consistency

i've only been playing golf now for about a little less than a year now and i feel that i'm picking it up well. my trouble and frustration right now is consistency with ball striking. when i'm out at the range, i always tend to have great sessions but when i hit the course, it all goes down hill. i'll hack at the ball, chunk the ball, and top the ball more so than not.

any advice? i know i need more practice but as of now, its totally frustrating!!

Hey..it'll come. Sooner or later, you'll make one great shot, then another and another.
We only remember the good ones.

This is the way I look at consistency I turn it into a math problem

Practice+Confidence=consistency

When you are able to get the mindset to hit the ball great everytime then you will, and this comes with practice.

I agree with all the posts so far. A couple months ago I was exactly where you were, and have just been slowly hitting a higher percentage of good shots vs bad. I have two pieces of advice: 1) If you're hitting off a mat, find a grass range. Huge, huge, difference. Mats disguise so many bad swings. 2) Play more rounds. Given a choice between range and a round, play a round. I used to think that range hits were valuable since you can hit more shots in the same amount of time, but even on a grass range it's not the same as when you're on the course. And when on the course, any chance you have to hit more than one ball without delaying a group behind you, do it.

It'll come!

- Bill

You have to understand how very hard this game is. I've been playing for 45 years and thing I work on the most is consistant ball striking. It sounds like your being a little tough on yourself. Make a list with the help of your PGA pro on a list of realistic goals for your game and then work on one thing at a time and be patient. Most of all have fun! bwgolfer

Golf is a game of patience , stamina , consistency , skill and last but not the least frustration . The best way is to learn from frustration . The more frustrated you become the more challenged you are to take the next step . Have a local golf PRO take a look at your weak points and take good advise on how to correct them . You can now practise the advise on the Range and go on from there . If you were near my location in So Ca id be honored to help you with your game at a driving range close to you . Welcome to the game of GOLF .

I second that.

I had similar experience too when I just started playing golf for couple of months. Range session (mats) was always great, it seemed like I could hit the ball consistently. Then when I went to play on the course I felt like I'd never held golf clubs before. Funny, but true. I got over it by practicing on grass range and increasing the frequency of play on the course.

What I do now is collect golf jokes and play one back in my head after a disastrous shot.

My favorite right now is "Swing harder, just in case you hit it."

Laughing at yourself is the best therapy.

If I knew then, what I know now.... Consistency IS the game. ALL of us hit good shots sometimes, occasionally a great one, more often so-so ones. You have to manage it.

Golf is SO MUCH about mental approach more than physical swing. You go to the range, hit twenty 7-irons: 3 are good, 2 meh, 15 suck, you remember the 3. You go to the course, guess which 7-iron is going to come out? First rule is, you have to practice like you play. If you rip a driver at the range and it goes 20 yards left, you say, "hey, killed that!" Do it on the course, and you're in the woods, and you're screaming at yourself. Be diligent, be focused in your practice.

When you get to the course, now you have to play the course. If you have never hit a draw and the first hole is a dogleg left, should you plan a draw? Heck, no!!!! You could hit a well-placed fade (maybe not "ideal," but so be it) and be in play, or force the draw and be hitting 3.....

I'll give you an example: I've been strangely pulling my tee shot lately. Swing feels good, contact is good, I'm just spinning on it a little. Playing yesterday, 18th hole, have to stay right. Even though I implemented my "fix" for trying not to pull it, I still gave myself more room for error in case I do. Well, I did pull it a little, but I ended up staying in play because of the room I allowed myself.

To sum up: practice smart, practice focused. When you play, be realistic and keep your head on straight. We'd all love to hit 12 fairways, 15 greens, 28 putts and shoot 71. Most of us won't, so do what you can with what you've got. No reason you can't still shoot a very good score and have lots of fun even when you're scrambling around. What you'll find is, when that course management skill gets honed, that confidence may just bleed into your swing as well, and then the scoring will really come.

Big,

A question for you. What type of surface are you practicing on? A mat? If so, your club will always slide through. Additionally, try and listen to sound of impact. Are you hearing blade on ball, first? Or are you hearing blade on surface? My suggestion to you is to slow down when you're on the course. I've been playing 18 months and experienced everything you are talking about. I'm not saying to play slower but rather focus and commit to the shot. Don't worry about anything else. The three keys to a good shot is proper alignment to the target, tempo and a clean strike. Once that happens, everything else is out of your hands.

I'm a newer golfer myself and I too suffer from inconsistency on the course when I play sometimes. What I do is try and have a good pre-shot routine that helps me focus on making a good swing. I practice the same pre-shot routine when I'm at the range and it has really made me more consistent when playing.

I would suggest building solid shot striking around your 8 iron. Start at a 3/4 swing a get it so you are confident in the distance and the direction. You can build most all other swings off of it, execpt a driver and 3 wood maybe.

Don't move to another club until you master either the 7 or 8 iron....hit it high, low, 1/2 swing, 3/4 swing. Also learn a fade...a scoring shot shape.

Have fun with it!

Thank you all for your advice and your nice words of confidence!! =)

See you guys out there!!!

W

Golf_junkie has hit it on the dot with one thing. It's a huge difference hitting balls off of a mat and playing on grass.

I guess a huge factor you should keep in mind is confidence and mindset. Whenever I hit a bad shot or one I don't like, my game also goes downhill since my head isn't in the game. So just slow it down, breathe, resync your tempo, and just make a smooth stroke. Don't try to play with expectations that something is going to happen or that you're hoping to break x0 this round. Clear your head, visualize the shot, commit to it, and make the swing. Hopefully your game gets better. Cheers