Is consistency a mindset or a muscle memory thing?

[Moppy]

I have been playing golf for two summers. I can see steady but slow improvement, but I just don't seem to see consistency coming. I can go to the range and hit 50 balls with my nine iron, and half of them are very good, balls I would take any day, pretty straight, and about 100 yards more or less(I know all of you guys hit your 9s 150 or 300). The other half are so bad, I don't want to go onto a course. But even those misses, many are consistent to the same spot, even though they would clearly be out of play on any course I have played, so that is some kind of consistency, I guess. My slice used to be consistent to the same spot every time. There is one par five with an apple tree on my home course that I would land near every time.

I guess my question is, is consistency a matter of practice, or can it come from a careful mental approach to each shot, checking off each item, grip position, posture, alignment, grip pressure check, back swing, head still, follow through.  Learning golf at a young age is no longer an option.

I can guess the answer is probably both, so my second question is, how long does consistency take? Is it better to practice in small batches taking time between each swing, or hit bucket after bucket while concentrating on one point or another for ten balls in a row, for example?

[No Mulligans]

I'll take a vote... Consistency is due to regular practice and playing lots of rounds.

I think there are little indications of progress for me.  Even though I still feel that I'm horrible inconsistent, I don't recall topping a ball, hitting off the toe or shanking a ball for the last 2 months of rounds, at least 8 rounds.  A small victory, but for me progress in being more consistent even though I wouldn't call myself consistent.

Edit: and I'll add, consistency is also due to good technique, regular practice of good technique and playing lots or rounds.

[Keith White]

I am equally consistent without practice.  Lately I have been more consistent than ever and the game is improving.  I am concentrating on a simple swing where I remind myself of about three simple swing thoughts that work for me and I just think about a clean hit with good focus and rhythm.

I am no athlete so a full fast swing won't do me any favours regards balance and good ball striking. Keep it simple, swing within yourself, and repeat your warm up swing and let the clubs do the work.  Watch slow motions of the pros, so focussed on the strike with a nice stable head, so swing with control not aggression and focus on a simple clean strike.

You can repeat some really bad stuff when you thrash you way through buckets of balls on your own, and it will take ages to rectify all the damage and confusion !

[jamo]

@iacas and/or @mvmac could certainly expand on this, but you're making one incorrect assumption: that inconsistent results indicate an inconsistent swing. Even high handicappers have very consistent swings. They're just very consistently terrible, with little timing changes around impact - which is why you might blade one ball and then chunk the hell out of the next. It's not that you need to develop a more consistent swing, it's that you need to you need to develop a better swing.

[Tat14]

I don't like spending too much time on the practice tee. I tend to play better with more frequency of actual rounds than buckets.

I think muscle memory and mental acuity play an equal role. They are not mutually exclusive either.

For example, my pre-shot routine includes a grip check and my single swing thought is a should turn under the chin. I am pretty consistent at this because I've done it long enough for it to be considered muscle memory, but it also stems from a mental approach.

So my answer is, both.

[imsys0042]

I would say its both, but the weight is on practice to get the muscle memory and grooving a swing. Losing or having confidence can greatly vary how well you play. But having the repetitions so that you are comfortable with your swing is more important to me. I never had days where mindset allowed me to shoot lights out. But once I took lessons and took up a practice schedule my days with a bad mindset were less bad and when I was full of confidence I can shoot a lot closer to par for 18.

[iacas]

@iacas and/or @mvmac could certainly expand on this, but you're making one incorrect assumption: that inconsistent results indicate an inconsistent swing.

Even high handicappers have very consistent swings. They're just very consistently terrible, with little timing changes around impact - which is why you might blade one ball and then chunk the hell out of the next.

It's not that you need to develop a more consistent swing, it's that you need to you need to develop a better swing.

All of that is spot on, particularly the part I bolded.

[Moppy]

All of that is spot on, particularly the part I bolded.

OK. I will get another lesson before hitting too many more balls. ;) I have a golf date with friends coming up in two weeks, (in Florida for the winter) and I want to be able to play with a minimum of confidence, anyway. Right now, I am afraid of the course.

[golf-noob-bruce]

Even high handicappers have very consistent swings. They're just very consistently terrible, with little timing changes around impact - which is why you might blade one ball and then chunk the hell out of the next.

If that is the case, how does it happen that the small timing changes in an amateur's swing has such a wide range of results. Presumably better golfers have the same timing variations (otherwise we'd call them, um, more consistent) but somehow for them the results are better? I don't get it.

[No Mulligans]

@iacas and/or @mvmac could certainly expand on this, but you're making one incorrect assumption: that inconsistent results indicate an inconsistent swing.

Even high handicappers have very consistent swings. They're just very consistently terrible, with little timing changes around impact - which is why you might blade one ball and then chunk the hell out of the next.

It's not that you need to develop a more consistent swing, it's that you need to you need to develop a better swing.

