The Fix for All Golfers

Yesterday I overheard a golfer talking about a new coach they were taking lessons from.  “We’ll see if this guy can fix me,” he said. 

Every golfer thinks they are broken and in need of fixing.  It’s a common ailment.  What if this mindset is keeping everyone from improving as fast as they would like?

I recently had the privilege of spending two days with legendary golf coach and expert in learning Michael Hebron.  One of his mantras was that we are not trying to do something “better,” we are actually trying to do something “different.”

Regardless of which swing philosophy or guru people ascribe to, if they are coming at it from a place of trying to fix something that is broken, they are making it harder than it needs to be.  When golfers are trying to fix something that’s broken, their mind is filled with criticism, worry, and self-doubt. 

Nothing is Broken

If people would like to improve as quickly as possible, they need to start by realizing that nothing is broken.  Bad swings and bad days are to be expected.  If a golfer can accept this, then their mind will be free to focus on things more helpful.

The Feel of the Swing

When you snap hooked that drive, did you do anything wrong?  No, you actually made a perfect swing to produce that outcome.  So don’t try to fix anything.  Pay attention to how the swing that produced the snap hook felt.  If you can stay in this mindset of awareness, eventually you will learn how to feel what type of swing produces a snap hook.  

What’s your biggest miss?  The shot you are most afraid of hitting.  Do you know what the swing feels like that produces that miss?  Or do you just know the feeling of anger and frustration that comes from hitting the shot?

If you can focus on doing things differently instead of always trying to get better and fix something that’s broken, your awareness will grow and so will your level of mastery in the game of golf.  You’ll learn what the swing to produce a great shot feels like.  This is different than testing out different swing thoughts each day and living or dying by if it happens to work.

For more on the feel of the swing, click HERE

Swing Changes

Often swing changes don’t work for people because they are trying to change something they aren’t even aware of.  How could you change your current swing if you don’t really know what it feels like?  It may sound crazy to say you don’t know what your swing feels like, but it’s true for so many people because their mind is on so many other things.

To make a change that actually lasts, before even spending time practicing it, you need to know two things: 1. What my current, natural swing feels like 2. The difference between my current swing and what I’m trying to do differently.  People tend to jump to focusing only on a new feel or swing position, and they aren’t able to get the change to stick.

Practice

When you practice, instead of trying to hit a perfect shot over and over, try to produce some of your common misses on purpose.  If you slice, first try slicing on purpose, then hook it, then go for a straight ball.  If you can do this with a mindset of awareness and non-judgment, you will learn so much more about your own swing, and how to produce different shots.

Never Hit a Bad Shot Again

It will take practice, but if you can start to play golf with this mindset, you will never hit a bad shot again.  The slice in the water was just a different outcome and swing than the drive right down the middle.  If you can see your shots this way, you will have less fear, doubt, and frustration in your golf.  And if you can play without fear, doubt, and frustration, imagine what a difference that could make.

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Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop

In the first part of this lesson – When to Take a Break from Golf [read it HERE] – I discussed the reasons why you might want to take a break from golf and why a break can be beneficial.  In this lesson, I’m going to discuss what to do if you’re struggling with your score or your feelings about the game but don’t want to take time off.

If Your Scores Are Stuck

There are lots of cliches that are appropriate for the golfer who isn’t improving.  I’ll use these two:

“If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always got.”

“Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.”

To be plain: if you want to shoot better scores, you need to start doing something differently.

Change Your Practice

Practice more, practice differently, or practice better.  The first one is self explanatory.  Practicing differently could mean spending your practice time differently (changing the ratio of putting/short game/long game) or changing the way you practice (random practice vs. block, for instance).  Practicing better means getting more out of our your practice by improving your focus, tracking your practice, or eliminating distractions.

Take a Lesson

If you haven’t had a lesson in a while, it could be time to get an outside opinion.  In one hour, you might find that you’ve been looking for answers in all the wrong places.

Learn Your Game

I say it all the time: if you’re not shot tracking, you don’t really care about your score.  Every player at every level will learn something they did not know if they track five to ten rounds and carefully examine the stats.

Change Your Strategy

Are you playing strategically, mathematically optimal golf, or are you just following your gut?  Much like people who don’t shot track, those that play by old cliches like “drive for show, putt for dough” are leaving shots on the course.

Work on Your Mental Game

Rounding out the trifecta of “Things Most People Should Do But Won’t” is working on your mental game.  Pick up a book by Dr. Bob Rotella or check out In The Zone mental training HERE.

