"Golf is so popular simply because it is the best game in the world at which to be bad."
-A.A. Milne
What a great quote. Golf is the best game at which to be bad. It's true, golf is such a ridiculously hard game that it is amazing anyone plays it. Incredibly, over 61 million people have decided to not just play it, but to endure the pain and misery of 18 holes of the game...on purpose!! The game gets at something fundamental within us, we love a tough challenge! We can probably all agree that everyone is bad at golf. The tour pros are just a lot less bad than we are. One of the key teaching points at
www.holen1golf.com is "Game Improvement = Your Bad Shots Are Less Bad!" This week we would like to show you 3 ways that you can be "less bad," by playing every day. These are 3 methods that I use personally, and now you can too:
Practice and Play for Free (Total Time: 15 mins - 1 Hour or more)
It is shocking to me to see the free part of the golf course sitting vacant at the course on most days. Many courses have a beautiful putting green and short game practice area, but you will often be hard pressed to find anyone there. So do a little research, find the best practice green that is within a short car ride of you and start going 2-5x per week.
When you get there, spend 10-15 minutes practicing your putting and chipping. You can then make up an 18 hole putting game (par 2 for each hole, 36 total) and then play an 18 hole chip and putt game (par 2 for each hole, 36 total). Once you finish spend another 10-15 minutes of practice and then head home. Track your scores week to week and watch your game improve!
Key 1: Get "Less Bad" by spending 2-5 days working on your chipping and putting. We believe that you will be amazed by the results you see.
Practice and Play for $5-10 (Total Time: 30 mins - 1 Hour or more)
Another part of the course that often goes underused is the driving range. Why is this? Well apparently people really do enjoy being bad at golf. If you want to start getting less bad, all you have to do is find the nearest driving range to your home. Find one that has several nice targets that you can use to work on distance control and accuracy.
When you get there, spend the first 10-15 minutes warming up, stretching and then loosen up with a few actual shots. Next, move into practice time where you work on areas you need to improve as well as developing your golfing strengths. Finally play a little bit. Pretend you are standing on the first tee of your favorite golf course, hit the club you would use. Did you hit the fairway? Next visualize yourself standing in the fairway trying to hit the green. Did you get it? Keep track of all the fairways that you were able to hit and all the greens you hit (golfers call this "Green In Regulation" or G.I.R). You can simulate 18 holes this way and track how many fairways you hit and how many greens you hit. If you track this you will start to see major gains, you are hitting more fairways and greens. Your improved game will then also start to show up on the actual course.
Key 2: Get "Less Bad" by spending 2-3x per week working on your pitching and full swing on the driving range. Make up a game to help you focus on hitting the fairways and greens.
Practice and Play at Home (Total Time: 15 mins - 1 Hour or more)
Once you really get hooked on practice, the world will never look the same. A mirror is no longer a mirror, instead it is a device to check your grip, stance, posture and swing. You won't be able to walk by one anymore without doing a few rehearsal swings in front of it. A ruler, yardstick or broom will never look the same to you again. You will turn them all into golf clubs and take a few practice swings. Your front yard will no longer be just grass, but has now become the rough just off the fairway and you need to chip the ball on the green to try and save your par.
Make use of the time you have at home to develop your swing. You can work on all of the fundamentals right in your own driveway. The key fundamentals are Grip (How you hold the club), Alignment (How you aim your body), Stance (where you stand in relation to the ball), Posture (Athletic stance, like a quarterback). Take full rehearsal swings (no ball) with each club. Get 100 swings in every day, whether you get to the course or not. If you want to start to play golf at home. Do the following: make up a chipping game with targets that you must hit with in a certain number of shots (create your own par). If your home is not available to do this, find the nearest park that you can walk to and work on your game.
Key 3: Get "Less Bad" by spending 15mins-1 hour working on your game at home or a nearby park on days you can't get to the course.
We purposely did not mention actually playing golf on the course. We know that you love golf enough, that you will find a way to play as often as possible. However, we believe that the 3 keys above will help you to enjoy those days a lot more. Be sure to get to the course early when you do play and spend time on the practice areas to increase the odds of an excellent round.
Please let us know how you are getting "LESS BAD!" Share your observations, experiences and lessons learned about the game with us in the comments, twitter, facebook, Instagram, email, or phone.
If you would like help building your own game improvement package, we would be glad to help bring confidence to your game ("LESS BAD!") through proper training and proper equipment.
#GolfIsConfidence
-Eric Holen
