The Crack in the Cosmic Egg: Lifetime Reflections
By Ken Martin, PGA
Co-Founder
Back in the 90’s, I read a great book that changed my thoughts relative to golf and life. The Crack in the Cosmic Egg by Joseph Chilton Pierce was recommended to me by Chuck Hogan, a golf professional I met in Arizona. Google.com states: “Joseph Chilton Pearce provides a mode of thinking through which imagination can escape the mundane shell of current construct reality and leap into a new phase of human evolution.” And, over time, so it went with golf.
Not long after I met Dr. Eric Wilson, a PGA Master Professional, who may be the best read person I have ever met (not just in golf either). We had many an interesting discussion as we got to know each other, forging a friendship that continues meaningfully today with the formation of KEM Collective LLC and its learning domain, ImpactAwareGolf.com. Eric shared with me a fundamental understanding of golf club movement that is timeless. And, as he pointed out, is referenced in golf literature since books on the game have been published.
These influences led me to playing the game of golf, instead of the game playing me. They became the seed that led to my earliest concept of impact aware golf.
What follows is a synopsis of how I got there, how I learned what great players know, and how you can get there too.
The epiphany came when I realized that I was only acting on what I knew, or thought I knew. We all act based on our beliefs - what we think is true. When I expanded my thinking…
I don’t know about you, but I know the world of golf instruction has filled my head with a lot of content. Most of that content is related to how my body should move to swing a golf club. I tried most of it:
· Method swings like one plane, two plane, stacking, posting, gravity, naturalness, classic, reverse “C,” and leg drive.
· I tried to emulate great players’ swings like Jones, Nelson, Hogan, Nicklaus, Watson, Tiger 1, Tiger 2, Tiger 3, and Tiger 4.
· Not to mention leading instructor swings from Ledbetter, Harmon, Penick, Ernest Jones, Mclean, Foley, Smith, Miller, Breed and Hall.
· Heck, I even tried to find MY SWING, that was seemingly lost after I turned 20 when I was formally introduced to golf instruction
The problem was that my frame of reference was based on swing thoughts.
After all, that is what it means to play golf, right? I mean, when I started my second year in college I was told by the experts that my left arm should stay ”relaxed yet firm”, my head should stay down, I should take the club away in “one piece,” I should cock my wrists, that the toe of the club should point up, I should turn my shoulders while holding my hips, I should keep my knees flexed, I should pause at the top, I should shift my weight then turn my hips, I should keep my right elbow next to my side, I should keep my left wrist flat, I should stay “down and through,” I should release, I should extend, I should stay “behind the ball,” I should let my right shoulder bring my head up and I should finish on balance, I should then take a practice swing if the ball didn’t go where I wanted it to, you know, a post shot swing rehearsing what I did wrong then replacing it with a swing thought that would be right. Exhausting!
I tried all this, and more, with great hope that something would magically happen and the ball would go where I intended - consistently. When it didn’t, I tried some more things and practiced them even more. I was told that 10,000 repetitions would create a habit. I did so many repetitions of the parts that I got a lot of compliments on my swing. Things like “you have a nice straight left arm,” “you keep your head so still,” “you have wonderful balance,” “nice swing” they would say. Then I would hit it fat, thin, right, left, short, long, even out of bounds sometimes.
Nice swing parts didn’t do it. I was pretty good, though, sometimes.
When I would hit it crooked, they would say, “what happened?” I wasn’t sure, but I usually found something in my “nice swing” to change and then I would go try it again.
Over and over, expecting different results.
It was, as they say, insanity. Then it hit me! Even though I changed my swing thought, I didn’t change. I existed in a box, an EGG if you will. The box was the “swing thought” box. While the swing thought changed, the box didn’t.
It was the BOX that was the problem! But the box was HUGE! It contained virtually the entire culture of golf instruction! Everywhere I turned there were more swing thoughts, more teachers teaching from the same BOX.
I thought, “what if I get out of the BOX?”
What if I thought not about my swing, but thought about the dynamic between club and ball? What would that be like?
Then I found a new foundation. I found that the ball only responds to the angle, direction and speed the clubface is moving. And then, viola!
I could hit whatever shot I could think of if I knew how the club had to move to create it. All of the sudden there were only FIVE INFLUENCES on the golf ball’s flight. They are the clubface angle, clubhead path direction, angle the clubhead approached the ball, where I hit the ball on the clubface and how fast the club was moving (Wiren, 1990).
The swing became a function of the shot I intended. A fade swing was different from a draw swing was different from a low shot swing was different from a high shot swing, etc.
Co-Founder
Back in the 90’s, I read a great book that changed my thoughts relative to golf and life. The Crack in the Cosmic Egg by Joseph Chilton Pierce was recommended to me by Chuck Hogan, a golf professional I met in Arizona. Google.com states: “Joseph Chilton Pearce provides a mode of thinking through which imagination can escape the mundane shell of current construct reality and leap into a new phase of human evolution.” And, over time, so it went with golf.
Not long after I met Dr. Eric Wilson, a PGA Master Professional, who may be the best read person I have ever met (not just in golf either). We had many an interesting discussion as we got to know each other, forging a friendship that continues meaningfully today with the formation of KEM Collective LLC and its learning domain, ImpactAwareGolf.com. Eric shared with me a fundamental understanding of golf club movement that is timeless. And, as he pointed out, is referenced in golf literature since books on the game have been published.
