Help Your Golf Swing, Help Your Golf Score
Most golfers will say the hardest part of their game is focus. The mental side of golf is one spoken of but often overlooked. You know your friend the one who golfs well every time he goes out? Why is that? Practice, they practice. What they usually do not share is, what they are practicing at. They practice at mental toughness; golf has often been referred to as 10% Talent 90% mental. When overcoming that mental side of golf, do you try to change your equipment, the time at which you play, maybe even they guys you play with. Here are some tips that are going to help you be, the golfer, you always wanted to be.
The tempo of golf is often a distraction for golfers, you are stuck behind a slow foursome DISTRACTING or maybe the guys behind you are rushing you DISTRACTING and you feel that pressure to golf faster. The tempo of the course should never affect the tempo of your swing. The tempo of your swing is so important; to achieve the desired results. How do I find MY tempo you ask? A golfer can find their tempo by doing these simple things:
SLOW DOWN!! I repeat slow down, everyone thinks the speed at which you swing dictates how far and accurate your ball will move. This is true is some instances, but, for the sake of this article we will not be discussing those concepts. The tempo we are going to discuss today, is going to deal with how you approach every single shot in your game, you need to have the same back swing, contact, and follow through on every swing. How are you going to practice this TEMPO? Go to the driving range and practice with one club at a time. Take your driver and hit 20 balls, then take your 9 iron and hit 20 balls work your way in 3W-8I and on until you have hit them all. To perfect your back swing come to the same position every time. When you hit the ball you should be contacting at the same speed every time. Some people have the misconception that you should swing harder and faster with big clubs and slower and softer with smaller clubs. You really want to be swinging all of your clubs at the same speed, you will see great improvement on how well you make contact with the ball. When you are working on your follow through it will be the same as your back swing, you will want it to be the same with every club. Your follow through will affect your accuracy a 100% of the time. When you focus on these three techniques you will find that your mental game will improve.
After the practice on the driving range is done you will want to head to the chipping green. You will want to work with your Wedge, 60deg, 8I, and 9I. Practice 100 chips with each club. When you start in the deep stuff focus on yout tempo and making sure you land every ball on the green. When chipping just focus on your tempo, using the same stroke every time. Remember chipping should be another tool in your arsenal and not the final result. Many careers have been made from singles and doubles hitters it is not just the home run hitters that decide how games turnout. The idea is to get on the green and let your putter do the work. The 8i and 9i will be used to work out the tempo of the bump and run technique. Tempo here is the key still but keep in mind that now you have too much club for such a short distance. Your tempo is what matters!! Imagine you are still hitting that same wedge, Change the Club not the Tempo!!
Putting Putting Putting! This is so hard to understand but why? Now we have gone from the Driving range to the chipping green to the putting green. What you want to practice here is the same thing! You want to work on your tempo. You putt the same every time, you will not be changing your swing ever. The only thing about putting that changes is the distance. Start by sinking 10 putts in a row from 1ft away after you have done this, move out to 2ft, repeat until you sink 10 in a row from 10ft away. Stay focused on your tempo.
The goal for these exercises is to teach your to go through the same steps every time. When you are working on you tempo you need to understand that you are separating your self from the game; you are working on you. When you take the time to build on your tempo you will see results!! The game is 90% mental; set a clock in your mind that only allows for the same tempo no matter when or where you are golfing. When your body starts to do the same thing every single time, your mind will become more focused on the task at hand.