Golf Flow

soon. Indeed, although objective time is indeed measureable by clocks and timepieces, our experience of time is always subjective and dependent on our level of enjoyment and engagement.
    Although time moves slowly for golfers when they are in flow, it also moves quickly in a positive sense—in the same way that any happy experience seems to end too soon. Their interpretation of quickness is in keeping with the efficient, expedient, decisive behavior that is characteristic of confidence and self-assured certainty. Golfers in flow are quick, but they are in no way rushed.

As time slows, golfers in flow find their tempo and rhythm. “Big Easy” Ernie Els is known for his fluid swing.

    Adam Davy/PA Photos
    But time can also move quickly in a negative sense when golfers are not in flow, and here is where the nuances emerge. It is reasonable to interpret Dustin Johnson’s explanation as that things felt not only quick but rushed. In these instances, the sensation of quickness is related to an acute awareness of the pressures of time and a sense of being unable to cope with them.
    These slow-versus-quick descriptions of the state of flow are where the paradox of time comes into play. How can a person experience something as both slow (a slow-motion back nine) and fast simultaneously?

Putting It in Perspective
    Perspective plays a role in explaining the paradox of time. During a round when you are in flow, things are moving in the type of slow motion that Mickelson described. After the round of golf and the accompanying flow state are over, you look back on the experience and find that it seems to have passed very quickly.
    Twelve-time PGA Tour winner David Toms captured the paradox perfectly when he reported, “To me as a whole it goes by awful quick, but it moves awfully slow.” Compare that with three-time Ryder Cup player and four-time PGA Tour winner Chad Campbell, whose thought-provoking response suggests that he too is uncertain of what to make of his own flow states:
When I am in it, it feels very slow. In a way it’s a little bit of both fast and slow. It goes by fast but feels slow. OK, let me try and explain: It feels slow while you are in it, but it goes by quick when you look back on it.
    Just like the vacation that ends too soon but during which the days seem long and languid, a round of golf played in flow has hours that seem like minutes and minutes that feel like seconds. These golfers become so immersed in the process of living in the moment that they seem to wake up standing on the 18th hole thinking, “Where am I? How did I get here? Is it over already? What just happened?!” Additionally, golfers in flow describe time using words typically reserved for other dimensions of experience—
smooth
,
quiet
,
peaceful
,
heavy
, and, in all cases,
slow
. A feeling of effortless control over themselves joins this slowing of time over their emotions and over the game itself, and the similarity in the descriptions by professional golfers is remarkable.

Learning From the Best
    I’ve always believed that there is value in studying the best of the best. Whether you’re a business person, a student, or a golfer, the process of improvement should always include looking at those who have been successful at the same endeavor that you are seeking to improve. Although this book can help golfers of all skill levels, I have frequently used quotes and passages from PGA Tour players because they have already traversed the obstacles and adversities that the rest of us are seeking to overcome. In that light, let’s look at some of the descriptions of flow from PGA Tour golfers:
The zone is both fast and slow. While you are there, it seems slow and effortless and when you look back on it, you can’t remember a whole lot of thoughts in your head. When I look back to that last round I was in the zone, it seemed like it took 45 minutes. In fact, everything moved really slowly. I was never rushed.
    Bryce Molder, 2011 PGA Tour winner, 4-time NCAA All-American
It seems like you are able to slow things down, but also things seem to be moving slowly around you. You are able to do things quickly, yet they feel like they have a feeling of slowness to them. After 12 holes, it feels like you just played 5. It’s hard to explain. It felt like rhythm and timing; everything was just this nice, smooth, mellow tempo. I could do it quickly and still make it feel smooth and mellow and slow.
    Jim Furyk, 2003 U.S. Open Champion,