Golf Improvement - Practice Your Driver, No Practice Your Wedge, No Practice Your Driver

The last place you’d expect to see a Golfer practice is on the short game area. Why? Well not just because they don’t like practicing the “easy golf shots” or that you find it “boring and tedious” - it’s because that there aren’t many places that have a short game area. Or if they do have a short game practice area - they’re little more than an after-thought and consist of nothing more than a small, circular shaped green that has seen better days.

Yet, we see Golfers hanging around the Driving Range trying to “find the magic". We’re out there trying out all the new things we heard on the Golf Channel last night along with our new Driver that we want to learn how to hit. We’re out there “trying to become more consistent.” And although we’ve been trying to get to the next level for the last 4 years - we still haven’t improved as much as you’d think we would with the hours of banging ball after ball and reading book after book and taking lesson after lesson!

And there, over there, off to the side where no one goes, but sometimes you might glance at for a second or two - the Golfer usually contemplates - “I should really practice my chipping and pitch shots.” We call this the ignored area. It’s the area that gets the least amount of use and yet could be the most necessary to improving your scores.

Isn’t that funny? The least amount of use, yet the most necessary. Isn’t that what they say about golf? Golf is a game of opposites. You hit down to make the ball go up - you swing right to make the ball go left - and now you can add to this to ‘Golf is a game of opposites’ - “to improve your game, you need to stop practicing what you’re currently practicing and you need to start practicing what you’re not practicing!”

You know it’s funny - if you ever hear a quote from Tiger or Annika, you’ll often hear how “I need to spend 80% of my practice time on and around the green". Yet, when a Golfer hears them say this, the first thought that comes to the Golfer’s mind is - “Well yeah, because you hit the ball so good, you can get around the golf course without loosing balls, so of course you can go practice your short game. Me, I need to first learn how to hit the ball better before going to practice my short game. My short game is pretty good - it’s my Driver that’s killing me.”

And your Driver is probably killing you - and your Driver could be the most important club in your bag - and if you’re constantly hitting your ball into the trees and losing strokes, you better improve your Driver! Though the question needs to be - If your Driver is killing you - should you spend 100% of your practice time with your Driver?

It depends on what type of Improvement Style you subscribe to. If you’re the Golfer that feels they should improve dramatically every time you go to practice - then sure, go practice your Driver 100% of the time till you hit it better. Though, if you’re the Golfer that knows that all you have to do is improve a little each time you go to the Practice Range, then use 50% of your time with your Driver and 50% of your time around the green.

Tell me - who’s scores and consistency would improve faster - the Monkey that practices their Driver 100% of the time until they’re satisfied with it or the Player that practices their Driver 50% of the time and then spends the other 50% 0f their time around the green?

Consider those two choices carefully - as the choice you make will determine how much enjoyment you have on the golf course!

Regards,

Marc Solomon - Your Instructor For Life
Golf Made Simple Inc.
www.GolfMadeSimple.com