Are you on the quest to hit the golf ball better than you ever have before? To some, this is what golf is all about. And as far as I’m concerned – there’s nothing wrong with having the passion, desire and drive to make golf more enjoyable. Because frankly, not hitting the golf ball well on the golf course is like being seasick 45 miles out in the ocean with no land in sight.
Although some who are having a difficult time on the course may try to lighten the moment by saying: “A bad day on the golf course is better than a good day at work” … I often wonder how someone that’s retired, unemployed or on the maintenance crew cutting greens is thinking after they hear a Golfer ponder this infamous quote.
So the question for the Golfer striving for perfection or wanting to become a little more consistent is: ‘What do you need to work on in your golf swing to be able to get that next step closer to consistency? What part of your golf swing needs the most work?’
Is it your grip? Is it your set-up? Is it your back swing? Your weight shift? Your hip turn? Your shoulder turn? Do you need to create lag? Impact? Follow-through?
What is it?
And although one of the most popular answers may be “it’s all of the above”. I’d recommend that you stay away from that answer. That’s the #1 answer that holds more people back from achieving a better golf swing than anything else … well actually, maybe it’s not the #1 reason, it’s probably #2. As I don’t think there could be a worse thing for a Golfer to say than “I think I’m going to try the stack and tilt”.
The answer to becoming more consistent never starts with “I need to work on everything.” Or “I need to completely change my golf swing.”
The answer to improving starts with working on one thing at a time. It’s finding the one issue in your golf swing that’s causing you to become inconsistent. Because we have found that Golfers that feel or have been told that they have multiple swing faults – often, in reality just have One Primary Swing Fault that leads them to create compensations that causes Multiple Swing Faults.
Yet, if diagnosed correctly by a superior Golf Instructor – all those swing faults that you feel you have or have been told you have – would be almost instantly eliminated if the Primary Swing Fault is diagnosed and corrected.
It’s like if the shower on the 2nd floor of your home had a small leak in the tile so that water dripped under the tile and into the floor boards. The longer that leak is left unfixed – the bigger the hole will get – which would mean that every shower you took … a greater amount of water would leak into the floor.
And eventually, the ceiling of the room (perhaps the living room) directly below the shower would start dripping. And as that ceiling starts to saturate as more water flowed, that water would start to drip into another room (the kitchen). If left untreated a little longer, it would drip into another room (the laundry room). Then perhaps into the dining room, etc., etc., etc.
So now you have water leaking into at least four rooms on the 1st floor. What’s the first thing you need to fix?
Unfortunately, many Golfers and many Instructors (if they go about it the same way that they work on the golf swing), would first fix the ceiling in each room to see if that helps stop the dripping. While the smart thing would be to first fix the leak in the shower. Because when that primary problem is fixed … it’s amazing how the other leaks would magically go away. Yes, you might have to do some ceiling work – yet it’s a lot easier when the primary leak is fixed.
It’s truly the same with your golf swing.
Find the Primary Swing Fault, fix it, and the other swing faults (that are most likely compensations caused by the Primary Swing Fault) will slowly dry-up and disappear. However, from what we see with many Golfers that come to our program – these Golfers have been trying to fix all the leaks in the ceiling instead of the primary leak causing these other leaks. And they’ve been repairing and painting year after year after year – and would still be repairing and painting the ceiling if we hadn’t shown them where their primary leak was.
What’s causing you to have a bad back swing? Or a bad weight shift? Or a bad hip turn? Or bad shoulder turn? Or bad whatever?
That should be the question rather than just trying to fix the bad weight shift with yet another golf tip you read in a magazine or another half hour golf lesson that’s focused on a quick tip such as – “I see your problem, you have water leaking from the ceiling”. Because regardless of how many times you replace that ceiling – if there’s a hole in the tile – that drip is going to keep coming back. Just like that ‘over the top move’ that you can’t get rid of or that “slice” that’s always there or that “chunked wedge next to the green” that comes back a few times each round.
The Monkey works on all their swing faults
The Player knows that if they can find and fix their Primary Swing Fault – that all of the other swing faults will start to go away and consistency will be around the corner
Are you starting to divert your disappointment and frustrations earlier and earlier in the round by using the – “A bad round on the golf course is better than a good day at work” quote?
Go ahead, be a Player!
Regards,
Marc Solomon – Your Instructor For Life