Not Another “Easy” Fix

Across any endeavor – sports, fitness, personal finance, etc – the most common form of clickbait is advertising one “easy” thing that will make all the difference.  The allure is obvious: who wouldn’t want to see massive growth from one effortless change?

This lesson is different.  I’m going to suggest something that’s incredibly hard.  I think it’s worth it – it will dramatically improve the results you see from practice – but it’s not easy.  If you’re ready, read on.

Before I go any further, I want to credit the book Essentialism by Greg McKeown [check it out HERE] for inspiring this lesson.

This Lesson Is For You If:

You’re ready to get serious about improving your swing

You are a disciplined golfer

Get Focused

The uncomplicated but difficult message of this lesson is that you need to focus your practice on one thing if you want to see real improvement.

“What?  That’s it?  That sounds really easy.”

No, it’s really difficult.  It’s not complex, but it’s hard.  I’ll explain.

Let’s start with the first requirement: knowing the right thing to focus on.  To do this, you need to know what’s really hurting your golf game.  Thankfully, there are a couple ways to figure this out.  One approach would be to take a lesson and have a coach tell you the biggest problem in your golf swing.  That could be poor contact, poor club face control, etc.

Alternately, you can look at your shot tracking data [Shot Scope V5 review HERE] to determine which part of your game is hurting your score and drill down from there.  As an example, you might see that your short game is suffering, mainly 20-50 yard shots, and mostly due to poor distance control.

Once you’ve got the diagnosis, the hard work of focusing begins.  For the rest of this lesson, I’ll use the example of minimizing fat and thin strikes with your irons.  You buy a bucket and set up your practice station.  The first swing is good.  Then you hit one fat.  The next ball is perfectly struck, but it slices.  What do you do?  This is where most golfers lose the plot.  Rather than staying focused on their goal, they chase that slice like Dug in Up (“Squirrel!”).  The focused golfer pats themself on the back for the perfect strike, ignores the slice, and keeps moving forward.

The graphic above is a perfect encapsulation of this idea.  If you are constantly chasing squirrels in practice, you’ll get a tiny, tiny, tiny bit better at a lot of things.  If you focus on one thing, you’ll see real improvement.

The Phrase to Erase

A key to progressing on this disciplined path is eliminating the phrase “I have to” from your golf vocabulary.  This is a game that you decide to play; nothing about it is “have to.”

Instead, realize that everything within golf is a choice, so use the phrase, “I choose to.”  This change is powerful because it allows you to ignore all the squirrels.  You don’t have to fix the slice.  You don’t have to fix the toe shot.  You choose to focus on hitting the ball before you hit the ground, because that’s the most important thing for your game right now.

Not Everything Matters Right Now

Right now, the Dugs in the crowd are furious.  “Everything matters!  I can’t go out on Sunday and hit slices!  I need to fix that!”

They’re not wrong.  If you want to play good golf, you can’t have a wild, unpredictable slice.  However, you can only fix one thing at a time.  That’s why the first step – diagnosis – is so critical.  Find the thing that’s causing the most pain and address it.  I have an entire lesson on what the real focal points are HERE.

When it’s no longer a problem, we can move on to other things.  But understand that nothing gets fixed with five swings.  Your focus should not change within practice sessions.  Whatever you came to the range to fix, stick with it the entire time.  If you allow yourself to change within a session, you’re back to chasing squirrels.

The Feeling of Control & Accomplishment

Ignoring slices and toe strikes will create a certain amount of psychological discomfort at first.  You may feel like you’re embarrassing yourself with those “unfixed” slices.  Pro tip: no one cares, you’re experiencing the Spotlight Effect [learn more HERE].

That feeling of discomfort will go away after a time, and you’ll be left with a feeling of control.  You’re no longer running aimlessly after every squirrel; you’re systematically addressing the flaws in your game.  When you leave a practice session, you’ll have made real improvements which will show up on your scorecard.  It’s hard, but it will be worth it.

The post The Hardest Step to Better Practice appeared first on Plugged In Golf.

“I’m Better Than That”

This is the biggest lie in golf, and it’s one that every golfer I know has told.

Some golfers tell The Lie out loud, trying to protect their pride by tongue-lashing themselves.  Others silently tell it to themselves after a bad shot.  But no matter how it’s communicated, it’s a lie.

In this lesson, I’ll explain why that lie is hurting your game and how you can play better with a healthy dose of the truth.

This Lesson Is For You If:

You get frustrated with your game

You want to shoot better scores

“You Are What Your Record Says You Are”

This line from coach Bill Parcells cuts to the heart of The Lie.  If you are the player who hit the bad shot, you aren’t better than the bad shot.  That’s not to say that the bad shot is all that you are or that you aren’t capable of better sometimes, but denying that the bad shot is part of your game is folly.

The full grown version of The Lie is the player who says, “Well, I shot 94, but…” and then explains how they actually shot 85.  It shows a detachment from reality that won’t help them improve.  Those nine extra strokes were not the result of the golf course conspiring against them.  The sooner they take responsibility for the mistakes they made, the sooner they will be on their way to fixing them.

Understanding Peak, Range, and Probabilities

Every player has a range of shots that they’re able to hit.  A 30 handicap can hit a solid approach shot, but they can also hit it three inches fat or slice it off the planet.  And those bad results are far more likely.

As we move toward scratch or Tour players, the high quality shots become better and the bad shots become less likely.  What’s important to understand, however, is that the chance of a bad shot is never zero.  Players on the PGA Tour can hit shanks or miss three-footers.

The Frustrating Middle

Being a mid-handicap player – someone between those two extremes mentioned above – may be the most frustrating.  As a 10 handicap, you’re an above average player.  You’re capable of hitting really nice shots.  But you can also hit terrible shots.  It’s not out of the question for you to lay the sod over a chip or duck hook your drive.

To stop telling yourself The Lie, you need to understand your peak, your range, and your average.

