Regardless of whether you’re thinking about your golf game or Tiger Woods’ golf game – it’s all about realistic expectations. So since Tiger is a hot topic right now – let’s talk some Tiger.
There’s so much babble out there about “What’s wrong with Tiger? Why didn’t he win at the Masters or the Players Championship? What’s wrong with his golf swing? Why isn’t he making any putts?”
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“Are You A Harmless Fiddler Of The Golf Swing or A Compulsive Hoarder Of Golf Tips?”
Actually, the above is a trick title for this article because there’s no such thing as a “Harmless Fiddler”. The seemingly innocent act of fiddling with your golf swing has caused more people to say “I have lost my golf swing. I can’t hit the golf ball anymore.”
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How do you practice trying to improve your game? And when you do practice, how do you track if you’re getting better? Do you rely on if you’re feeling like you’re improving? Or do you track your results?
Sure, I know that’s a loaded question because they’re might be 1 out of every 255 Golfers reading this that does track their results when practicing. And that’s a problem!
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Below are some questions that pertain to your golf game. By answering these questions we can find out what type of Golfer you are, what gets you motivated to play better and what aspect of your game you need to work on harder.
Now some of these questions are a little outlandish and will never happen on the golf course – but take these questions in stride and have FUN with them.
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Tiger has just unseated Michael Jordan as the World’s most popular sports star. Now that’s an amazing task and I may be wrong, but I don’t believe any Golfer has ever been number 1 before. Maybe Arnold Palmer, but I doubt that since at his height of popularity he would’ve been up against Mickey Mantle.
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If you’re like every Golfer trying to break 90 consistently, you’re trying to make Par on all 18 holes. And the fact is you shouldn’t try to make Par on any hole.
Now I absolutely know that someone is now saying – “Marc, what do you want me to do? Play for bogey on every hole.” Not at all! You should never play for Bogey. Or someone is saying – “Oh, now I get it, you want us to play for Birdie every hole.” Not at all! You should never play for Birdie either.
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Here’s the scenario – You’re playing the best golf of your life after 4 holes of golf. Then on the 5th hole you hit a Drive that you’re not 100% happy with, though it’s still in play and you accept it as being OK and it doesn’t bother you too much.
But apparently it bothers your golfing buddy enough that you didn’t hit it perfect because they look at you and say – “You know, you didn’t finish your swing on that shot as well as you have been on the first 4 holes. You really need to follow-through better.”
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Quotes that make me cringe on the golf course-
I picked up my head – (It doesn’t happen)
You need to swing slow to hit the ball far (OK, then why does Tiger hit the ball farther than you – because he swings slower?)
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Every Golfer that has ever swung a golf club has at least one compensation in their golf swing. Though, to be more blunt and honest – most Golfers have a lot more than just one compensation – they have what we call Compensation Overload.
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Do you know somebody who’s not practicing with the same attention to their Drills – somebody who has slowly crept back into the Monkey Syndrome of hitting golf ball after golf ball on the range trying to find something consistent? As we get towards the end of August an interesting thing starts to happen to Golfers – they start to move away from the practice routines they coveted back in May and move back into just hitting golf balls like the Monkey.
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How many bad shots can you expect to hit during a round of golf? How many bad shots can you hit and still play your best round of golf ever?
Have you ever thought about this?
Is it one, two, ten, twenty, fifty?
It all really depends on what level of Golfer you are, but it also depends what you consider a bad shot.
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There’s that word again – perfection. Though as good, or should I say great, or maybe invincible as Tiger is – he’s far from perfect! Nobody in this game is perfect. Yet, we still hear every week Golfers that write to us or tell us how inconsistent they are. And again, we need to know what are the standards for consistency and inconsistency. So when you say – ‘I’m too inconsistent’ – what are you basing this on? What standard of excellence are you comparing your desire to hit the ball well in your quest to break 90 or 100?
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I challenge you to find anyone that has improved their score 5 or more strokes after having their swing video analyzed. Yes, I challenge you!
What’s all the talk of getting your golf swing on video? Do you think it really helps your golf game? Video analysis started picking up steam in the early 1990’s and I was also caught with the bug back then. But I started seeing a disturbing trend after a few years – Although we could view the video in super slow motion, pausing at every point in the swing, comparing your swing to a comparable sized PGA or LPGA Tour Player – we started to see more confused Golfers and worse scores!