If You Aren’t Having Fun at Golf

These suggestions are all about your enjoyment of the game.  If you don’t like them, I’m going to strongly suspect that you’re unhappy about your score and should try something from the list above.

Stop Keeping Score

This is my single best suggestion for enjoying golf more.  As someone who put the pencil away over a decade ago, I can personally attest to its effectiveness.  Most golfers are unhappy because of their score.  I’ve even seen players walk off the 18th smiling then get upset when they add up their card.  If the scorecard is what’s making you unhappy, get rid of it.

Play Different Formats

If your scorecard is making you unhappy but you still want to compete, play different formats.  Try match play.  Try Stableford scoring.  Pick a gambling game like Wolf and focus on winning the bets rather than adding up the strokes.

Use Fewer Clubs

For the average golfer, who is used to carrying a “full set” of clubs, nothing will shake things up like playing with fewer clubs.  Cut your iron set in half, carrying just the odd or even numbers.  Dump a wedge or two.  Play without your driver.  You’ll hit different shots than you’re used to, which can be very enjoyable.

Create a Constraint

Carrying fewer clubs is one constraint, but it’s not the only one available to you.  You can choose to never hit the “right” club.  You can decide to hit a fade on every shot or a draw.  You might decide that you won’t hit a club a second time until you’ve hit every other club at least once.  Experiment.  Get creative.

Record Your Good Shots

Carry the scorecard purely for writing down the best shots of your round.  When you make a long putt or pipe a perfect drive, close your eyes and lock in the feeling, then write it down on your card.

Focus on Gratitude

Golf gives us a lot to be grateful for.  You’re outside.  You’re probably with people you like.  You’re able to move around and create shots.  Focus on the positives and you’ll be quickly on your way to having fun on the golf course again.

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A Break From Fun?

For a lot of us, the idea of taking a break from golf sound crazy.  Golf is something we love.  For most of us, it’s something we don’t spend enough time doing.  We sneak out at the crack of down to get a round in or smash a bucket of balls after work as the sun sets.

But sometimes, a break from golf can be a good thing.  In this lesson, I’ll discuss when you might want to take a break from golf and how it can help your game.

When to Consider Taking a Break

There are two main reasons why you should take a break from golf: score and emotions.

If you play golf strictly or predominantly for score, and your scores aren’t improving, you may want to take a break.  There are several reasons why a break can be beneficial to your scores – I’ll discuss them in detail shortly – but it can also be worthwhile simply to stop beating your head against a wall.  Not meeting your scoring expectations can be frustrating and demoralizing, which leads us to the feelings bucket.

Golf is supposed to be fun, recreation, relaxation.  It’s not your job.  It’s not life-or-death.  If you’re not enjoying your time on the course, it might be time for a break.

That’s not to say that every moment on the golf course needs to have you doing cartwheels.  Golf is hard.  That difficulty is what makes it satisfying when you succeed.  But if you’re not looking forward to your rounds, it might be time for a break.  If you look back on your round and realize that the dominant emotions are stress, anxiety, fear, or apprehension, there are probably better places for you than the golf course, at least for a time.

What’s the balance of fun and score?  Matt and Andy discuss HERE

Scoring Benefits of a Break

There are several reasons why a break from golf can help your score.  First, it can give your body a chance to recover.  Golf is a physically taxing game for everyone, even the young.  You’re going from stillness to maximum speed to stopped in about one second.  There’s also the high speed collision with the earth (hopefully just on iron and wedge shots).  This can lead to back issues, tennis elbow, shoulder problems, and more.  Taking time away from golf can allow your body to recover so that you’re not just getting through each round but excelling and enjoying it.

Time away from golf can also give your brain time to recover.  The score-obsessed golfer is probably also a player who has a lot of swing thoughts and ideas about the game.  This can be great – thinking about strategy and technique can lead to a lot improvement – but it can also be burdensome on the course.  Playing good golf requires a balance of active thoughts and calm focus.  A break can help tilt the scale towards the latter.

Finally, taking a break gives you a chance to reset your expectations.  A lot of players’ score issues are rooted in pressure created by unrealistic expectations.  These players were happy when they first started shooting 90 (or 80 or whatever the number is), but now it’s a miserable grind.  Taking a little time off can allow you to enjoy your baseline score again, no matter what it is.

Emotional Benefits of a Break

In a word: reset.  If you’re not enjoying golf, it’s probably become too routine and your expectations are probably out of line.  Getting away from the game can fix both those issues.

