5 Basic skills to good golf

Below is a list of 5 basic areas the average player can improve on. Most good players excel as organizing thier mind and bodies understanding their limitations and stregths. Most poor players don’t have a good understanding of what they are good and bad at…….

1. The biggest error with poor players is not understanding how far, or short they hit the ball. Most players will tell you they hit the ball 250 yards while very few players carry the ball 200 yards. Every time I play with friends that are above 10 handicaps it seems every shot is short unless they blade the ball or hit a hard spot on the course. Learn how far you carry the ball, not how far it rolls. This is important for many reasons. One example is if you played Bermuda Dunes with Bermuda grass in the morning a shot from 150 yards I might use a 9 iron. This is because the ball will fly about 145 and release 15 to 20 feet. If I play in the afternoon at Pelican hill the same 150 yard shot will require a 8 iron. The ball will travel about 153 in the air and spin back 15 feet. This is just one of many examples.

2. Practice what you are bad at. Most average golfers are not aware how bad they are at chipping and putting. Many go to the range and smash driver and ignore the short game area. Hitting the driver good is important but will not have an immediate effect on your scoring like a good short game. I would estimate that the normal 15 handicap player throws away 7 to 12 shots a round on poor short game execution.

3. Expect to hit bad shots, that right because it will happen. Good players make shot selections based on where they can miss it if everything doesn’t work out to plan. Poor players tend to go for broke all the time for no apparent reason. Learn to play where you can hit marginal shots. Watch the tour players on TV and notice how often there “bad” shots end up in similar areas, away from trouble.

4. Open and verticle is the norm for bad players. Not always but most guys especially rotate the clubface and roll the arms on the backswing opening the clubface. They also get there hands to about shoulder level and lift the the arms vertically. See articles about swing plane and clubface and improve these areas and your game will improve.

5. Too long of a backswing is employed by about 95% of golfers. Most players make such a long backswing they are totally out of balance and have little chance in recovering on the downswing. A longer backswing does not necessarily equal longer shots. Learn to swing inside your flexibility range. Learn to swing in a way that you can repeat the same motion most of the time.

Jim Hartnett, PGA