Getting Too Analytical?

[ejgaudette]

I saw this article about Bryson talking why he was struggling with Augusta.

https://www.golfwrx.com/651683/bryson-dechambeau-reveals-the-problem-he-has-at-augusta-national/?utm_source=Front&utm_medium=Blogroll_Home&utm_campaign=GolfWRX_OnSite&utm_content=unused 

This got me thinking about in general, not really looking to get specific to Bryson just a jumping off point, is there a point were a player can get too analytical in how they approach the game. There is no way to account for every variable, at some level you need to be able to just get a feel for how certain clubs are bouncing out, or how the ball is flying off the various lies, and make some adjustments in round and find a way to score.

I am no expert by any means and I know specifically someone like Bryson is using strokes gained and DECADE like concepts to play for his variance, but is there a need to better understand how you variance maybe a bit different in a given round. There are stories of Tiger getting to range figuring out what shot he had that day, and playing with that shot for the day. This is likely unrealistic for most and who knows how the stories actually relate to his actual pattern.

Overall is there a need for some level for feel to help make some in round adjustments, that if you try to rely simply on the math something will always be missing. Thoughts?

[StrokerAce]

I really think that plenty of guys get too caught up in the analysis prior to hitting the shot. Of course Bryson is on a whole other level than most of the tour but he seems to have gotten faster at it since he doesn't take as long now.

As much as all of the things besides the ball matter you still have to execute the shot and that's completely feel. Can someone overanalyze so much that they forget about what comes natural? Look at what's happened to Henrik Stenson recently, or even better Rickie and Rory.

DECADE is cool and all but at the end of the day...

re: Augusta - that really seems like a scrambling course. If you look at how well Hideki did getting up and down and hitting the right chip at the right time and landing it in the right spot you can see why he won. I think that's an area Bryson isn't as good at and a lot of it comes down to feel.

[DiscipleofPenick]

Agreed, I am already analytically inclined so I stay away from stuff like Accros and Shot Scope. I feel it would be paralysis of information for me. I try to get into a good mental space before playing, figure out what shot I have that day, and go play. Take your time, take dead aim, and play some golf.

Take Dead Aim

[cnosil]

I think you have to be analytical to a fairly significant level. Some of the analysis is just done subconsciously or not thought about as being analytical.

When you practice or warm up you are analyzing how well you are hitting the ball and trying to decide if you need to make a change. You pushed your last couple of shots what do you do?
Your hitting it off the toe, or fat, or thin, do you do anything? Your typical draw is now a fade or a big hook? Are you going to play that ok the course.

You are standing on the first tee, where are you aiming? The ball is above your feet do you make adjustments? Are you pin hunting with every shot or do
You adjust based on how far out you are? Do you adjust for wind? Do you adjust because you are in the deep rough? Do you adjust because you have to carry water or a trap? You can go even deeper; like Bryson, and based on actual pin location and how far you are from a marker to calculate better distance numbers but most just wing it a bit or laser a pin.

Some will say I am a feel player and don’t have these thoughts Feel is simply relying on you mind to do analysis without consciously thinking about it and relying on experience.


We are all analytical with pretty much everything we do; the question is probably how detailed in you analytics do you really go?

[StrokerAce]

whatever you do, avoid paralysis by analysis....

When making a decision, especially an important one, most people take some time to consider their options. This is completely normal.

But what if, when weighing your options, you can’t get the scales to balance? Instead, you spend so much time thinking through choices you could make and end up not coming to any decision at all.

Sound familiar? This type of overthinking has a name: analysis paralysis.

With analysis paralysis, you might spend a lot of time researching options to make sure you’re making the best choice.

This happens even with relatively small-scale decisions, like which microwave to purchase or what pastry to buy at the coffee shop.

When it comes to high-stakes decisions, like whether to accept a certain job offer, you might worry you’ll still make the wrong choice even after carefully considering the pros and cons.

Trapped in an endless loop of “what if this, what if that” scenarios, you eventually become so overwhelmed you end up failing to make any decision at all.