When you’re playing every week, it’s easy to lose your appreciation for all the things that make golf great.  You’re seeing the same faces, playing the same course, and probably hitting the same shots.  That kind of routine can get old, but absence will make the heart grow fonder.  After a little time away, your friend’s tired jokes will be funny again, and your home course will be a bit more vibrant.

Resetting your expectations is just as important.  Golfers are great at constantly raising the bar for themselves.  This is fine to a point, but it can get self destructive.  Taking time away gives you a chance to realize that you’re not going to be a Tour player or knock down every flag.  No one cares what you shoot except you.  Being away from the game can give anticipation and joy a chance to catch up (and hopefully run past) stress and anxiety.

You can also consider getting away from The Biggest Lie In Golf HERE

How Long to Stay Away

How long you need to stay away from golf is entirely personal.

If you’re break is emotion-driven, I think your feelings will tell you when you’re ready to come back.  When the excitement and anticipation start coming back to you, you’re probably ready to get back on the course.  This could be as little as a couple weeks if you’re just a touch rundown; it could be a couple months if you’re more severely burned out.

For those players looking for a score boost, I would suggest taking at least a month off.  This gives your body a sufficient amount of time to heal, your mind time to clear, and your expectations a chance to reset.

What if you don’t want to stop playing golf?  Click HERE

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“I’m Better Than That”

This is the biggest lie in golf, and it’s one that every golfer I know has told.

Some golfers tell The Lie out loud, trying to protect their pride by tongue-lashing themselves.  Others silently tell it to themselves after a bad shot.  But no matter how it’s communicated, it’s a lie.

In this lesson, I’ll explain why that lie is hurting your game and how you can play better with a healthy dose of the truth.

This Lesson Is For You If:

You get frustrated with your game

You want to shoot better scores

“You Are What Your Record Says You Are”

This line from coach Bill Parcells cuts to the heart of The Lie.  If you are the player who hit the bad shot, you aren’t better than the bad shot.  That’s not to say that the bad shot is all that you are or that you aren’t capable of better sometimes, but denying that the bad shot is part of your game is folly.

The full grown version of The Lie is the player who says, “Well, I shot 94, but…” and then explains how they actually shot 85.  It shows a detachment from reality that won’t help them improve.  Those nine extra strokes were not the result of the golf course conspiring against them.  The sooner they take responsibility for the mistakes they made, the sooner they will be on their way to fixing them.

Understanding Peak, Range, and Probabilities

Every player has a range of shots that they’re able to hit.  A 30 handicap can hit a solid approach shot, but they can also hit it three inches fat or slice it off the planet.  And those bad results are far more likely.

As we move toward scratch or Tour players, the high quality shots become better and the bad shots become less likely.  What’s important to understand, however, is that the chance of a bad shot is never zero.  Players on the PGA Tour can hit shanks or miss three-footers.

The Frustrating Middle

Being a mid-handicap player – someone between those two extremes mentioned above – may be the most frustrating.  As a 10 handicap, you’re an above average player.  You’re capable of hitting really nice shots.  But you can also hit terrible shots.  It’s not out of the question for you to lay the sod over a chip or duck hook your drive.

To stop telling yourself The Lie, you need to understand your peak, your range, and your average.

Peak Performance

This is the one that most golfers know best.  What are you capable of doing when everything goes right?  It’s the most fun element to think about, and it’s a key to good strategy.  If you have the horsepower to hit it 225 yards off the tee, you shouldn’t aim at the lake that’s 220 yards away.

That said, many golfers dramatically overestimate their peak.  This is the golfer who waits for the green to clear from 275 yards out after driving it 210.  Learn your actual peak – distances, shot control, etc – instead of playing on hopes and dreams.

Learn about your peak, range, and averages with these tips HERE

The Other Side of Your Range

Most sports psychologists would caution against negative thoughts, but it’s important that we’re aware of what kind of bad shots we hit.  I know that a snap hook off the tee is never out of the question, and I’m capable of thinning a routine chip.  That doesn’t mean I hope for those outcomes, but, if I’m going to operate in reality, I need to be aware that they exist.

We can go a step further and consider what situations make those bad outcomes more likely.  Do you slice more when you’re under pressure?  Do you hit it fat when faced with a forced carry?

In practice, we can work on eliminating these poor shots.  When we’re playing, we need to know they exist so we can minimize the damage they can cause.  Here’s an example: if I haven’t played lately, thin chips are more likely.  That may lead me to use my putter around the green more often, especially if there’s trouble long.  I’m not throwing in the towel, I’m not giving up on the idea of ever being a good chipper, I’m just adapting my strategy to my strengths and weaknesses.

