Jacktgolf

I had gotten relatively good at piano, writing (brilliant at writing stories, so much so, I'm afraid the publisher will steal my work), clarinet, martial arts, and other things like card tricks and different card fans. These all are things I've gotten really good at, and everyone always thought they came natural to me. I know better. It took plenty of hard work to get good at these things, and I was far from a natural. I now know, through study, that I had practiced effectively, and very deeply. Daniel Coyle talks about this kind of practice in his book, The Talent Code, and when I read that book I realized that the reason I was so good at these things I've mentioned was because I had practiced deeply. Golf has always eluded me, mostly because golf instruction has gotten too complicated, and certainly doesn't help anyone play better, because it doesn't allow you to learn the game. Learning is how you get better, not by being told a bunch of mechanical instructions. If golf swing instruction worked, then people would be better by now. But it doesn't work, that's why people struggle with the game. You're better off to be self taught than to get a golf lesson. Case closed. Practicing in a certain way is important, not just changing your swing. In fact, if you practice properly, your swing will change in the correct way by itself. You don't have to think about your walking technique, for example, because when you learned the skill, at first your walking technique was terrible. But through practice, you gained the proper technique, because there's only one proper way to do it. It's the same with golf, there's only one way to do it right, and if you practice correctly, the technique happens. Here's how to practice properly: You have to have a target object of improvement. Driver? Short game? And get specific. Slice driver? Pitching? Once you have your target, you go to work. You hit your first shot, allowing for the shot to be what it is. Obviously, if you're not good at it, you'll make a mistake. But here's the thing: That mistake is what will lead you to improved skill. If you shank your first pitch for example, you naturally adjust to make better contact by making an attempt to hit the middle of the face. And you do this over and over, trying to hit the middle of the face, making mistakes and correcting them over and over, and eventually, through practice and effort, you'll hit the center of the face. After this, it becomes automatic to hit the middle of the face, because you've done it so many times it becomes habit. Then you can either work on distance control or accuracy, never both at once but one at a time. Slowly, you become a great pitcher of the ball. You end up with beautiful technique, and you can easily pitch the ball different distances (if you practiced that), and you can become really great at it. And here's the best part. It becomes automatic. You don't have to think about doing it anymore, it becomes subconscious, like walking or talking, or driving a car or throwing a ball. This makes it effortless, you don't have to think about it anymore, you just do it. And there's practice. Practice in essence is making mistakes, correcting them over time, and then repeating. You're always pushing your current skill level, you're always on the edge of your abilities. This is where the gains are made. Thing is, you don't have to work on your swing technique to get this. It happens by itself. You just have to practice, and everything will take care of itself. Let me know what you think.

Sam Snead had a closed stance, and was one of the greatest winners of all time. Thing is, when he closed his stance, his shoulders remained square, as well as his hips. I believe this gave him a slight right hip tilt downward so he could tilt his shoulders to the right because of the flexed right knee. I also feel he hit a slight pull draw, which was one of the big reasons he was so powerful, especially into the wind. That would cause a low ball flight, with tons of roll. A closed stance also fixes the coming over the top a bit. It's not perfect., but I tend to come across the ball a bit (not much) so a closed stance would help me neutralize that path. It also just feels more natural. It feel natural and comfortable, rather than my normal open stance, which feels restrictive. I can easily turn my hips more on the backswing, which in turn gives me a bit more power. I also flare my right foot a bit, instead of keeping it square. I find this happens anyway while closing your stance, but I exaggerate a bit just to make sure I can turn my hips. Any of you have a closed stance? And what are your thoughts on closed vs. open or square?

Instead of fixing the face alone, try something else. Think about the spin on the ball. Backspin makes the ball rise, and sidespin makes it curve. If you want to fix a fade, there's only two ways to do it. 1. You play for it 2. You hit a draw, and play for that. That's the only way you're going to fix this. Drawing the ball is a matter of tilting the backspin axis back to the left. If this is your focus, then after you try to spin the ball to the left for a while, you'll start hitting a draw. But even then, you still aim to the right and focus on allowing the curve to come back on target. If spinning the ball left doesn't fix your face, I don't know what will. It's not complicated to shut the clubface. If you can twist the clubface in your hands in any direction you want to, you can shut the face at impact, it's really not that hard. Shut it at address if you feel that works, but either way, it's really not that hard. I think your thought process is the straight shot. Forget it. None of the pros you see on TV hit the ball straight. They all work it one direction or the other, and they do it on every shot with a longer club, down to say, their 9 iron, which has enough loft to negate sidespin and produce more backspin than sidespin, so it goes relatively straight. But the longer clubs always curve, and in fact, the less lofted the face, the more the ball curves. Learn to choose a specific shot shape that you want, whether it be a draw, or a fade, high or low, and habitualize that swing. Make it subconscious, don't focus on the mechanics after you've chosen your shot shape and become used to it. Once you have a shot shape, and you consistently hit it, and you play for it, the golf swing goes out the window. You no longer need to work on it. But shaping the ball requires knowledge of spin, so learn how backspin makes flight, and how sidespin makes curvature, and you'll easily be able to control your ball better.