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How often do you have the dilemma of hitting your Irons well, but not hitting your Driver or Fairway Woods well? A Golfer said to me the other day that he needs to work specifically on his Fairway Woods. And I believe that if he did hit his fairway woods better, that his scores would improve dramatically. So the next step has to be – how do we work on his Fairway Woods?
Do we go to the practice facility and practice hitting his 5-wood over and over until he hits it better? Do we have him hit a few shots with his Fairway Wood, then go over a drill for him to practice for five or ten minutes, then go back to hitting with his 5 wood?
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The golf course may be the one place that we can all congregate and be on the same side – supporting to each other after bad shots and cheering one another after fabulous drives. It’s the place that a Democrat can give a pat on the back to a Republican and a Republican can high-5 a Democrat. It’s the place that Conservatives can say “Alright, awesome shot – that was fantastic” to a Liberal and a Liberal can say “it was a pleasure to play with you” to a Conservative.
On the golf course it’s ‘all for one and one for all’ – enjoyable golf is a bipartisan initiative.
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The end of the golf season is approaching for many Golfers. As most Golfers in North America and Europe start to clean their clubs before putting them away in storage for the winter (you do clean them … don’t you?), the question that must be asked is: Did you have fun playing golf this past summer?
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Your Driver might just be the most important club in your bag. If you’re hitting it badly – you’re most likely not having a fun time on the golf course. Or to put it in even sharper terms – When you’re not hitting your Driver well – Golf Stinks!
So how do you hit your Driver better? Ahh, there’s probably been a million articles written about this subject!
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Number One – Perfection. Most Golfers would deny it, but we’re all trying to be perfect out on the golf course. You may say – ‘I know I can’t hit every shot perfect’. But how many times have you hit an OK shot onto the green from 125 yards away and complained because you were on the opposite side of the green as the flag? You should use this Green in Regulation to build confidence. You should be making your PLAN to make your putt – yet you’re complaining about hitting a Green in Regulation.
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It’s so easy to lose your focus and PLAN after making a Double or Triple bogey on the golf course. For most Golfers, a Double or Triple is often followed on the next hole with another Double or Triple. And that’s precisely why you constantly hear Golfers saying things like – “Ohh, I could’ve broken 90, but I had a 3 hole stretch where I went Double, Triple, Double. If I could’ve just limited those to Bogey’s, I’d have scored in the 80’s!”
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The Masters is a good place to find ideas you can use to improve your golf game. The golf course plays tough; you have a grouping of the best Players in the world gathered together and they’re playing under more pressure than probably any other golf tournament!
One of the great aspects of watching the Masters on television is the number of cameras in the best possible positions – not just to see where the Players hit their balls, but you get to see them PLAN their shots.
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Have You Ever Lost It On The Golf Course?
The answer is Optimism. The question – What does every round of golf start with? How many holes on the golf course does your optimism last? Can you make it past the 15th hole without losing some optimism? Ok, ok – can you make it past the 7th hole without losing some optimism about your game? How about the 3rd hole?
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If you had to choose which group of clubs you had to take out of your bag, which would you choose? Group A – Your 3, 4 and 5 irons or Group B – Your Pitching Wedge and Sand Wedge
Which would you choose A or B?
Now if you chose Group A, you’re without the services of three clubs that’ll give you distance to get down the fairway and also give you the chance to hit the green from far away. These clubs are often referred to as Long Irons. And to many Golfers, their whole experience on the golf course is determined by “how I hit my Long Irons today”.
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“BAD STREAK” You’re Not Alone.
We all go through “Good Streaks” on the golf course and “Bad Streaks”. Even Tiger and Annika go through their share of “Bad Streaks”. So you shouldn’t feel too bad when you go through your own “Bad Streak”.
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How many bad shots can you expect to hit during a round of golf? Or better yet – how many bad shots are you able to accept during a round of golf? And then to take it one step further – how many bad golf shots can you hit and still play your best round of golf ever?
Have you ever thought about that?
Are the answers one or two? Or are they as high as ten, twenty or fifty?