Averages

The most important thing to know about your game is your average outcome with each of your clubs.  This starts with distance.  You can’t score well if you’re constantly expecting to hit the ball your all-time best distance; play for your average carry.  Similarly, while we all love hitting a laser at the flag, those are rare.  Play for your most common shot shape.

And remember that with every shot, you are aiming your whole shot pattern, not a single point.  The size and shape of your shot pattern will change from club to club, and you need to think about getting the biggest chunk of that shot pattern into the best position possible.

Play the Odds

If you know about your peaks, ranges, and averages, what should you do?  Play the odds.  Most of the time you’re going to hit an average shot.  Pick a club, a shot, and a target that will give you a good outcome most of the time.  Give some consideration to the extremes, especially when there are stroke hazards involved, but play for the fat part of the bell curve.

Laugh it Off

Have you ever seen someone throw a tantrum when they find out their Powerball ticket isn’t a winner?  Of course not.  Everyone knows that most lottery tickets are losers.  You buy a ticket to have a laugh and a chance at something great.  When it doesn’t go the way you hoped, you give a wry smile and move on.  If it does come through, you can be elated.

We should treat golf much the same way.  Most of our shots are going to be average.  That’s fine.  Go hit the next one.  When one of the bad ones pops up, laugh it off.  Go hit the next one.  And when you’re lucky enough to get one of those shots from the top 1% of your range, recognize that it’s special and enjoy the hell out of it.

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Solving Other People’s Problems

Humans tend to be really good at seeing solutions in two situations: 1) hindsight 2) when the problem belongs to someone else.  In this lesson, I’ll explain how we can leverage that second skill to become better golf strategists and shoot lower scores.

This Lesson Is For You If:

You need to improve your course management

You mentally “zone out” during rounds

You want to shoot lower scores

Undercover Golf Coach

The next time you’re playing golf, secretly take on the role of coach for another player.  Let me stress the “secret” part of this plan – you’re not going to say anything about this to the other player.  No one likes unsolicited advice.

Now, silently, think of what you’d be saying to the player throughout the round.  If your paycheck was riding on their performance, what would you tell them before a shot?  What club and type of shot would you have them hit?  What things do they need to consider – wind, temperature, elevation, hazards around the target or landing area?

I think you’ll find that you’re a pretty good coach.  Not too much is slipping past your notice.  You’re recommending sensible plays.

Part of the fun of this game is seeing how often the player follows your plan.  Are they ignoring that howling wind?  Are they taking on low probability shots around the green?  If they’re making mistakes, can you learn from them and play better?

Not Just What But How

Something else to consider is how you would talk to this player.  After they hit a bad shot, are you rubbing dirt in the wound or lifting their spirits?  When they have a challenging shot, are you giving them words of encouragement, helping them focus?

My guess is that you’re being very positive with this player.  You might consider taking that approach with yourself, too.

Short Term Benefits

Being an undercover golf coach can have immediate benefits on your game.  You’ll see the game from a new, detached perspective.  When it’s your decision, it’s easy to think, “I’ll just hit this 8I a little harder.”  When you’re coaching, you can see how silly that is, because your ego isn’t involved.  This new perspective should lead to better decision making.

Undercover coaching can also keep you engaged between shots.  While there can be value in relaxing or switching your focus after a shot, it might also lead you to miss important information.  If you’re focused on coaching, you’ll pick up on more of the information that’s available to you on the course: wind, temperature, elevation, and the nuances of the course design.

Perhaps most importantly, coaching another player forces you to articulate your thought process.  When you’re coaching someone else, you can’t just shrug, “Yeah, it’s like a 4I.”  You need to consciously explain the decision: “It’s 185 yards to the middle of the green, but long is better than short.  The wind is in my face, and there is no elevation change.  I should play this closer to 200 yards.”  Doing this forces you to check all the boxes on every shot.

Long Term Benefits

If you’ve ever played golf with an experienced coach, you’ve seen the benefits of this exercise firsthand.  Not every golf coach hits the ball beautifully, but most score well relative to their physical talent.  They’re calm on the course.  They don’t compound their mistakes.  The ball tends to get from tee to green without too many detours.

The reasons for this are fairly obvious.  If you’re constantly telling other golfers to take more club and factor in the wind, you’ll start doing those things, too.  Coaches get free experience in decision making from other players, so they level up faster.  Start playing their role and you’ll see your scores improve.

