What makes the pros so good?

[iacas]

Originally Posted by Hardballs

And they're superior ball striking is a direct result of hitting balls EVERY day!

No it's not.

It's a direct result of having built a swing capable of hitting the ball solidly.

A PGA Tour pro can take a year off and still strike the golf ball better than a typical 3 handicap.

[saevel25]

Originally Posted by iacas

No it's not.

It's a direct result of having built a swing capable of hitting the ball solidly.

A PGA Tour pro can take a year off and still strike the golf ball better than a typical 3 handicap.

I know right, every week i see this guy at the driving range, he goes  about every day. I have noticed no improvement. If quantity = quality, then a ton of amateurs would be really really good.

[Hardballs]

No it's not. It's a direct result of having built a swing capable of hitting the ball solidly. A PGA Tour pro can take a year off and still strike the golf ball better than a typical 3 handicap.

A solid swing built by hitting balls every day over a long period of time, usually from a young age!

[Lihu]

A solid swing built by hitting balls every day over a long period of time, usually from a young age!

Not convinced about only the young age part. It takes a gift to get to the pros. However, the part that Erik said about having a built up swing capable of hitting the ball solidly is very true. For instance, all the kids in the league program my kids are a part of have a good built up swing. They will have that the rest of their lives. What you said about hitting lots of balls is also correct. These kids hit tens of thousands of balls and walked hundreds of miles of courses over their young lives, and yet only a couple might make it to the pros (if they choose to do so).

[Hardballs]

Ok then, building a repeatable solid swing by hitting lots of balls frequently, probably from a young age and having the desire and determination to succeed in golf! There's your answer!

[Lihu]

Ok then, building a repeatable solid swing by hitting lots of balls frequently, probably from a young age and having the desire and determination to succeed in golf! There's your answer!

Succeed, yes. It takes a gift to be a pro.

[saevel25]

Erik mentioned this once, pro's can get into trouble being 1 groove fat or thin on shots. It's that type of precision that allows them to be good. To get that precision, they have to be really fundamentally sound with so much in their golf swing. What pro's tend to struggle with is key's 4 & 5. For example, when a pro gets stuck on the downswing, he's not able to maintain a proper diagonal sweet spot path, and he'll hit big pushes or hook the ball. Some pro's might work on a steady head, you'll see them on the range with there caddie or swing coach holding a club near there ear. Mostly there working on how the club comes into impact. This mean's they nailed keys 1-3 to the point they don't have to think about it.

Lets say an amateur is

Key 1 - 70%

Key 2 - 70%

Key 3 - 70%

Key 4 - 50%

Key 5 - 50%

which wouldn't be to bad, they would play some consistent golf from time to time.

Pro would be something like

Key 1 - 99%

Key 2 - 99%

Key 3 - 99%

Key 4 - 95%

Key 5 - 95%

Maybe its a bit worse, but if you pan that out over the thousands of shots they hit in a year of golf, its a small amount of mistakes. Look at a amateur, how many times per round do they mistake one of the keys 1-3.

[UpDown]

Any single digit capper hits some darn good shots throughout a round. If a pro and I are 150 yards away and in the fairway his good shot wont be much better than mine, but his bad shots aren't nearly as bad as my bad shots. I might be OB and he is still on the green or has an easy bunker shot.

[Deryck Griffith]

Any single digit capper hits some darn good shots throughout a round. If a pro and I are 150 yards away and in the fairway his good shot wont be much better than mine, but his bad shots aren't nearly as bad as my bad shots. I might be OB and he is still on the green or has an easy bunker shot.

That's ball striking