I average around 50 feet on my approach shots. I three putt every 4 out of 6 greens I hit. I have the putting yips. I also don't hit enough greens to have legitimate chances. I hit around 6-7 greens a round, on a good day maybe 9 or 10. I'd like to average around maybe 10. My putting yips have cost me quite a bit. Every short putt I have I miss (short putt for me is 5-7 feet. I never have 3 footers, unless we're talking chipping). Even then, on my longer putts, I can't get the ball within 6 feet. My greens play very large, sometimes 35 yards deep and wide, with the pin on the sides. The only thing I have going for me is my short game, which doesn't count because I can't hole a 3 foot putt to save my life. I once hit a perfect shot off of hardpan on to a green that played 5 yards deep from my angle, with the pin in the middle. I hit it to two feet, a perfect shot. Even a professional would have trouble with that shot. Believe it or not, I missed the two footer. It was a scramble, and I was playing with a 20 handicap, and he simply looked at my two footer and knocked it in. Didn't even read it. I can three putt from 10 feet sometimes, and today I three putted from 13 feet from off the green (lucky I was 13 feet from the hole, just missed the green, though it was a small green, not much to it, and pulled my shot onto the pin. Wasn't intentionally going for it.) I guess it's my putting. Either I need to get my approach shots closer, or I need to learn to lag putt. EDIT: I just watched a video recently about Phil Mickelson's short game series. Phil was talking about putting, and he said, "It's not how well you putt, it's where you putt from". I just remembered this and thought it was interesting, considering my situation. If I'm 20 feet from the hole instead of 50, I not only have a better chance of making that putt, but also getting my first putt closer on average. Of course, I have the yips, so this maybe doesn't count for me, because I can easily three putt from ten feet, and miss a two foot putt. So do you think going for more pins would save me a few strokes? Or do you think my putting needs a serious makeover? Note: I average around 37 putts for 7 greens in reg. I've never gotten it below 30 unless I only hit 4 greens on the day.

I rarely make a birdie during my rounds. I would normally make one every round I played when I shot low 80's high 70's, and I find every time I make two birdies during my round I break 85 consistently and sometimes 80. I know that when I make a bogey I'm never going to recover from it, because I can't make any birdies now. I've made some ridiculous birdies in my life, such as when I drove into a fairway bunker, hit my second shot close, and holed the 15 foot putt. But I'm not consistent with it and it's frustrating. My main problem is never leaving myself enough chances. I hit around 6-7 greens round, sometimes less, and the chances I have are never legitimate. Mostly they're from 40+ feet, and no one can hole a 40 footer often enough to make any birdies from hitting only 6 greens a round. I'm an 8 handicap. It's creeping up a bit now that I'm not making as many birdies as I used to. I strike the ball consistently well, but every time I have an approach shot, I play ultra conservative and play towards the center of every green. I don't know if this causes my misses or if going for the pin would make me more accurate, or whatever. Thing is I used to hit 9-10 greens in a round, even hit a few 11 greens rounds before, and now I can't strike the ball at all. I still only made one birdie per round, because I was so far away from the hole playing as conservative as I do. In fact, I play so conservative I literally NEVER go for a flag. I find I fear missing on the short side or something, so I avoid going for pins at all costs. I need to make more birdies. At least three per round if I'm to improve. I need to make them not only to score better, but to recover from bogeys. I make at least 12 bogeys per round, if I can make around 3-4 birdies per round, that cancels out a bogey and I can average in the 70's. My short game isn't that great either, but I know what to do on that. that's a work in progress. Any ideas as to how to make more birdies per round? Should I play more aggressive? Should I go for more pins? If I need to go for flags, how many should I go for, and which ones are best to go for? I don't know. I'm just tired of every time I make a bogey, I can't recover from it. Thank you for your time, Jacktgolf P.S. I have potential for birdies. I've made some ridiculous ones, like the one from the fairway bunker I mentioned. I've made them plenty of times, it's just consistency that robs me of them.