Peak Performance

This is the one that most golfers know best.  What are you capable of doing when everything goes right?  It’s the most fun element to think about, and it’s a key to good strategy.  If you have the horsepower to hit it 225 yards off the tee, you shouldn’t aim at the lake that’s 220 yards away.

That said, many golfers dramatically overestimate their peak.  This is the golfer who waits for the green to clear from 275 yards out after driving it 210.  Learn your actual peak – distances, shot control, etc – instead of playing on hopes and dreams.

Learn about your peak, range, and averages with these tips HERE

The Other Side of Your Range

Most sports psychologists would caution against negative thoughts, but it’s important that we’re aware of what kind of bad shots we hit.  I know that a snap hook off the tee is never out of the question, and I’m capable of thinning a routine chip.  That doesn’t mean I hope for those outcomes, but, if I’m going to operate in reality, I need to be aware that they exist.

We can go a step further and consider what situations make those bad outcomes more likely.  Do you slice more when you’re under pressure?  Do you hit it fat when faced with a forced carry?

In practice, we can work on eliminating these poor shots.  When we’re playing, we need to know they exist so we can minimize the damage they can cause.  Here’s an example: if I haven’t played lately, thin chips are more likely.  That may lead me to use my putter around the green more often, especially if there’s trouble long.  I’m not throwing in the towel, I’m not giving up on the idea of ever being a good chipper, I’m just adapting my strategy to my strengths and weaknesses.

Averages

The most important thing to know about your game is your average outcome with each of your clubs.  This starts with distance.  You can’t score well if you’re constantly expecting to hit the ball your all-time best distance; play for your average carry.  Similarly, while we all love hitting a laser at the flag, those are rare.  Play for your most common shot shape.

And remember that with every shot, you are aiming your whole shot pattern, not a single point.  The size and shape of your shot pattern will change from club to club, and you need to think about getting the biggest chunk of that shot pattern into the best position possible.

Play the Odds

If you know about your peaks, ranges, and averages, what should you do?  Play the odds.  Most of the time you’re going to hit an average shot.  Pick a club, a shot, and a target that will give you a good outcome most of the time.  Give some consideration to the extremes, especially when there are stroke hazards involved, but play for the fat part of the bell curve.

Laugh it Off

Have you ever seen someone throw a tantrum when they find out their Powerball ticket isn’t a winner?  Of course not.  Everyone knows that most lottery tickets are losers.  You buy a ticket to have a laugh and a chance at something great.  When it doesn’t go the way you hoped, you give a wry smile and move on.  If it does come through, you can be elated.

We should treat golf much the same way.  Most of our shots are going to be average.  That’s fine.  Go hit the next one.  When one of the bad ones pops up, laugh it off.  Go hit the next one.  And when you’re lucky enough to get one of those shots from the top 1% of your range, recognize that it’s special and enjoy the hell out of it.

The post The Biggest Lie in Golf appeared first on Plugged In Golf.

Mantras, though often associated with meditation, can be anything you repeatedly, intentionally say to yourself.  We were all introduced to this idea as children by The Little Engine That Could – “I think I can, I think I can.”  The purposes of a mantra can be as varied as the sayings themselves, from motivation to finding a sense of calm.  In this lesson, I’m going to offer a simple golf mantra to help you enjoy the game more, and, in all likelihood, play better.

This Lesson Is For You If:

You aren’t enjoying your practice

You’re practicing but not seeing results on the course

High expectations are ruining your fun and performance

Job #1

For those that are new here, my primary goal for Plugged In Golf is to help people enjoy the game more.  I’ve attacked this problem from a variety of angles, including sharing the data on how good recreational golfers actually are [check it out HERE] and discussing how to control your self-talk [read more HERE].  Today’s lesson is about recognizing the power of expectations and how we can get out ahead of them.

The Thief In Your Mind

It’s said that comparison is the thief of joy.  While I wouldn’t argue with that, I’d add that expectations are an accomplice.  In golf, I find that expectations – realistic or not – are often fueled by practice.

While this mantra will work for those with unrealistic expectations, they’re not my focus.  If you think that going to the range once a week entitles you to never slice the ball again, you probably need a professional to get you back in touch with reality.

This mantra is really meant to help the player who is working on their game every possible moment.  When you’re putting in 100% effort, it feels completely fair to expect consistent, positive results.  And when those results don’t come, it’s natural to feel disappointed.  We can work toward fixing that with one sentence.

Repeat After Me…

“Regardless of what I did to prepare, I am not guaranteed anything.”*

There is nothing in life that has a 1:1 correlation of effort to results, but golf’s correlation may be among the worst.  Golf is finicky, and the best players and hardest workers can still shoot bad scores.

That lack of direct connection can be maddening, but it’s also where the magic is.  If improvement and good play were predictable, there would be no point (or at least no joy) in playing.

And so that we’re clear, I’m not suggesting that practice won’t improve your game and your chances of playing well.  We know that it will.  But it’s the expectations and entitlement that ruin not only your enjoyment of the round but also your ability to play well.  Playing from a defensive mindset – “I’ve practiced so hard that I better hit this shot perfectly or else” – will result in worse performance than being free.

*You’re welcome to put your own spin on that.  The magic is in the concept, not the specific words.

Enjoy Practice

Another benefit of this golf mantra is that it frees you to enjoy practice.  When you’re grinding, punching the clock so you can feel entitled to better results, you’re probably not having fun.  Practice for its own sake.  Practice because you enjoy having a club in your hand.  Practice because you enjoy making the ball fly or roll into the cup.

There is no destination in golf.  The best players in the world still want to be better.  If you’re not enjoying the journey, you’re missing the point.

When it comes to strength training, I know that I’ll never be peak Ronnie Coleman, but I enjoy putting in the work and giving myself a chance to be the best, strongest version of me.  I’m trying to find that with my golf.  I hope you can, too.

