Category: Consistency

Connection Equals Consistency In Your Golf Swing from Golf Schools by Golf Made Simple on Vimeo.

Understanding Your ‘Swing Feel’ Will Improve Your Consistency!

February 7, 20190 commentsConsistency, Golf Swing Tips, Hip Turn, Shoulder Turn

Your golf swing can be finicky – one hole it can feel as if you’re ready to play Professionally … and the next hole you feel like you’ve never picked up a golf club before.

Where does it go? And more importantly … “How Do I Get It Back?!”

We’ve found that Happy Golfers are able to Feel the movements in their golf swing … better than Frustrated Golfers are able to. That doesn’t mean that they’re thinking about the different parts of their swing. It just means they have a higher sense of knowing when something is slightly off.

Whereas a Frustrated Golfer usually doesn’t sense their swing is off until they hit the golf ball … the Happy Golfer can Feel (sense) that something is off before they set-up to hit the golf ball. As well as understand how to use a drill so that they regain their swing in a minimal amount of time.

‘Go ahead, Be a Happy Golfer!’

Regards,

Marc Solomon, PGA – Your Instructor For Life
www.GolfMadeSimple.com

‘The Solution – What Moves Your Golf Swing?’ (video) Golf Improvement Weekly

October 24, 20180 commentsConsistency, Distance, Driver, Golf Swing Tips, Practice, Slicing, Swing Power
This week … we’re going to start speaking about and demonstrating the ‘Cause’ of the issues creating frustration in your golf swing. In prior weeks … we’ve spoken about the ‘Effects’ that most Golfers are struggling to correct in their golf swing.

How much have you focused on your Center of Gravity when practicing and/or playing? Well, if you haven’t … you should! Your Center of Gravity dictates how well your arms, hips and legs move together when swinging your golf club.

What does a happy, successful Golfer think about and try to do in their golf swing?

What does the frustrated Golfer think about and try to do?

What Moves Your Golf Swing – Golf Improvement Weekly from Marc Solomon, PGA Professional on Vimeo.

Are You Coming Over The Top In Your Golf Swing? (video) – Golf Improvement Weekly

October 23, 20180 commentsAccuracy, Consistency, Distance, Golf Swing Tips, Irons, PGA Insights, Practice, Slicing, Swing Power, Woods

‘Over The Top, Outside In, Casting … Why Can’t I Stop?’

The over-taught golf swing often creates problems … rather than solving them. One of these swing issues is often mis-diagnosed as a ‘Cause’ … when in fact, it’s an ‘Effect’.
“If I could fix my over the top swing …I could hit the ball better!”
Yet, the more things you try to incorporate into your golf swing … the more bouts of inconsistency you need to battle against.

Why You May Have Trouble Completing Your Follow Through (video) – Golf Improvement Weekly

October 23, 20180 commentsAccuracy, Consistency, Distance, Driver, Golf Swing Tips, Irons, Slicing, Swing Power, Woods

‘Are You Hanging Back And Having Trouble Finishing Your Swing?!’

A huge number of Golfers tell us they have trouble shifting their weight & following through … which causes them to lose distance and accuracy!
“If I could just shift my weight and complete my swing … I’d be happy!”
It seems like it should be such an easy thing to do … but, why do so many Golfers consistently have trouble finishing their swing?

Is it OK to Bend My Left Arm? (video) – Golf Improvement Weekly

October 23, 20180 commentsConsistency, Driver, Golf Swing Tips, Practice, Slicing, Swing Power

‘My Arm Is Bending … I Need To Keep It Straight!’

You’ve heard it a million times … and you’ve felt it happen more times than you want to admit!
“You need to keep your left arm straight … you need to stop chicken winging it on your follow-through!”
It seems like it should be such an easy thing to do … but, you can’t consistently control it even when you concentrate to make sure you it doesn’t bend.

Your Play Zone Creates Your Swing

September 11, 20180 commentsConsistency, Golf Psychology, Having A PLAN

Your Play Zone Creates Your Swing

There are three different Golfers that play on the course. Which one are you?:

  1. The Player that works as hard as necessary to hit the ball their best so they can score their best
  2. The Golfer that wants to play well enough to score respectively so that they can go out and confidently play with other Golfers
  3. The Person that really doesn’t care how they play … they just want to walk, talk and try to hit the ball well enough not to slow up the other Golfers

Regardless of whether you’re Golfer 1, 2, or 3 … the key is you know which group you belong to. Because if you want to achieve your goal of enjoying your time on the golf course … you need to understand your motive for playing.