It all really depends on what level of Golfer you are, but it also depends on what you consider a bad shot.
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What is One Good Habit that Players do that you should try to copy so that you get better? Isn’t this an important question?
Let me give you an example of what I mean. And as you read this example, see if you know anyone that has a similar approach to the game.
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The Question: When should you practice your golf so that you play your best in May, June, July and August?
The Answer: For many Golfers, the next few months are the time you should be working to improve your golf game so that you’re ready for The Season. Unfortunately, many Golfers in the US, Canada and Europe don’t use this time effectively.
If you’re waiting for your season to start – you’re waiting too long. Players split their golf into two seasons – The Season and the Off Season. Monkeys unfortunately have just one season – The Season.
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‘Would You Be Happy Shooting An 83?’
Are you interested in shooting an 83? Well, if you’re a 6 handicap … probably not. However, if you currently score in the 90’s or 100’s … it probably sounds like a good goal to accomplish.
As I’m always fascinated in new ways to describe to Golfers how they can improve their game/score – I believe in an old phrase that a very successful individual once said to me: “To be successful, study successful people and do what they do.”
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Golf can be a crazy game. For a few holes you can be on top of the world. Then, all of a sudden you hit a bad shot and for the next 14 holes you feel like you have never swung a golf club before as everything feels wrong! “How can things go bad so fast?”
Or the opposite can happen. You’re playing terrible and then all of a sudden, something “pops” into your head – you try it and its magic. You now feel as if you’re just a few good rounds away from playing on the PGA Tour. “Why can’t I always swing like that?”
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The Golfer’s age old question is “what is the simplest, most effective way for me to improve my golf scores.” It’s a brilliant question – so I’m going to give you a brilliant answer!
Let’s start by talking about last week’s Nationwide Tour Event in Idaho – Hunter Haas won by scoring an impressive 4 round score of 21 under par. These 4 rounds included a 2nd round 64. So, I’d like to focus on his 64 as it could help you to understand how you could also start to improve your scores.
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How many times do you expect to hit your golf ball onto the green from over 200 yards away? Well, before you read anymore, please say your answer aloud so that you’re committed to your answer throughout this article. It will come in handy as we go forward!
Now, before we talk about the number you selected according to the question above, let’s see how the best in the world do from over 200 yards away. On the PGA Tour, they rank the top 180 Golfers for each statistical category, so to make this simple, I’m going to give you the stat for the 90th ranked PGA Tour Player as far as how far their golf ball ends away from the hole on shots from 200 to 225 yards away.
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Below are some questions that pertain to your golf game. By answering these questions we can find out what type of Golfer you are, what gets you motivated to play better and what aspect of your game you need to work on harder.
Now some of these questions are a little outlandish and will never happen on the golf course – but take these questions in stride and have FUN with them.
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Are you playing up to your potential on the golf course? Or are you still playing to the same level you were 3 years ago? A Player is constantly improving their game by using a “Results Based Approach” of having a PLAN to improve. A Monkey continues to stay frustrated with their golf game because they’re continually listening to the advice of other Golfers that struggle. We refer to this as using a “Theories And Assumptions Based Approach”.
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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.
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So my question for you this week is – “How often are you hitting your 3 wood each round of golf?”
Nearly every Golfer that we see on the golf course is in the habit of using their 3 wood too often during a round of golf. In fact we believe that most Golfers could improve anywhere between 3 to 7 strokes by leaving their 3 wood at home! Now there are some Golfers that hit their 3 wood well … however, there are millions upon millions of Golfers that don’t.
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“It’s all in your left arm. I need to stop using my right hand. My right hand is ruining my golf swing!” That’s all we hear from right-handed Golfers coming to see us. Everything these right-handed Golfers have told us is that the power comes from their left side. And the sad part is that a right handed Golfer saying they’re using too much right hand is a statement that is way off-base and just underlines and boldfaces why Golfers continue to struggle.
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Would a Golfer with poor balance have a better or worse chance of having a consistent golf swing?
The obvious answer seems to be that the Golfer that doesn’t have good balance would have a more inconsistent golf swing than the Golfer that employs good, solid balance. So if that’s true – why haven’t you worked on your balance? If true – should you be spending your time working on your swing path and swing plane or should you be working on your balance skills? Could poor balance be causing your swing path, swing plane and clubface issues?