The post Your New Golf Mantra appeared first on Plugged In Golf.

Don’t Watch YouTube, Go Hit Balls

At the Nexus Cup at Liberty National Tiger Woods was asked what his number one advice would be for amateur golfers. “Don’t watch f—— YouTube,” he said, “go hit balls.”  “Just beat balls?” Someone asked, “Beat balls,” Tiger replied.

“Don’t Watch YouTube”

These two tips are extremely relevant for people trying to get better at golf today.  As a coach, many of my students will randomly start working on something in their swing that they saw on YouTube, and nearly every time that thing is contributing to their big miss.  A student who hooks the ball will be trying to lower their hands in transition, or have a more bowed wrist at the top of the swing because of something they saw on YouTube or Instagram, two things that will directly influence the ball to go further left.  A different student will be trying to use their legs and “use the ground,” only they don’t know exactly what they’re doing and end up dipping down and it’s leading to them chunking every shot.

I’m not sure how much time Tiger spends on the lesson tee with amateur golfers, but I can relate to his frustration with learning golf through YouTube.  I wouldn’t be as dismissive of it as he sounded, as the people who are learning on YouTube are usually eager learners who love golf and want to learn as much about it as possible.  The problem is that YouTube is often not the best tool for this as the most popular videos are often selling the quickest and easiest fixes for problems that are more complicated than that.

Everyone is looking for the quick fix, or the swing thought that will finally unlock their game for them. Unfortunately they are searching for something that doesn’t exist. So rather than “Don’t watch f—— YouTube,” I wonder if “Stop looking for quick fixes,” is a more helpful tip.

“Go Hit Balls”

Tiger’s second tip, “Go hit balls,” is my favorite, but it definitely needs further explanation.  Every day I’m able to observe the average golfers on the driving range hitting balls, and it is not a pretty sight, and it does not lead to very much improvement.  The most common way people hit balls is a rapid fire approach where they keep hitting and hoping until they hit a good shot, and then eventually they get in a groove and start hitting it better.  They’re not getting better at golf, they’re getting better at hitting a good 7 iron on their 50th try, which I suppose if that’s what you’re going for, who am I to stand in your way. 

If you’ve ever watched Tiger warm up before a tournament, or read about his practice sessions, you’ll know that this is not how Tiger hits balls. He goes slow in between shots.  He’ll often take a break to think about something, hit one shot, then take another break.  There is no rapid fire. He’s learning, listening, searching, and becoming more aware of what’s going on.

There’s a common refrain among instructors that the students just don’t know how to practice, and don’t use their time well.  This leads us to create drills, training aids, or detailed practice plans, that will hopefully help the average golfer when they are left to their own devices.  Most instructors would agree that doing specific drills is a better use of your time than “beating balls.”  That’s why I love Tiger’s answer, it goes against the grain of what most instructors agree on.

How To Figure Things Out On Your Own

Reading between the lines, I think Tiger’s responses go hand in hand. “Don’t watch f—– YouTube, go hit balls,” could be translated as “Stop looking for quick fixes, try to figure some things out on your own.”  This is great advice, as it puts ownership back on the student, and empowers them to find their own answers.  As a coach I am very intentional in avoiding giving quick fixes, and instead leading the student in a way where they are developing more awareness and understanding about themselves and the club, so they can solve problems and be able to coach themselves.

Next time you hit balls, use it as a time to try to figure some things out on your own.  Here are three things that everyone could work on:

Figuring Out Direction

As you hit balls, notice which way the ball is missing.  If it’s missing right, then simply try to hit a ball left.  Tee the ball up if you have to so you can just focus on controlling the ball’s direction. You can aim your feet, use your wrists, mess around with how you’re turning, it doesn’t matter.  Try to figure out how to make it go left. If you’re having trouble, go down to as small of a swing as needed to make the ball go left, even if it’s going down to putting stroke!  Once you make some go left with that swing, start to build it up bigger and bigger until you are back to your full swing.  Once you can make the full swing go left, then see if you can alternate between hitting a ball left, then right, then straight. 

Figuring Out Ground Contact

Do you struggle with a thin miss or chunking?  If you keep chunking, try to hit a ball thin.  Top it if you have to!  Then alternate between intentionally thin shots and solid shots.  Once you’ve done this for a while, go back to your normal swings.  These exercises won’t be a magic cure to your problems, but what they are doing is helping you be more aware of what’s going on with the club in your swing, and helping you get better at controlling where that club is at impact, which is the most important thing.

Figuring Out Tension and Balance

Have you ever paid attention to your tension before?  What’s your grip pressure on a scale of 1-10? Is there tension in your arms as you set up?  Does your tension level stay consistent throughout your entire swing?  Once you get out onto the course your tension level will unintentionally increase, so start paying attention to it in your practice sessions. 

Most people have poor balance, and they try to slow things down to improve balance.  Instead of defaulting to a slower swing, see if you can notice at what point in your swing you start to lose balance.  Usually an unbalanced finish is a symptom of something that occurred earlier in the swing.

The Takeaway

I know telling people to practice in this way won’t lead to a viral YouTube video because this isn’t promising quick fixes or ways to magically cure your ball striking.  What it is doing is giving you time to experiment, explore, ask questions, pay attention to what’s going on, and overall increase your awareness.  This is the most valuable way you could be spending your time when practicing.  Instead of always trying out the latest trend in golf instruction, you’ll grow in your own understanding of the golf swing and will develop the awareness necessary to know what it takes for you to play your best golf.

The post Good Advice from Tiger Woods appeared first on Plugged In Golf.

“You’re Going to Get Worse Before You Get Better”

That old chestnut has been heard by almost everyone who has ever picked up a golf club.  But is it true?  Does it need to be?  Let’s examine (and, perhaps, dismiss) one of golf instruction’s oldest cliches.

