Every hole of golf requires a tee shot first. I would have thought that would make tee shots rather important! I think in terms of the 80-20 rule they are.
Now as far as the long game is concerned I’m going to loosely say it covers shots from your driver through to your 9 iron. Although there is some carry over to the short game.
OK, so what are we trying to achieve with the long game? Well, here is the goal of the long game I believe:
To hit each club as long, accurately and consistently as possible.
So what is important and needed to do this?
Well let’s look at the setup first because you can’t hit ANY golf shot without first setting up to the golf ball. And to do this I’m going to quickly cover the major elements of the setup.
The Long Game Setup
Grip - I’ve heard a number of different golf teachers say that the golf grip is not important. I can’t believe how anyone can say that because without gripping the golf club you can’t hit the golf ball. So logic would dictate that your golf grip has some importance. But I think the best thing as far as the grip is concerned is to find the best golf grip for you and repeat it consistently. The best starting point for this is the vardon grip. It’s the most commonly used golf grip on any golf tour. So the 80-20 rule tells us that’s the best place for all golfers to start with.
Alignment - Again, I’ve heard golf teachers saying that alignment is not that important. But like the golf grip, you can’t hit a golf ball without aligning yourself so you may as well make this as easy as possible. The most logical and easiest way to align yourself is to have all parts of your body i.e. feet, knees, hips, shoulders etc., parallel with your target line.
Posture - Getting into an athletic posture position is a must if you want to hit the golf ball as far as possible. Luckily it’s very easy to do as I show you in this video.
Ball Position - Positioning the ball in a good place in your stance is critical to making the golf swing easier and more consistent. As a general rule…having the ball positioned just inside your left heel will serve you pretty well for most golf shots.
OK, with all of these setup elements I’ve outlined you must understand that you are fully capable of still hitting great golf shots if you don’t have these things “perfect”. But you’ll make golf easier and simpler the better you setup to the ball and a great way of getting close to perfect is to have a….
Physical Pre-Shot Routine
To improve your ball striking you must create a physical pre-shot routine that you use every long golf shot you play. And that routine must include all the critical setup elements I’ve covered so far, i.e. the grip, alignment, posture and ball position. OK, finally for today I think it’s important that I say if at any time in your golfing career you start hitting the ball badly…the very first place you should look to for fixing it is the setup. Make sure your setup is sound by making sure you’ve got your vardon grip, parallel alignment, athletic posture and ball position correct.
That’s a summary of the 80-20 setup. If you would like more information about how to make an 80-20 pre-shot routine let me know.
Here’s a great way to reduce anxiety before any shot. Act as if! Act as if you’re someone else. If you’re on a tee and you feel anxious, act as if you were Tiger Woods and about to tee off.
If you’ve got a bunker shot and you feel nervous, act as if you are Gary Player. If you need to hit a real long shot over some water, then act as if you are John Daly. You can have some fun with these. Act as if you are playing like someone else for each shot of an entire round. Play one shot like Lee Trevino, another like Greg Norman, etc.
Hey, golf is only a game, so make it fun. Play these fun games and don’t worry about what you shoot. Just let go for a game or two and play around with this acting thing. You may not win an “Oscar” but you sure will have some fun, and isn’t that why you play?
So go out there and “act as if” you are someone else for each shot you play, the next time you play. Act as though you’re confident. Act as though you are a great golfer and you’ll play better, have less anxiety. more fun and enjoy playing golf instead of it being a nervous experience. Make it a game again and have fun….just like Tiger Woods does!
Tags: Anxiety, Tiger Woods
You’ve probably heard a figure bandied around on how much the task of putting makes up a game of golf. If you haven’t, studies have proven that putting makes up 43 percent of a game of golf (give or take a percent or two either side).
That’s a HUGE chunk of the game, I’m sure you’ll agree!
So it makes perfectly logical sense to learn how to become a great putter.
Because when you do you’ll hole more putts which will lower your scores and this will allow you to get more enjoyment from playing golf.
And as I’ve already said (just in more detail this time) the great thing about putting is that anyone of any size, shape, gender, strength or athletic ability can realistically perform this task as well as, if not better than, the best golf professionals in the world.
However, to help you achieve that here’s the putting success formula you need to follow…
Step 1: Know where you are.
Step 2: Know where you want to be.
Step 3: Make a plan of what you need to do to help you to get to where you want to be.
Step 4: Take action on the steps outlined in the plan.
Step 5: Notice the results you’re getting from your practice and then if necessary make changes to what you’re doing to help you get where you want to be.
So let’s go through each of these steps so you understand what is involved.
The first step is to know where you are. And in putting you can do that simply by keeping track of how many putts you have each round. If you’re already doing this then great. But if you’re not then please start now and do this. And to do it simply add up every putt you have on every hole you play and keep the total putts you have for each game.
Important Note: When you’re doing this remember to only count putts that are on the green. If you’re on the fringe but are using your putter don’t count that as a putt towards your average putts per round total.
Then once you have done this for at least 5 games of golf then you can figure out how many putts you average per round simply by adding up your total putts for the 5 games and dividing it by 5.
So let’s say after doing this you find that you average 36.56 putts per round of golf.
After getting that information the next step in the putting success formula is for you to decide where you want to be.
Maybe you want to be as good a putter as a PGA Tour pro. And if you looked at the PGA Tour Putting Stats for period of 2001-2005 you would find that….