If that is the case, how does it happen that the small timing changes in an amateur's swing has such a wide range of results. Presumably better golfers have the same timing variations (otherwise we'd call them, um, more consistent) but somehow for them the results are better? I don't get it.

My uneducated observation.

I know a super high handicapper that places his ball way back towards his back foot.  It seems he is doing this because of his propensity to hit it fat (and it is absolute not the right thing to do to solve his problem).  His club at address is so far angled back that it's comical.   If he were to keep his head steady and have a centered pivot with the ball that far back he would take at least a one foot deep divot.

So, to compensate he sways way back towards his back foot on his downswing and lifts his hands up at contact by maybe a foot and ends his swing with nearly 100% of his weight on his back foot.

He's consistent in that he makes this swing every time.

But his ball striking is inconsistent because of the extra moving parts that he has to make such large compensations to his swing, his swing is very complicated.  It's not possible for him to lift his hands/ bend his arms the exact same amount each time.  It's not possible for him to fall back to his back foot the same amount each time.  (These variables don't exist in a fundamentaly sound swing.)

The swing always looks the same, the ball flight does not.

[DrvFrShow]

Practice makes permanent.

[Hammer 4]

I'm one of those that if don't practice say for a week, it takes me much longer than normal to get in my groove, I say for me, because, I don't hit the ball very far, I try my best to get longer, and more accurate. I can see the results, I'm now hitting a much higher percentage of good shots vs bad shots that I was even 2 months ago.

Also, when I play, if I don't get to hit any balls, more often I don't play as well, especially when it's not warm outside..

[mvmac]

Even high handicappers have very consistent swings. They're just very consistently terrible, with little timing changes around impact - which is why you might blade one ball and then chunk the hell out of the next.

It's not that you need to develop a more consistent swing, it's that you need to you need to develop a better swing.

Yep, good post.

I'll just add this.

[iacas]

I know a super high handicapper that places his ball way back towards his back foot.  It seems he is doing this because of his propensity to hit it fat (and it is absolute not the right thing to do to solve his problem).  His club at address is so far angled back that it's comical.   If he were to keep his head steady and have a centered pivot with the ball that far back he would take at least a one foot deep divot. So, to compensate he sways way back towards his back foot on his downswing and lifts his hands up at contact by maybe a foot and ends his swing with nearly 100% of his weight on his back foot. He's consistent in that he makes this swing every time. But his ball striking is inconsistent because of the extra moving parts that he has to make such large compensations to his swing, his swing is very complicated.  It's not possible for him to lift his hands/ bend his arms the exact same amount each time.  It's not possible for him to fall back to his back foot the same amount each time.  (These variables don't exist in a fundamentaly sound swing.) The swing always looks the same, the ball flight does not.

The swing is essentially the same every time. He doesn't finish 100% on his back foot one swing and then only 30% the next swing. He doesn't swing 12° left one time and then completely alter is shoulder and hand path to alter the club path and swing 8° right next time. Etc. His lousy mechanics are what cause the rather small variations, but to say his swing is different every time is a stretch and a half.

[No Mulligans]

The swing is essentially the same every time. He doesn't finish 100% on his back foot one swing and then only 30% the next swing. He doesn't swing 12° left one time and then completely alter is shoulder and hand path to alter the club path and swing 8° right next time. Etc.

His lousy mechanics are what cause the rather small variations, but to say his swing is different every time is a stretch and a half.

Yep, that's exactly what I was pointing out.

[Patch]

A good, consistent golf swing is a direct result of copious amounts (repetitions) of "quality" practice, and play. Quality practice can be unique to the individual golfer. The more you practice, and play, the easier it is for the swing muscles, and overall body coordination to do what they are told to do. Since the brain is telling the different body parts what to do, that's just another mental part of the game.

[vangator]

Practice is the key. I try to work on mainly one thing to eliminate it from my swing checklist. If I have more than one swing thought, bad things happen too often. Right now, I usually know what I did or didn't do that caused a poor shot. I try to work on some things without needing to hit balls, but it's tough since I tend to lose my mind when a ball is in front of me!

[Moppy]

I try to work on mainly one thing to eliminate it from my swing checklist.

OK, this is getting at what I was asking, what is your "swing checklist"? I feel like the more I learn about my swing, the more I have to think about and the easier it is to forget one, that is what I meant by "mindset,"  focus on a list of things to do carefully.

Plus I have no idea what fundamental thing I can do to eliminate fat shots and thin shots. Eliminating slices was easy in comparison. Getting the club head square was easy in comparison. Keeping my head still, on all of these I could focus on some concrete action that led to the result I wanted. I am not saying I don't still screw up on each of those areas, but if I fully concentrate on the right thoughts, they don't usually happen. But just thinking "Strike the ball solidly" is not enough for me to strike the ball solidly. There has to be some underlying move under my conscious control that I am missing.