This Lesson Is For You If:

You’ve been told “You need to get worse to get better”

You want to take lessons or are taking lessons

You want to improve your swing or your scores

Why It Is Said

“You’re going to get worse before you get better” is something you hear primarily from golf instructors, though you’ll also get it from the “experts” roaming the range, dispensing swing tips like candy at a parade.  I can conceive of two answers to the question, “Why are they saying that?”

My cynical answer is, “To sell more lessons” or “To postpone any questioning of their credibility.”  If you give me a lesson and I play worse, logically, I should stop taking lessons from you.  Telling me that getting worse is part of the process keeps me buying lessons.  It also keeps me from questioning you in real time when your swing change has me digging a trench behind the golf ball.  Finally, it shifts the responsibility or blame to the student.  “Oh, you’re not seeing results yet?  You’re probably not working hard enough.”

I can also be more generous with my interpretation and suggest that instructors say this because they genuinely believe it, and they want the student to stick with the process.  It’s fair to see this as a way to set realistic expectations.  “Stick with the plan.  The results won’t come overnight, but they’ll come eventually.”

Is It True?

Now to the heart of the matter: is it true that you need to get worse before you get better?  My short answer is “No,” though there is a version of the answer that starts, “Yes, but…”.

Ultimately, I think that this cliche comes about because of a combination of poorly defined goals and cookie cutter instruction.  I’ll explain that in depth through the lens of the four primary goals a golfer might have.

“I Want More Distance”

It is completely reasonable to have “more distance” as your #1 goal.  Hitting the ball far is fun, and adding distance is one of the best ways to significantly improve your scores.  Gaining distance is also an eminently achievable goal – most golfers can access loads more distance through speed training and swing changes.

If your goal is to hit the ball farther, there is no reason on Earth why you should go backward before you go forward.  Whether you’re doing speed training with a system like SuperSpeed [review HERE] or making swing changes to move more efficiently, you will not get slower before getting faster.

That said, it’s entirely possible (though not necessary or even likely) that while you are working on speed, your scores will go up or your ball striking will suffer.  Neither of these things happening confirms the cliche.  Your goal was to get faster.  You are getting faster.  The other things will sort themselves out.  Keep your eye on the prize.

“I Want to Hit the Ball Better”

This is the goal that will most often lead to someone reciting the cliche.  Why?  Cookie cutter golf instruction.  “Oh, well, if you want to hit it better, we’re going to have to take your entire swing down to the studs.  We’re going to spend three weeks working on the first half of your takeaway, then build from there.  While we’re doing this, you’re going to hit it a lot worse, but, ya know, you have to get worse to get better at golf.”

Bulls***.  Mr. Hypothetical Instructor, nobody asked you to tear their swing down to the studs.  They asked to hit the ball better.  Did you ask what that means to them?  No, you didn’t.  If you had, you would have gotten them to explicitly state that they want one or more of three things: to hit the center of the face (less toe or heel), to hit it more flush (less fat or thin), or to tighten their dispersion.

If somebody came to me asking for one of those three things, I wouldn’t touch their swing.  I would teach them what makes the ball go straight and what makes it curve [fully explained HERE].  Then, I would give them skill drills.  I would teach them how to control the low point of the swing and how to control the club face.  And they would hit it better immediately.

Interested in a skills-based approach?  Read THIS.

“I Want a Prettier Swing”

This is the goal that many, many golfers have, but few will say explicitly.  I ran into this regularly when teaching with a video-based organization: a student would come in after a couple lessons, tell me they were playing their best golf, then cry about how their swing looked on film [this is one reason why I am staunchly anti-video, as I explained HERE].

As with any other goal, I think this is fine.  I can imagine it’s a lot of fun to have a beautiful swing.  And, once again, it’s a goal that does not require any regression before you make progress toward it.  If you tell me you want a textbook swing, we can make progress toward that from day one.  Your swing will look better after every single lesson.

Other things may suffer.  You may hit is shorter or more crooked.  You may dig trenches behind the ball.  But you will look good doing it.

“I Want Lower Scores”

As an instructor, I never accepted that this was the real goal, at least not right away.  I asked a lot of clarifying questions along the lines of, “Will you be happy to hit it the same way if your scores go down?”  But if they held fast to the score being all that mattered, they were my favorite kind of student.

Now, any decent instructor who hears this goal is going to want data.  They’re going to want to see shot tracking data [Shot Scope product reviews HERE] so that they can understand where you’re losing strokes relative to your peers and relative to where you want to be.  Then they can prescribe a fix that focuses on your weaknesses.

In the vast majority of cases, a good instructor should be able to help you shoot lower scores without going backwards.  Most golfers can’t break 100 honestly, so a little putting practice, a tip to get out of the bunkers, and they’re going to be safely in the 90s and thrilled.  Even in the 90s and high 80s, there’s a lot of low hanging fruit that can be picked with skill drills and more focused practice.

The one case where you may have to get worse to get better is if you’re looking for a significant score improvement and you don’t have enough distance and you’re unwilling to move up tees (or you’re already playing the forward tees).  As a frequent solo golfer, I play with a lot of different people, and they’re often older golfers.  Many of them are quite skilled, but they simply don’t hit it far enough to make pars.  In this situation, they would need to get longer to significantly improve their scores.  This might mean that their scores go up in the short term while they get used to a swing change and/or the added speed from physical training.  This is the only scenario where I think the cliche holds true.

The Takeaway

“But, Matt, I want my swing to look better, hit it farther, and shoot lower scores.”

Neat.  I want to deadlift 800 pounds and still see my abs.  I’d like to drive a McLaren but not have a negative bank balance.  Sadly, this is not how life works.  Prioritize.  Pick a goal, focus on it, work hard, and achieve it.

To paraphrase the Rolling Stones, “You can’t always get everything you want, but if you try, you can get some of it.”  And you can get it without getting worse.

The post Do You Need to Get Worse at Golf to Get Better? appeared first on Plugged In Golf.