FACT…over the period of 2001-2005 on the PGA Tour the leading putters for the average putts per round category have averaged just 27 putts per round.
2005 - 27.79*
2004 - 27.96*
2003 - 27.88*
2002 - 27.57*
2001 - 27.90*
* #1 Position on the PGA Tour for Putts Per Round category.
So you need to make a decision as to how many putts per round you want to average.
To help you, as a general guideline, averaging below 30 putts per round should be the goal of every golfer (once you can do that consistently then you should set a new, more challenging goal).
Averaging less than 30 putts per round is very attainable for every golfer too, because with putting you simply need to know what you need to improve and then do it….no special athletic ability is required.
Just the correct knowledge and then the correct action.
OK, once you know where you are and you know where you want to be, the next step is to create or get a plan of what you need to do to help you get there.
Then obviously the next step is to take action on the plan and tweak what you’re doing to get the results you want.
So that’s an overview of putting and the putting success formula it’s now time to start finding out what you need to focus on to become a great putter. Let’s get straight into it…
The very first thing you must do to become a great putter is you MUST learn to love and enjoy putting.
If you don’t find out how to love and enjoy putting then you’ll never become a great putter. Trust me, this is the first and most important fundamental of putting.
So anytime you’re faced with a putt that you’re NOT looking forward to then it won’t matter if you have a perfect stroke or you’re a great green reader etc. because you’ll never putt consistently to a high standard if you have a negative attitude like that.
But great putters don’t only love and enjoy putting but they also believe and see themselves as great putters.
Conversely average or poor putters see themselves as streaky putters or bad putters. And the main reason I believe average/poor putters have a bad self image about themselves is because they “choose” to focus on the putts they’ve missed rather than the putts they’ve made. Sadly it’s impossible to gain self-confidence about anything if you’re focusing on the things that didn’t turn out how you wanted.
And talking about confidence, it’s obviously crucial that you have a lot of self-confidence if you’re going to become a great putter.
But as far as confidence is concerned you must understand that there are two types of confidence that can be created. The first one is external confidence.
And the extent of your external confidence is governed by what is happening outside of yourself. For example, if you’re holing lots of putts you will generally have high external confidence. But external confidence comes and goes depending on what is happening. For example, if you’re putting well you’ll have high external self-confidence, but if you’re not putting well then your external self-confidence will be low.
The catch 22 with external self-confidence is that you’re basing your confidence on something outside of your control, i.e. putts going in the hole.
The only thing you can control in putting is the starting line of the putt and the speed which the ball starts. Whether or not the ball goes in the hole is out of your hands.
So having external confidence is NOT very good.
Instead it’s much better to have internal confidence as this isn’t dependent upon results, but funnily enough it produces better results.
What is internal confidence?
It’s a deep belief about something, and that deep belief can’t be taken away from you by outside events and circumstances. This type of confidence is built up over a period of time.
An example of this outside of golf is a parent.
You see, if parents constantly tell a child they love them and show physical affection to that child then over time that child will have a deep belief that their parents love them. So if that child is disciplined for doing something wrong then that shouldn’t stop that child from believing that their parents love them.
So…you need to create a deep belief like this for your putting game. That way, no matter what happens you’ll believe you’re a great putter.
And when you gain internal confidence you will not be so tempted to make big changes to your mechanics even if you were to miss a lot of putts in a game.
If you look at great putters you won’t very often see them change anything about their mechanics. Also you’ll often see great putters using the same putter for many years. Because you should only ever change a putter if it no longer matches or enhances your setup and stroke, or if there is some technological advancement that warrants a change. But I doubt that is ever going to happen in the putting game because a good putter now will remain one for many years.
Another thing great putters believe is that they can hole every putt. Of course they don’t hole every putt, but they do hole a lot more putts than the golfers that believe they can’t hole every putt. So if you want to become a great putter you must think, act and fully believe that you can hole every putt you’re faced with.
The final thing that all great putters believe is that their putting strokes are solid, repeatable and they trust them 100%. If you doubt your putting stroke or you change your putting stroke a lot, that’s a sure sign you don’t trust your putting stroke.
So here’s a summary of the mental attitude you need to have to become a great putter:
- You must love and enjoy putting
- You must believe you’re a great putter no matter whether you hole a putt or not.
- You must believe you can hole every putt.
- You must believe your putting stroke is smooth, reliable and consistent so you trust it 100%.
Also, you need to improve the following mental skills:
- Relaxation
- Concentration
- Visualization
And finally on this topic of mental toughness/attitude, when you’re stroking your putts on the golf course you should NOT focus on anything mechanical. You should simply putt the ball automatically with your subconscious mind.
A non-golf example of using your subconscious mind to perform a physical activity is driving a car. Because instead of thinking of everything you should be doing as you’re driving you just do it –automatically! And when you’re making a putting stroke you need to use your subconscious mind as well.
You should never think your way through your putting stroke.
The place to improve and groove your physical putting stroke is at home. The golf course is the place to hole your putts…without conscious thought about your putting stroke. And to do that you must stroke your putts with your subconscious mind.
So that’s the first and most important aspects of your putting game that you need to improve.
Next, in part 3 of this putting improvement series I’m going to discuss the two most important aspects of a putter and why you must get them right for YOU. So make sure you come back to find out what those two things are.