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We believe that more strokes are lost with bad drives than are lost with bad putts. And although you have been brainwashed to believe that putting is the most important part of your score – your Driver wields even more influence than your putter.
Are you more likely to hit a bad tee shot after making a double bogey (or worse) on the previous hole? Or are you more likely to hit a bad tee shot after making a birdie on the previous hole?
It is amazing how many Golfers I have seen make a great birdie (or miraculous par) on one hole and then get up on the next tee box and hit their worst drive of the day. Why is it that after having a terrific hole would you follow it up with a terrible tee shot?
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Is it possible to continually get better and better every time you go to the golf course or driving range? Yes, I believe that every Golfer has the ability to make small improvements every time they go to the golf course. This is not to say that you have the ability to continually improve one stroke each round you play – as that would have limits.
There’s nothing like the expectation of standing on the tee feeling confident that you’re going to make a nice, smooth golf swing that produces a great drive down the middle of the fairway. Being able to watch the golf ball sail through the air as it splits the fairway is worth everything and anything!
That’s what we want every time we step on the tee. It’s what I want, it’s what Tiger wants, it’s what Annika wants – and I’m sure it is what you want.
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As we move from August to September – it would be nice to hear that your golf scores continually improved throughout the summer. Which brings me to this question: “were you playing to improve each round or were you more focused on searching for your golf swing every time it was your shot?” It would be great to hear that most Golfers were improving each round … yet reality is that most Golfers spend 18 holes just trying to survive from golf swing to golf swing.
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I recently observed a situation you mightl be surprised to hear. In fact, many of you may not believe this story at all.
On the golf course the other day, I was watching a mid 90’s to mid 100’s Golfer play a few holes. On the 1st hole (a Par 4), this Golfer was on the green in 3 shots and then 3 putted for a 6. On the 2nd hole (a Par 4), was on in 2 shots and 3 putted for a 5. On the 3rd hole (a Par 3), was on in 1 shot and 3 putted for a 4.
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Have you ever hit a golf shot that felt so good and effortless that you said to yourself – “that was perfect. Why can’t I consistently make that same golf swing everytime?”
What’s the issue that’s standing in your way of an effortless golf swing and being able to say: “I hardly felt like I put any effort into that swing and look how far it went!”
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These quotes make me cringe on the golf course because they might be holding you back from becoming more consistent –
“That was a bad shot because I picked up my head” (Trust me, the reason you hit the bad shot happened well before your head moved. The feeling you have that you picked up your head didn’t have anything to do with your bad shot. Unfortunately the more you rely on keeping your head perfectly still … the more inconsistent you will become. Yes, what I wrote might be a tough pill to swallow … however it’s the truth. The head of a PGA Tour Pro moves 3 to 5 inches on their backswing … how can you realistically expect for your head to stay still?)
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Why is it that some Golfers improve so swiftly and some Golfers don’t improve as fast?
How is it possible that we see a Golfer that struggles to break 100 and then within a few weeks, he/she is emailing us about shooting an 88? Yet, how is it possible that we also can get an email from time to time from a similar Golfer that writes – “Although, I feel as if I improved, my scores aren’t showing the improvement I’ve seen from other Golfers that have written to you on your website and in Golf Improvement Weekly each week.”
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The day has come for you to make a commitment to your Golf Game.
The Player makes a commitment to “play to their Strengths and stay away from their Weaknesses!”
The Monkey doesn’t even make an attempt to know what their Strengths and Weaknesses are!
So what are your Strengths and Weaknesses? Most Golfers aren’t honest about what they do well, or what they do great or what they’re so inconsistent in doing that they shouldn’t even consider doing it on the golf course.
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You know, I give more credit to a 16 handicap that goes to a 3 handicap than I give to a Golfer that makes it to the PGA Tour. Don’t get me wrong – the PGA Tour Player is the greatest Golfer in the world. The skill level of this Player is off the charts. Though, a Golfer that has limited time to work on their game as they juggle family, career and the time those two factors take away from golf time – to be able to improve your average score by 13 strokes into the low single digits is more than impressive.