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Learning From Others

One of the biggest mistakes that many golfers make is thinking that golf is unique from other endeavors.  One of my favorite lessons I’ve written is what chess taught me about golf [read it HERE].

In that spirit, today’s lesson was inspired by a video from a volleyball coach.  Check out the original video HERE, then keep reading.

This Lesson Is For You If:

You change your strategy after bad shots or holes

You want to play golf with more freedom

Get Out of the Hole

Too many golfers play with a “debt” mentality.  This comes from either their score or the quality of shots they hit.

Players who keep a running score in their head are prone to get tight the minute that their score is out of line with their expectations.  A golfer trying to play bogey golf may get tense as soon as they make a double, thinking only about how they’re “behind” and need to make a par to “get square.”

That same indebted feeling can be created when you hit a couple bad shots.  Let’s say that you’re having a great day off the tee and are consistently driving it to your 9I distance from the green.  If you don’t stuff your approach shots – or, worse, if you pull one or hit one fat – you can spiral into the mindset of being “behind.”  The next time you have that tasty 9I shot, you might make a tentative swing trying to avoid another mistake or bunt an 8I when that’s not a shot you normally play.

There is no “debt” in golf.  The golf ball does not know what happened on the last shot nor where you stand in relation to par.  The “debt” only exists in your mind, but it can become real when that negativity bleeds into your game.

Don’t Change

If you’re trying to play your best (and I think that’s all of us, whether that means score or something else), don’t change how you’re playing because of mistakes.

First, there is no “don’t”.  Your brain doesn’t understand “don’t” or “not;” it requires positive, affirmative instructions.  If you’ve sliced a couple tee shots, you can’t “not slice.”  What you can do is make a positive swing and hit it straight.  Trying to avoid further “debt” won’t work.

Second, changing mid-round leads you to try shots that aren’t in your bag.  Most golfers have one stock shot that they’re able to play.  The middle of a round is not the time to try to invent a conservative 3/4 motion.  Even on an “off” day – perhaps especially on an “off” day – you’ll be better served by sticking to the shots you use regularly.

Finally, good strategy is good strategy.  If you’re a regular reader, you know the fundamentals of good course management [check out my 10 Commandments for Better Golf Scores HERE].  Those don’t change just because you made a double bogey or two.  Stick to your plan.

“Well, Actually”

For all the people who feel it necessary to assume the worst when someone is trying to help, let me be explicit about a couple things.

First, I am not endorsing bad strategy.  This article assumes the player is using good strategy and smart club selection.  If you don’t know how far your clubs go or how to aim at anything other than the flag, those are problems you should correct that are unrelated to the “debt” mentality.

Second, I am not endorsing beating one’s head against a wall.  If you have a driver that exclusively produces sixty yard slices, you should work on that, and probably hit 3W in the meantime.  The point I’m making here is that you should not abandon your game because of a couple, or even several, unusual shots.

Free, Aggressive, & Positive

No one in the history of the game has shot a career round playing tentatively.  More championships and personal bests have been lost by players counting their strokes on the seventeenth tee or making panicked decisions after a single atypical shot.

Play aggressively.  Play free.  Play with positivity.  There is no debt in golf, only opportunities to be seized.

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Winning Your Way

The phrase “winning on your own terms” is generally used in a positive way.  It can describe achieving success without compromising your values or priorities.  In this lesson, I’ll explain why trying to win on your terms in golf may be a fool’s errand.

This Lesson Is For You If:

You’re trying to shoot lower scores but aren’t making progress

A Prefatory Analogy

I coach my daughters’ basketball teams.  Every kid on the teams says they want to win.  But when some are assigned positions where they’re more likely to set screens than shoot, they pout.  On the court, they’ll sabotage the team by doing what they want rather than what the team needs them to do.  These players don’t want to win – they want to win on their own terms.

Winning at Golf on Your Terms

In golf, this negative version of winning on your own terms can take many forms.

For the purposes of this lesson, let’s understand “winning” to only mean shooting lower scores.

The Clubs You Play

Many players are trying to win on their own terms before they even get to the course.  We all know players like this.

“I couldn’t possibly put (club that might help my game) in my bag.”

There’s also the failure to get fit, the refusal to play the appropriate shaft flex or weight, and playing eight different types of golf balls per round.

Whether your objections are aesthetic, financial, or something else entirely, you’re welcome to play clubs that don’t fit your game, body, or swing.  You can insist on playing the same shafts at 65 that you did at 24.  Just know that you’re making winning a lot harder than it needs to be.