The problem arises when Golfer 2 starts to take the personality of Golfer 1 (score!, score!, score!). Because now you’re getting out of your comfort zone as far as how intense you become on the course, as well as how critical you are of yourself each shot.

This getting out of your Play (Comfort) Zone also happens when Golfer 2 starts to fall into the traits of Golfer 3. Because in order to find the perfect balance between fun and good scores … you also need to concentrate enough to make a PLAN before each shot.

Now, this isn’t limited to Golfer 2 … similar scenarios apply for Golfer 1 and 3 when they move away from their Play Zone.

For Golfer 2, a round of golf can be a rollercoaster, with you feeling good playing holes 1, 2 and 3 — before slowly moving into the intense traits of Golfer 1 for holes 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8.

So by the time you get to the 9th tee … you’re playing so poorly that you can’t even smile. Which means you’re now morphing into an unmotivated Golfer 3 for holes 9, 10, 11, and 12 — until you make a heroic putt on the 12th green to somehow salvage Par after not smelling a good score since hole #3.

While now feeling great on the 13th tee because you somehow regained hope (back to being Golfer 2) – you continue playing well on holes 13, 14, and 15 … until falling back into Golfer 1 for 16 and 17. Which causes you to become too frustrated to care … as you play 18 with the attributes of Golfer 3.

Thus, you played a round with 6 good holes and 12 holes divided between mediocre and frustrating results.

Whether you’re Golfer 1, 2, or 3 is up to you. But, regardless of what type of Golfer you are … to enjoy yourself … you need to know your Play (Comfort) Zone. Because everything becomes easy when you do! Your swing feels smooth, the golf ball does what you expect it to do … Life Is Good!

Though, when you move away from your personality … things start to become more difficult. As your swing doesn’t feel as smooth or as in sync as it was when you were in your Zone. And regardless of how much you breakdown your swing mechanics … you won’t see any improvement that round until you get back into your Play Zone.

What happened? Why’d you lose your swing?

Yes, good mechanics in your golf swing are necessary. And inconsistent swing habits will cause bad shots. However, those inconsistent habits are more easily controlled and fixed when you stay in your Play Zone.

The Player has fun on the golf course because they stay with their PLAN

The Monkey doesn’t have a PLAN … so he/she floats between moments of brilliance and frustration more often

Go ahead, be a Player!

Regards,

Marc Solomon – Your Instructor For Life

How You Practice Determines Your Success

January 16, 20180 commentsConsistency, Golf Psychology, Having A PLAN, Practice

How You Practice Determines Your Success

Do you ever think about your practice on the driving range? Or do you just go out and hit ball after ball … hoping that something will eventually click?

If that’s how you practice your golf swing off the course … that’s most likely your strategy while on the golf course. Swinging at the ball thinking that something will click and produce a great shot.

With the hardest part of this process being able to repeat that one good swing with another one, and another, and another for what you hope is 46 consecutive good shots!

That’s like the person that says “I’m not going to work to make money … I’m just going to play the lottery each week until I win.”

Although you’ll most likely hit more good shots in a round of golf than the number of times you win the lottery … it still won’t produce enough satisfactory results to please you.

Hitting good shots isn’t a game of chance … it’s about aquiring skill through smartly designed practice sessions.

How Do The Best Coaches Do It?

If you watch football … you know that Alabama just won another College Football Championship — their 5th time in 9 years. So the question that could be asked that relates to your golf game is — ‘how are the coaches of that program able to have their players playing at such a high level … so consistently?’

The word I’ve heard is ‘competition’. They make each player compete at practice … every practice!

Do you feel like you’re competing for a chance to play when you practice your golf game? Or are you like the majority of Golfers out there hitting balls … hoping you find something?

When I speak about getting into a competitive attitude when practicing … you’re not competing for a spot to play against 4 other talented players at your position. However, adopting a Practice PLAN helps to put a competitive spirit into your practice.

