On Joe Rogan’s podcast, Bill Murray explains how top female instructors are improving his game

Joe Rogan’s podcasts always cover a lot of material. So it wasn’t a surprise that when Bill Murray was on the podcast, golf was a topic of discussion. What was surprising, however, was that Murray revealed he’s learned a lot from two coaches who worked extensively with Annika Sorenstam.

Murray says on the podcast that currently, his handicap is a 12. Though that’s not the lowest it’s ever been, it’s trending down.

“I’ve figured something out,” Murray explains. He goes on to say the difference maker has been what he’s learned from Pia Nilsson and Lynn Marriott. “They wrote a great book called Every Shot Must Have a Purpose. Did you read that one? Well, I should talk about them because they really are onto something, and it's about quieting your brain when you play.”

Nilsson and Marriott are performance gurus based in Arizona. They are two of Golf Digest’s 20 Legends of Golf Instruction, and work with LPGA and PGA tour pros. Murray read their book and has also spoken to Nilsson about his golf game.

“I've always had a lot of fun, but that made me enjoy golf even more,” Murray explains. “It's decluttering…. Everything that distracts you from [hitting a shot] is a problem. So it's the ability to just pull the weeds out of your head, as I read a Japanese man say once, and attend to it when you attend to it. It's a few hours to play a round of golf, like you say, it takes time. But the actual playing of the game is only minutes. The actual hitting of the ball is only minutes.”

This is one of the things that makes golf a uniquely difficult sport: There’s so much downtime. And in that downtime, there’s a lot of opportunity for negative thoughts. What if I hit it into the water? I hit my last tee ball left; what if this one goes left, too? I haven’t made a putt all day, there’s no way this one is going to go in. And so on. When these thoughts creep into your mind, they can take over and make it harder for you to swing confidently. Nilsson and Marriott separate thinking from action, and call it the Think Box and the Play Box. In the Think Box, you can think about all the variables that go into hitting your next shot: What’s the wind doing? Where do you stand in your match? Are there any hazards you’re contending with?

Once you have a plan for your shot, you cross over the invisible line into the Play Box.

“The only time there is any indecision should be when you are in the Think Box,” Nilsson and Marriott write in their book. “When you cross the Decision Line to hit the shot, there must be total commitment to the shot….

“When you cross the line into the Play Box, leave doubt behind, make your grip, aim the clubface, align the body, connect to the target, and hit your shot. The longer you wait to hit the shot the more opportunity there is for doubt- and tension- to creep into your mind and body. And remember what we said about tension being the most effective saboteur of the golf swing. Decide, commit, swing. It's as simple as that.”

This way of thinking has been working for Murray.

“You have the freedom in between the shots to move and to speak and tell jokes and smoke cigars and whatever you want to do. But when you want to hit the ball, this is about: you're going to think, make a little plan, and you separate that,” Murray says.

There is real simplicity to be found in the clarity with which Nilsson and Marriott think about this complicated game. Separating your thinking from your action can put you in a position to hit better shots. They believe that without having intrusive thoughts while you’re over the ball, you’re more likely to make a confident swing and hit a better shot.

“Hitting the thing is only hitting the thing,” Murray says. “And if you can do that, then you start having real success. And the joy of the mind-body connection and all the almost spiritual things about a mind-body exercise, a game, come to you.”

Murray explains that Nilsson and Marriott’s advice helps him be in his body, not his brain, when he’s hitting a shot. Mastering a mental strategy like the Think Box and the Play Box takes practice, just like a swing change requires practice. The more you do it, the better you’ll get at it. Maybe, like Murray, you’ll enjoy the game more and find your handicap going down.