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“‘How long will it take me to master aikido?’, a prospective student asks. ‘How long do you expect to live?’ is the only respectable response. Ultimately, practice is the path of mastery. If you stay on it long enough, you’ll find it to be a vivid place, with its ups and downs, its challenges and comforts, its surprises, disappointments, and unconditional joys. You’ll take your share of bumps and bruises while traveling–bruises of the ego as well as of the body, mind, and spirit–but it might well turn out to be the most reliable thing in your life. Then, too, it might eventually make you a winner in your chosen field, if that’s what you’re looking for, and then people will refer to you as a master.
But that’s not really the point. What is mastery? At the heart of it, mastery is practice. Mastery is staying on the path.” From “Mastery”, by George Leonard
I have written of some of the misconceptions that hinder all of us in our attempts to improve our golf games. I would like now to take a positive approach and give you some specific ideas that have helped not only my students but my own game as well.
1. Become fascinated.
Golf is not a job: it’s a game. No one is forcing you to do it. Granted, it’s a very difficult game, perhaps the most difficult of all. (For all the baseball players who insist that hitting a baseball is the most difficult athletic endeavor, I only ask, what would the best major leaguers hit against high school pitching? Hitting a baseball is directly involved with how well the ball is pitched. In golf, the ball just sits there, and it’s the golfer alone who is responsible for the outcome of the swing.) But you are out there playing or practicing because you have made the decision to be there, so it is silly to be acting as though the game has something against you and that all the elements of the universe are conspiring to keep you from getting any better. Play because you enjoy playing. Practice because you enjoy practicing. It’s difficult to enjoy poor play or poor practice, but better golf is the result of much struggle and the slow accumulation of experience. Those who begin the game with defined goals of how good they “need” to eventually be or how fast they need to get that good are usually the ones who bail out the quickest and fail to enjoy the game at all.
2. Lower you expectations and keep a healthy perspective.
No one hits every shot well. The truth is that most golfers are lucky to ever hit a good golf shot. One of the strangest things about the game is that even the worst technique is capable of hitting a great shot every now and then. The golfer, however, is more inclined to see this as evidence of his or her prowess, and then wonders why they can’t do that more “consistently.” That one miracle shot, or that one relatively great round raises the golfers’ expectations far above where they should be, and thus everything that falls below that becomes an annoyance and a disappointment. How many players do you know are unhappy with every shot they hit? I always think to myself, “How good do you think you are?” I have been just as guilty of this as anyone. Over my career I have bitched and moaned my way around many a round, after which, when it turned out for the better at the end, left me feeling exhausted and not the least bit foolish. It has taken me a long time to realize that poor shots should be no real surprise, that good shots are to be enjoyed, and that any shot can be recovered from if your mind is focused on scoring and not on how well you struck the shot. The same can be said about luck, be it good or bad. Luck is simply that: capricious and totally out of your control. Don’t expect it to be good or bad, just watch it and accept it for what it is. Some days you have the “good mojo,” and some days you don’t. If you think you are getting all the bad breaks, think twice and remember that at least you didn’t wake up with a terminal illness. That’s called perspective, and it’s one of the attributes of a generally happier person.
3. Find a competent teacher whom you can trust to do his or her best to help you.
Learning a difficult skill requires, in almost every case, expert guidance. Golf is simply too difficult to learn on your own. Sooner or later you will reach a point where you cannot get any better without help. The problem then becomes where to seek out advice. It may be convenient to listen to the fellows you play with every week, or to try out things you hear on The Golf Channel or read in one of the numerous golf magazines, but convenience is about the only upside to such practices. The problem with the guys you play with is that if you are playing with them they probably know about as much, or as little, as you do. Free advice is often worth what you pay for it. Magazines and TV shows cannot give you any feedback. I was the Guest Instructor on the Golf Channel’s Golf Academy Live, where a viewer can actually ask the teacher a question, but I quickly found that this was an exercise in futility when one viewer called in and said “I’m hooking it. What should I do?” There is a place for written and viewed instruction, but real help needs to be given on a consistent basis by someone who knows what they are doing. You may have to go through a few teachers to find one to whom you can relate, but it’s worth the time and effort. I have a good rate of success, but by no means am I able to connect with all of the people who come to me for help. A teacher should be knowledgeable, presentable, on time, and able to demonstrate as well as explain the correct movements in all parts of the game. He should definitely use a video camera to film the swing and a TV monitor or computer to immediately show the student what is going on in the set-up and during the swing. I happen to think that it is also a plus for the teacher to still be competing, but there are different opinions on that point.