Here's the thing. You still have to think about your shots. Everyone here is saying think less, but that's over the ball. When you're standing behind the ball, do all your thinking there. Be specific with what you want to do. We all tend to get distracted. Get clear on what you want to do with the ball.Then walk in to the ball focusing on clearing your mind. Focus on something else other than golf, like tonight's dinner, or what your girlfriend said to you that was pleasant, but don't think about your swing or results. Hit the ball. Execute the shot. The last step is to accept the result. Golf is imperfect, and you need to understand that you really don't need to hit the ball that well to score. Accept the result, the repeat this process on every one of your shots. Basically, you, 1. Choose a shot 2. play subconsciously 3. accept result 4. repeat until done. Try that for three rounds and let us know. Another thing is muscle memory. (I know there's no such thing as muscle memory, I've studied the nervous system and how the brain creates motion. But really, it's just a terminology, so I'll continue to use it). You basically need to learn the skills first, then repeat the action until you can do it without thinking. If you were an 8, which I am, then your game is solid. Just go back to what you do best. Strike the ball the way you know how, and forget all the instruction. I'm self taught, so I know how muscle memory works. I played piano for a time, and after you get the hang of it, it becomes automatic. You need to stop thinking about HOW to play the game and just go play. If I were to think about how I played piano, I'd not be able to play either. In the beginning you think of how, but once you get past that initial learning stage, it should become automatic. Focus on choosing a shot, and hitting it, and you'll do just fine.

I think learning to play a round of golf with one ball would significantly improve anyone's chances. If you play with one ball, and dont lose any, you're bound to break 100, easy. I shoot mid 80s, and am now an 8.5 handicap due to a 77 the other week. When I shot that 77, I played my Bridgestone e6 speed the whole day, with a few cleanings. When I shot 81 on a golf course I hadn't played up to that point, I used my titleist prov1x the whole time. When i lose balls, normally my score goes up by 6 shots, with just two lost balls. I lost four today in a tough 35 mph wind, and I shot my worst of the year 92. Also lag putting. 3 putts are killers, and I routinely have 5 of them on the course every time I play. If those 5 strokes were to be taken off my score, Id shoot low 80s all the time. Learn to just get your long ones close and dont worry about holing them so much. And learn to make most of your short putts. And with your short game, just get the ball on the green on your first shot. Anywhere on the green will do fine, and sometimes you might end up close. Avoid the bunkers, unless you practice that shot enough to have confidence in it, by course management, maybe laying up short of a green surrounded by bunkers, then using your short game, get the ball anywhere on the green and two putt max. Just using your head will help you immensely. All of this combined, and you'll probably break 100 consistently. Of course, when you want to break 90, everything changes, but to break 100 it's not really that hard. Just have to keep the ball in play off the tee and with your approaches, short game green hitting, and eliminating most of your three putts. Practice is all that's needed, but once you get it you won't look back.

Shot an 81 today from the men's tees. Had one birdie on a par 5. Hit plenty of greens, and had 6 birdie putts inside of 8 feet from outside 140 yards, none of them converted. The rest of the time I was around 25 feet from the hole when I hit a green. Short game was good today, around 46 percent in scrambling (good for me, normally I do around 15 %.) Overall a pretty poor round.

Murray Irwin Norman, 1950's

I suggested he work the ball both ways, but I can also agree with this. I play my fade 95% of the time, I only hit a draw when absolutely required. But I can certainly move it both ways on command, and exact amounts. But as I said, I prefer a fade, and that's what I hit.

Thank you for your replies. I appreciate the feedback.

You make good points. I can understand that.

I don't think much of my technique anymore, I just play the game. Technique in my opinion has nothing to do with good pitching, it's all feel. Whether you use the leading edge, the bounce, take a divot or not doesn't matter. It's all feel and distance control. Reading the green on a pitch helps too, whether it's downhill, uphill, right to left, etc. But I never think of technique when I do it. It's too hard for anyone's mind to consciously force a motion from start to finish with all this in mind and still be a good pitcher of the ball. Just not going to happen mate.

It's a mixture of different things. First off, if you have a solid long game, and hit around 10 greens a round, you're an above average striker. A better short game in the end will lower their score, because if you can't get up and down on 8 greens, you make bogey or worse, causing your scores to rise. If you can get up and down on those greens, say, around 6 of them, your scores will be around 6 shots lower. If you're not a solid striker, and you have a poor short game, you're probably a 100 shooter. To put it plainly, I think you're downplaying the short game a bit, which is the wrong way to look at golf. All aspects are equal, in terms of relevance. Another thing is course management. If you don't leave yourself in good spots to get up and down, you're unlikely to do so. I had plenty of easy bunker shots today and I played them well, because I wasn't short sided. Bunkers are easy regardless, but if you only have 10 feet of green to work with, and you're in a bunker, it's not as easy as say, a 10 yard shot from that same bunker with 25 feet of green. Keep in mind your position. Overall the short game is where people need to most work, because most people are already good enough strikers to expect themselves to hit around 7-9 greens, so getting up and down consistently will bring your score down to low 70's, if you get up and down around 80% of the time. And if a few of those birdie putts drop on those 7-9 greens, say, two, then you're likely to shoot even par or better. Don't look down on players with a good short game, they deserve just as much due as someone who can blast 320 yard drives and hit low rising irons that fall dead on target.