Analysis paralysis can cause a lot of distress. But the 10 tips below can help you manage this thought pattern and break the habit of overthinking everything.

Learn to recognize it

Generally speaking, it’s a good idea to think through big choices and their possible impact on your life.

So how can you tell the difference between healthy decision making and analysis paralysis?

Here’s what Vicki Botnick, a therapist in Tarzana, California, has to say:

“Usually, our decision making process involves quickly building a list of a full range of possibilities. Then, just as quickly, we begin narrowing this list down, crossing out outliers and choices that feel obviously unsuitable.”

She goes on to explain this process of elimination tends to take place in a relatively short period of time.

A typical timeline might be a few days, perhaps a little longer for significant decisions.

But with analysis paralysis, she explains, you might feel mired in possibilities. “They feel ever-expanding, endless, and all equally probable,” Botnick says.

It’s pretty understandable to feel overwhelmed when you believe you must separate one correct choice from many other options.

If you believe these options all have merit, the need to consider them equally can shut down the decision making process.

 

Explore possible causes of overthinking

It often helps to understand why you have trouble making choices.

Did a previous decision not pan out so well? If that memory still resonates, you might have trouble trusting yourself to make the right choice this time.

Maybe you worry about others judging you for making a certain choice.

You might also worry the “wrong” decision will affect your future or relationships with loved ones. (It can feel particularly tough to make a decision that affects other people.)

Most people will find a decision challenging on occasion.

But if you find yourself stuck researching and analyzing options for nearly every decision you make, increasing your awareness around why this happens can help you take steps to break the pattern.

 

 

Make small choices quickly

If you struggle to make any decision without a lot of consideration, start making decisions without giving yourself time to think.

This might feel terrifying at first, but the more you practice, the easier it will become.

“Test your ability to make quick decisions in small ways,” Botnick recommends. For example:

• Pick a restaurant for dinner without reading online reviews.
• Follow your impulse to grab the brand-name cereal without talking yourself out of it.
• Take a walk without choosing a specific route. Let your feet lead you instead.
• Choose the first show on Netflix that grabs your attention instead of spending an hour considering what to watch.

“You might feel some anxiety, but allow it to flow through you,” Botnick says. “Allow yourself to play with the idea that quick, decisive actions with small consequences might have fun, even revelatory, results.”

Practicing making small choices can help you get more comfortable with bigger decisions.

 

 

Avoid letting decision making consume you

Prolonged thinking might seem like the best way of getting to the right answer. But overthinking can actually cause harm.

“Analysis paralysis can affect the nervous system and increase overall anxiety, which can contribute to symptoms like stomach issues, high blood pressure, or panic attacks,” Botnick says.

You might have a hard time focusing on school, work, or your personal life if you devote most of your mental energy to decision making.

A more helpful approach involves setting some limits around your decision timeline. You might give yourself a week to decide, then set time aside to think each day.

Use that time to focus on your decision: Do research, list pros and cons, and so on. When your daily time (say, 30 minutes) is up, move on.

 

 

Work on self-confidence

Who knows you better than anyone else?

You, of course.

If some of your previous decisions have had less than positive outcomes, you might have a tendency to doubt yourself and worry that all of your decisions are bad.

Try to set this fear aside and leave the past in the past. Ask yourself instead what you learned from those decisions and how they helped you grow.

Don’t look at this new decision as another potential for failure. See it as an opportunity to learn more about yourself.

Boost your self-confidence by:

• encouraging yourself with positive self-talk
• thinking back to decisions that turned out well
• reminding yourself it’s OK to make mistakes

 

Trust your instincts

Not everyone has an easy time trusting their instincts. But those “gut feelings” can serve you well… if you let them.

Instincts typically relate less to logic and more to lived experience and emotions.

If you usually rely on research and logical reasoning to make decisions, you might feel a little doubtful about letting your feelings guide important decisions.

Factual evidence should certainly factor into some decisions, like those that relate to health and finance.

But when it comes to more personal matters, like deciding whether to keep dating someone or what city you want to settle down in, it’s also important to stop and consider how you feel.