4. Study on your own:
While it is important to cultivate a relationship with a teacher, it is equally important for you to not depend too fully on that teacher. Ultimately it is you who has to hold the club and hit the shots, not the teacher. Many teachers who don’t play much golf speak earnestly about what it “feels” like to do this or that under pressure. How they come by this knowledge I have no idea, since the only way to know what pressure feels like is to experience it. Each golfer must find his or her own way to remember the things he is learning about the game, then figure out how to organize his thoughts when he goes out on the course so he can use his new knowledge when it counts. Golf is a game where one keeps score. There is no measurement for how well someone practices. What matters inevitably is what you shoot. A golfer’s main dilemma is how to function effectively on the golf course. The teacher gives you guidance, and hopefully steers you in the right direction. But he does not know all of the subtle twists and turns in the journey. Every golfer has unique circumstances and characteristics that make his development totally unique. The teacher can’t possibly know exactly what the student is thinking and feeling, although a good teacher can analyze a swing and approximate the feel of it for himself, thus making him able to communicate to the student the essence of what he needs to do. The student, however, is the one who is out there slashing around, so it is he who has to take that essence and translate it into something personal that actually works.
How do you study on your own? Self-edification can take many forms: You can read books and magazines, you can watch instruction on TV or on video, or better yet, get a Tivo and use the playback function to watch swings and shots, paying special attention to routines, set-up positions, swing and stroke techniques. Watch them in slow motion. Compare what the best players are doing with how your instructor has described the swing, and reassess what you think about how the swing works in light of what you are seeing. Now you are studying golf. How do you think I learned about the swing? I studied my own swing on video, and I studied the swings of all the best players so that I could come up with a general idea of the absolutes and the variations involved in hitting a golf ball. Hitting a ball is only partially a mental activity, however. It is also a complex physical activity that demands precise timing. To get the feel of what that timing is you have to repeat it many times. I have found that 20 swings in a mirror, or even just making the movements of the swing while watching yourself, is far more productive than just swinging away with no mirror. The visual image you have of your swing is a large part of what you will remember when you are under pressure. Pressure is a great distraction, and unless you have prepared yourself to remember how to swing when it seems that every circumstance is trying to take your focus off the shot at hand, you will find yourself hitting horrendous shots and having little or no idea what you just did. The more you watch yourself the more educated questions you will have for your teacher at your next lesson. I thoroughly enjoy working with the student who invests his own time into his advancement. A student never really owns what I tell them until they find it out for themselves.
5. Gear your practice to playing.
The golf course is where it’s at. Certainly, the golfer must have a technique that is capable of performing on the course, and it is on the driving range that progress can be made as far as learning a repeating motion is concerned. But the complaint I hear most often is that the student is unable to bring his or her driving range swing or practice green putting stroke out to the course. “Why should it be so different?”, they wonder. One of the main reasons it seems so different is that there is no middle ground between practicing specific technique on the range and what is going to happen on the first tee. On the range you have a bucket of balls in front of you, as much time as you need, and no penalties for bad shots. It is much easier to relax, get into a groove, and think about whatever you want to as you approach the shot and while you are swinging. On the first tee, however, everything is different. The pressure increases dramatically as you now hit a shot that is going to count. It matters if it goes off line, so there is automatically a tendency to steer the ball. It also matters how long you take, so you can’t stand there forever thinking about your shot. People are now watching, and you feel the need not to embarrass yourself by hitting a horrendous shot. The end result in the majority of cases is a shorter, faster, tighter swing that feels nothing like the ones you just made on the range 5 minutes before. What will help every golfer is to prepare for these feelings by using your imagination and your power of visualization to mentally place yourself on the first tee while you are still on the range. Go through your setup routine exactly as you would on the course. Notice what is going through your mind as you get ready to hit the ball. The best players have great control over what they allow or encourage themselves to think as they set-up and begin to take the club away. You must try to eliminate some of the difference between being on the range where it doesn’t count and being on the course where you care about every shot. I stated that hitting a ball is only partially a mental activity, but certainly mental exercises can help you perform the physical motion.
6., 7., and 8. Enjoy the small shots, hit more drivers, and make up your mind about putting.
