Have you ever been standing on the tee box and thought to yourself – “I really need to boom this one.” Then you take your swing, bear down, and slice it off into the woods or hook it into the rough? Then later on in the round you’ve stopped the thinking and just take a loose, natural swing and the ball just seems to rocket off the clubface almost without effort?
Tom Coughlin has a football / golf analogy today that might just reinforce one of my personal mantras when it comes to hitting effortless golf shots, just let it happen. When asked about Lawrence Tynes’ 53 yard field goal and how absolutely perfect the kick was after he barely made a 43 yarder, Coughlin explained the difference in his kicker’s execution.
"Have you ever seen him kick the ball better than that?No. He was smooth as silk, too. That’s the thing that I really wanted to impress on him was how smoothly he struck the ball. Lawrence is a pretty good golfer but sometimes he tries to just drive it and sometimes the harder you go for it, the less you like the result. I thought he was really smooth last night – didn’t bat an eye when he lined up to take the 53 yarder."
If you’re a golfer, you know why Coughlin brought it up in his press conference. The great Jack Nicklaus once wrote that better results tend to result from the smoother the stroke you put on the ball. His mental thought was never “nice and easy” — because easy does not translate to smooth… you become tentative. “NICE AND SMOOTH” however cultivates a sense of confidence as well as a long, clean, and of course hopefully a smooth transition to striking the ball.
Personally, I use this swing thought when I have a 200+ yard par 3 shot where a mishit can translate to really big numbers. I typically pull out my 4 iron, calm it down, and recite that “nice and smooth” line in my head and try to just let it happen that way. 8 or 9 times out of 10, the swing I produce is much cleaner, the contact is better, and the results are there. Now I’m not a scratch golfer of course, my low round on the year is 82 — but this thought seems to produce some of the best golf for me and it’s rooted in the age old fundamentals taught by Jack Grout, Jack Nicklaus, and apparently Tom Coughlin is a subscriber as well. Going forward, let’s hope Tynes remembers whatever swing thought he used on that 53 yarder. Of course, it was a mulligan due to the penalty — he took a practice shot, that’s going to help settle him down as well.
But as for the kick itself Monday night, I remember that I noticed Tynes in the moment when he hit that 53 yarder. He had almost the same effortless motion like he was hitting a chip shot extra point with nothing riding on the outcome. “Nice and Smooth” Larry, for sure. Keep that one in mind next time we need a big kick like that.
Nice and Smooth