An Unhelpful Obsession

Since video cameras became commercially available, golfers have been obsessed with putting their swing on film.  Now, with a 4K camera in every pocket, it’s an obsession that’s available to every golfer.  Unfortunately, it’s one that is not helping your game the way you think it is.  In this lesson, I’m going to explain why.

Quick Disclaimer: This isn’t about instructors using video in lessons.  I don’t love video, but I can appreciate that it has its place in some lessons.  This is about you, the golfer, filming your own swing.

Find this lesson in podcast form HERE

This Lesson Is For You If:

You film your golf swing

You’re thinking about filming your golf swing

You’d like to get better at golf

The One Exception

I can think of one case where filming your golf swing makes sense, and it’s this: if you are currently working with a golf instructor, and you need to check in between lessons.

Even in this scenario, I would add two major caveats.  First, I would not suggest filming your swing unless your instructor has shown you exactly how to film your swing, with the actual equipment you’re going to use.  If you’re going to use an iPhone on a tripod, take it to your lesson and measure out exactly where it needs to go with your instructor.

The second caveat is that you need to have the discipline to film a few swings but not critique them yourself.  This is, undoubtedly, the harder part of the equation.  Most golfers can’t help loudly explaining the “cause” of every mishit on the course, let alone filming their swing without picking at it.

With that out of the way, let’s get to it.

Why You Must Stop Filming Your Golf Swing

Ignoring the Ball

One of my primary complaints with video is that it divorces golfers from the result of the swing.  We’re talking about video.  Not the ball flight.  Not the thing that actually matters.  We’re talking about video.

I’ve seen countless videographer-golfers hit a shot and barely notice the ball flight before they run to the replay screen.  These players are ignoring the most vital feedback there is – what the ball does – to figure out if their swing looked right.  And what does “looks right” mean, anyway?  Which leads me to…

You Don’t Know What You’re Trying to Fix

With absolutely no apologies to all the YouTube swing doctors out there, the average person filming their swing has no idea what they’re looking at.  They’re drawing lines like Peter Kostis without any clue what they mean or if those lines even apply to them.

“I want to keep my club on this line I drew.”  Interesting, let’s discuss…

Bad and Inconsistent Set Ups

The way your swing looks on video will be dictated by how you set up the camera.  Are you using a tripod to set up the camera in the exact same place every time?  Are you measuring the exact distance from your camera to your hitting position?  If not (and let’s be honest, you’re not), the feedback is worse than meaningless, it’s misleading.  You may think you’re grooving a perfect takeaway, but you’re actually making the problem worse.

Chasing a Look

Video has done immense damage to many golfers who go chasing a look rather than worrying about what matters.  Exhibit A is “lag.”  Many golfers have chased (and continue to chase) this backwards idea of “holding off” the release because video shows that Tour players have their hands ahead of the ball at impact.  In this case – as in others – a still frame of video completely misleads the golfer.  And more to the point, why does it matter?  Video-obsessed golfers will be unhappy with a beautiful shot because it “looks wrong.”  It’s madness!

Moreover, your swing should not look like anyone else’s.  “I’m trying to look like Adam Scott.”  Do you have his flexibility, strength, or coordination?  No?  Then why would your swing look like his?

Finally, “ugly” or unconventional swings work.  Jim Furyk is, of course, Exhibit A, but there are countless others.  Annika Sorenstam was looking downrange well before contact.  Bryson Dechambeau and Matt Wolfe had a playoff for the US Open without making one “beautiful” swing between the two of them.

Wastes Time

The number one complaint of golfers everywhere is a lack of time.  It’s the reason given for why we don’t work on putting or our short game or why we haven’t busted our slice.  So why are you making your practice time less efficient with a camera?  While I’m not advocating that you judge your practice in balls hit per minute, the time spent setting up the camera and evaluating each swing can be better spent either hitting more shots or working on other parts of your game.

Lack of Focus

To get good at anything, you need to focus.  Video is the death of focus because there are countless things to look at.  I’ve seen this in hundreds of students – sometimes even during a lesson!  I can ask a student to keep their head still and by swing three they’re pointing at the screen telling me that their takeaway it too far inside.

The golf swing has dozens of components.  It’s hard enough to stay focused on fixing one thing at a time in the best of circumstances.  Video makes it nearly impossible.

Looking for Problems

Some years ago, an instructor posted two identical swings side-by-side and asked members of the discussion group to find the differences.  Those aforementioned YouTube swing doctors rushed in to explain how the left swing was better than the right or vice versa.  This quickly became my favorite example of how video causes golfers to find problems where none exist.

It is a fine thing to strive for perfection, even though we know it’s impossible.  However, when we go looking for problems and things to change, we undermine our success.

Poor Feedback

Good feedback is clear and immediate.  Video is neither.  The delay is the most obvious issue.  By the time you’ve hit the shot, walked back to your screen, drawn a couple lines, and evaluated the film, your body has no memory of what that swing felt like.

Do you know what does provide clear, immediate feedback?  The ball!  Between the feel of impact – for judging strike location – and the ball flight, you have all the feedback you need to correct what’s happening.

Internal Cues vs. External Cues

This is a little jargon-y, so I’ll explain.  An internal cue tells your body what to do with itself – “Keep your left arm straight.”  An external cue tells your body what you want it to do – “Hit the ball before you hit the ground.”  Research has shown conclusively that external cues are superior to internal cues, and video only pushes us toward the latter.

I discuss this topic more HERE.

Loss of Self Reliance

All of the preceding reasons are good and important, but this is the single biggest one for me.  Players who love video often become dependent on it.  They need to run to the replay like NFL referees to know if the swing was good or not.  They lose the ability to feel their own swing and make the necessary changes.  This is why so many video-obsessed players can put in hours of work but never shave a single stroke off their handicap: on the course, without video, they’re lost.

At its very best, video is nothing more than training wheels.  Used under correct supervision, it can be helpful for working on components of a skill.  But ultimately, to learn the skill in question, the training wheels need to be removed.  The learner must be able to figure things out for themselves.