These influences led me to playing the game of golf, instead of the game playing me. They became the seed that led to my earliest concept of impact aware golf.
What follows is a synopsis of how I got there, how I learned what great players know, and how you can get there too.
The epiphany came when I realized that I was only acting on what I knew, or thought I knew. We all act based on our beliefs - what we think is true. When I expanded my thinking…
I don’t know about you, but I know the world of golf instruction has filled my head with a lot of content. Most of that content is related to how my body should move to swing a golf club. I tried most of it:
· Method swings like one plane, two plane, stacking, posting, gravity, naturalness, classic, reverse “C,” and leg drive.
· I tried to emulate great players’ swings like Jones, Nelson, Hogan, Nicklaus, Watson, Tiger 1, Tiger 2, Tiger 3, and Tiger 4.
· Not to mention leading instructor swings from Ledbetter, Harmon, Penick, Ernest Jones, Mclean, Foley, Smith, Miller, Breed and Hall.
· Heck, I even tried to find MY SWING, that was seemingly lost after I turned 20 when I was formally introduced to golf instruction
The problem was that my frame of reference was based on swing thoughts.
After all, that is what it means to play golf, right? I mean, when I started my second year in college I was told by the experts that my left arm should stay ”relaxed yet firm”, my head should stay down, I should take the club away in “one piece,” I should cock my wrists, that the toe of the club should point up, I should turn my shoulders while holding my hips, I should keep my knees flexed, I should pause at the top, I should shift my weight then turn my hips, I should keep my right elbow next to my side, I should keep my left wrist flat, I should stay “down and through,” I should release, I should extend, I should stay “behind the ball,” I should let my right shoulder bring my head up and I should finish on balance, I should then take a practice swing if the ball didn’t go where I wanted it to, you know, a post shot swing rehearsing what I did wrong then replacing it with a swing thought that would be right. Exhausting!
I tried all this, and more, with great hope that something would magically happen and the ball would go where I intended - consistently. When it didn’t, I tried some more things and practiced them even more. I was told that 10,000 repetitions would create a habit. I did so many repetitions of the parts that I got a lot of compliments on my swing. Things like “you have a nice straight left arm,” “you keep your head so still,” “you have wonderful balance,” “nice swing” they would say. Then I would hit it fat, thin, right, left, short, long, even out of bounds sometimes.
Nice swing parts didn’t do it. I was pretty good, though, sometimes.
When I would hit it crooked, they would say, “what happened?” I wasn’t sure, but I usually found something in my “nice swing” to change and then I would go try it again.
Over and over, expecting different results.
It was, as they say, insanity. Then it hit me! Even though I changed my swing thought, I didn’t change. I existed in a box, an EGG if you will. The box was the “swing thought” box. While the swing thought changed, the box didn’t.
It was the BOX that was the problem! But the box was HUGE! It contained virtually the entire culture of golf instruction! Everywhere I turned there were more swing thoughts, more teachers teaching from the same BOX.
I thought, “what if I get out of the BOX?”
What if I thought not about my swing, but thought about the dynamic between club and ball? What would that be like?
Then I found a new foundation. I found that the ball only responds to the angle, direction and speed the clubface is moving. And then, viola!
I could hit whatever shot I could think of if I knew how the club had to move to create it. All of the sudden there were only FIVE INFLUENCES on the golf ball’s flight. They are the clubface angle, clubhead path direction, angle the clubhead approached the ball, where I hit the ball on the clubface and how fast the club was moving (Wiren, 1990).
The swing became a function of the shot I intended. A fade swing was different from a draw swing was different from a low shot swing was different from a high shot swing, etc.
I cracked my Cosmic Egg...
looked outside, and found a new cosmos! The cosmos of club movement as a function of shot intent. I left the cosmos of swing thoughts and focused my attention on golf shots and their corresponding club movements. This focus on the club movement based on shot intention created my GOLF MOVE™ for the shot, in real time.
Then my scores dropped, my consistency improved, and I began to play golf.
You can do this, too! Really, it is nothing more than understanding the necessary club movement for the shot you intend. This understanding becomes the knowledge that your execution is based upon. Repetition of the intent to hit a shot with attention to club movement creates a habit for shot production.
We call this intention IMPACT AWARENESS™. When you are IMPACT AWARE™ you can focus on what matters to the golf ball. You can focus on the IMPACT needed to hit the shot you intend.
You can then go out and play the game!
looked outside, and found a new cosmos! The cosmos of club movement as a function of shot intent. I left the cosmos of swing thoughts and focused my attention on golf shots and their corresponding club movements. This focus on the club movement based on shot intention created my GOLF MOVE™ for the shot, in real time.
Then my scores dropped, my consistency improved, and I began to play golf.
You can do this, too! Really, it is nothing more than understanding the necessary club movement for the shot you intend. This understanding becomes the knowledge that your execution is based upon. Repetition of the intent to hit a shot with attention to club movement creates a habit for shot production.
We call this intention IMPACT AWARENESS™. When you are IMPACT AWARE™ you can focus on what matters to the golf ball. You can focus on the IMPACT needed to hit the shot you intend.
You can then go out and play the game!