Why?

Because it’s amazing what we can do when we push ourselves to do better. Yet, out of the Golfers going to hit golf balls … a big chunk of these Golfers aren’t improving or are getting worse.

Imagine if the Alabama football team was practicing and the team wasn’t getting better. Would their coach, Nick Saban, continue to practice the same way, practice after practice? “Alright team, we’ve lost a couple games in a row … let’s continue practicing the same way we’ve been practicing!”

How about you? If you’re not happy with how you’re hitting the golf ball … what do you do?

Do you go out without much of a PLAN besides just hitting range balls? Do you continue to work on the same specific thing in your swing? Do you work on something completely different? And most importantly … using these methods … did you see improvement or continued frustration?

With all the information literally at our finger tips … it’s easy for a Golfer to get distracted as far as what to work on in your swing. It’s so easy to watch a video on Youtube and then think – “yes, that’s me. That’s what I’m doing wrong!”

When in fact, it may have nothing to do with what the error in your swing is. And more to do with you being a Golfer that’s desperate for a solution.

Yet, the consistency you have will always come back to whether you have a Practice PLAN … or if you’re just hitting balls hoping something will suddenly click.

The Player understands how to read the flight of their ball and relate it to their Feel … thus, they can create a personalized Practice PLAN

The Monkey hits range balls hoping to one day hit the Golfer Lottery

Go ahead, be a Player!

Regards,

Marc Solomon – Your Instructor For Life

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What’s Consistency In Your Golf Swing?

December 22, 20170 commentsConsistency

What is consistency in your golf swing? If you hit 7 out of 10 shots well … would that be good enough? Or would you need to hit 10 out of 10 shots in order to call yourself consistent?

Though, before you can determine whether your shot was up to your standards … you first need need to decide what you consider to be a good shot. Because a Golfer that scores above 90 can’t hold him/herself to the standards of a low 80’s Golfer.

Meaning we see Golfers that score above 90 and 100 hit shots that are similar to the average shot taken by a low 80’s Golfer … tell me the shot wasn’t good enough.

So what’s often “acceptable” by the low 80’s Golfer isn’t consistent enough for a 90+ Golfer. The above “not good enough” runs rampant through many Golfers that hold their golf swing with too high a standard.

What is considered Consistency for you? Until you can determine what it is … you won’t be able to find it.

And although people will always tell us that they know they’ll never be on the PGA Tour … they still use that Player’s skill at hitting great shot after great shot as a measuring stick for their own game.

However, this will do you more harm than good. As you’ll be in a consistent state of disappointment because you’ll never be as consistent as these Golfers that spend over 50 hours a week working on their game, strength and flexibility.

How consistent is the PGA Tour Player?

The average Tour Player hits the fairway using their Driver 60% of the time. That means that they miss the fairway 5 or 6 times each round. Would you consider yourself consistent or inconsistent with your Driver if you hit “only” 8 fairways and missed 6?

The vast majority of Golfers we see would proudly declare how inconsistent they were if they only hit 60% of the fairways. Yet everyone of them would take the “inconsistent” swing of some familiar Players that hit less than 6 out of 10 fairways: Bubba Watson, Justin Rose, Dustin Johnson, Adam Scott, Rory McIlroy, Jason Day, Phil Mickelson.

All of whom are “inconsistent” with their Driver and hit less than 60% of their fairways.

Before you can become consistent … you must determine what’s consistent for your skill level. And what’s consistent for the skill level you hope to achieve. Because you might be the person that will never allow yourself to improve as your expectations of what consistency is … are too high.

A 95 Golfer can’t compare themselves to a 6 handicap. The 6 is a 6 most likely because he/she has more time to practice, is more physically gifted, has been playing for a far longer time, and/or has learned from superior Instructors. Thus, a 95 Golfer that doesn’t have the above traits … can’t expect to be as consistent.

It’s like going to the gym to lift weights. If you go to workout once a week and another person has gone 5 times a week for 15 years … will you be able to bench press as much as them?

If you try to lift the same amount of weight as they are … you’re going to physically hurt yourself. Kind of like how you might be mentally hurting yourself on the golf course expecting to have the consistency of the 6 handicap.