What to Do Instead

Literally, anything.

My primary recommendation is understanding ball flight.  The five lessons HERE are some of the first things I ever wrote for Plugged In Golf, and they remain some of the most valuable.  If you want to see them in practice, check out how to hit a draw HERE and how to hit a fade HERE.

If you’re addicted to the feedback of video, get a simple launch monitor.  Something like the Swing Caddie SC300i [review HERE] can give you some basic stats on each shot.  Keep an eye on smash factor to get a good sense of the quality of your ball striking.

Should you want to change things you’re doing with your body or club, get some alignment sticks.  I have a full lesson HERE explaining numerous ways to use them.  You can also find countless training aids geared toward specific changes to your swing.

Finally, you can take lessons.  Find an instructor you trust and get to work.  Focus on what they ask you to do.  Commit to their method.  It’s a lot better than trying to fix your swing by drawing lines on a screen.

Fair warning to commenters: I’ve spent more time thinking about this than you have.  You are welcome to disagree, but disrespect, stupidity, and comments from people who clearly didn’t bother to read the article will be deleted or publicly eviscerated. 

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Finding a New Level

One of the best times in your golf life is when you’re new to the game.  Yes, it can be frustrating, but it’s unlikely there will be another time when you improve as rapidly.  As you pile up experience, your game will naturally level off.  But if you’re a competitive person, this plateau may not be palatable.  In this lesson, I’ll discuss how to break through those golf plateaus to find new, higher levels of performance.

Check out the longer, podcast version of this lesson HERE

This Lesson Is For You If:

You want to see your game improve dramatically

Where Are We Headed?

Before you embark on your journey of improvement, it’s important to define your goals.  “Get better” isn’t going to get it done.  Are you trying to get longer off the tee?  More accurate with your irons?  Better around the green?  Have fewer three putts?  Drop your handicap by three strokes?  We need to start by picking a goal.

You should also set a deadline.  I wrote a lesson many years ago about SMART goals [find it HERE], an acronym for setting good goals.  The “T” stands for “Timely” meaning that a good goal has a due date.  Without that time pressure, it’s too easy to say, “I’ll work on it tomorrow.”

Finally, I’d encourage you to be realistic.  Golf is not a game of perfect.  You can work harder than anyone in human history, and you’ll still hit the occasion hook.  I’m all in on your goal of knocking three strokes off your handicap this year.  However, I’ll take the under if your goal is going from a +20 to a -3 in one season.

Do Something New

Henry Ford is credited with the line, “If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always got.”  There is no better summary for this lesson.  If you want to get to a new level of performance, you need to do a new level of work.  This can mean one (or more) of three things.

New Work

My favorite way to bust through plateaus is by finding the low hanging fruit.  In this context, that means doing the stuff you aren’t currently doing to improve your game.

The two things that come to mind for me are club fitting and fitness.  The majority of golfers have never been fit for their clubs.  That means they can, quite literally, buy a better game.  Similarly, most golfers are not doing anything to improve their body.  This could be as simple as committing to a five minute warm up before playing or practicing.  It could also mean something more serious like improving your diet or exercising regularly.

Of course, these are not the only forms of new work.  If you’ve never put any time into putting practice, that could be yours.  It could be taking a lesson.  Maybe it’s working with a new training aid.  Any of these things can lead to a golf breakthrough.

More Work

Another way to get through a golf plateau is to put more time into your game.  If you’re currently practicing once a week, find a way to practice twice a week.  Investing more time is the simplest way to see better performance.  The one catch, however, is that you need to put in quality time.  Which leads us to the final route to improvement.

Better Work

We are all guilty of going through the motions at times.  It could be on the range, on the green, or in the gym.  We’re there in body but not in mind or spirit.  If you want to see your performance improve, cut these “empty calories” out of your practice.  Put something on your golf bag that reminds you of your goal.  Set a reminder on your phone to give you a daily shot of inspiration.  If you’re putting 100% focus into every minute of your practice, you’ll ascend to new golf heights in no time.

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The Highest Compliment

A sincere compliment from a caddie is one of the finest things in golf.  These men and women see hundreds of swings every day, and they know the difference between good and great.  If you spend some time with this drill, you may be lucky enough to hear your caddie say, “This guy is a shot maker.”

This Lesson Is For You If:

You want to add more versatility to your game

You want your game to travel better

You want a more engaging way to practice

The Drill – Version 1

To start this drill, you need a target that’s a mid or short iron away from you.  150 yards is a fine starting point, but you can make it 125 or even 100 yards.  Begin the drill with the club you’d normally hit that distance, a 150 yard 7-iron, for example.  After hitting your 7I to the target, move to the 6-iron and hit to the same target.  If you’re successful, go to a shorter club, 8-iron, and try to get to that same green or flag.  Continue that pattern – 5-iron, 9-iron, 4-iron, pitching wedge – until you can’t hit the target anymore.

It will be up to you to scale the difficulty of this drill to your ability.  If you’re a very high level player, you may set a very small target (both left-to-right and in terms of distance) and only give yourself one shot per club.  Someone who is new to the drill can create a larger target area and allow multiple attempts per club.

The Drill – Version 2

You can do a similar drill with one club and multiple targets.  With your chosen club, start with a stock shot.  Next, hit a shot ten yards short of stock.  Follow that with a shot ten yards beyond stock.  Repeat that pattern as far as you can.  For example:

Shot #1 – 150 yards

Shot #2 – 140 yards

Shot #3 – 160 yards

Shot #4 – 130 yards

Shot #5 – 170 yards

You may be limited to one or two shots beyond your stock yardage, but challenge yourself to push that club as far as it will go.  Even after you’ve hit your upper limit, continue down the distance ladder to see if you can consistently hit a ten or twenty yard shot with that club.

Just as with the first version, it’s up to you to match the stringency of the task to your skills.