Your specific feelings about something are unique to you, so have some faith in what your emotions can tell you about any given situation.

 

Practice acceptance

When it comes to analysis paralysis, the process of acceptance has two main parts, according to Botnick.

First, accept your discomfort and sit with it. Your brain is pushing you to keep thinking and analyzing, but this can be exhausting.

Failing to interrupt this thought pattern will only lead to more frustration and overwhelm.

Instead of continuing to struggle for the “right” solution, acknowledge that you aren’t sure what that answer is.

Say you can’t decide on the perfect location for your anniversary date. Remind yourself there are plenty of good locations but not necessarily one perfect spot.

Then take 1 minute (and only 1 minute!) to choose a location from the places you’ve considered, no matter how uneasy this makes you feel.

There! You’re done.

Now comes the second part: accepting your resilience. Even if the place you chose has some flaws and your date doesn’t go flawlessly, it’s OK.

You’ll recover — and maybe you’ll have a funny story to share.

 

 

Get comfortable with uncertainty

Many of the decisions you need to make in life will have several good options.

Making one choice prevents you from knowing how different choices might have turned out — but that’s how life works. It’s full of unknowns.

It’s not possible to plan for every outcome or possibility. No amount of research can give you a complete picture of what you need, right now, for yourself.

Uncertainty can be scary, but no one knows how decisions will turn out in the end. That’s why it’s so important to trust your instincts and rely on other good decision making strategies.

 

Take a break

Analysis paralysis involves ruminating, or spinning the same thoughts over and over, Botnick explains.

But this overthinking typically doesn’t lead to any new insight.

Continuing to analyze possibilities when you already feel fatigued and overwhelmed is what eventually triggers the “paralysis,” or inability to decide.

Your brain says “Keep thinking,” but instead, try the opposite.

Get some distance from your dilemma by finding an enjoyable distraction that helps relax you.

Your goal is to avoid thinking about the decision for a while, so it may help to do something that requires some mental energy.

Try:

• reading a good book
• spending time with loved ones
• tackling a project you’ve been putting off

Mindfulness exercises, like yoga and meditation, or physical activity can also help distract you.

A regular mindfulness practice can counter overthinking by helping you learn to observe distracting or distressing thoughts without criticizing yourself or becoming overwhelmed by them.

 

Talk to a therapist

Analysis paralysis typically happens as an anxiety response, Botnick explains.

It can trigger a cycle of worry, fear, and rumination that can be hard to disrupt on your own.

If you’re finding it tough to stop overthinking, a therapist can help you:

• identify underlying causes or triggers
• create an action plan to change this pattern
• work through any anxiety or depression symptoms making overthinking worse

It’s especially important to get professional support if the inability to make important decisions begins to affect your personal relationships, work success, or quality of life.

 

The bottom line

There’s nothing wrong with thinking through options before making a decision.

But if you consistently find yourself stalled by indecision, it can help to take a closer look at the reasons why.

When you really need to make a decision, challenge yourself to try out a little impulsivity. Decide on the path that feels right and follow it through.

Remember, if things don’t work out how you hope, you can always try something else!

[GolfSpy_SHARK]

I have only recently become "analytical" but only with my own game and where I am with certain shots/clubs thanks to arccos. Besides that give me the feel throughout the round. For me personally anyway getting too analytical pulls me away from my game so I really try to not get to "into the weeds". Everyones brains work differently though

[StrokerAce]

I think the post-round analysis that Arccos provides is awesome. I think it could help every single golfer get better.

the in-round stuff beyond the basics is what can kill your score.

[GolfSpy BOS]

Preface:  I'm a financial Analyst by day, over-analyzer by night.

First off, the golf side of things!