The Player understands that ok shots are sometimes good enough

The Monkey needs to understand what level of consistency is acceptable before they can improve

Go ahead, be a Player!

Regards,

Marc Solomon – Your Instructor For Life

www.GolfMadeSimple.com

Why Do You Sometimes Lose Your Golf Swing?

October 24, 20160 commentsConsistency

“The Disappearing Golf Swing!”

Have you ever played a round of golf where you were hitting the golf ball well and then all of a sudden you lost your golf swing?

We call that the Disappearing Golf Swing.

We often hear comments from frustrated Golfers that are just coming to see us such as: “I just lost my golf swing! I don’t know what I’m doing wrong. I was doing alright, playing my average game … and then I just lost it!”

This situation shouldn’t be handled with panic or anxiety. Your golf swing is not lost. You still have your golf swing. You don’t just lose it. However, it is our job to help you find what are some of the causes (bad habits and compensations) that contributed to the Disappearing Golf Swing.

“So Marc, if I haven’t lost it … where did it go?”

Your golf swing may disappear for a little while as it is impossible to be 100% consistent for 4 hours on the golf course. 100% consistency really has never happened in the history of the game. So if a Professional Golfer that has been practicing for 6 hours a day, 7 days a week for 20 years has a Disappearing Golf Swing … you should expect for it to happen to you.

Now, I absolutely know that I will be receiving emails from “experts” that tell me that I shouldn’t tell Golfers that they should expect to have a Disappearing Golf Swing … continuing by telling me that Golfers should always stay positive and expect for the best outcome.

I understand what these “experts” are saying, however that is not reality. And setting unrealistic expectations for yourself is the main reason a Golfer will more frequently experience a Disappearing Golf Swing.

Not accepting that you will have periods of bad streaks will cause you to start to fiddle and tinker with your golf swing. Thus having you move farther and farther away from what you were previously doing well. What causes a Golfer to go on a downward spiral? Fiddling and Tinkering.

There is a fine line between a great golf shot and a terrible golf shot. The difference is as small as a half inch – perhaps the distance between the center of your golf club and the toe of your golf club. How delicate is that half inch? Try this: place a coin in your hand; set-up as if you were going to hit a golf shot (with nothing in your hand except the coin). Now swing back (a full golf swing) and through, releasing (underhand tossing) the coin across the room.

Now leaving the original coin in its resting spot, take another coin and do this again. Were you able to have that other coin stop less than a half inch from the first coin? My first thought is that it probably isn’t that close.

What does the example above represent? It shows how difficult it is to be consistent. Meaning, if it is that difficult to be consistent doing something as easy as tossing a coin … how difficult is it to do something as difficult as making a golf swing to hit a golf ball?

Without exception your golf swing will disappear from time to time. It is something that will happen and you will need to live with. However, the better the skill level of the Golfer … the less time the golf swing will disappear.

This is where effective practice comes into play. The Golfer that goes to the driving range to merely hit golf balls often experiences longer periods of Disappearing Golf Swings because these are the Golfers that are most often confused with their golf swing. The Player that has an effective Practice PLAN of combining drills with the hitting of golf balls is the Golfer that experiences less time with a Disappearing Golf Swing.

How much time should you spend hitting golf ball versus doing drills? Well, the drills should take up most of your time on the driving range. What do I mean by that? Perhaps you should read the previous Golf Improvement Weekly from May 24th (Issue #332 “Better Golf Practice, Better Golf Swing!”) to getter an idea of what an effective practice session should look like.

First remember how difficult it was to make a consistent toss with that coin … and then you’ll understand how difficult it is to make a consistent golf swing. Thus, your Disappearing Golf Swing is nothing more than a lack of consistency. Yet, the more effective you practice … the more consistent you become. When’s the last time you really looked at the effectiveness of your practice routine?

The Monkey feels his/her swing has left them and starts to experiment with different golf tips their friends give them to find their golf swing

The Player understands their golf swing will disappear from time to time and it is not a time to panic, but a time to do their swing drills

Go ahead, be a Player!
Regards,

Marc Solomon – Your Instructor For Life

Consistent On The Range – Inconsistent On The Golf Course?

October 16, 20160 commentsConsistency

Have you ever hit 3 or 4 perfect shots in a row on the driving range that makes you wonder … “why can’t I do this on the golf course?”

