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.
It truly is a thing of beauty to watch a pro drop a shot softly on the green, stopping it just a couple of feet from the cup. We could spend months working on this, but as a weekend golfer, there are more productive ways to spend our time that will lead to lower scores. What we need to do is improve the basics first, and that's where our focus should be.
So let's analyze how we do our golf practice. Chances are nearly all of that time was spent on the driving range, driver in hand, trying to hit it long and straight. A good driver is critical there's no doubt, but what percentage of your shots during a round are hit off the tee with a driver? Understand where we're going with this? You should spend much more time practicing 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.
You may be able to hammer the ball 275 to 300 yards off the tee, but why are you still scoring in the 90's? Spend some time practicing your short game since that's obviously where the problem is. Improve around the green and your scores will fall.
The next time you decide to practice golf, keep the driver in the bag. Instead practice any shot that's under 75 yards. That means putting, pitching, chipping and short shots from the bunker.
If you don't think this is a solid idea than consider 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. If these shots are half of your score, then you should be spending at least half 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. If you are truthful with yourself, you will understand that this is where you need to practice 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.
It truly is a thing of beauty to watch a pro drop a shot softly on the green, stopping it just a couple of feet from the cup. We could spend months working on this, but as a weekend golfer, there are more productive ways to spend our time that will lead to lower scores. What we need to do is improve the basics first, and that's where our focus should be.
So let's analyze how we do our golf practice. Chances are nearly all of that time was spent on the driving range, driver in hand, trying to hit it long and straight. A good driver is critical there's no doubt, but what percentage of your shots during a round are hit off the tee with a driver? Understand where we're going with this? You should spend much more time practicing 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.
You may be able to hammer the ball 275 to 300 yards off the tee, but why are you still scoring in the 90's? Spend some time practicing your short game since that's obviously where the problem is. Improve around the green and your scores will fall.
The next time you decide to practice golf, keep the driver in the bag. Instead practice any shot that's under 75 yards. That means putting, pitching, chipping and short shots from the bunker.
If you don't think this is a solid idea than consider 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. If these shots are half of your score, then you should be spending at least half 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. If you are truthful with yourself, you will understand that this is where you need to practice 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 ideal way to practice without going to the range is by acquiring a golf practice net. You can learn more golf tips like this, and also find course and golf equipment reviews and advice by visiting AllThingsGolfBlog.com.
No comments:
Post a Comment