I’m sure you have heard at least one or two of the below quotes on the golf course recently. If so, please understand that you’ll usually hear these quotes coming from an above 90 Golfer rather than a below 80 Golfer. So if you hear a Golfer that happens to break 90 “every-once-in-a-while” say one of these — it doesn’t mean that you should take his/her advice.

“I picked up my head” – (As Harvey Penick said – “Looking up is the biggest alibi ever invented to explain a terrible shot. By the time you look up, you’ve already made the mistake that caused the bad shot. Even Ben Hogan has told me that he loses sight of the ball somewhere in my downswing.” So stop using this excuse – again – if you feel you’re picking up your head – you probably have a problem in your golf swing prior to when you feel you picked up your head. Find out what that problem is – and you won’t have to use this lame excuse ever again.)

“I need to swing slow to hit the golf ball far” (OK, then why does Tiger hit the golf ball farther than you – because he swings slower? And for even more perspective – Ernie Els doesn’t swing slow – his clubhead speed with his Driver is about 115 mph. The average male is about 85 mph and average female is about 70 mph.)

“I need to follow-through to make the golf ball go up in the air” (What happens after the golf ball is gone doesn’t affect how the golf ball reacts. The golf ball should be in the air before your follow-through even starts.)

“I’m trying to lag this putt to within 2 feet of the hole” (Why don’t you try to get it a foot or two past the hole so that the golf ball has a chance to go into the hole? It should be just as easy to get the golf ball 1 or 2 feet past as it is to stop it 1 or 2 feet short!)

“You have to get worse before you get better” (Not true – I can point to 1,000’s of Golfers that haven’t gotten worse first. In the end, I guess it has to do with the talent level of the Instructor whose giving the Instruction that counts the most.)

“The grain got my ball on that putt” (The grass on a normal green is so short – grain has very little effect on the golf ball. Blaming the grain is just a good sounding excuse for a poor putter.)

“The problem with my golf swing is that I have a baseball swing” (If you have a good baseball swing – you should also have a good golf swing. If you feel that your baseball swing is giving you a poor golf swing … your poor golf swing probably has more to do with you having a poor baseball swing.)

“I need some time to get used to this new Driver” (If you need time to get used to it – you bought the wrong Driver. Because trust me – once you get your golf swing adapted to that new Driver … you’re now going to see your irons go bad.)

“I can’t decide whether I need to be a swinger or a hitter of the golf ball” (Who cares if you’re a swinger or a hitter? A good ballstriker is a good ballstriker.)

“I need to see myself swing on video” (Video doesn’t improve golf swings. All it does is make you even more mechanical than you are right now, as well as making you think way too much while standing over the golf ball. Thinkers are Stinkers. Use drills to learn how to feel your golf swing instead of thinking about it!)

“I’m trying to learn how to sweep my fairway woods” (Sweepers are Weepers. If you’re trying to sweep your fairway woods or hybrids – you’re probably weeping about how inconsistent you’re hitting them.)

“I’m struggling right now because this new Golf Instructor I’m taking lessons from has changed my grip” (Your grip is probably fine. Leave it alone and work on impact. It’s amazing that once your impact position improves – it always seems as if your grip improves … but not vice versa.)

“This is the worst golf I have ever played” (It seems like the people that are saying that are saying it every round they play. How many times can you play the worst you have ever played?)

“The Pro was trying to get me to come more from the inside” (Don’t try to come from the inside, don’t try to come from the outside, don’t try to come straight down the line – just work on having everything moving together in your golf swing and good things will happen as opposed to trying to manufacture a golf swing by manipulating the club to the inside.)

“I’m going to try to slide this club under the golf ball to get it up quick” (Backspin gets the golf ball up – if you try to slide the club under the golf ball, you’ll hit the ground first before the golf ball, the club will bounce off the ground and skull the ball on a line drive and go flying over the green. But you’ve probably never done that before – so don’t worry about it.)

“This downhill putt is going to be fast” (On a downhill putt, your golf ball will actually be rolling slower than an uphill putt on the same line.)

“This uphill putt is going to be slow” (Read above.)

“I signed up for six 30-minute golf lessons” (How much are you going to accomplish in 30 minutes? You’d accomplish a lot more in one 180 minute golf lesson than you will in six 30 minute lessons. We see this week after week.)

“I need to rework my golf swing” (Why? Improvement doesn’t mean you need to drastically change your golf swing. 99.99% of the time – you really don’t have to do much to improve your golf swing. Too much is made about redoing golf swings. Most Golfers just need a tweak here and there to see tremendous improvement.)

“I’m in between clubs on this shot, I have a choice between either a hard 7 iron or an easy 6” (Never change your Pace Of Swing by swinging harder or easier – instead hit the 6 iron with a shorter length of swing.)

“I’d rather be 100 yards away from the green than 50 yards” (So you’d rather try to hit a target from twice as far away? Regardless of the distance – be more conscious of the angle you’re hitting to the green. Yet, if all angles are the same … the closer you are to target – the easier it will be to hit.)

“I don’t have time to read the green and walk off my putts” (There’s plenty of time to walk off your putts. You just got to be focused on your PLAN and find the time. It takes less time to make your PLAN and one putt than it does to not make a PLAN and three putt.)

“I have got to find the line on this putt” (First find your speed. Speed determines your line. Speed is just about everything in putting!)

“I need to make this putt for a Par” (Anytime Par matters to you, you’re most likely going to miss the putt. If you don’t know you’re putting for Par, you’re more likely to make it.)

“Women can’t play till after noon on weekends at our club” (I know a lot of Women Golfers that play much faster than Men Golfers, along with working just as many hours during the week as the Men do – let’s grow-up!)

“I was told to play my short irons in the back of my stance, my mid irons in the middle and my long irons in the front” (I guess nobody ever told Jack or Tiger that they were doing it wrong because Jack Nicklaus said it over 30 years ago and Tiger Woods says it today – the ball should be played in the same position regardless of iron. Imagine how much better they both could’ve been if they knew they were doing it wrong?)

“I was told to position my shoulders parallel with the slope of the hill” (If you’re standing balanced on an uphill slope – you’re shoulders will naturally position themselves parallel to the hill. Why? Because your back foot is lower than your front foot … so your back shoulder will be lower than you front shoulder. The more you think about it – the more you’re thinking too much. “Thinkers are Stinkers!”)

“I’m very inconsistent – I shot 90, 88, 94 and 96″ (If the difference between your lowest score and highest score is only 8 strokes – you’re very consistent. The Pro’s on Tour regularly have 8 stroke swings over the 4 days of a single tournament – 68, 65, 71, 73 happens often.)

“I was told that I always need to land the golf ball on the green and get it rolling as soon as possible” (Always is a very strong word.)

Monkeys believe what they believe because that’s what they’ve always have heard … so it must be true

Players base their answers on Results

Go ahead, Be a Player!

Regards,

Marc Solomon