A very good question each Golfer should know the answer to is: “are there multiple things you need to work on in your golf swing … or is there just 1?”
This is important to know if you want to improve – because you’ll need to prioritize the issues in your swing so you have a place to start. As over 9 out of 10 Golfers just jump into hitting golf balls without a PLAN … and coincidentally these are the people that usually become the most frustrated with continual inconsistency.
As this inconsistent Golfer thinks he/she has multiple things to work on, they become overwhelmed with all the corrections needed. Thus, they start to work on too many things at one time.
On the other hand, the Player that improves quickly is focused on one thing during this process. They work to improve their Primary Swing Fault (PSF).
While the Player understands that they should never have to get worse before getting better – he/she also understands they won’t go from being inconsistent to instantly becoming 100% consistent. They practice with the confidence that the consistency of their golf swing is improving a little at a time.
Yet, the frustrated Golfer often gives up focusing on one thing because they haven’t become 100% consistent within hitting 35 golf balls on the range. So they jump to working on a second swing tip.
This is not to say they haven’t improved. Many times they have – however this Golfer’s standards of what constitutes consistency (100% great shots) isn’t realistic. Thus, they never notice that they’re improving their golf swing.
And that last point is important to take note of – as staying focused on one PSF allows you to focus on your feel. Thus, you’re improving your ability to feel the movements in your swing each shot. Whereas as the Golfer that’s jumping from tip to tip … never develops a “Feel” to their swing.
And by not developing your feel – you won’t be able to make the necessary corrections on the golf course after hitting a bad shot. Instead, you’ll be using the same strategy on the golf course that you use on the driving range where you jump from one swing tip to another until something works.
The difference being that the consequence of jumping from tip to tip on the range is low as you’re just sacrificing one cheap range ball each shot … whereas on the golf course you’re collecting double bogeys, lost golf balls, and increased frustration.
Pretty soon, after working on your swing for 3 years – the only thing consistent is that you have at least 13 swing thoughts every shot. Which are piled on top of the other 32 swing tips you’ve used in past attempts to improve.
Whereas the Player understands that if he/she normally hits 5 shots out of 10 to a satisfactory level … if they can now hit 6 shots out of 10 to that level – they are now more consistent.
Not 100% consistent, but 10% more consistent is still improvement. And as you continue to work on your PLAN of working on your Primary Swing Fault – you will start to hit 6.5 shots out of 10 (or 13 of 20).
Yet, the Golfer that’s not satisfied with 10% improvement, will start searching for another tip to improve faster. But, in a scenario that’s akin to “the Tortoise and the Hare” – the Player that sticks to his/her 10% will become more consistent today. As the Golfer that only accepts 100% consistency will never improve.
The Monkeys motto is “100% consistency or bust” … and their swing usually ends up that way
The Player understands that 1% improvement leads to 10% improvement and 10% improvement leads to 20% and etc, etc, etc
Go ahead, Be a Player!
Regards,
Marc Solomon – Your Instructor For Life