What does it take?

Hi everyone ! My name is Marc de Jager, and I am 16 years old. This is my first time posting on this forum ! I've been playing golf for 3 years, and dropped my handicap into single digits for the first time this month. I have aspirations of becoming a professional golfer one day. Many people at my club said I started at too young an age, but I don't agree . If I remember correctly Larry Nelson only started playingwhen he was 21, and I think he ended up with 2 or 3 majors ! I am going to devote a serious amount of time to improving my game over the next 6 years. Here are my stats for the last five rounds

F I R : 39.2%

G I R : 31.2%

Birdies : 9.3%

Pars : 40 %

Bogeys : 42.3%

Double bogey + : 8.4%

Average tee-off distance : 260-280 yds

Putts per hole: 1.7

Putts per G I R: 1.9

Any thoughts on which areas to focus on, to further improve my game???? Any feedback will be appreciated!!

more practice time and less time posting do a search on the other people that come on here wanting to go pro - that reading will keep you busy for days

Post your swing

Eat, sleep, and breath golf. Put everything you possibly can into the game before you are expected to go to college or get a job where you will certainly not have the time. Don't listen to the naysayers. Use all the resources you have, like this forum and local pros.

Don't be a person like me who wished they had played in college, but didn't put in the effort in high school.

http://thesandtrap.com/f/4088/swing-thoughts

Read all of this stuff. The guys running this site have a wealth of knowledge, much of which is in that area of the forum. They post things that turned my approach to the game upside down, for the better.

One of the best tools you could possibly buy to get better is a good video camera and a tripod that will allow you to view your swing in really slow motion (current cell phones won't cut it, you need at least 60 fps to get a good shot).

http://thesandtrap.com/b/playing_tips/filming_your_swing

You can get feedback on your swing if you make a thread and post video here.

http://thesandtrap.com/f/4180/member-swings

Based on those stats you posted it looks like you could use some more GIR. Maybe you need to cut practice time somewhere else and increase your time on the range, check this post out:

http://thesandtrap.com/t/58816/65-25-10-practice-ratios-where-to-devote-your-practice-time

I can't know your personal situation but i could suggest that you make every possible effort to get invited, or pay you way into, some golf camp as run by one of your compatriots, like Gary Player, Ernie Els, Oostie, Schwartzel, etc. One week, month, summer of that will be worth 17 lifetimes of the stuff you read on this, or any, internet  golf forum.  Sure, there is advice here and some is good, some not so.  I do recall a bloke who wanted to join the college team and the coach told him to learn to hit the 2 iron over the yon tree, 215 yds out.  Took the youngster a month of concentrated and persistent effort to achieve that task and that was all he did for the month. Concentrated and persistent effort coupled with good instruction will help you immensely.  Do not spend your time with anyone who complains, whines or cries.  Do not worry about your age. Greg Norman was also a mid-teenager before picking up a stick.  Everyone can judge your past but only you can see your future.

1.  Find out who the best swing coach in your area is.  Work with them regularly.

2.  Put TONS of work into your short game.

3.  Play as much competitive golf as you can.

4.  Read as much as you can about the mental side of golf, visualization, etc and incorporate it into your game.

5.  Determine right now that NOBODY is going to outwork you.  You may not make it as a pro, or even a college golfer, but be sure that when you look back you can honestly say that you put in every bit of effort you could.

6.  Don't pay attention to 99% of the people on the Internet and especially don't take swing advice from 99.8% of people on the Internet.