hawaiijake

Getting better at golf is a journey similar to climbing Everest. You can have all sorts of ideas and advice but to truly do it you dont conquer the mountain, you conquer yourself... When you are truly ready to get better there is just 1 thing that you need to do... Be brutally honest with yourself! Watch your swing on tape...look at your misses...look at where you really are and then you can truly improve. Everyone focuses on their swing but there is much more to it than that. Golf has 6 games. 1. Power(full swing) 2. Short(chips, pitches, finesse) 3. Mental( anger,fear, disappointment, confidence etc.) 4. Fitness 5. Putting 6. Management Work on these with regards to yourself and you can start to take steps toward lower scores. Some lessons that I have learned are 1. Be careful who you take advice from. Find teachers and leaders who think similar to you but are more advanced. 2. Have the right tools(clubs should fit, grips, wedges, putter) 3. Make practice uncomfortable..always work on something scary or odd not just shots you feel good about. 4. Build a shot library. Game changer here! Lets say it is a long par 4 with water left and you have a natural draw. Do you have a shot that can eliminate the left side? You should! Learn a very specific set of shots that can turn your round killers into just another shot. 5. Keep good notes...either mentally or literally...get feedback in anyway you can and keep it. 6. You are only as good as your worst shot. Always make your misses just a little better. If you get a little better everyday then there you go. 7. Master a pre and post shot routine...as specific as possible...timing(literally time it!), breathing, posture, vision etc. Make it the same every time and make it positive. Brief history of my game....played since I was13 so about 25 years. Got serious about 3 years ago. Read every book I could and watched tons of DVDs. My true improvement didn't start until I REALLY started to look at where I was and what I was doing. I started video recording and keeping a journal which changed my game drastically. Some books that have shaped my game are Dave Pelz short game and putting bibles, and anything from Leadbetter(especially his interactive dvds about the full swing). I had always tried to play the way my brother played which was more of a feel player and never really improved until I realized that I am far too technical for that. There is no right or wrong way when you think about it. On the PGA tour their yardage books are precise down to inches with slopes and miss options etc. so my point is if you are a feel player or more technical or somewhere in between It doesnt matter. The advice is the same, CONQUER YOURSELF