What should a 17 year old do to dramatically improve?

[SlaydenH]

Hi. I used to play golf when I was younger but dropped the sport around the age of 9. Man do I wish I stayed. Anyways, I usually shoot around mid 40s but can range anywhere from high 50s to high 30s. I want to pursue a career in golf and trust me, I know im behind most of the kids my age that have been playing for much longer but everyone says I have great potential. I was wondering what you think the best way to drop strokes is? I guess the first step to pursuing a career in golf is playing college gold and since I started only about 4 months ago, when I was shooting high 50s low 60s consistently and now shooting mid to low 40s. Unfortunately I am a senior in high school and there is only 1 month of golf season left so its not like any golf scouts are going to be checking me out. The only way I could be checked out is if I make it passed the district tourney and maybe to regionals or even states but im not sure how im going to do that with just a months time. I am willing to do whatever it takes to achieve my goal of college golf. I have time, even though I go to school from 7:30-2:45 I have mostly all the time after that until about 8 when the sun goes down. I was wondering if you think I should get a swing coach that I work with everyday or a mental coach or something. I live in the Daytona Beach, FL area. About 1hr east of Orlando so its not to say im not near many resources. Also, do you think I should get fitted clubs and so on. Thank you so much for the support.

[tmac20]

By "career in golf", are you talking about becoming a professional golfer? I don't want to get your hopes down or ruin your dreams, but I would highly consider not pursuing this, and just playing golf for your own enjoyment. The chances of becoming a professional golfer are slim and none, especially when you are still shooting in the 40's at 17 years old. Please do not ruin your studying habits in hopes of becoming a PGA Tour player; you will regret it later in life.

[MS256]

Don't they have a Spring high school golf season in Florida?

That's the only high school golf season they have around here in Alabama. A fall season that conflicted with football wouldn't fly very well in this area.

Work on your swing. If you can afford a coach that's great.

Some colleges and junior colleges have tryouts for the golf team if you improve enough. One of the best things about golf is that if you can put up a score you can play. In some other sports you are subject to the whims of coaches who decide if you can play or not. Sometimes they are right and sometimes they are wrong.

I agree with tmac20. Being a pro golfer shouldn't really even be on your radar.

[WUTiger]

Just to improve your game systematically, you would need to get a swing coach. Besides building your overall swing, you would need to focus on the things that keep you from shooting low scores. Developing a reliable swing is critical.

And, you would have to pace yourself...

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Karate legend tells the story of the young man who travels to a far-away city to seek the counsel of a famous martial arts master. The young man said, "Sensei, how much must I work to become a black belt?"

The master said, three hours a day for two years.

The young man brightened, and asked. "But sensei, what if I practice four hours a day?"

The sensei said, two years.

The young man persisted. "But sensei, what if I practice six hours a day?"

"At least three years," said the sensei. "You will become so exhausted you will get injured, and have to take time off to recover."

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If you could work your way down to a single-digit handicap, you might be able to play college golf somewhere. You might have to delay entering college and work on your game for a year to get here. You might find a Division III college - no athletic scholarships for anyone - but you would have to support yourself somehow during college. And, you would have to be good enough to play in matches.

I work as a college professor, and the biggest challenge college golfers face is time management. In the spring semester especially, you may miss classes several times a month as you travel to golf events. You have to work closely with your professors to meet classroom deadlines - or maybe even submit work early - to stay in good standing. And you have to work on your class assignments while rolling down the road on the team bus.

Most small-college golf teams have one or two players that started out at a major university golf team, but crashed and burned academically. They didn't learn the time management thing.

I'm all for people wanting to play golf. But, why are you so focused on a pro (PGA tour?) career? You need to take first things first, and be realistic about this.

[KinG-NothinG]

I don't wanna bring you down, and I love hearing about players wanting to pursuit their dreams. But I think you need some perspective on the whole golf idea.

WUTigers Karate-story is pretty much spot on. You need to practice A LOT and by that I mean thousands of hours. But you can't cover it all to quick as your body and mind will be exhausted.

A dramatic improvement of your game will come with practice - there are no real short cuts in the game of golf no matter how much potential or talent (man I hate that word) you have. And the more practice you can do with a swing coach the better. You do mention the mental game as well and I do consider it a real important part but also there, you need to spend hours and get experience.

[RFetters]

Break down your game into the various segments,,ie driving results, long second shots, mid-range second shots, short range shots, (70-135), chipping/pitching, recovery shots and last putting.  Decide which area/s need the most improvement (those that are costing you the most shots) and concentrate on those areas with diligent focused practice.

Personally, I would limit the number of areas to focus on to three to start, and for sure one area would be chipping and pitching.  With good chips and pitches, even the pros wont hit every GIR, and the ability to get up and down can save 3-5 strokes per round.

[GingerGolfer]

I had a similar goal of yours at the beginning of the year, not necessarily regarding careers but just becoming good fast. I'm 17 and my first revision (about 6 months ago) was a 16.5. The first 2 months I focused on developing a really good short game, and just worked a little bit on the full swing. Once I felt that I had developed a short game where I could scramble at a rate above 60% I started to delve into the long game. I worked on fixing my driver slice, and just hitting the ball solid more often. Once I started to hit it solid I then invested in new everything, driver, irons, wedges, woods. Obviously I didn't buy everything at once so I bought what I felt was the best part of my game (wedge play) all the way down to getting my driver last. I now pretty much hit it solid every time, so am no longer worried about things like that. I'm starting to work on accuracy with my irons, and course management. I've been fortunate enough to be pretty strong mentally so I've never had to worry about that, but I believe if you follow the progression that I did you can get to a single digit within a year or less. You should work on everything all the time, but put more emphasis on one thing over another, and in my opinion short game should be the number 1 priority.

[SlaydenH]

Sorry I didnt necessarily mean the PGA tour I just meant that I would like to do something with golf. Maybe become a teacher or something like that I would just like to focus on improving. I dont mean that I want to go pro because obviously im not in the position too now.

[SlaydenH]

I had a similar goal of yours at the beginning of the year, not necessarily regarding careers but just becoming good fast. I'm 17 and my first revision (about 6 months ago) was a 16.5. The first 2 months I focused on developing a really good short game, and just worked a little bit on the full swing. Once I felt that I had developed a short game where I could scramble at a rate above 60% I started to delve into the long game. I worked on fixing my driver slice, and just hitting the ball solid more often. Once I started to hit it solid I then invested in new everything, driver, irons, wedges, woods. Obviously I didn't buy everything at once so I bought what I felt was the best part of my game (wedge play) all the way down to getting my driver last. I now pretty much hit it solid every time, so am no longer worried about things like that. I'm starting to work on accuracy with my irons, and course management. I've been fortunate enough to be pretty strong mentally so I've never had to worry about that, but I believe if you follow the progression that I did you can get to a single digit within a year or less. You should work on everything all the time, but put more emphasis on one thing over another, and in my opinion short game should be the number 1 priority

Thanks for the info! Im glad to know there is someone else with the same focus!