Make a Golf Improvement Map

Been getting a few questions lately about methods for improving one’s golf game and overcoming frustrations along the way.  Both are tough nuts to crack, but let’s first address the frustrations.  Recognize that golf is an activity that requires continual learning.  It takes time, effort, persistence, and must be treated as a journey and not a result.  Frustration and satisfaction are companions on the ride.  Players and students of the game come to this realization slowly if they don’t set expectations up front.  The expectations should be documented in an improvement map and include a goal and specific how-to’s.  You’ll find it’s difficult to pursue a general plan like “become a better golfer, “ because the words connote a moving target.

Your improvement map needs specifics.  For example, say you are a player who regularly shoots between 100 and 110.  There’s room for improvement in almost every aspect of your game but not getting focused on where to work can hurt.  Your map should have a goal like:  “Break 100 for seven of 10 rounds by the end of September.”  Then add in the how-to.  This could be:  “Sign up for a series of six lessons on ball striking.  Take one lesson every two weeks.  Practice the lessons twice per week.  Include one round of golf per week.”  Over the course of this journey, you will hit snags and setbacks, but with persistence should expect the balance of instruction, practice, and play to yield benefits.  You may also begin to notice shortcomings in other areas of your game, like chipping or putting.  But remain on task and focused because there will be plenty of time to work on other things.  At this level, you’ll gain a higher level of satisfaction from improved ball striking and eliminating those severely wayward full swing misses. 

Now, say you are a player that shoots in the low 80s.  Totally different map because your swing is more refined.  The more competence you demonstrate, the harder incremental improvement becomes and at this level, a higher degree of dedication is required to improve.  Again, your map should be specific with a goal like:  “Break 80 in five of 10 rounds by the end of September.”  The how-to:   “Take a lesson in chipping and putting.  Practice your learned technique two times per week and play two times per week.  After one month, take another lesson in pitching and bunker play.  Repeat the practice/play cadence.” The focus on short game along with the increased frequency of practice and play should pay dividends.

At any level, increasing frequency is the key because the techniques you learn become second nature.  When you can rely on technique, you think more about making shots. This is where the improvement happens.  The instruction is important because practicing the wrong technique can set you back.  Most golfers struggle with these two areas because they need to find an instructor they can trust and need to make the required time commitment.  Solve for those two, add in an improvement map, and you’re on your way.

Play well.            

Flirting With The US Amateur

Yesterday was a new and fun experience as I dipped my toes into big time tournament golf.  It’s probably not what you think.

Before teeing it up at Clustered Spires in Frederick, MD, I headed to the starters desk and got paired up with an older husband and wife team and a young fellow, also named Brian, who informed me that he was playing a practice round for the June 30 US Amateur Qualifier. He advised he would not be playing out all his shots and would be trying a few things from different locations.  As he loaded his bag on my cart, he asked if I had played the course, because he had not, and he needed help mapping out a strategy.  I gladly volunteered to assist.

As we rode towards the green on the par-3 second hole, I asked Brian how he gained entry in the qualifier.  He said he had just got his handicap below the 2.4 index requirement and was attempting to qualify for the first time.  Brian was playing the tips (where the qualifier would be played from) and I was playing the whites, which were considerably shorter at 6,200 yards.  This was still cool because I was able to watch a real good player and measure my game with his.  How did I stack up?  Handicap stats can be misleading.  I play to a 4.3 index.  Let’s say Brian just satisfied his USGA index requirement and was playing at a 2.3.  Two strokes different, right?  No way.  In all fairness to myself, my short game and his were quite comparable, but ball striking was not even close.  He was consistently ripping it 280-290 down the middle on every tee shot and his length and pureness of strike with the irons was impressive.  The takeaway:  whenever paired with someone from a different club, understand the context of their index.  What is the distance they usually play at and what is the course rating?  I was left thinking that a scratch at my course would get whupped every time by a five or six handicap from a serious venue like a Congressional or Merion.   

On the 17^th tee, Brian pulverized another low bullet about 300 yards down the middle, and I asked him what the loft was on his driver.  He said about 12 degrees but admitted that he always hit the ball very low and learned an exaggerated shaft lean as a kid.  He said that if he was fortunate enough to qualify and make it to Oakmont in August, he might have trouble with some of the carries because of his low ball flight.  Then I asked him what he thought it would take to qualify out of Clustered Spires and he thought maybe a few under par for 36 holes.  The US Amateur has 94 qualifying sites, each with 84 players.  Roughly three of those 84 will advance to the 312 player field at Oakmont.  I think it may take six or seven under par to advance out of Clustered Spires.  Yikes!

All day, I found it hard to concentrate on my own game while helping to manage Brian’s club selection and making recommendations on where to hit it and what to avoid.  In addition, our husband-and-wife team were playing very quickly, and the cadence became a little disjointed.  I managed to hit 12 greens and shoot six-over par, but I felt rushed, especially on the greens, with Brian trying putts to all different locations and the other two racing to see who could finish the hole as quickly as possible. It was still great fun.

I have played practice rounds before tournaments, but just played golf.  What I observed yesterday was a real competitor preparing for a serious event using serious preparation techniques.  That I helped him in any small way is gratifying.  I will be eagerly watching the June 30^th qualifying results from Clustered Spires to see if he makes it.

Play well.

Celebrating Golf’s Human Element

My Dad is 93 and he and I were watching the US Open yesterday.  The announcers were describing a par-3 playing 173 yards and Dad asked me what they were hitting in.   “That’s about a five iron, right?”  I told him that the pros were using eight and nine-irons and that some guys like DeChambeau were hitting pitching wedges.  He was incredulous, “A pitching wedge at 170 yards?”

My parents and my wife celebrating an early Father’s Day

The current crop of pros bomb it compared to their counterparts in the late 20^th century, but the beauty of golf is that is still all about the carpenter, not the tools.  In this week’s major, the USGA set the track at 7,700 yards, grew in the rough, dried out the greens, and presto, even-par for 72 holes is a great score – just like 20 or 30 years ago.  No angle of attack, TopTracer Apex, or ball spin rates are going to save the competitors.  The players with the best vision, technique, and mental toughness are going to be successful, and I am loving it!

In today’s world, most occupations and many sports are being taken over by automation and data analytics.  How accurate is your data?  Can you automate that?  I suppose that’s the price of progress, but is removing the human element from life progress?  My job is to manage resources (people) for my company.  Whether I like it or not, we use automation to increase productivity, and it replaces humans with machines and I have to live with that.  I read a very interesting piece by Kevin Kernan at BallNine about how data analytics is ruining professional baseball and making it almost unwatchable.  It’s true, check it out.

The PGA Tour tracks gobs of player stats.  You can get analytics on every aspect of every player’s game and today’s swing gurus and equipment manufacturers are all in.  But the game is effectively the same as it has been for the last half century.  Why?  Only one stat matters; greens in regulation.  Hit more of them and you win – how refreshing.

The human element is being removed from sports and that’s sad.  Humans play and officiate the games, not machines, but thankfully, golf is holding the line.  If I want to see machines in action, I can go to work.

Enjoy the final round of the US Open today and don’t pay too much attention to the TopTracer Apex.  Play well.