Why It’s Useful

I call this the Ultimate Shot Maker’s Drill because it checks so many boxes for both ball striking and scoring.  On a basic level, it gets you working through all or most of your bag.  It also creates pressure and focus in your practice, two things that are often lacking.

Additionally, this drill gets you thinking creatively about your swing.  What are all the ways you can take yardage off a club?  How can you make go farther?  When you experiment with different changes, you open the door to discovering new things about your swing and adding more shots to your repetoire.

Finally, with practice, you’ll find yourself scoring better on the course.  You’ll have so many shots in your bag that no situation will trouble you.  Trees, wind, front pins, back pins – no matter the conditions, your game will travel.

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10 Rules for Better Golf Scores

This August will mark nine years of Plugged In Golf.  Add that to several years of teaching and writing elsewhere and you have a pretty healthy amount of words written and spoken about how to improve your game.  In this lesson, I’m aiming to distill all that down to the ten things I think are most important.  In short, if you adhere strictly to these ten rules, you will shoot lower scores.  If you prefer listening to reading, I have this lesson in podcast form HERE.

Before I get into the list, I have two caveats.

First, most of these are things you can do for free, but a couple do cost money.  I wish golf was free, but unfortunately that’s not the world we live in.  If you want to score your best, there is going to be a financial investment.

Second, this list is for those who view their score as the #1 priority.  Score does not have to be your top priority.  It hasn’t been mine for over a decade.  If score is not your priority, you can still read this list and maybe there’s something for you, maybe there isn’t.  But if lower scores are your number one goal, these items are not negotiable.  Don’t want to do them?  That’s fine, but don’t tell me that lower scores are your priority.  That’s loading your plate with cake and telling me that you want to lose weight.

Onward.

#1 – Thou Shalt Shot Track

You can’t fix a problem that you don’t understand, and, if you’re not shot tracking, you don’t understand your game as well as you can.

It’s 2022.  Shot tracking technology is affordable and widely available on a number of platforms.  I think Shot Scope [review HERE] is the best, but you can use Arccos [review HERE] or Garmin or any one of the apps out there.  But you need to shot track.

Why do you need to shot track?  Because it’s the fastest way to learn the most about your game.  Scorecard stats don’t begin to compare to shot tracking.  If you think you know your game, just wait until you shot track for a few rounds.

This depth of knowledge is invaluable in shaping your strategy on the course and your practice habits.  With Shot Scope, for example, you can see your Strokes Gained stats compared to players of different handicap levels.  If you’re trying to move from a 15 to a 10 handicap, you can see exactly where you’re losing those five strokes.

A final word on shot tracking: you need to give it time.  One round is not an adequate sample size from which to draw conclusions.  Log at least five, preferably ten, rounds before you start diving deep into the data.

#2 – Thou Shalt Stop Flag Hunting

Greens in Regulation is the king of stats [full discussion of that HERE].  It is the stat most strongly correlated to score, for obvious reasons.  If you’re on the green in regulation, you might make birdie, and it’s hard to make worse than bogey.  So how do we hit more greens in reg?  Stop aiming at flags.

First, understand that your dispersion with any club is more like a shotgun than a sniper rifle (hat tip to Scott Fawcett).  You are going to miss long, short, left, and right.  Knowing this, you should aim at a target that puts all or most of the possible outcomes on the green.  When you aim at flags that are on the edges of the green, you’re doing the opposite [more on this HERE].

To this end, you might also consider trading your rangefinder for a GPS.  I love my rangefinder, but I know that it gets me focused on the yardage to the flag instead of the distance to the center of the green.  When I play with a GPS, I hit more greens in reg because that center of the green yardage gives me margin for error.

#3 – Thou Shalt Know Thine Distances and Play Accordingly

If you’re going to score well, you need to know how far each club actually goes.  Not how far it went that one time when you flushed it and it bounced off the cart path – how far it actually goes, on average.  And then you need to play those distances on the course.

To gain this information, you can use a shot tracker or a launch monitor.  Both are useful in their own way, and using both is a great idea.

With shot tracking, you’re going to get the measurements of the actual shots you hit on the course.  Shot Scope puts all your clubs’ distances on one screen with something called “Performance Average” which removes the outliers for a truer representation of each club.  The downside is that it will take a lot of rounds to get enough shots with each club.

If you use a launch monitor, you can get a lot of swings with each club in a much shorter amount of time.  You’ll also get the full data on each shot.  The only drawback here is that you need to be honest with yourself about what the data says.  Far too many golfers will skim over the ten shots they hit, pick out the longest, and say, “Yup, my 7I goes 170 yards.”  If you’re going to use a launch monitor, you need to look at the mean/average or median distance.  You can also use this as an opportunity to see how often you strike each club well.  If your 3I session was eight chunks and two balls hit 210 yards, it might be time to take that out of the bag.  I have a full lesson on using a launch monitor to learn about your game HERE.

Once you have all this information, you need to use it on the course.  Stop talking yourself into – or letting others talk you into – taking less club than you need.  Pick the club with an average distance that will get you to the middle of the green.

#4 – Thou Shalt Hit Driver

Now we’re on to a fun rule: you should hit driver more often.

Why?  On average, golfers across handicap levels hit their driver 20 yards longer than their 3W.  If your 3W and driver go the same distance, you need to get a driver fitting to address that…now.  When golfers hit 3W, they are giving up 20 yards to hit 1% more fairways.  That is a horrible trade.  20 yards less means hitting 6I instead of 8I.  That’s a recipe for higher scores regardless of handicap.

Finally, to preempt the stupid comments: no, you should not hit driver when doing so will land in a hazard or OB.  However, unless there is a strong reason (read: stroke hazard) not to, you should be hitting driver.

Get the full Golf Myths Unplugged breakdown on hitting more driver HERE.

