Components of improvement

This is a pretty long post, but it sums up what I've learned the past few years in moving from HCP of 19 now to a 12+. I'd appreciate thoughts and comments.

What should an aspiring golfer do to improve their game? Every golfer is different, but my own experience and watching others leads me to these conclusions – some of which agree with conventional wisdom, some which do not.

• Today is the best day to work on your short game . Virtually no golfer is too inflexible or too weak to put and chip well. To improve your putting, learn good setup and technique (have your alignment checked), have the right mental approach (visualize the put going in), and put some practice in.
• Work on your flexibility and balance , particularly if you have a desk job. You cannot possibly have a good and consistent swing if you’re inflexible. And that in particular means those of us with desk jobs. Go see a physical therapist who understands the golf swing. Check out what TPI has to say about this. I see so many guys in their late 40s or 50s spending hours on the range trying to work on their swing. If they would spend 30 minutes a day stretching out in the morning they could put into practice what the pro tells them to do and get rid of that slice.
• Walk the course . You’ll loosen up and swing better.
• Check GASP regularly – grip, alignment, stance & posture. Alignment in particular.
• Manage your misses – this is ½ of course management. Make sure that your misses cost you one stroke at most (unless it’s match play and your opponent is dormie, then go for broke)
• Play the hole backwards – this is the other ½ of course management. What shot should I hit now so my next shot is the one I really want to hit (in my case a full swing 52-degree wedge).
• Be comfortable with partial wedge swings when you are inside 100 yards. Practice hitting these out of the rough occasionally.

Where is the conventional wisdom wrong?

• Hit 3w off the tee . Modern drivers are more forgiving than most 3w’s. But make sure you’re flexible enough to hit it, and you don’t need to swing as hard as possible.
• Aim for the middle of the green . Aim for the middle of the green but BELOW THE CUP . Downhill putts are a recipe for disaster. If the pin is forward, and with hazards left and right, sometimes you’re better off in front of the green with a short chip up to the pin.
• 4 wedges x 3 swings = 12 distances . Good for an engineer, but decent course management lets you hit a full 52- or 56-degree wedge in…and I’ve never had 4 wedges in the bag and liked all of them. Inside of 100 yards is lots about feel for me, not about engineering – oh, and hitting a 60-degree wedge off of a tight lie is not for the faint of heart.
• Length doesn’t matter . Uh-huh. If you have a good swing, you’ll hit the ball straighter and farther. And your scores will drop. I’ve been playing one course in Wisconsin for about 30 years now, at least a week each summer. I’m now hitting two clubs further distance as I have a better swing, and I’m hitting more fairways. Surprise, surprise, I’m making more birdies and my scores are dropping.

Equipment

• Blades. You’re ready for blades when…Actually, you’re not ready for blades. When your HCP is low enough that you can play in the qualifiers for the Amateur, then go ahead.
• Golf balls . These do and do not make a difference. My advice is that men (and hard-hitting women) should play Pro V1s. Kids and the average woman should play Noodles. Whatever you do play, stick with it.
• A good putter makes a big difference. Go try out a few, find one you like & stick with it.
• Get some hybrids . Can you really hit a 3i or 4i? Seriously.

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Breakthrough moments

• Learning how to work the ball…of course it’s a rare day that I can make the ball both draw or fade. Most days I can do one or the other, and that’s good enough.
• Looking forward to putting…
• Improving my swing so that I can add power and still be confident that the ball will go straight
• Knowing how far I hit each club
• Being confident in greenside bunkers means I can be more aggressive in hitting to the green

Thanks for reading. Looking forward to your comments.

Pretty much agree with everything. Especially on length. In general, length is more a function of good technique and execution. With this in place, distance comes pretty naturally with power being a function of flexibility and arm length more than strength.

Also, working the ball is a pretty big one. And like you said, you don't have to have "on demand" workability. Just be able to do something consistently and that you can fall back on. Taking away half the course is pretty big. And the angle that a ball comes in at creates a higher margin of error. I think it was Nicklaus who said you'll never be a good golfer if you're always trying to hit the ball straight.

I'd say a thing you may have missed but is really a function of all of this is know your swing. Be conscious of your entire swing so you can diagnose problems with it quickly and correct them. Understanding why your ball didn't go as far, why the trajectory was off high or low, why it pushed a little and pulled a little, why it didn't or did do whatever is the fundamental element of better golf I believe. I've recently reached that level after a swing rebuild with an instructor and it changes everything. I don't have to show up and see what swing shows up today. And that does a lot for the mental game as well as just making the game more enjoyable as you become the master of your own swing.

Great advice here though!

Nicely put my man. I also come across the same wisdom as yourself.

-Use 3w
-Grow up, get a hybrid
-If you aint a samurai, dont get a blade
-Stop buying new drivers, and focus more on putts and putter

You make some good points, certainly. You don't need to work out in the gym or do stretching to get rid of a slice though. And kids can play ProV1's. I'm better than most men I've seen on the golf course.

