What is perfection and why can perfection kill your golf game??
On my lesson tee I see lots of people practicing with the intent to hit perfect shots. Lots of full swings and trying to hit it as straight as possible. Sound familiar ??
Thats brilliant if you wanna be a range rat but if you want to shoot lower scores this isn’t really helping your golf game.
There are two main problems with this way of practice.
1. Trying to hit the ball straight isn’t the best way to play golf. (It’s very hard to do)
2. The amount of times you have the ‘perfect’ number on the golf course is very little.
So why do we practice like this??
One thing I talk a lot to my players about is ‘Golf IQ’ and I honestly believe improving your golf IQ is the easiest way to lower your scores.
Golf IQ is understanding that the game of golf is a lot more than hitting perfect shots, the winner of a golf tournament isn’t the person who hits the most perfect shots, perfect shots are great but the person who hits the best bad shots will always have a good chance to win.
If you look at the PGAtour or European Tour the winner is nearly always the player with the fewest bogeys or in the top 5 least bogeys anyway.
If we think about that a little more for your game, whats going to be easier making less bogeys & double bogeys or making more birdies??
So if we take this approach to improve our golf how do we actually practice this??
1. Spend more time chipping and putting ( putting from 10 feet and in )
For your everyday golfer this is an easy way lower your score, too many times people are practicing their 15-20 foot putts and in truth thats not a good way to lower your score because you simply won’t hole a lot of putts from this distance. Focus on 10 feet and in to improve your scores
2. Practice shots that aren’t ‘full’ swings
Practice the in-between shots, these are the shots you get more often on the golf course. so don’t stand on the practice tee ripping full swings, hit 3/4 shots hit 1/2 shots train to help your game on the course, not to look good on the range.
3. Be happy to have a shot shape
Having a shot shape can help you more than it’s going to hurt you. If your ball has excessive curve maybe go see your local PGA Pro but in general having a ball the curves the same way with every shot is good because its predictable, and predictable is good. Trying to hit the ball arrow straight leads to missing shots left and right and is very unpredictable. Plus as said before its very difficult.
Hope this couple tips will help your golf game the next time you tee it up and if you want to ask me any questions about the above idea please feel free to ask.
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David Barry Golf Coaching 