I will never go to the driving range to work on my golf swing without a Practice PLAN based on using specific drills and/or practice techniques after every 5 or 6 shots.
Golfers often have the worst practice habits when they go to the driving range. I cringe to call what most Golfers do as practice. Remember, the hitting of the golf ball isn’t practice. The drill is practice. The hitting of the golf ball is just telling you what drill you will need to practice before hitting your next 6 golf balls.
I will never practice my swing or try a new “swing tip” on the driving range before going out to play.
If you ever watched the PGA Tour Players before a round … they don’t practice their swing. They are warming up their swing. Yes, they will practice after the round … but they never practice their swing before a round.
Yes, you can go to the range to warm-up … however, “the kiss of death” is practicing a new tip before your round.
I promise myself not to be concerned with the Golfers in the group behind me. Because whenever I am worried about them … I start playing badly.
As the saying goes: your job on the golf course is not to stay in front of the Golfers behind you … as much as it is to keep up with the Golfers in front of you. If you always keep up with the Golfers in front of you – the Golfers behind you can’t say anything about your pace of play.
So play golf with a clear mind and without worry. There’s enough to think about without being concerned with the Golfers behind you.
I will never walk up to my golf ball without first making a specific PLAN to where I want to try to hit the golf ball.
The best Players that play the most consistent golf will walk behind the ball to make a PLAN on every shot. They will not always accomplish their PLAN perfectly … however, by having a PLAN, their worst shots will not turn out as bad as the worst shots of the Golfer without a PLAN.
After a bad shot will never say – I wish I could just hit a golf ball with my practice swing.
Taking a practice swing and hitting a golf ball are two totally different tasks. With no ball … there’s no anxiety … so of course it will always feel smoother.
I will never again complain after I hit my tee shot a couple yards off the fairway and into the rough.
Just because your ball ended 2 yards to the left or right of the fairway doesn’t automatically put your tee shot into the bad category. The best Players on the PGA Tour miss the fairway more than 30% of the time. They accept it and move on … so should you.
I will never let a bad shot bother me for more than 30 seconds afterwards.
The best Players practice short term memory loss on the golf course because they know that if they continue thinking about a bad shot while preparing for their next shot … more bad things are going to happen. And this trend will continue to escalate shot after shot until you start to hate the game. Yet, all this misery stems from one bad shot, 8 holes ago, that you couldn’t let go of after 30 seconds.
I will never – not celebrate a good shot.
Most Golfers spend more energy on their bad shots and not enough energy celebrating their good shots. After a good shot … congratulate yourself. Too many Golfers have the attitude of acting like they expect to hits shots like that. Then, when they hit a halfway decent shot, they complain that it’s not good enough. C’mon … you’re not on the PGA Tour. Celebrate your great shots and enjoy what you just accomplished!
The Monkey continually repeats the “never’s” … thus is consistently reinforcing inconsistency
The Player has an all encompassing action PLAN so that they are consistent from the practice range to the golf course
Go ahead, Be a Player!
Regards,
Marc Solomon – Your Instructor For Life