I recently played golf with the talented TV commentator and communications consultant Genelle Aldred at Walton Heath Golf Club. It was a windy day and Genelle was really struggling with her woods. As she was striking her irons like a pro, I questioned why she didn’t just try to keep the ball in play by using irons only off the tee, because short and straight seemed like a much better outcome than being out of the hole straight away courtesy of a disastrous lost tee shot into the rough.
Genelle, quite rightly, pointed out that if she adopted this very ‘safe’ strategy in our fun fourball, she would never get to work on the part of her game that needs the most improvement – her driving. She saw the suggestion as very defeatist and decided to persevere with her woods regardless of how many balls she would lose, because it was just a friendly game. On reflection, her approach does make a lot of sense, but it’s one I rarely see other women adopt. The majority I play with simply give up trying to use the clubs they can’t hit.
(Image credit: Kevin Murray)
In my opinion, there are two approaches to making progress and improvement in golf. The first involves taking lessons and practising regularly at least once or twice a week on the range and the short game area. The second are the steps you should take out on the golf course that will help you improve.
As far as the latter is concerned, I’ve always been a firm believer in there being no substitute for on-course experimentation. As much as the range (and increasingly nowadays indoor simulator environments) are brilliant for building a technically-sound swing, there’s simply no better place to put what you’ve learnt into practice than on the actual golf course.
Yet so many women shy away from trying new things when they play a friendly game. From experimenting with different clubs off different tees, to taking two or three chips with a couple of different clubs to find what works most effectively around the green. For some reason, we all tend to approach friendly golf with a very casual attitude, when these rounds are really a golden opportunity to try things that will accelerate your improvement.
(Image credit: Getty Images)
With the pressure of marking a scorecard gone, you can attempt shots you’re usually not brave enough to try, like taking a driver off a certain tee rather than playing for safety, or going for that…
..
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at Latest from Golf Monthly…