The mystery of why you can’t carry consistency from the range to the course has baffled many Golfers. And as there has been golf psychology books written (and bought by desperate Golfers) about this subject … the issue you’re having has much more to do with how you practice versus the witch doctor teachings of Rotella and others.
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Consistency With Your Driver

October 16, 20160 commentsConsistency, Driver

The common issue many Golfers have is that when they want to hit the golf ball farther … they usually hit a worse than average shot. As the result is often a shot that is short, or flies into the trees, weeds, or water.

Why is it that when you try to swing harder … you hit bad golf shots? It has to do with the various parts of your body not working in synchronization. Meaning, when a Golfer tries to swing with more power … the brain doesn’t know how to get you into impact at that faster speed.
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Power, Consistency, Happiness

October 16, 20160 commentsConsistency

A common statement we hear from many frustrated Golfers is that they have been told they are using too much of their right side in their golf swing. However, working to take your right side out of your golf swing will hamper you efforts of creating more consistency and power.

For these Golfers, it isn’t that your right side is doing too much … the problem lies with your left side not doing enough. Or in other words — it may appears as if your right side is doing too much only because your left side isn’t doing enough.
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Do Your Struggle To Make Your Best Golf Swing Consistently?

October 16, 20160 commentsConsistency

As many Golfers struggle to play golf to the level they feel they should play – I understand your frustration. Golf can be frustrating for all levels of Golfers … from the newcomer trying to get the golf ball up in the air to the person qualifying to become a PGA Professional.

And what makes it most frustrating is that you know you have the ability to do better … “but why can’t I play my best when I want to?”
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Happiness Is A Smooth Golf Swing

October 16, 20160 commentsConsistency

How can golf look so easy when the PGA Tour Players play … but be so difficult for the regular Golfer? As the Tour Player looks as if he/she is hardly swinging the golf club — the golf ball goes a mile.

Yet when regular Golfers go to hit a golf ball, it looks as if you’re either trying to knock the cover off the golf ball or you’re so afraid of swinging too hard … the ball doesn’t go anywhere.
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How To Make A Consistent, Effortless Golf Swing

October 16, 20160 commentsConsistency

Have you ever hit a golf shot that felt so good and effortless that you said to yourself – “that was perfect?” If so, then I bet the next words out of your mouth were most likely – “why can’t I do that every time?”

So the question must be – “why?” Why can’t you swing like that consistently? What’s the issue that’s standing in your way of golfing glory? It was probably an effortless golf swing that felt so easy that you say to yourself – “I hardly felt like I put any effort into that swing and look how far it went …. why can’t I swing that easy all the time?”
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Do You Have The Consistent Habits Of An Inconsistent Golfer?

October 13, 20160 commentsConsistency

There are certain characteristics that a consistent Player uses that all Golfers should be focused on. As the frustrated Golfer consistently goes out and repeats the same mistakes in their approach to becoming consistent – they’re often left wondering why they are inconsistent.

We often find that the frustrated Golfer is constantly implementing new swing tips. And because these Golfers are consistently trying different things in their golf swing – it’s no wonder they are consistently inconsistent.
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What Causes Inconsistency In Your Golf Swing?

October 13, 20160 commentsConsistency

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 Consistent Habits Of The Inconsistent Golfer

October 12, 20160 commentsConsistency

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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Creating An Automatic Golf Swing

October 9, 20160 commentsConsistency

Why does it seem like some people are “naturally talented” at golf, while others “just can’t get it”? When the talented people first start to play … they soon begin to break 100 before busting through 90 into the 80’s.

On the other hand – some people feel as if “I can never get it!” These Golfers started off like most people learning the game, taking baby steps towards improving and then within two years they hit a wall and stay in that same scoring range for the next 5, 10, 20 years.
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Four Steps To Consistency On The Golf Course

October 9, 20160 commentsConsistency

One –stop Fidding by trying to add new things to your swing … you already have enough to think about. Everybody’s going to hit bad shots – hopefully not often, but it’ll happen.

This is where a Player has properly prepared by having a “go to drill” they use to regain the feel they have temporarily lost. This drill will help them to find their swing within two or three shots.
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