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Your Warm-up to play golf can be such an over-looked aspect in how you play on the golf course. Many Golfers take it for granted how vital the process of warming-up can be to your results on the golf course.
And although there are many types of Golfers that play many different styles of golf on the course – there aren’t many different styles of warming-up that are exhibited by everyday Golfers. By my count there are basically 4 different styles of Golfers for warming-up besides the GMS Golfer style.
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How Do You Play To Your Strengths?
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It seems to me that we’ve gotten away from what we’re playing golf for. In our attempts to hit the golf ball better we have lost the art of strategy.
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These days more is written about the golf swing than I can ever remember. It seems as if almost every year there’s a hot new golf swing that everybody is trying. Did you try one of these “new” golf swings this summer? Have you ever been involved in a conversation like the one below?
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How can you become more consistent with your Golf Swing? What do you need to do to become more consistent? In order to become consistent – watch consistent people! And there’s nobody more consistent on the golf course than the Players on the PGA Tour!
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Why do we call a frustrated Golfer a Monkey? It has nothing to do with one’s ability. It has to do with how a Golfer goes about learning. I’ve seen Monkey’s that shoot in the low 80’s and I’ve seen Players that are just starting to break 100. The difference is that the Monkey will become frustrated because they’re in the same scoring range for an extended period of time – while the Player is excited because they’re seeing improvement every time they step on the golf course.
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Are you sick and tired of going into each new golf season with high expectations and then ending your season not reaching your goals? Then you promise yourself that you’re going to work hard during the winter to work on your grip, your swing plane, keeping your head still. And every year around this time I get the same emails – “Marc, where I live I can’t play during the Winter, but I want to be ready for the spring. What can I practice inside my garage during the Winter?”
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The thought of swinging too hard is enough to make even the best Golfer stop to take a deep breath. For as long as many of us can remember, it’s been beaten into our brains that swinging too hard is one of the 3 Golf Commandments never to betray.
And so it is that whenever you hit a bad drive – the first thing that pops out of the mouth of anybody within a half-wedge away is: ‘Man, you looked like you were really trying to kill that ball!’ And your reply is most likely: ‘Yeah, I tried to hit that one a mile.’
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Congratulations to Brian Vranesh. Who’s Brian Vranesh? He’s Mr. 81 on the PGA Tour this year!
What’s Mr. 81? He’s the first Player on the PGA Tour this year to score above 80. Now this isn’t to make fun of or ridicule Vranesh – this is just to show that even people who play golf for a living can have a “bad” round. Yet a “bad” score for Mr. Vranesh might actually be a great round for you. As GMS is a big believer in using a Result Based Approach to help Golfers improve – and the results of our Golfers show GMS works – we’re going to use Vranesh’s “bad” 81 to help you score a “great” 81.
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I overheard a conversation the other day at the golf course where two Golfers were debating the importance of either a One Plane Golf Swing or a Two Plane Golf Swing. So when I hear Golf Conversations like this – I enjoy listening (at least for a couple minutes) to Golfers talk about such important matters.
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So we left off last week’s Why Henry Hates Golf speaking about how to get the golf ball up in the air. The common fallacy in golf is that you need to get underneath the golf ball to get it up in the air. And if you try to get underneath the golf ball – you’re probably going to either hit behind the golf ball (meaning the ground before the ball – which is never good to do, unless you’re in a sand bunker next to the green) or you’re going to avoid hitting the ground by compensating in some way that you’ll end up hitting the top of the golf ball.
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Can you improve your swing by working on it 100% of the time? Can you improve your swing even more by working on your swing 50% of the time and working on your body 50% of the time? There’s no doubt you’d find a lot more consistency splitting your time between practicing your swing and working on your body – than if you just worked on your swing 100% of the time!
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More than a few Golfers have written to me asking if I could write an article on “how to keep my poise and play golf with very slow Golfers”. This seems to be an issue that affects a lot of Golfers and your ability to keep your rhythm going on the golf course.
Let me start by telling you a story about my golf game the other day. Unfortunately, I don’t play as much golf as you probably think I do. So when I do have a chance to play – it’s a special treat. Then add the fact that I was going to meet an old friend I hadn’t seen in over a year and that I was also playing at my all-time favorite golf course … well, you can then understand my disappointment being paired up with Mr. Coors Light.
