Edition #2: Don't Think About The Water

Dear Golfers,

Last week we dove into goal setting, and apparently you all loved hearing about how magnificently terrible we are at structuring our golf ambitions. This week, let's talk about something that's probably sabotaging every single shot you take: your attention system.

Here's the thing about us golfers and focus: we're absolutely terrible at controlling our attention. You know the drill. You're standing over a perfectly reasonable 7-iron to a green surrounded by water, and what's the first thing your playing partner says? "Whatever you do, don't go in the water."

Guess where your ball is headed? If you said "straight into Davy Jones' locker," congratulations! You understand how attention works better than most people with single-digit handicaps.

When I first started working with golfers, I thought attention training was just telling people to "relax." You know, the same brilliant advice as "just make it" when you're standing over a 4-footer to break 80. About as effective as using a pool noodle as a driver shaft.

I remember working with this high school golfer who had textbook mechanics but couldn't break 80 consistently. During practice rounds, he'd stripe every shot. But put him in competition and suddenly he was spraying balls like a broken sprinkler system. For a couple weeks, I thought this was a product of him making swing changes and just needed time to integrate them. But it wasn't, the problem was that his attention system was completely hijacked by pressure.

That's when I dove deep into the research and discovered something that changed how I work with every golfer: your brain has two completely different attention modes, and most of us are using them backwards. After studying neuroscientist Andrew Huberman's work and testing it with golfers at every level, I finally understood why some players can stay focused under pressure while others turn into mental wrecks.

Picture this: It's Saturday morning, and somewhere on a golf course, a weekend warrior is standing over a 6-iron approach shot. The pin is tucked nicely behind a bunker, but there's plenty of green to work with. His brain, being the helpful assistant it is, immediately starts providing color commentary: "Don't go short into that sand. Also, there's water long. Oh, and remember that time you shanked it into the parking lot? What about that slice you had three holes ago? Maybe try that swing thought you saw on Instagram this morning..."

Meanwhile, his playing partner helpfully adds, "Just don't go left."

Now his brain is processing more information than it can handle, and we're surprised when the ball finds trouble?

Here's what I've learned from working with everyone from junior golfers to seasoned scratch players: your attention system isn't broken, it's just been trained backwards. We've all been running the wrong software on perfectly good hardware.

Stanford neuroscientist Andrew Huberman has done some incredible research on how attention actually works, and it turns out your brain has two distinct attention modes. Think of it like having two different caddies:

Caddie #1: The Laser Focus Guy This is your brain's spotlight system. He's the caddie who can tell you exactly how far it is to that back pin, factor in the wind, and help you commit completely to your target. He's phenomenal at his job, but here's the catch: he can only focus on one thing at a time, and he gets mentally exhausted after about 90 seconds of intense focus.

Caddie #2: The Big Picture Guy
This is your brain's floodlight system. He's the one who reads the whole green, notices the wind shifting, helps you club up for that back pin, and manages your strategy around the course. He's great at taking in lots of information simultaneously but absolutely terrible when you need precision execution.

Here's where most golfers screw up: they use the wrong caddie at the wrong time. They let Big Picture Guy run the show when they're standing over a putt (thinking about everything except the line), and they let Laser Focus Guy obsess over one bad shot for three holes instead of moving on.

It's like asking your accountant to perform surgery and your surgeon to do your taxes. Wrong person, wrong job, predictably bad results.

Remember that approach shot we talked about? Here's why "don't go in the water" is some of the worst advice in golf history:

Your brain is basically a visual creature that thinks in pictures and movies, not abstract concepts. When someone says "don't hit it fat," your brain has to first create a mental movie of you hitting it fat to understand what to avoid. Suddenly, that's the dominant image in your head. It's like your brain's GPS getting programmed with "avoid this place" but having to show you exactly where "this place" is first.

I've watched Tour players for years, and you know what they never do? They never tell themselves what not to do. Instead of "don't go left," they say "commit to the right edge of that bunker." Instead of "don't leave this short," they say "roll this 4 inches past the hole."