Club Selection

The most cliched version of this disease is taking too little club.

“I want to hit that green, but only if I can do it with a club that has the same number on the sole as the one Fred used.”

If you’re a regular reader, you already know that the number on the sole is virtually meaningless.  There are no standards – OEMs can put a “7” on a club with 20 degrees of loft if they want to [more on irons lofts HERE].

This can also happen on the tee.  While the math supports hitting driver as often as possible, there are players who should stop hitting driver until they fix their 40 yard slice.  On the other hand, there are players consistently hitting less than driver because they’re convinced it’s the smart play and won’t be told otherwise by silly contrivances like statistics.

You can hit whatever club you want off the tee.  You can hit 8I into a 197 yard par 3.  Just don’t tell me you care about winning.

Putting

This one is going to ruffle some feathers: on the green, roughly half your misses should be short of the hole.

“I want to make putts, but I’m more afraid of people making jokes if I leave it short.”

Much like the guy who can’t tolerate hitting a 6I when Fred hit a 7I, this player is busy tending to their ego rather than their scorecard.  If you’re smashing every putt, refusing to ever leave one short, you’re wasting strokes.  But, in reality, you’re probably also scooping up that six footer, so you’re not actually playing to win anyway.

Shaping Shots

Every high level swing coach and golf strategist that I’m aware of preaches the virtue of choosing a single shot and playing it over and over.  Yet the game is full of delusional mid and low handicap players – and some truly delulu high handicappers – who think they need to work the ball in every direction to score well.

I’m not suggesting that the skilled ball striker shouldn’t occasionally flight the ball down.  I’m saying that the overwhelming majority of the time, you should play your stock shot.  And when you’re not going to play your stock shot, the one you choose better pass the 80% Test [more on that HERE].

If you want to play “all the shots” because Tiger does, feel free.  But you’re not Tiger Woods, and that strategy is not going to lead to winning.

Ignoring the Conditions

If you’ve ever felt the wind in your face and said, “It’s ok, I’ll just hit this harder,” you’re trying to win on your own terms.

Playing to win requires a lot of different things.  First, you need the mental discipline to be aware of the conditions on every shot.  Is it windy?  Is the turf hard or soft?  Are you dealing with elevation changes?  Second, you need the emotional maturity to take more club or play the conservative shot when it’s called for.  Finally, you need the social fortitude to ignore the eye rolls when you go back for a different club.  Just like leaving putts short may result in taunts, taking the time to get the right club and commit to the shot* may get you roasted by your friends.  But if the score is what you’re after, it’s what you need to do.

*This is not an endorsement of slow play.  If you’re consistently changing clubs, the conditions aren’t the problem, you are.

Practice Habits

If you’ve spent any amount of time on this site, you know about good practice.  You’ve probably read about tracking your practice [HERE], practicing with purpose [HERE], finding The Goldilocks Zone [HERE], and worrying about the things that really matter [HERE].  Also, being a smarter-than-average golfer, you know that you need to work on all aspects of your game if you’re going to score well.

If, in spite of all that, your practice routine consists of smashing the extra large bucket, primarily with your driver, at no particular target, you’re trying to win on your own terms.  Practicing putting and bunker shots may not be as much fun as hitting driver, but it’s what winners do.

Not Shot Tracking

If you’re not shot tracking, you don’t actually care about your score.

“I know my game.”

Do you know your game better than a PGA Tour player?  No.  And many of them, perhaps most, employ statisticians and coaches who pick apart their shot tracking data to find ways to improve.

“Well, I’m not a PGA Tour player.”

Does it hurt your back to move the goalposts like that?  We know you’re not a Tour player.  But you asserted that you’re playing to win, just like they do.  If you mean it, you need to start shot tracking.  You are going to find weaknesses – and possibly strengths – that you were not aware of.  This gives you places where you can make quick, easy progress toward a lower handicap, and parts of your game you can lean on when things go sideways.

Two Roads to Success

I wrote this lesson with the hope of helping golfers.  I envision readers falling into one of three camps:

The first group is truly committed to better scores, and this helps them to see their blind spots.  After reading this, they understand that they can’t beat golf on their own terms, so they need to adjust something in their approach.

Another group will realize that they actually don’t care about their score that much.  This is a huge step forward for your enjoyment!  Now you’re free to play golf for whatever reason you choose: hitting the longest driver, playing the prettiest clubs, talking the most creative s*** to your friends.  To those that would rather play on their own terms than “win,” welcome to the club.

