On any given day, on any number of driving ranges there are untold numbers of golfers endeavoring to improve their game by building “muscle memory.” Similarly, on any given day there are untold numbers of golfers using training aids that advertise creating “muscle memory”.
Sadly, for both golfers on the range and those exercising with training aids they will fail to achieve muscle memory. The simple reason is that muscle memory is a fallacy. Under a microscope, we find that a muscle is comprised of muscle cells.
Within that muscle there is not a single memory cell. The tiny rubber band-like muscle cells contract when and only when they receive a nerve impulse from the brain. The memory automating a golf swing exists not in your muscles but in your brain.
The famous golfer and former tv commentator Ken Venturi described someone complimenting Ben Hogan on his terrific “muscle memory”. He explains that Ben was not flattered and instead snapped, “My muscles don’t have memory, I tell them what to do.” Hogan was describing the physiological reality that muscles respond to directives from the brain.
Those directives are most effectively created in response to our visualization of the task we want to perform. When a soccer ball finds the goal, the kick is the response of the player visualizing that objective. The same is true for the hockey player and of course the golfer. Both Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods were very descriptive of their use of visualization.
Bottom Line: Seeking muscle memory is a fool’s errand. There is no such thing. To direct your muscles most effectively, learn to use visualization, the little-understood key to the performance of every professional golfer.