The story of the year in Golf just might be Zach Johnson. And his game might be a perfect blueprint for you to follow so that you can also have your game get to the next level. I don’t know much about Zach Johnson – but I do know that he’s having a career year having won the Masters and then the tournament last week in Atlanta.
You hear all this talk about Zach being an overnight sensation – coming out of nowhere. But, here’s a guy that turned Professional back in 1998. So I guess that means that in golf terms that overnight equals 9 years of hard work. Oh, but that’s not counting 4 years of competitive college golf and 4 years of high school golf and I’m sure a few years of Junior Golf Tournaments.
Johnson’s story is one of persistence and patience and I believe that’s why he’s now successful.
Now look at the average Golfer – they want it now! They’re always looking for the next gimmick to go from scoring 100 to 72 the next day. And if that doesn’t work – they’re up late at night with credit card in hand watching infomercials on the Golf Channel.
For example – A few weeks ago I was reading an issue of a golf magazine that had a story about these two guys that are now considered the New Swing Guru’s according to …… I’m not sure who this is according to – well, I guess it’s according to themselves. And they have this new concept that’s all the rage on Tour (according to them). They say that you need to do this and that – and if you do, you’ll hit the ball like Jack Nicklaus.
Every couple of years, these new tips come out and Golfers jump on the bandwagon and every couple of years these tips slowly fade away because there was more hype than positive results. I can’t tell you how many Golfers that have signed up for GMS because of their frustration with all these tips. I can’t tell you how many Golfers that were so frustrated from jumping tip to tip and frustrating golf swing to frustrating golf swing – that they’ve said things such as – “That’s why I’m here – to get away from all the gimmicks. I’ve gotten nowhere with them.”
The Golfers that are successful have a PLAN and stick with it. The Golfers that are continually frustrated are the ones that are constantly jumping tip to tip or swing guru to swing guru hoping to find something magical that will instantly transform them into a Player. How many Golfers are going to jump on the tips that these latest Guru’s have come up with?
Probably the same amount that jumped on ‘Toe up to Toe Up’ and ‘Square to Square’ and ‘The X Factor’ and having two Drivers (one for Draws and one for Fades). And it’s funny because it’s always the same people that are jumping from tip to tip – and these same people are probably scoring the same and are as frustrated now as they were before they started their Golf Tip Addiction.
Is that how Zach Johnson improved?
Did Zach Johnson just find ‘a genie in a bottle’ that granted him his wish to win the Masters? Do you think he was reading Golf Digest and came across a tip that he used to win the Masters? Maybe he went out and bought one of those swing vests that you hook up to a computer to analyze your swing. Yeah, I bet that’s what he did!
I’d put my money on hard work and his desire to improve. I’d put my money on his focus to stick with his PLAN. I’d put my money on that it just took him some time to slowly improve his game to get to the level it is now.
For you it’s much easier to improve faster than it is for Zach.
See, when you get to the PGA Tour level – improving one stroke on your average score is equivalent to a 100 Golfer improving 10 strokes. This year, Zach’s scoring average is 70.02 strokes per round. In 2003 (4 years ago for the mathematically challenged), his scoring average was 72.69.
What’s 2.6 strokes difference per round? It’s only about 10 strokes difference over the course of the 4 rounds of a PGA Tour event. Meaning if the winner was 8 under par – Zach would be way down at the bottom of the list at 2 over par.
How did he improve those 2 strokes per round? Do you think he found it in Golf Digest? Or a swing vest? Neither will you!
The Monkey is going to try to find out who these two new Swing Guru’s are
The Player is looking up Zach Johnson’s stats to see where he’s improved the most over the last several years and will use those stats as a blueprint to improve your game
Go Ahead, Be A Player!
Regards,
Marc Solomon