The third group thinks this doesn’t apply to them.  They’re smarter than me and math and everyone else who’s trying to help them.  By including this, am I trying to chide them into joining one of the other groups?  Absolutely.  Do I think it will work?  Probably not.  They’re too smart for that.

Regardless of which of those groups you fall into, I want to sincerely thank you for reading.

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The Optimal Golf Experience

Tim Gallwey, the author of The Inner Game of Golf, describes optimal experience as having an equal balance between learning, performance, and enjoyment.

Golfers as a whole are never fully satisfied with their experience, and this is often because they aren’t intentional about what they are going for when they play.  This leads to things tilting heavily toward performance, which never gives us everything we’re looking for.

Now is a great time to do some reflection and planning toward having an optimal experience in 2024.  Take your time going through these categories, as the best answers are not always the most obvious.

Learning

Golf is a great teacher, but if we don’t pay attention, we won’t learn anything.  There are many things you can learn about yourself through your golf if you notice them:

• How your mindset changes when things are going good or bad
• How you respond to pressure
• How you respond when something feels too easy
• How you respond when something feels difficult
• The difference in how you treat people when playing good vs. playing bad
• Why do you really play golf

Performance

Performance appears to be the easiest of the three categories to measure.  You always can have a score at the end of the round.  But does the score always reflect your performance?  Here are some ways you could describe your performance in addition to your score:

• I controlled my ball
• I battled back
• I crumbled down the stretch
• I let the conditions distract me
• I had too many swing thoughts

Enjoyment

I often ask people how their round went, and they respond, “I had a lot of fun out there.”  This is usually a lie, and usually means they had a bad scoring round and do not want to admit the day was a total disaster.  Most people have their enjoyment connected to their scoring.  There is a more out out there to enjoy if you can find a way to separate it from your score:

• The feeling of a well struck shot
• The surprises
• The miracles
• The lucky breaks
• The flight of the ball in the air
• The sound of an iron shot

Learning, Performance, Enjoyment

There are many more things than those listed above that can contribute to your experience on the golf course.  If you can be intentional about having a balance of learning, performance, and enjoyment, you’ll find more and more in each category whenever you play. 

Instead of describing your round for the 100th time as “87.  Couldn’t putt.”  You could answer, “I really controlled my ball on the front 9, but then as the pressure increased in the match I couldn’t make any putts.  I hit a 7 iron on #6 that was so pure it felt like I hit a marshmallow, and it never left the stick.  I learned that I need to stop letting my mind drift to the future as I add up my score in the middle of the round and it distracts me.  And I learned I need to practice my putting.”

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This May Not Be What You Expect

I pride myself on not doing clickbait.  You won’t find headlines like, “Three Crazy Facts About Tiger Woods” on this site.  However, I fear that this article is not going to be what you expect based on the headline.  But expectations be damned, I think this is going to help you play better golf.

This Lesson Is For You If:

You are a golfer

Why All Golfers Should Lift Weights

This lesson has nothing to do with the physical reasons for lifting weights.  There are many, and I may discuss them in the future, but this is about what lifting will do for your mind.  Here are five lessons you will learn from lifting that will make you a better golfer.

Progress Is Not Linear

I’m always jealous of people who are new to lifting.  They get to experience “beginner gains” – that stage where every workout comes with new personal records.

But after that initial burst – however long it lasts – progress becomes harder to find.  You may stall out for a week or a month.  You may not see any substantial progress for a year.  If you’re not willing to change the work you’re doing, you may be at the same level for the rest of your life.

On a more optimistic note, you may also level up when you’re not expecting it.  After weeks of struggling with the same weight, one day it will feel like nothing.

For both good and bad, progress is not linear in weight lifting or golf.

Unexpected Gains and Letdowns

Just as progress is not linear, progress is not predictable.  There will be times when, after a week of stellar workouts, you show up and can barely lift the bar.  On the other hand, you may come back to the gym after a week of being sick, out of town, or injured and hit a personal best.

Knowing this can keep you from getting too high or too low.  Keep your expectations to a minimum.  Give what you have every day.  Enjoy the ride.

Personal Bests are Rare

Once you’re “trained” – meaning that you’ve lifted for a while – hitting personal bests takes substantial effort.  Especially as you get older, you can’t expect to do the same old thing and see big gains.  This means you have two choices.

Option 1: Be content with your current workload and performance level.  There is nothing wrong with this, regardless of what your performance level is.  As I discussed HERE, you don’t need to be Arnold, and you don’t need to be good at golf.

