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GolfRx: March 2007

You shouldn’t wait until the courses open and you plan your first round of the year to think about improving your game. It can be very frustrating to a golfer to play year after year and not see any improvement. Regardless of your level of ability, golf will be more fun if you see improvement over time.

There can be many reasons for the lack of improvement; limited practice time, practicing your strengths instead of your weaknesses, not understanding swing technique and the fear to change, among others.

The more you know your game the more you will be able to see improvement as you play and practice throughout the year. Players that improve over time understand the golf swing to some degree. Your body can only do what your mind tells it to do so, if you have no concept or a poor concept of the swing it’s difficult to get better. You need to practice with a purpose. That means knowing what parts of your game need the most work and what to do to improve those areas.

EVALUATING YOUR GAME & SETTING GOALS

Whether you are a single digit handicap or not even at a level where you keep track of your score, evaluating your game is an important part of making progress. You must determine your strengths and weakness in order to know which areas to spend your practice time. One of the first questions I ask a player when they come in for a lesson is, “What bad shots prevent you from having a lower score?”

Before you pick up a club, think back to your last few rounds and identify what type of shots cost you the most strokes.

QUESTIONS TO ASK YOURSELF

Tee Shots –

• How many fairways did I hit?

• How many tee shot cost me a penalty shot?

• How many tee shots prevented me from having a second shot?

There is a difference between a tee shot that is out of bounds, or behind a tree, and one that is off the fairway by five yards. Being off the fairway by five yards still gives you a swing to at least advance the ball.

Fairway Shots –

• How many greens did I hit in regulation?

• Can I hit my fairway woods off the ground?

• Do I have trouble hitting shots from different lies?

Short Game –

• Do I get my first chip or pitch shot onto the green?

• How many putts per round?

Your questions and goal-settings need to match your level of play. For example, a low handicap player keeps track of how many pitch shots he hits within two feet, whereas a higher handicap player might be keeping track of how many pitch shots he gets onto the green with the first try.

TIME FOR THE RANGE

Before you start hitting balls spend some time warming up the body. Do a few of your favorite stretches; focus on your back, hamstring and shoulders. Swing a weighted club a few times. If you don’t have a weighted club, swing two of your irons at the same time.

Especially early in the year, it is a good idea to start hitting your fist few shots with shorter and slower than normal swings.

A good place to start would be to hit balls with the toe of the club up drill. Two of the common positions of a better player would be to have the toe of the golf club almost pointing directly to the sky at the hip high position in the back swing (Fig. 1) and the mirror image of that position in the follow through. (Fig 2).

You can practice this at home without even having to hit balls. Not only look for the toe of the club position, but also check that the shaft of the golf club is parallel to the target when it is hip high.

After hitting balls with a short swing for a few minutes, increase your swing until you are taking your normal full swing, keeping your swing slower than normal. Better players will have a practice swing speed that is slower than normal. This can help in several ways.

First, early in the year your body needs a chance to get back into the swing of things. Most golf injuries happen early in the year when our bodies are not stretched or warmed up enough. Swinging slower and easier than normal will also help you relax. Tension is one of the biggest reasons why players hit bad shots.

Swinging slower will also help you feel what you are doing in your swing. If you can’t feel where your club is, or what your body is doing during your swing, it is difficult to make any improvements.

Keep your mind free of technical stuff for the first couple of times hitting balls. Use this time to loosen up and evaluate your shots. Look for patterns to your bad shots. If you have a pattern to your bad shots, you can look into your swing to make corrections. If you are not sure how to make corrections, it might be time to learn more about the golf swing whether by book, video or by taking a lesson. No one can see their own swing, even the best players in the world who understand the golf swing completely need another pair of eyes.

Have fun with your spring season practice.