These are three specific items that have helped me tremendously over the past few years. I used to hit balls obsessively, leaving very little time for my short game. As my back felt worse, however, I found that I could not beat myself up on the range any more, and so it was natural that I spent more time around the green chipping, pitching, hitting sand shots, and putting. Whereas I had believed that the true game of golf was played from afar, I now found a new fascination with the game played from in close. My ability to get the ball up and down from anywhere and everywhere gave me a whole new confidence and outlook regarding my approach to a round of golf. I could hit far fewer greens and shoot better scores than when I had hit the ball masterfully but failed to get the ball in the hole. I found a great sense of pride and accomplishment when someone would describe me as having a great short game. The key was that I developed a fascination with the small shots, finding that the ability to hit a ball a short distance to an exact spot at an exact trajectory was just as rewarding as striking the perfect full shot, and lead much more directly to a good score. To get into position to have only these short shots standing between you and a good score you must be able to get your ball around the green in regulation. Notice I didn’t say you had to hit the greens in regulation, just get the ball close to the green. The more greens you hit, the more important putting becomes. When you miss greens, as almost everyone does, the short game becomes paramount. The most important factor in getting around the green with your approach is your driving. A poor tee shot can put you in such a position as to make getting the ball to the green impossible. If you drive the ball in play even poor iron shots will tend to end up somewhere in the vicinity of the green. So practice your driver more. If you use a 3-wood off the tee because the driver doesn’t work well, practice the driver anyway, then try to slowly put it into action on the course. Find a driver you can hit, then keep hitting it. Avail yourself of the new technology that can help you find your optimum driver. An experienced club-fitter, a fitting cart with lots of heads and shafts, and a launch monitor to measure club head speed, spin rate, and launch angle are all essential elements in your search for the perfect driver.
As far as putting goes, my best advice is to make up your mind how you want to putt, then find ways to practice that particular stroke the same way every time you practice. Putting is very subtle, and very precise. It is difficult to see or sense problems with technique. I struggled with my putting for 20 years until I was lucky enough to spend three hours with Scotty Cameron, who showed me that my concept of an inside-to-straight-through stroke was flawed, and that to balance my stroke I needed to “release” the putter head back to the inside on the follow-through, creating a symmetrical, arcing stroke. I then began using a string to putt under (sort of a mobile, above-ground version of a chalk-line) so that I could visually see my mistakes in my swing path and clubface angle, as well as a Putting Arc, a tool that guarantees an arcing stroke when the putter is swinging against it. I also began using a metronome when I practiced so that I could keep the rhythm of my stroke consistent not only from stroke to stroke, but from day to day. This consistency in concept and practice has transformed me from an erratic putter at best to a consistently good one. Even when I have a particularly tough day on certain greens I realize that my stroke is fine and that there will always be days when it is impossible to get a good read on any putt. Knowing this keeps me from constantly changing my stroke technique, a problem that afflicts altogether too many golfers.
9. Get a decent set of clubs and stick with them.
Everyone seems to be on the club bandwagon these days. Ninety-nine times out of 100 it’s not the clubs; it’s the club-ee. If you want to get club-fit, fine. Go see a reputable club-fitter and get yourself set up. Then forget about it. Learn to use your clubs, not blame them for every bad shot you hit. The more you change your clubs around the less familiar you will be with them when it counts. Anyone who buys a club because of what a manufacturer says about it is gullible and naive at best. Their whole reason for being is to sell clubs, period. If you fall for their sales pitch and buy without trying them first, you deserve whatever you get.
10. Take one day at a time.
No one has any idea how they are going to play on any given day. At the highest level, the history of golf competition is full of sudden collapses and incredible comebacks. From day to day a pro is liable to add or subtract 10 strokes from his score of the previous day. Why do you think that you would be any different? If anything, the average player will be far more erratic than the professional. What players of all levels need to remember is that whatever the case, it’s only one day. If it’s an extended slump, you still have to avoid the tendency to panic and change everything you do. Golf technique is built slowly over time. One bad round is not an indication that everything you have worked for is in the crapper. It is an indication that you are human. It’s O.K. to be disappointed or angry, but apply yourself to adding onto and building on what you have, not on trashing your entire game and starting over every few weeks. Consistent play depends in large part on consistent concept. Stick with what you know and don’t let the bumps in the road throw you off the path.
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