I love the data and insight offered by Arccos and other tracking systems.  I've learned a lot about my game that you might miss if you look at your scorecard or FW/GIR/Putts in a round.  But on course, my decisions are much more tactical... Where's the Pin, where should I hit to (usually towards the center), where do I want to avoid.  After that it's what club fits that shot.  Outside of that I'll put a guess on wind/elevation and use my feel and experience (as @cnosil put so well) to go from there.  All of this takes very little time, and I don't waste much time over the ball which my friends can attest to.  I do my best to just commit to the shot and go.  I forget which article it was, but it talked about Pro's taking less than 8 seconds to hit the ball once they finished their set up and I noticed better shots from my own game when I started to do that as it prevented thinking over the ball.

Secondly, off the course.

I 100% can suffer from analysis paralysis.  Thanks @StrokerAce for sharing that article.. it was actually very insightful for me.  A lot of those things mentioned are hard for me to do.  I'm going to be more mindful of them and try to break that filthy habit.

Honestly I just decided where and what I was going to order for lunch in less than 2 minutes and I already feel better.  But that could just be my stomach glad to know a BBQ chicken calzone is on the way.  

[ejgaudette]

2 hours ago, cnosil said:

I think you have to be analytical to a fairly significant level. Some of the analysis is just done subconsciously or not thought about as being analytical.

When you practice or warm up you are analyzing how well you are hitting the ball and trying to decide if you need to make a change. You pushed your last couple of shots what do you do?
Your hitting it off the toe, or fat, or thin, do you do anything? Your typical draw is now a fade or a big hook? Are you going to play that ok the course.

You are standing on the first tee, where are you aiming? The ball is above your feet do you make adjustments? Are you pin hunting with every shot or do
You adjust based on how far out you are? Do you adjust for wind? Do you adjust because you are in the deep rough? Do you adjust because you have to carry water or a trap? You can go even deeper; like Bryson, and based on actual pin location and how far you are from a marker to calculate better distance numbers but most just wing it a bit or laser a pin.

Some will say I am a feel player and don’t have these thoughts Feel is simply relying on you mind to do analysis without consciously thinking about it and relying on experience.


We are all analytical with pretty much everything we do; the question is probably how detailed in you analytics do you really go?

I totally agree that we are all doing that analysis, and working with incomplete data for sure, so that is where the uncertainty comes in. There cannot be a formula for every adjustment generally so you have to accept that variance and understand how to play for it. It seems like if you are stuck in a train of thought like Bryson may have gotten himself into, or anyone who tries to decide what's for dinner with their spouse, that it can really hurt a round.

At some point you might need to simply say I expect five more yards of roll out given how firm the greens are and test that out and then adjust as a sort of mini in-round experiments. Also this type of thinking and decision making and uncertainty is what makes golf so difficult and enjoyable.

[Bfriedman121]

19 hours ago, ejgaudette said:

This got me thinking about in general, not really looking to get specific to Bryson just a jumping off point, is there a point were a player can get too analytical in how they approach the game.

Overall is there a need for some level for feel to help make some in round adjustments, that if you try to rely simply on the math something will always be missing. Thoughts?

I think the answer which so many others have said is simply yes.  What I find interesting is pros who task their caddies/Scott Fawcett/other experts to handle the analytical side of their game while they focus on being "present" during the round.  A good example during the round is Dustin Johnson, whose caddie implements and uses the aim point system to read putts.  Similarly, many caddies on tour implement the DECADE system for their pros in terms of target selection during the round.

Clearly, weekend hackers don't have that option but I do think there is a benefit to separating the analytics from when you are playing on the course.   For me, I use the the DECADE system and yardage books(at times).  When I do, I will prep my aim points before the round, play the round, and evaluate the round later in time.  For me, it has streamlined my target selection and simplified my "process".

On the discussion of Bryson, I wonder if he is so involved in his process that he is unable to be present and take in that unique course knowledge that is so beneficial when playing at Augusta.  

[ejgaudette]

3 hours ago, Bfriedman121 said:

I think the answer which so many others have said is simply yes.  What I find interesting is pros who task their caddies/Scott Fawcett/other experts to handle the analytical side of their game while they focus on being "present" during the round.  A good example during the round is Dustin Johnson, whose caddie implements and uses the aim point system to read putts.  Similarly, many caddies on tour implement the DECADE system for their pros in terms of target selection during the round.