I agree with all except this part.For me blades are the better club my lowest rounds have been shot with blades and highedt rounds with cavaties.Golf balls are all personal preferance not such a broad generalization.Good putters do matter alot i agree there.Hybrids are not for everybody i much prefer my 3 and 4 irons.

i hit both my 3i and 4i just fine thank you

You got me to thinking -- things that are making a positive difference for me this year:

• Consistent tempo (3/1 ratio)
• Regripping with new and larger size grips for my old hands
• Playing only one brand/type of ball instead of a mixture of used balls
• Bought a quality driver instead of cheap ones
• Specific ball placement in stance and distance to ball
• Consistent hand(s) position in gripping the club
• Being sure to hit a few practice balls just before teeing off (to verify swing)
• Picking out a target spot a few feet ahead of me

A long way to go, but progress...and thanks for the other tips above. I have put away my 4I and 5I and substituted Adams Tight Lies and much more comfortable with them on fairways.

Alot of what you say is good advice, but a lot of it is major generalizations. Im a "kid" and I dont like ProV1's or Noodles-- I play a TM Burner or Callaway Warbird. I hit my irons very well, better than my hybrid 90% of the time.

So basically you have some good points but at the same time its kind of annoying to hear a person with the same handicap as you to be preaching at you, and acting like everything they say is gospel.

And you sound like one too...

I thought there was a lot of good advice here. Obviously, the post is directed towards higher handicaps who are looking to improve, like myself. I found it interesting that the negative posts seem to be from lower handicaps - did you really think this post is directed at you? There's really only two things I disagree with - seeing a PT and stating that ProV1s are the balls to use. I disagree with the PT part because for most people, this probably just isn't practical - both from a time and cost perspective. If I had unlimited time and money, sure, but I don't and I don't think the benefits would be worth that much. I don't know anyone who's seen a PT for their golf game unless directly related to an injury. I also disagree on the balls part, because I don't think it makes sense to buy one of the most expensive balls out there when at a higher handicap, they're still easy to use. I think there's enough good balls out there at lower prices, the last thing on an aspiring golfer's mind should be worry about losing an expensive ball.

Theres no reason for the name calling because a. I wasnt talking to you and b. I wasnt disrespecting the OP, I was just saying that he had some decent advice but it was written in a somewhat omnicient tone. When I read this I felt like he was saying that I have to go to a PT, get rid of my 3 and 4 iron, and play a Noodle or I cant be good at golf. I was just pointing out that I've never been to a PT, I dont play noodles, and I play a 3 and 4 iron and have only been playing on and off for 2 years and we are the same handicap. There are more than one way to improve at golf, which is clear because I havent done most of the things he reccomends and that he may get more positive responses if he made it clear that these suggestions not golf gospel.

What's that supposed to mean?

I didn't realize I called you a name. I didn't read his post as aimed at you anyways. He specifically said he listed advice for someone who went from a 19 to something lower. You're already something lower. Why did you read his post as directed to you?

Exactly what it says? No hidden agenda here.

i agree with your short game opinions, there is no reason to ever three putt

ballance and flexability is important but you cant rely on stretching only some things cant be fixed just by being flexable mainly the slice that is usually nothing to do with flexabilty because leaving to club face open usually comes from over rotating your upperbody. i can see walking the course in a tournament but not a normal round but the grip and alignment thing is a good idea. i dont do course management the way you do. you should look at the pin in relation to the green and say i have more green left or more green right then try to hit it on the left edge of the hole if there is more green left and the right edge if there is more green right. you have to know your boundrys and go for pins when there is enough greens on both sides but always choose your miss so you still have a birdie putt. most people hit 3w better not because its more forgiving but because the shaft is shorter so it has less room for error. its a fact that the shorter club will have a more controlled swing. thats like saying hitting a driver into a narrow fairway is more consistant than hitting 3w, honestly iv never met a serious tournament player that would do that unless its the difference between hitting a wedge in or hitting a long iron blades dude im pretty sure every1 has a few blades in their bag. what are wedges? honestly if you have a good swing you can play blades. like really how do you know i cant take a set of titleist mb irons and go shoot even. ya im a kid and im pretty sure i shouldnt be playing a noodle my swing speed is 121 and i can spin every club 6 iron down from the fairway. the ball should be different for everyone not jsut kids women and men, and just because women might not swing hard doesnt mean they shouldnt use good golf balls. honestly what if a man doesnt swing hard enough to hit a pro v1 and they need the pro v1x, not everyone is the same putters are actually weighted for the swing, not everyone should hit a "good putter", the better putter, the ballance is, the harder it is to hit. if a putter is to well ballanced you will be pushing everything, it might be a "good putter" but you wont be able to hit it without a good stroke, some people need a poorly ballanced putter to help get the clubface square at impact. yes i can hit a 3i and a 4i, 245 and 225, seriously some people can even hit 2 irons i had one for a while, some people can even hit 2,3,4 iron blades some of your opinions target mid to high handycappers, i would say dont plan for misses as much and take the strait root to the hole as much as possible

im in this category as you probably are.

ya i can. some people think because they have to hit hybrids everyone does.

when i was fitted they tryed to sell me mizuno mp-67s with a 2 iron

Agree with it all except the golf balls and hibreds. Plenty of good balls out there - pick one and stick with it. I dropped teh 3 iron out of bag but have no issue with my 4 iron - never really had an issue with my 3 iron either, but I like the other shots the hibred can hit

I don't understand why some people had a problem with the way this post was presented given the way the points were introduced.

The critique is interesting guys but the fact you can crack a 2 iron 240 yards does not mean that that is a solid piece of advice for 19 handicap players.