It seems logical on the surface; if you want to practice golf and get better you should follow and emulate the pros. Certainly you've heard that it's good to emulate success. Then naturally you can switch on the golf TV station and get countless points and direction from pros of all levels.
Now let's return to this planet for a second. Becoming the next Tiger Woods may be your ambition, but for the tremendous majority of us, that is not going to happen. There is a very small chance you or anyone else will reach that level. Bettering your scores should be your very realistic goal. We all want to play our best, but to seek to imitate the best players in the world is just the wrong way to go about it.
If you are similar to the majority of people, you perform your practice on the weekends and after you get off work. Golf is their 9 to 5 occupation. They wake up and hit the course. putting in a tremendous amount of hours working to become better at their trade. You on the other hand don't have that luxury. You might want practice golf 24/7, but let's be practical and make the best use of the time you do have.
We have all watched our favorite professionals hit a beautifully lofted shot that stops dead on the green a few feet from the hole, or maybe one that backs up towards the pin. We could spend months working on this, but as a weekend golfer, there are more productive ways to spend our time that will result in lower scores. What we should do is improve the basics first, and that's where our focus needs to be.
Think for a minute about how you spend your practice time. You were likely teeing it up, and using your driver on the range. A good driver might take a few strokes off your score, but think about how many drives you hit during a round. See where we're going with this? You need to spend much more time working on your short game.
We recognize it's hard to get excited about practicing the short game, but it will be easy to get excited about the lower scores you will be posting. Short game practice is where the professionals spend 80% of their time. They work on different angles. They work on different lies and in different wind conditions. And it's likely a good idea to practice what the pros work on most, even if it's not a good idea to copy their swing.
If you're like most golfers, your scores are probably in the 90's. And that's in spite of the fact that you might have the longest drive in your group. The problem is obviously with your short game and this is where you should concentrate your practice efforts. Your scores will go down rapidly if you get better in this area of your game.
So the next time you get off your job and want to head to the driving range to blast a few drives, alter your plan. Instead work on any shot that's under 75 yards. That means putting, pitching, chipping and short shots from the sand trap.
Still not a believer? Think about this. Shots from 75 yards or less make up more than half of your shots in a typical round of golf. This includes putts, chips, etc. Logic dictates that you should therefore spend at least 50% of your practice time working on them. If you're still shooting in the 90's, less than twenty percent of your shots are with a driver off the tee. Your practice time needs to be mainly spent on the strokes you hit most.
Sure hitting drives on the range is fun, but it's not nearly as much fun as seeing your scores fall by as many as 10 shots per round.
Now let's return to this planet for a second. Becoming the next Tiger Woods may be your ambition, but for the tremendous majority of us, that is not going to happen. There is a very small chance you or anyone else will reach that level. Bettering your scores should be your very realistic goal. We all want to play our best, but to seek to imitate the best players in the world is just the wrong way to go about it.
If you are similar to the majority of people, you perform your practice on the weekends and after you get off work. Golf is their 9 to 5 occupation. They wake up and hit the course. putting in a tremendous amount of hours working to become better at their trade. You on the other hand don't have that luxury. You might want practice golf 24/7, but let's be practical and make the best use of the time you do have.
We have all watched our favorite professionals hit a beautifully lofted shot that stops dead on the green a few feet from the hole, or maybe one that backs up towards the pin. We could spend months working on this, but as a weekend golfer, there are more productive ways to spend our time that will result in lower scores. What we should do is improve the basics first, and that's where our focus needs to be.
Think for a minute about how you spend your practice time. You were likely teeing it up, and using your driver on the range. A good driver might take a few strokes off your score, but think about how many drives you hit during a round. See where we're going with this? You need to spend much more time working on your short game.
We recognize it's hard to get excited about practicing the short game, but it will be easy to get excited about the lower scores you will be posting. Short game practice is where the professionals spend 80% of their time. They work on different angles. They work on different lies and in different wind conditions. And it's likely a good idea to practice what the pros work on most, even if it's not a good idea to copy their swing.
If you're like most golfers, your scores are probably in the 90's. And that's in spite of the fact that you might have the longest drive in your group. The problem is obviously with your short game and this is where you should concentrate your practice efforts. Your scores will go down rapidly if you get better in this area of your game.
So the next time you get off your job and want to head to the driving range to blast a few drives, alter your plan. Instead work on any shot that's under 75 yards. That means putting, pitching, chipping and short shots from the sand trap.
Still not a believer? Think about this. Shots from 75 yards or less make up more than half of your shots in a typical round of golf. This includes putts, chips, etc. Logic dictates that you should therefore spend at least 50% of your practice time working on them. If you're still shooting in the 90's, less than twenty percent of your shots are with a driver off the tee. Your practice time needs to be mainly spent on the strokes you hit most.
Sure hitting drives on the range is fun, but it's not nearly as much fun as seeing your scores fall by as many as 10 shots per round.
About the Author:
The best way to practice at home is by acquiring a golf practice net. You can discover more golf tips like this, and also read course and golf club reviews and information by visiting AllThingsGolfBlog.com.
0 comments:
Post a Comment