If you want to become a good golfer, you’ve got to develop a variety of skills.
These include putting, short game and full swing skills.
Each of these broad skills can be broken down further into more specific skills such as
- lag putting
- short putts
- chip shots from short grass
- chip shots from the rough
- hitting a driver
- controlling distance with a short iron
- etc
So when you break it down like that, playing good golf seems to be a daunting task.
I was lucky… I started playing golf at a young age. Children are better able to develop skills simply through imitation.
Adults have a much more difficult time because the signals our brain is trying to send to our body get more jumbled on the way. The older we get, the more difficult it becomes.
How to develop your golf skills
As adults, we need a bit more information in order to develop our skills.
The first way is to observe skillful players. This is why it is always a good idea to play golf with better players.
However, keep in mind, most good players are not too keen to play with golfers who are well below their own skill level.
So, if you are a 30 handicapper, the opportunities for you to play with a scratch player will not come very often.
Therefore, you’ll want to head out to the range to observe, or go to local tournaments to watch better players on the course.
Learn through video
Observing good players execute a variety of shots can be very helpful.
However, it’s even more helpful to get a verbal explanation on how to execute shots as well. This is where online video instruction can be helpful.
The verbal explanation provides you with information you add to what your eyes see.
Then, you can also take video of your own execution of shots and compare that to how the pros execute these shots so you understand where you need to make improvements in your technique.
Proper Practice
It’s one thing to understand what you need to do to execute a shot.
Unfortunately, most golfers don’t get the most out of their practice sessions.
The typical practice session just involves mindlessly hitting balls on the range, chip shots on a practice green or hitting a few putts.
There is often very little planning or intent among golfers when they head to the practice facility.
It’s usually all about hoping to hit a few good shots with the swing or stroke you have, and then hoping to remember how you did it the next time you play golf.
Obviously, not a great plan!
The best way to get the most out of your practice sessions is to hold yourself accountable when you practice.
For example, go to the practice green and set up to practice a lag putt from 50 feet. Put a circle of tees around the hole, at about a 3 to 4 foot radius.
Now, hit ten putts. When finished, count how many you got within the circle, AND, measure the distance of each putt from the hole.
Average the distance from the hole for the ten putts.
You now have a goal for your next ten practice putts. Beat the number of putts you were able to get within the circle, AND the average distance from the hole.
Round 2 should go fairly easily because after the first ten putts, you know the speed and the break.
Therefore, it should be easy to improve your results over Round 1.
The key is to improve on the Round 2 results.
By testing yourself like this, you become more focused on what you are doing. This will go a long way toward helping you on the golf course.
Play some golf alone
One of my favorite ways to work on my skills is to play some golf alone.
This is easier to do if you belong to a private facility, since public facilities that get a lot of play will rarely let you play alone.
However, if you do have the opportunity, take it.
As you go about playing, hit shots from different areas to test your skills.
Play shots from the trees, hit flop shots over bunkers, or any shot that gives you trouble. Just throw a few balls down and test your skills.
If you hit a bad shot, throw another ball down and try to hit a better shot.
The golf course provides you with many more options to hit a variety of shots than you will find on the practice area. Take advantage of that.
Challenge your friends and playing partners
Another great way to improve your skills is to have contests with your friends.
Putting contests with a little bit of money on the line will help you get used to feeling a little pressure.
You can do the same with chip shots, bunker shots, etc.
Then, take it up a notch and have some money matches on the golf course.
These contests and money matches will help improve your skill of dealing with pressure.
There is no better way to put your abilities to the test if you eventually want to play competition golf.
Final Thoughts
When you are able to make significant improvements to your skills, which will result in lower scores, golf becomes that much more fun.
I remember as a kid how excited I would get after hitting a new goal.
Hitting new goals always inspired me to continue to practice and play.
I would venture to say this is the case with most golfers.
Now you have a bit of a framework for improving your skills and lowering your scores.
If you want to shorten your learning curve a bit, consider signing up for my Golf Performance Newsletter.
Now, get to work!