Same information, completely different programming for your brain's attention system.

This is a great video displaying how caddies and tour players communicate and the language/internal dialogue thats playing in their brain.

Ever notice how you can make perfect practice swings, then step up to the ball and suddenly your brain turns into Golf Digest's entire instruction archive? "Keep your head down, rotate through, don't cast, shallow the plane, maintain lag, finish high..."

By the time you're ready to swing, you're trying to consciously manage more variables than your brain can handle. Here's the brutal truth that nobody wants to hear: every swing thought you add makes you statistically more likely to hit a bad shot.

Huberman's research shows that when you overload your attention system with internal focus (swing thoughts), there's nothing left for external focus (your target). It's like trying to have a conversation while doing complex math in your head. Something's got to give, and it's usually your golf shot.

Elite players have learned something that weekend warriors haven't: perfect technique with scattered attention loses to decent technique with laser focus every single time. They trust their preparation and keep their attention external during execution.

After studying Huberman's research and watching how elite golfers actually manage their attention, here's what separates them from everyone else:

The 90-Second Focus Window: Your brain's laser focus system can only maintain peak performance for about 90 seconds before it starts to drift (this is actual neuroscience, not golf folklore). Elite players use this entire window for their pre-shot routine, from reading yardage to follow-through. Try to go longer and you're literally working against your brain's biology.

The Specific Visual Target: Instead of aiming "somewhere over there by that bunker," Tour players pick one specific blade of grass, one brick on the clubhouse wall, or one specific spot on the green. I mean ridiculously specific. Then they stare at that exact spot for 5-10 seconds before executing. This trains your attention system to stay external (on the target) instead of getting hijacked by internal swing thoughts.

The Horizon Reset Protocol: After bad shots, elite players don't replay the disaster in their heads. Instead, they literally look at the horizon and take in their peripheral vision for 30 seconds. This activates your parasympathetic nervous system (your brain's reset button) and clears your attention for the next shot. It's like rebooting your mental operating system.

Here's something that connects directly to everything we just talked about: your smartphone is systematically destroying your brain's ability to maintain focused attention. Huberman's research shows that every time you check your phone, you're training your brain to seek distraction instead of sustaining focus.

I've worked with players who can't figure out why their mental game falls apart on the back nine. Then I watch them check Instagram three times during the front nine. You're literally rewiring your attention system to crave interruption instead of maintaining the sustained focus that good golf requires.

The best players I know treat the golf course like a phone-free zone. They understand that attention is like a muscle, the more you let it wander to distractions, the weaker it becomes when you actually need it.

Here's how to start training your brain's attention system like a Tour player:

This Week: Time your pre-shot routine. Keep it under 90 seconds, no matter what. Any longer and you're working against your own neurobiology.

This Month: Practice the visual anchor technique. One specific target per shot, commit completely, no second-guessing allowed.

This Season: Create attention boundaries. No phone during rounds. Use the horizon reset after bad shots instead of mental highlight reels of everything that went wrong.

Remember, your brain doesn't care that you shot 95 last week or that you've been fighting a slice since the Bush administration. It's ready to upgrade your attention system the moment you start giving it proper instructions.

Your attention is either your secret weapon or your biggest liability on every single shot. There's no middle ground, and there's no hiding from it. The golfer who told you "don't think about the water" at the beginning of this newsletter? He's not trying to sabotage you, he just doesn't understand how attention actually works.

But now you do. And that changes everything.

Your brain is ready to upgrade your attention system the moment you start giving it the right instructions. Whether you're trying to break 100 or scratch, the science is identical. The choice is yours, but at least now you know how to make it work for you instead of against you.

The revolution in golf performance isn't waiting for some new training aid or the latest guru. It's available right now, hiding in the simple science of how you direct your attention. Time to stop fighting your own brain and start using it like the incredible performance tool it actually is. See everyone on Friday!

The Cog is where golfers come to upgrade their mental game. Every Tuesday and Friday!