#5 – Thou Shalt Stop Laying Up

If you asked someone who had never played golf if it’s easier to hole out from 50 yards or 100 yards, they would say 50 yards.  Only golfers would concoct nonsense explanations of why laying up to “magic” yardages is better than getting close.  Thankfully, in 2022 we have the data to show that closer is better.  Whenever you have the chance to get closer to the green, do it.

Again, to preempt stupid comments: no one is advocating hitting it into hazards.  Similarly, no one is advocating hitting clubs that you skull nine times out of ten – though I would strongly advocate taking such a club out of your bag.

Get the full Golf Myths Unplugged story on going for the green HERE.

#6 – Thou Shalt Practice Thine Putting Speed

One of the hardest things to accept about golf is that you can’t force the ball into the hole.  The best players in the world – with all the money on the line, all their hours of practice and talent, and all their laser focus – only make about half their putts from five to ten feet.

With this in mind, the best way for us to save strokes on the green isn’t trying to make more putts but to avoid three putts.  To avoid three putts, we need to become masters of speed control.

Think about your local putting green.  Everyone is practicing ten footers, no one is working on thirty footers.  Be smarter than they are.  If you can develop a reliable thirty-foot stroke, you will have so much less stress on your game.  Every GIR is going to feel like a guaranteed par.  And, with superior speed control, more of those long putts are going to find the bottom of the cup.

#7 – Thou Shalt Know Thine Gear

It’s nearly impossible to play good golf if you don’t know your gear.  That starts with the basics of knowing your yardages, but it goes beyond that to things like how each club performs on certain misses, shot shape tendencies, and how the ball lands.

The only way to develop this knowledge of your set is to stick with your clubs for numerous rounds.  If you’re constantly remaking your bag, there’s no way to know how much your 8I tends to draw or where the big miss is with your 3W.  Playing with new clubs is fun, but if scoring is your priority, you need to pick a set and stick with it.

Beyond keeping the same clubs in the bag, you need to commit to one golf ball.  I know this is painful.  When we find a quality ball, we want to play it.  When we get a dozen for Father’s Day, we want to use them.  But, if you want to score your best, you need to know the tendencies of your ball just like you know the tendencies of your clubs.  When you hit a chip, does it stick or roll out?  How does it feel off the putter?  Constantly changing your ball makes it more difficult to play good, consistent golf.

#8 – Thou Shalt Play Thine Own Game

We’ve already established the outline for a smart game plan: playing for GIRs, knowing your yardages, hitting driver, and not laying up.  Now you need to stick to it.

Golf is loaded with temptations that try to draw you away from your plan.  Your playing partners will goad you into taking less club.  One bad swing will make you question the wisdom of hitting driver.  A scary looking hazard will keep you from going for the green.  A small gap in the trees begs you to “get it all back” after a bad drive.  Don’t be swayed.  Play your game.

Consider this: you’ve had a bad putting round.  Did you start putting with your wedge?  Of course not.  Why?  Because using the putter is the smart play.  The same applies to hitting driver off the tee.  Even when it’s not working, it’s the right play.  Stick to it.

#9 – Thou Shalt Do Thine Homework

In 2022, golfers have a wealth of options for gaining course knowledge.  In spite of this, most players choose to learn only from the school of hard knocks.  Be smarter than those people.

If you’re playing a new course, check it out in advance.  Even if it’s a course you’ve played before, get a refresher.  You can use Google Earth, the course’s website, a GPS app, or a yardage book.  As trite as many of the hole descriptions can be on golf course website, they often reveal great info like the hazard you can’t see from the tee or the lake behind the green.  Picking up tips like that can save you multiple strokes.  This is also one of the few tips that can save more strokes for the stronger player, as many of the hidden hazards are more treacherous for them.

#10 – Thou Shalt Give Every Shot Complete Focus

As obvious as this seems, I guarantee that everyone reading this gives up at least one shot a round due to poor focus.  Sometimes this is the result of fatigue.  Concentrating on every shot is hard, and we can space out and make a bad swing.  Sometimes it’s emotional.  We miss a putt or get a bad break, rush into the next shot, and throw away a stroke (or more).

If the score is your top priority, every single stroke matters.  Develop a bulletproof pre-shot routine that locks in your focus.  More importantly, never give up on a round, a hole, or a shot.  Embrace that you – not the weather, not the pace of play, not the course conditions – are responsible for every swing.  Know that every swing is a chance to do something great and give it your full concentration.  This alone can have a tremendous impact on your scores and the way you play the game.

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You Know It Already

I expect that most people come to Plugged In Golf because they think that I know things they don’t.  In this lesson, I’m going to show that you already know much more than you realize.

Interested in unusual cross-discipline learning?  Click HERE

This Lesson Is For You If:

You want to improve at golf

You’re already good at something

What Good Advice Do You Have?

Think of something you’re good at.  It could be another sport or game, a musical instrument, an academic endeavor.  It truly doesn’t matter what it is, as long as you’re good at it.

Now, think of what you would tell someone who wanted to be good at that thing.

You’d probably tell them to practice regularly.

You would tell them that there are no quick fixes or shortcuts.

You might discuss knowing the fundamentals, not running before you walk.

Perhaps you would point them to an expert for specific technical advice.

Depending on the pursuit, you might suggest getting good equipment but warn them that gear can’t replace skills and practice.  You’d advise them against being seduced by gimmicks.

And you would probably tell them to be patient because getting good at anything takes time.

Follow Your Own Good Advice

Do any of those concepts seem applicable to golf?  Of course they do!  They all apply!  No matter what we’re trying to get good at, we need patience, a good work ethic, and, probably, some help from an expert.

When other people are trying to learn something, it’s easy to see their mistakes, as I discussed HERE.  The trick to being an expert learner is taking those lessons for yourself.  If you can think about golf the same way you think about the things you’re an expert in, not only will you improve faster, you’ll save yourself loads of headaches.

What has another endeavor taught you about golf?

Share your lessons in the comments section!

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