Each year that I gain more experience on the golf course, I also get a better perspective on what helped me improve – and what I spent a bit too much time focusing on.
I’m about three years in, and after some trial and error, and plenty of ups and downs with my game, I’ve realized how much time and patience it takes to significantly improve at golf. I’ve also realized how important it is to embrace the many things about golf (being outside with beautiful scenery, spending hours with friends) that don’t have to do with the score.
Looking back, I can pinpoint some habits that would have made my progress more efficient if I had focused on them, and conversely, habits that weren’t doing me any good and should have been dropped sooner.
If you’re a beginner, or a few years into the game, and feel frustrated about why you aren’t improving as quickly as you’d like, I’ve been there! Sometimes it’s helpful to reset goals, look at your golf rounds differently, and create a structured practice plan. Here are three habits that I wish I had implemented sooner in my practice and play time:
Keeping Stats On My Round
At first, this felt ridiculous to me, isn’t this something that only professionals and really experienced golfers do? Not at all. In fact, it’s information that guides beginner (or any level) golfers where they need to focus their practice.
A teaching pro told me that if I simply mark on my scorecard every time my drive lands on a fairway, when I hit a green in regulation, and 1 or 2-putt, I’ll start to see a pattern of where I’m succeeding, but also where my missed opportunities are, and where I need to put in more practice time (which leads me to my next point).
It became obvious that I had a big short game problem, specifically with putting. I used that info to re-structure my practice time away from the driving range and onto the putting green. Now, a year later, I have a problem hitting fairways. But that’s the way golf goes, right?
Intentional Short Game Practice
It’s not as much fun to practice the parts of golf that we struggle with, but it’s important to get better. Having a practice plan (versus going out and randomly hitting balls) helped me stay on track.
On the course, I was missing so many putts (especially the…
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