Clearly, weekend hackers don't have that option but I do think there is a benefit to separating the analytics from when you are playing on the course.   For me, I use the the DECADE system and yardage books(at times).  When I do, I will prep my aim points before the round, play the round, and evaluate the round later in time.  For me, it has streamlined my target selection and simplified my "process".

On the discussion of Bryson, I wonder if he is so involved in his process that he is unable to be present and take in that unique course knowledge that is so beneficial when playing at Augusta.  

Great point of having the caddy to lean on for a professional to, if you prefer, give you the number and the line/read and then you can just focus on execution, just another advantage. I have played most of the courses around me a number of times so this has simplified things generally in terms of course management and knowing how holes play. I would agree that Bryson seems very involved, but who knows how he feels that affects him. I know that it would be tough for me if I felt that I had to account for everything to get a number and then trust that number will work. That's the biggest thing for me, can't get too focused on the adjustments so I can trust the number.

[RickyBobby_PR]

22 hours ago, cnosil said:

I think you have to be analytical to a fairly significant level. Some of the analysis is just done subconsciously or not thought about as being analytical.

When you practice or warm up you are analyzing how well you are hitting the ball and trying to decide if you need to make a change. You pushed your last couple of shots what do you do?
Your hitting it off the toe, or fat, or thin, do you do anything? Your typical draw is now a fade or a big hook? Are you going to play that ok the course.

You are standing on the first tee, where are you aiming? The ball is above your feet do you make adjustments? Are you pin hunting with every shot or do
You adjust based on how far out you are? Do you adjust for wind? Do you adjust because you are in the deep rough? Do you adjust because you have to carry water or a trap? You can go even deeper; like Bryson, and based on actual pin location and how far you are from a marker to calculate better distance numbers but most just wing it a bit or laser a pin.

Some will say I am a feel player and don’t have these thoughts Feel is simply relying on you mind to do analysis without consciously thinking about it and relying on experience.


We are all analytical with pretty much everything we do; the question is probably how detailed in you analytics do you really go?

Was rewatching some of the short game videos on GGs site related to chipping and he dives into what you mention with analyzing the lie, the green, landing spot. Picking the loft and stroke length and speed needed. His sand/flop shot and pitching goes into similar details as well.

From what I remember a lot of his course management video series gets into analyzing the shot in front of you.

The amount of time the pros have to practice their game on the range and course they may be able to reduce the amount of time analyzing things during a round because I’m the mental notes or even written ones in their books that say ok last time I had this shot I did x,y,z so let me do that here 

Watching the masters coverage early in the week they talked about how Bryson does all of his speed work in the first part of the week before an event then goes into prep mode around the day before the event starts

[Nolan220]

I actually stopped using the Arccos, to me it was overthinking and if I choose the club it suggested over what I felt I should hit I start to second guess it .. So I putt it away for now maybe get back to it in the future. 

[fixyurdivot]

OK, here goes... yes and no. From personal perspective, I've been playing this game for over 50 years and, for the majority of that time, neither knew about or cared about FIR, GIR, AoA, LA, CHS, and a litany of other swing mechanics. ball flight, or game data. To be brutally honest, it wasn't until joining MGS that most of these terms began to mean anything to me. 

As they pertain to club fitting and swing mechanics, I'm all in.  Get as deep into the weeds as you care to in attempt to optimize both.  However, as it pertains to scoring, I do not spend any appreciable time dissecting shot stats. I pretty much know I need to improve my FIR's, GIR's, and putting.  I don't need a pie chart to tell me I miss a bit more to thee right than left. Maybe its having spent my entire career in engineering and a number/data centric world that has me resisting that (excessive analytics) becoming part of the sport I play simply for fun. 

As the question relates to the professional game, I'd say some may very well suffer game paralysis by analysis (Bryson for example) while some may not be doing enough.  At this level of golf/competition, the differences in skill levels is very small and a player who does not take advantage of the current standards/tools will likely be hurting their chances to play the weekends.