half at the most. During that time there are thousands of commands going to your muscles from your brain. You have to trust that your brain knows how to do this best. Being positive about the outcome is the best help you can be to your brain. The orders your brain will give out will be happening at the rate of one-two-hundredths of a second. That's way too fast for us to have any conscious influence over. We may believe that swing thoughts control outcomes, but at this juncture they will just get in the way of what your brain is about to do.
Once the swing starts in motion you can't direct it; you can only wreck it. So relax and trust it.
Now, let's get back to the ritual. When I am set to swing I say to myself, "Trust your swing." Sometime between the words trust and swing, my swing just goes off automatically. To make this work you have to practice using the ritual. Then it becomes part of your routine. I've been asked, "What happens if your swing doesn't go off while you say the ritual?" Don't worry, it always does.
You can use whatever key words you want for your ritual, but you have to work them into your practice, and you have to use them all the time. They don't help if you use them only when you are in trouble or hitting off the first tee at the club tournament.
So use your routine and your thinking brain to prepare yourself to hit the ball, and then use your ritual to get your thinking brain out of the way while you do it.