Christmas golf gift for you! - Be the smartest golfer you know

This years golf gift to yourself could be improving your game with not much effort. Most of us do not want to practice all the time to improve and there are some ways to improve without having to practice like a tour player. Pick one or all of he items below to improve this year.

Understand why the golf ball goes the way it does. An overly simplified way to understand why the ball travels and curves are explained by physics and d-plane but lets skip that. For the most part, the ball will start in the direction the club face is pointed at impact and curve due to the difference in direction the club is traveling at impact, path. Face controls about 80-85% of the starting direction. For example;
1. Face is at target and path is left- ball will start just left of target and curve right
2. Face is right of target and path is right, same as face- push, ball with start right of target fly relatively straight
3. Face is at target and path is to right of target- ball will start slightly right and curve left.
Check your flexibility, mobility and strength to see if your golf swing fits your current body makeup. Many people try to make tour player type swings without having the very flexible, mobile, strong body many of these players have. Often players work on things in their golf swing when they should be working on a simple, easy flexibility issue. The most common of these is a very tight shoulder area causing the dreaded ever the top move and slice. Many times 45 minutes with a trainer or physical therapist , simple easy stretches for a couple of weeks and wala, no more over the top. When we start to lose flexibility or mobility on your back swing your elbows start to spread, right hand starts to separate from the club and or the arms start to work vertically. This indicates you have just exceeded you natural flexibility range. So go see someone qualified and until then keep your swing as short as you need to so you don’t exceed your flexibility, mobility and strength.
Stop making bad decisions around the green and learn to get the ball up and down more often. Most players hit less than 50% of greens in regulation so plan on chipping at least nine times per round. Try to use a few basics to make sure you use 3 or less shots from off the green;
1. Keep the ball on the ground whenever possible
2. Putt from off the green when possible
3. Be efficient with two clubs for chipping, SW and 9 iron or similar.
4. Make sure you get the ball on the green, don’t get cute trying to hit a perfect shot
5. If in the bunker get it on the green, if you don’t know how take a quick lesson. This is a very easy shot if you know how to play it.
6. Read enough break on your putt
7. Practice 6′ putts and closer and make sure you can make over 70%
8. 1 Chip, 2 putts lower scores
Learn how far you really hit it, not just on your best shots. Approximately 80% or more approach shots are short of the green and thus short of the target distance by over 10% or one or more clubs. Learn how far you hit each club in the air.
Learn to hit the driver in play. Most players are terrible with there driver and think they hit it much farther than they do. Just because you hit one down wind, down grain, down hill 280 doesn’t indicate you hit the ball 280. This would indicate you hit the ball about 230-240 on flat ground in normal conditions. Many player hit the 3 wood farther than their driver off the tee. See which club you hit further and in play more often.
If your irons are 5 years old or you metal woods are more than 3 years old look into new clubs. I’m not a big advocate for buying a golf swing with clubs but the recent golf equipment is easier to hit, more accurate and the ball goes further.
Learn to enjoy your good shots. Many players stay in a bad mood all day even when hitting good shots. Separate the swing from the results. If you made a good swing and the ball generally went where you wanted it to go and you did not get a good shot you should be satisfied. You cannot control results in golf so hen we hit a good shot we should enjoy it if even briefly.