Option 2: Commit to doing all the things necessary to improving.  Work out longer, smarter, and with more intensity.  Get your nutrition dialed in.  Focus on the thing you want and get it.

Personal bests are rare.  When they happen, enjoy them.

For more on breaking plateaus, read THIS

Building Brick by Brick

I know people who work out every day.  I know people who go through spurts of manic working out followed by periods of doing nothing.  The ones who work out every day are the ones who make gains.  Consistency is king.

Consistency is the most important variable if you want to improve.  Consistency is more important than having the perfect workout plan.  It’s better than having great equipment or cool workout clothes.  Consistency even trumps intensity and duration.  If you want to get stronger, be consistent.

Enjoy the Process

If you don’t enjoy being in the gym, you’re missing the point.  This is your time to focus on and do something for yourself.  Whether you’re hitting PRs or just grinding it out, appreciate that you’re lucky to be there.

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The wildest par 3 I’ve played is the 4th hole at Shiskine Golf Club, “Crow’s Nest.”  It’s 128 yards and plays nearly 100 feet up a massive rock formation.  From the tee you can see a walking path and two aiming markers.  The marker on the left is a flag that is raised and lowered so you can tell if the green is clear.  The marker on the right is where you’re supposed to aim.  I struck the ball well, and it flew on my intended line.  The ball cleared the edge and disappeared. 

Time never moves more slowly on the golf course than when you’re waiting to see the outcome of a blind shot.  Was the ball on the green?  Long?  Could it have gone in the hole?  I was filled with hope as my two playing partners and I walked up the mountain towards the green.

Every spiritual tradition seems to bring up the theme of hope this time of year.  Anytime we have hope, we’re participating in something that’s been going on for thousands of years.  And golf is full of hope.  It gives us space to practice hoping, and can teach us about hope and the way it influences our scores and enjoyment.

The Value of Hope

When I played college golf, I was not a hopeful golfer.  Any hope I had was usually gone by the first hole.  If I started out well, I now had something to hold onto and protect.  If I started out poorly, I resigned myself to the fact that that was just going to be a bad day.  I never had any great or memorable rounds because I was not in a hopeful state of being.

As I’ve gotten older, I see that it only takes one shot for everything to turn around.  At the Vision 54 Academy, Pia NIlson and Lynn Marriott teach students to rate their shots as: Great, Good, Good Enough, and Needs More Information.  The “Needs More Information,” is getting at the idea that regardless of how poor the shot was hit, the hole isn’t over and you never know what might happen on the next one.  This is a hopeful mindset that keeps me open to seeing all possibilities.  By having this mindset I’ve seen scores go down.  Even better, the stories of each round have gotten far more interesting.  I no longer get stuck on the bogey train.  I don’t assume all my drives will slice after slicing the first one.  More often I follow up poor stretches with great stretches of golf thanks to this hopeful mindset. 

In the ancient traditions, people are reminded on a yearly basis of hope, but in golf we can be reminded of it each and every shot.  After each shot we have the opportunity to give up or to remain hopeful that the best shot of your life could be the next one you hit.

How to Hope

There’s a fine line between hope and expectation.  I can hope for a good score, but when I expect to post a certain number, it never works out.  If I go into the day expecting certain course conditions, pace of play, level of service, or amount of stimulating conversation, then I am always left disappointed.  I’ve found that I need to go into each day hopeful that I might experience or witness a miracle on the course and keep that hope alive the entire round.  

How else could you explain a 60 foot putt that goes in the hole, a hole out from the fairway, or the best drive you’ve ever hit in your life, other than a miracle?  Golf has taught me this balance between hope and expectation and showed me that the more I can stay hopeful regardless of the circumstances, the more miracles I will see, and the better scores I will shoot.

The Thrill of Hope

As the three of us reached the green, we saw two balls about 30 feet from the pin.  We paced quickly to see which two survived, and I was relieved to see mine on the green.  After a routine two putt we moved on to the next hole, which, to our amazement, was another par 3 hitting straight down the hill toward the ocean.  Our shots found the putting surface, and we descended the mountain, hopeful of what the rest of the day had in store.

I’m thankful for places like Shiskine that make it easy to play with hope and joy.  It’s experiences like this that have helped me focus on having this state of being as I play my home course or with my routine group.  The ancient traditions have it right: being hopeful is an important part of being human.  It’s truly a thrill that golf gives us the chance to experience it more often.

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