If you had to choose which group of clubs you had to take out of your bag, which would you choose? Group A – Your 3, 4 and 5 irons or Group B – Your Pitching Wedge and Sand Wedge

Which would you choose A or B?

Now if you chose Group A, you’re without the services of three clubs that’ll give you distance to get down the fairway and also give you the chance to hit the green from far away. These clubs are often referred to as Long Irons. And to many Golfers, their whole experience on the golf course is determined by “how I hit my Long Irons today”.

If you choose Group B, you’re without the services of two clubs that you can use to hit precise shots onto the green to set yourself up for a short putt. These clubs are often referred to as Wedges.

So which is going to be?

This is an important question, not because you’ll ever have to choose between the two groups to play in some whacky golf outing. It’s based on knowing where you should concentrate your limited practice time and when to give yourself some credit on the golf course for improvement.

For example – I know a Golfer that used to score in the upper 90’s and now scores in the mid 80’s. This would seem like joyous news to many upper 90’s Golfers; even grounds to pop a champagne cork in celebration – though this Golfer isn’t happy because he still can’t hit his Long Irons as consistent as he wants to.

So the question begs – is it more important for you to hit a certain group of clubs better or is it more important for you to improve more than 12 strokes per round?

Why did you want to improve how you hit those clubs in the first place?

Some Golfers are so dead-set on hitting certain clubs better, that they forget why they want to hit them better in the first place. If you feel that your Long Irons are holding you back from scoring better, though you score 12 strokes better despite your Long Irons – wouldn’t you be satisfied with your round? Is all sense of accomplishment lost? In your effort to promote continual improvement, there most be some acknowledgement that you have improved.

As hard as it is to believe – there’s a percentage of Golfers that aren’t satisfied with scoring 12 strokes better. Can you fathom that? Can you believe that a Golfer that was struggling with their golf game and upset that their scores aren’t where they want to be ‘ would complain even though they’re scoring 12 shots better in less than a month?

How could you complain about anything?

It’s funny, many Golfers are so adamant that there’s one aspect of their game that’s holding them back from improving – it’s my wedges that are killing me or it’s my Long Irons that are holding me back or my Driver just messes up my entire game or if I could just putt. And these Golfers get so caught-up with the thought that this aspect of their game is holding them back from scoring – that they’re never satisfied until they hit the ball perfect 20 out of 20 times with their Long Irons. Even though the reason they wanted to improve these clubs in the first place was to improve their scores. Yet, the scores are improved – and I believe this was goal Numero Uno – yet, because this improvement in score had nothing to do with your Long Irons, you don’t consider it an accomplishment!

And I’m going on record to say that I’ve never heard such a crazy thing!

Yes, I agree if you’re having trouble with one aspect of your game, you should continue to try to improve it. Yes, we’ve always said that you’re only as strong as your weakest link. Though, if a 90’s Golfer improves 12 strokes in not 3 months, not 2 months, but less than a month – maybe what they thought was their weakest link wasn’t. Maybe their Instructor discovered what was truly their weakest link and helped that Golfer improve on it.

Suppose the Instructor decided to exclusively work-on this Golfer’s Long Irons – do you think this Golfer would improve 12 strokes in such a short period of time? Yet, this Golfer still is infatuated with his Long Irons to the point that may eventually be the downfall of his game. I believe it will get to the point when this Golfer soon starts giving back those 12 strokes because the focus will get away from what initiated the progress and go towards concentrating on their Long Irons.

When Golfers let their ego get in the way on the Golf Course and on the Practice Area – bad things happen! One of best attributes of our GMS Instructors is that they’re straight forward and will tell you when your ego is getting n the way of making a smart PLAN.

The Monkey bases their improvement on how they feel about one aspect of their game, irregardless of if their scores improved

The Player bases their improvement on results

Or in other words-

The Monkey is the Golfer that writes an email that says they improved 12 strokes, but isn’t happy because they aren’t hitting their Long Irons better

The Player understands that once you add up your scores after 18 holes, that if the scores are better, it’s time to celebrate!

Go ahead, Be a Player!

Regards,

Marc Solomon – Your Instructor For Life www.default