Welcome to the Hacker to Scratch Blue Print! My goal is to turn hackers like ole Sir Charles over here on the right, into really good golfers.
This will be a step by step process to help you become the best golfer you can be. Let’s get to work!
The Fundamentals
If there is one thing that I’ve always told my students it’s that to be a great golfer, you need to have pretty good fundamentals, starting with the grip and setup.
Yet, on any given day, when you walk out onto a driving range, you’ll see some of the worst grips and setups imaginable.
When I point this out to any student, I’ll ask if they have ever seen a PGA Tour player hold a golf club in a certain way, or stand up to a ball with bad posture.
Of course, this is a rhetorical question, and then I ask if it is smart to try and imitate what the pros do, another rhetorical question.
Therefore, if you want to be a great golfer, it only makes sense to PRACTICE like the pros do. But, that doesn’t mean 8 hours per day, 7 days per week.
Most scratch golfers I’ve known over the years play no more than two or three rounds of golf per week, and may only hit a bucket or two of golf balls each week. This is all during the golf season only, so in many areas around the country, that’s for about six or seven months or less.
If they struggle with their game, they may get a lesson to see if they’ve developed a flaw. However, most tend to have the ability to work things out on their own, once they’ve acquired the appropriate knowledge.
You can view all of the information regarding the basic fundamentals at the Free Golf Training page.
Where to start
On that page, I’ve presented the links to various topics regarding the fundamentals of the golf swing in the order that they should be viewed.
To get the most out of that information, I recommend visiting each page as you have time, and take some notes. In fact, I HIGHLY RECOMMEND you start a journal.
Learning golf involves learning a ton of information, and the best way to keep track of it all is to keep a journal.
The way we learn golf is by setting up the foundation of knowledge, and then gradually build upon that foundation as we advance in our skill level.
Once you’ve made your way through each page and accompanying video, go back to Lesson 2, and begin practice of those movements.
The golf swing is a complex, athletic move, but it is no more so than pitching a baseball, skipping a stone, or rolling a bowling ball. If you have average athletic ability, you’ll have the opportunity to develop a decent enough golf swing to become a scratch golfer.
Speaking of that…scratch golfers have a WIDE variety of swings.
In 1979 I caddied in the U.S. Amateur for a player from my club who had one of the funkiest swings you could imagine. He even made the cut to match play, which was pretty incredible.
Jim Furyk has another very funky golf swing and look what he’s done in his career.
What both of these golfers have been able to do is REPEAT that swing and make solid contact.
The key is this…in both cases, they have a good enough Kinematic Sequence that allows them to make solid contact, and hit the ball pretty straight.
The Kinematic Sequence in the golf swing is essentially the sequence of body movements that transfers energy through the body.
According to the Titleist Performance Institute (TPI), all great ball strikers have essentially the same Kinematic Sequence. In other words, Jim Furyk and Tiger Woods have a nearly identical sequence.
“All great ball strikers begin by generating speed from their lower body and transferring this speed through their torso, into their arms, and then into the club. What style they use to complete this signature is completely unique to each player.”
So, why do I bring this up? You don’t have to have a pretty or perfect golf swing to get the job done. But, you’ve got to have the basic movements, or sequence correct in order to become a consistent ball striker.
This is why it is absolutely critical to your success that you practice the body sequence I describe in Golf Lesson 2 in the Free Golf Training page. I highly recommend at least 5 minutes per day in slow motion.
Once you feel comfortable, feel free to set up near a solid wall, and release the ball in the follow through as if you are releasing it in the direction you would be hitting a golf ball.
And that’ll do it for this week! Now get to work!