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With much awaited anticipation Golf Improvement Weekly has arrived in 2007. From Golf Made Simple, we wish all of our readers a very Happy and Healthy New Year. If you have not read the previous issues from December 2006, you may be asking yourself “Who is Henry?” Henry is a frustrated golfer and is in need of some helpful advice about the game of golf.
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Continuing from last weeks ‘Why Henry Hates Golf’ we left off with Henry saying to Marc that he is frustrated with his game and wants to become more consistent. Marc starts to speak about what the best players do to become more consistent and Henry is eagerly awaiting his answer.
“Well Henry, first you’ll need to find where your strengths and weaknesses are in order to really know where you need to practice.”
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Why is it that on the first tee you can always tell who’s a Player and who’s struggling with inconsistency. I mean even before this Golfer swings to hit the golf ball – you can tell how good a shot they’re going to make. The Player just has this look about him/her – they reek of confidence that tells you that they’re a Player that’s going to hit a beautiful shot – to the point that even if you’re not in this Player’s group, you stop everything you’re doing just to watch them swing. Can you picture that scenario? And I’m not talking about how they dress. It has nothing to do with their clothes – but more to do with their actions.
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Hitting the golf ball farther should be a priority of yours. If you look at the top Golfers in the world – the majority of them hit the golf ball a good distance. The problem is that many Golfers continually hit bad golf shots because of their quest to hit the golf ball farther.
For the struggling Golfer – hitting the golf ball longer usually comes down to swinging harder. For the Player – hitting the golf ball longer comes down to having an efficient golf swing so that every part of your body is moving together. There’s a huge difference between these two strategies.
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Can you improve your golf game by watching John Daly? Yes, you absolutely can. You just have to know what to look for.
As much fun as it used to be to watch John Daly hit a golf ball – it’s sad to see him now. It doesn’t look as if he’s having a fun time on the golf course – well, I guess the same can be said of most Golfers that are struggling. If you only were able to see Daly during his prime on television when he – ‘Gripped it and Ripped it’, you missed something special because there was nothing like seeing him live and standing next to him as he hit a golf ball. It was incredible!
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“Only A Small Percentage Of Golfers Will Improve”
Why we call a frustrated Golfer a Monkey has nothing to do with one’s ability or the scores that you shoot. It has to do with how a Golfer goes about the learning and improvement process. I’ve seen Players that are just starting to break 100 and I’ve seen Monkeys that shoot in the low 80’s. The difference is that the Monkey will become frustrated because they’re in the same scoring range for an extended period of time – while the Player is excited because they’re seeing improvement every time they step on the golf course.
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‘How To Fix The Cause Of Golf Swing Problems?’
All I want for Christmas is a …. Golf swing. Imagine if it was as easy as sending a letter to the North Pole.
“Santa, all I want is a consistent golf game. I’ve been a good ___ (girl or boy, you fill in the blank). I’ve been nice to the ones around me. And yes, I have been practicing hard for the last few years to improve my golf swing. Yet, like most people – I don’t improve as much as I should, regardless of what I do. Please, please, please put a brand new, shiny golf swing under the tree for me this year!
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‘I’m going to try to the Stack and Tilt. I’ve tried the 8 Step Swing, The X Factor, Slow and Low, Square to Square, along with every other new swing that has come out.
‘I’ve tried video analysis, I’ve tried Golf Tec, I’ve even tried getting down on my hands and knees to pray.
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“I hate this game! I hate it! Why do I play this stupid game? I quit – I’m never playing again!” Henry blasted himself.
I heard Henry as he was walking to his car and wondered why he was so down on himself. Henry is a hard worker, I see him at least once a week hitting balls on the practice range. I’ll be going to the first tee with a Golf Made Simple class to do our on-course Instruction and there will be Henry banging balls on the practice range – one after another – “looking for the magic”.
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Would You Rather hit the golf ball 300 yards and have 41 putts a round or Would You Rather hit the ball 200 yards and have 27 putts a round?
