I constantly talk to golfers who want to get better or get more consistent. Their biggest problem is they don’t know how to improve.
A common thing to see would be this golfer committing to a new practice routine of going to the range 2 or 3 times a week for a month and when their scores don’t improve they go back to their normal routine of a few hole some evening during the week and play a competition once or twice a weekend.
This sound familiar??
The big problem here is the type of practice that the player is doing has no relevance to improving their golf game.
Going to the range and taking out your pitching wedge hitting a few balls until you hit a few nicely, then moving onto repeat that process with your 9 iron and 8 iron etc has got so little relevance to improving your scores.
For your golf to improve step one is to improve your driving.
If you can hit the ball a long distance thats brilliant, if you can’t its not the end of the world.
One thing you must be able do especially if you don’t bomb it 300 yards is to keep the ball in play. You MUST be able to get your 2nd shot onto or around the green.
You MUST eliminate penalty strokes from your tee shots.
For some people this will require better targets off the tee, for others it might be finding their local PGA Pro for some help on their technique.
Step 2 is approach shots.
To lower scores you have to be good with the scoring clubs. This sounds obvious but so often people are unable hit shots from different distances inside 120yards.
This is an area that requires practice and confidence.
If your club doesn’t have an area to practice this length shot go to a field with a dozen golf balls, put markers out 50,70,90 & 110 yards and start trying to get the right distance with these clubs first. Don’t focus on hitting these shots arrow straight, instead if you’re trying to hit it 70yards make sure the first bounce is at least 65yards and no more than 75yards.
Being able control your distance on these shots will help far more than hitting it straight for these distances.
Final step, step 3 putting.
The putting green is where I see the most wasted hours for people.
Watching people putting from 15/20feet with 4/5 balls to me is worse than watching horror movies (and I hate horror movies).
This is such wasted time. Stats are hated by some people but I LOVE them, and stats will tell us even the best players in the world on average don’t make many putts outside of 12 feet. So stop practicing from these distances, all you are doing is re-enforcing missing putts.
What is critical for putting better and lowering scores is avoiding 3 putts and tidying up inside 6 feet.
Practice lag putting. Play games of leap frog with your balls or putt to areas on the putting green to improve your pace.
Then make sure you are able hole out well from inside 6 feet. Don’t stand in one spot and hit putt after putt but instead hit putts from different angles, play games, and try build pressure into your practice.
I promise you if you improve these 3 areas you WILL lower your scores.
If any of these areas cause you trouble go get help, ask your local pro.
If you have any questions about what I just talked about please feel free to contact me.
David Barry Golf Coaching 