Keep in mind that golf is a game like all games should be fun.
If you enjoy golf and want to improve Jack take an inventory.
- Check your equipment and make sure it fits you.
- Take a few lessons from a qualified PGA instructor and ask his
honest opinions of where you are and what you must do to improve
and hopefully a few good drills to help you get there.
- Set a program for yourself that includes practice without a
ball (at home), practice on the range, and on course play.
- Be patient but keep charting your progress.
- Study by watching yourself, watching two players and other good
examples and by reading but do not let yourself become a "swing
freak" instead become a player The following are a few statements
of what I believe it takes to become a better golfer.
Have A Strong Short Game:
Over 60% of all golf shots in a typical round are played within
60 yards of the green-short shots should be a small version of your
full swing.
Understand that you are playing the greatest game ever invented.
That golf is challenging and takes time to learn. It is called the
game of a lifetime not only because you can play it as a child until
you run out of life but because you never exhaust it must keep on
learning to really enjoy it. Every improvement takes time out that
time is well spent if you work at it properly.
All golfers are a product of four main things:
- Their physical talent: some of us are better athletes
than others.
- Technique: the fundamentals you have built your game around…Make
sure these are sound and fit together well with your body.
- Time: The time you can or are willing to spend pursuing
this great game.
- I call it the X Factor: Not the same one as JimMcLean…but
what is inside of you. Some are able to get more out of a given
situation. Some want the ball for the final shot & others
would rather pass the ball. Desire is another name for the X Factor.
How bad do you want to succeed and how hard will you work fir
this success.
Now:
Talent is a God given trait! It’s in your genes. But you
can get in better physical & mental condition to enhance your
talent. You can train yourself if you are patient. Even among the
tour player’s talent varies but on any day or given week less talented
players beat the great ones.
Techniques… you can improve your mechanics. Here we would
like to keep what is useful and replace the parts that don’t fit.
Spend much of your practices time on the ability to strike the ball
well. Study, look at yourself, get some help and apply the elbow
grease.
Time…Is always limited. Here are only 24 hours a day. We
work, sleep, perform our family duties and maybe have time for golf.
Use your time wisely. At some time in their lives all excellent
players spent a lot time perfecting their games. Use your time wisely
and how you use it should vary depending on where you are in the
game. But in the end…you must practice your full swing, short game,
playing skills, mental practice and some competition. It is really
interesting how much more time for golf a very busy person finds
as their game improves!
X-Factor or Desire or your ability to perform…Many people
have this but it is hard to find. It may be hidden deep inside.
It is kind of interesting that many times as a person gets physically
& mentally right, has the fundamentals fitting together and
the ball flying true, they keep finding the time for golf and more
often than not can pull on those forces inside to succeed.
The best thing in the world of golf is having your golf
ball do exactly what you want it to do. The second best thing is
knowing at least what it is not going to do. You can play a fade
or hook if it fades every time!
Have good fundamentals
I divide these into Pre-Swing & In Swing fundamentals.
Pre-swing is usually the dull stuff but I might add the dull stuff
that most all the rest is built on. These fundamentals must fit
together and must fit your body. This is the kind of things that
we can discuss together over the web using GolfSpan.com.
Pre-Swing
Shot decision, club choice, target, grip, aim, posture, ball position,
stance width, measurement & balance. All of these through training
can be incorporated into a pre-shot routine that can orderly and
eventually unconscious for the most part and can take no more than
15 seconds and should be no more difficult than one-two-three. Learn-it,
do-it, make-it a habit and it will serve you well.
In-Swing
Here, develop a good swing motion Jack. Learn to control this
motion then shape this motion into a repeating golf swing. You should
be trying to swing the club along the line of play. Your swing should
be circular in shape, on the correct angle (plane), bottom out just
past the ball and necessarily balanced and repeatable. If you do
this you can just put the ball in the way. Good players never hit
to the ball-the always swing through the ball & all the way
to the finish, learn to build energy, conserve energy and then deliver
or release the energy through the ball!
Playing Golf
Golf is a game and should be fun! Playing golf well is nothing
more but getting the most (best Score) out of your swing as it exists
each and every day. That is the challenge. It pits you against the
course, the conditions, the competition but mostly yourself. You
want to beat the course and the conditions and the competition but
never yourself. You must live with yourself and get the most possible
from your game.
So there it is…learn to swing…learn to strike…learn to play short…and
dream to play golf.