Both the 300 yard drives and the 27 putts are great stats to have. Both signify that you have talent. But, it’s rare to have a Golfer that can do both. I guess the way I look at it is – 100 yards more off the tee box doesn’t equal 14 strokes. Besides it’s a lot simpler to acquire a good putting stroke than it is to acquire the swing speed (and control of that swing speed to make center contact) so that you can propel the ball an extra 100 yards. So why not improve your scores instantly by practicing your putting more this year?
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If you’re looking to improve your golf game and understand how a Player practices (as opposed to how a struggling Golfer practices) – read the below paragraphs and fill in the blanks as they pertain to your golf game. Then below that section – we’ll explain how you can use your answers to improve your golf game, golf scores and golf swing.
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Golfers will go to great lengths to hit the golf ball better. Many Golfers have a tendency to believe just about anybody and everybody that promises to have a Theory on a better golf swing. And although in the back of your mind – you know that much of this stuff is too good to be true – your passion for golf overwhelms all sense of better judgment.
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As it typical happens, the Golfer that hit the golf ball the best, won the Masters. Adam Scott led the field in hitting the most Greens in Regulation by hitting 55 out of the 72 greens … including 30 of 36 for the last two rounds!
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.
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The idea that golf needs to be as complicated as many Golfers are making it is a frustrating/confusing concept to me. Every week, I hear of a new, groundbreaking concept that someone has come up with that’ll help all Golfers to hit the golf ball farther and straighter. I’ve heard about new grips, swing plane concepts, weight transfer systems, along with stuff I don’t want to even mention that supposedly will make your swing automatic.
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Stats are a great way for you to understand what your expectations should be on the golf course. And believe it or not, many Golfers expectations of what the range of scores that they should be scoring is far off. For example: once a Golfer scores a 95 for the first time, they usually expect to score from 95 to 100 in their next 10 rounds. And when this doesn’t happen, there’s a sense of that you’re not improving and possibly getting worse.
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So the Golfer said to me – “I want to get my swing on video so I can see what I’m doing wrong. I want to compare my swing side by side to a PGA Tour Player’s swing to see what I need to correct.”
And I said to myself – Here’s another Golfer that’s about to take a drive down the infamously long road of Frustrated Golfer Lane. For some Golfers this road never ends – it just goes on and on and on until they either quit or just accept their fate of not being a good Golfer (or as some frustrated Golfers would call themselves – I’m just a hack).
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Would you be happy if you shot what might be your best score ever in an important event or tournament, then shot a disappointing score the next round? Would you celebrate or would you lament?
Can Your Golf Swing Produce A 300 Yard Drive?
Understanding the true distance you hit the golf ball might be one of the top 5 factors in improving your golf swing. Most Golfers have no idea what distance they hit the golf ball and because of that ….. well, bad things happen.
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When’s the last time you gave your golf game a thorough self assessment to find where you need to improve the most?
Most Golfers can not give themselves an accurate assessment about their golf game because they do not diligently track what they do well and what they’re inconsistent with. They just go out on the golf course and play. If they hit a good shot … “that was a good shot.” If they hit a bad shot … “I am so inconsistent!”
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Has there ever been an athletic movement more over taught, with “to-do’s” and “not-to-do’s” … than the golf swing? These Golden Rules cause more confusion in the Golf swing than they help to correct.
The idea of standing on the first tee without knowing how you are going hit your first tee shot is enough to make a grown man cry. Believe me … I have seen the tears after watching Golfers hit bad tee shots.
Do you make better golf swings while thinking about what number shot you are about to play? Well, approximately 80% of Golfers are doing the same by thinking about score as they continually suffer from inconsistent golf swings. Thus, I hope you read our thoughts below so that you can find a better way to become more consistent.
Who would like to shoot 81 for 18 holes? Without a doubt, at least 8 out of every 10 Golfers would love this! If you’re one of the 8, the first thing you need to do is have the correct expectations as far as how well you need to hit the golf ball.
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What’s the secret to getting more distance with your golf swing? How can a PGA or LPGA Tour Player hit the golf ball so far … yet make it look so effortless? What is their secret to more distance?
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What’s the hardest thing in golf? While you may ask eight Golfers that question – you may receive eight different answers. Yet, the one answer always in the Top 2 will be … “Moving onto the next shot after a bad shot.”
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Most Golfers that want to improve their golf swing often go on a rollercoaster ride of ups and downs. Once they finally start to get a feeling of hitting the golf ball great … and getting close to the summit of golf swing perfection … out of nowhere, for no apparent reason, their golf swing starts to go downhill.
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What is it about the sand bunker shot that scares the pants off some Golfers?
Why is it that some Golfers can just hop in the sand, look at the target, wiggle their feet into the sand and get the ball out every time? Yet some Golfers go into the sand knowing what they exactly need to do, feel like they’re doing everything correctly – yet, the ball is often left in the sand or hit on a line drive over the green into perhaps another sand bunker?
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“Fixing Your Slice Off The Tee Comes Down To Feeling Your Golf Swing”
If there’s one thing that haunts Golfers more than missing a 3-foot putt, it has to be slicing the ball off the tee. Fixing your slice can be a complicated task or it can be a simple solution – the choice is up to you.
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Based on working with over 1,200 Golfers each year … one of the most taught golf tips that Golfers are working on is called “Toe-up to Toe-up”.
Unfortunately for people trying to improve their golf swing … “Toe-up to Toe-up” has been taught so often that it has been pretty much annointed as being as important as “keeping your head down” and “keeping your left arm straight”.
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Do you know how to caddie yourself into a good round of golf?
The best Players in the world are much better than the rest of us with all facets of golf. Really, to compare ourselves to being anywhere close to as good as a PGA or LPGA Tour Player would be the same as comparing yourself to Eli Manning (in the US) or Wayne Rooney (in Europe) on the football field.
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The frustrated Golfer is constantly trying to incorporate new swing tips into their golf swing. Although trying a new tip into your swing each time you go to the golf course is a consistent habit. Trying to implement the swing tip into your golf swing is not.
The end of the golf season often ends with most Golfers dreaming about how much better they want to next spring. Which means an inconsistent season is often ended with the thought of next year … “I’m going to do it. I’m going to work hard to finally improve my game.”
Continuing from last week’s Golf Improvement Weekly about the length of your drives ….. Tiger Woods only hits a drive over 300 yards 24% of the time. Or in other words – only once in four drives. So if his drives over 300 yards can be considered his best drives – then 3 out of every 4 drives the ‘Best Player On The Planet’ hits would have to be classified as either average or below average for Tiger.
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There are a few characteristics of a consistent Player that all Golfers should be striving to achieve. For if you don’t know what it takes to be consistent … how will you ever make it there? As most Golfers just go out and do the same things over and over again, repeating the same mistakes in their approach to becoming consistent – they’re often left wondering why they never improve.
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85% of the Golfers we see average more over par on the Par 5’s than on the Par 3’s.
Yet, the Pro’s are far more under Par on the Par 5’s than the Par 3’s. It’s completely opposite between the best Players in the world and the regular Golfer. Maybe there’s something we can learn from the best Players?
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If you had a chance to go back to the beginning of your golf – what would you change?
And as I can hear the echo of 1,000’s of Golfers right now saying: “I would have started playing at a younger age” … that isn’t what I’m looking for.
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Why do some Golfers improve while others are stagnant for years? I know of one Golfer that has been playing for 15 years and has been a 21 handicap for 13 of those years. I also know of another Golfer that first came to GMS 3 years ago as a 28 handicap and is already down to an 11 handicap.
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Who would you rather play golf like – Phil Mickelson or Joe Durant? Now Joe Durant is a fine Player or he wouldn’t be on the PGA Tour – though I’m sure that Joe Durant wishes he could play like Mickelson. So unless you’re Joe Durant’s mother, I’m assuming you’d pick Mickelson.
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One of the perks we receive at GMS is that we’re forwarded every email in hyperspace that has a reference to golf. Some are good, some are bad and some are excellent. I’ve now seen two excellent golf emails in the last 6 months.
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Why do some Golfers improve while others are stagnant for years? How is it possible that one Golfer that has been playing for 15 years has been a 21 handicap for 13 of those years and another Golfer that has been playing for 3 ½ years is already down to an 11 handicap. And the kicker is that they practiced just as much, they’re both in good shape, they both want to improve just as much as the other and they both have bought new equipment in the last couple of years.
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