17.1 Golf Psychology

I want to step outside of the box for today, and talk a little bit about psychology. I hope you can stay with me on this lesson, as it is an important one. One of the most confusing things to me in golf is how often you improve one part of your game, only to have another part completely deteriorate. Here is what I’ve realized: It’s not your fault.

17.2 Managing Practice Time

We manage our game according to our values. If you have three hours to practice golf, you would spend those three hours practicing the parts of your game that are most important to you. For the majority of people, it would be hitting 7 irons or drivers on the range, trying to hit it a bit further (I’ve been guilty of this myself). Everything else (chipping, putting, wedges, management game, mental game, cleaning your bag and clubs) will be lower in importance and you won’t have time to do it or practice it.

17.3 Every shot is important

What happens in golf is that even when you do empower one part of your game, say you choose to have chipping as the thing you practice most, another part of your game will get lower on that list. That’s just the way we are. The key, I believe, is in your mind to link the less important parts of your game to the most important, giving you the energy to discover why every shot is important during a round of golf. Don’t you notice you love to hit the shots you hit well and you dread the shots you don’t practice? I’m not implying that you will love every shot, but you will give the proper attention to them during practice and energy to them while out on the course.

17.4 How to change your results

Here’s an exercise for: from these parts of the game, rank them in order of importance to you; what shots do you like hitting the most:

Putting, chipping, sand shots, specialty shots, full wedge shots, long irons, mid irons, driving, mental game.

For me they were:

1. Mid Irons

2. Long Irons

3. Driving

4. Full Wedges

5. Mental Game

6. Chipping

7. Putting

8. Sand Play

9. Specialty shots

Whatever your 9 are is fine. For a moment, we will assume you have the same likes and dislikes in the game. Now take a few moments to decide which part of your game you want to be higher on the list. Got it? Now write down 50 reasons why improving that part of your game will allow you to practice more of the things higher on your list. For me, I wanted to improve the short game, so they were:

1. I could go for more par 5’s in two, knowing I can get up and down (and I can still hit my long irons)

2. It would give me more confidence on par 3’s (when I’m hitting mid-long irons) because I know I can get up and down.

..And 48 more reasons like this. You want to link the parts of your game that are of lower importance to the ones that are higher up on your list. While doing the exercise, you will feel a shift in your energy and while on the course, you will feel the energy surge up as well, as soon as you get over those shots.

So what are they for you?

Although short game is lower on my list than long irons, I still practice them and understand the importance. When over a short game shot, I’m still focused and going through my routine like any other shot. I enjoy hitting long iron shots, but do not avoid hitting short game shots. They are far more important than long iron shots. But take Greg Norman and Ben Hogan. They were arguably two of the greatest long ball hitters ever. But did they both have world class short games? You bet they did.

Trying to improve the swing of your driver but you’re not 100% where to start? You need to learn a few basic drills and exercises to develop the right skills to take your driver golf swing to the next level. While practice isn’t as fun as playing a round of golf, but it’s the where you need to put your time in to play a great game and shave strokes off of your handicap.

What are golf drills?

A golf drill is simply a series of exercises that are isolated to develop one particular attribute to your game. While a drill might feel awkward or out of place it’s only a drill, it’s not how you would play the game, but it is required to perfect particular parts of your technique, and your driver golf swing is a great place to start to improve.

The Easy Driver Drill

This is probably the most enjoyable driver drill. Head out to the driving range, grab a bucket of balls and start swinging with the intention of hitting the 150 yard flag. This drill will help you improve in a short period of time, remember that your driver is about accuracy and quality, while you might be able to drive a ball 200 yards but it slices wouldn’t you be better off with 150 yard drive with 10-20 yards of roll but be in play?

The Hip Turn Drill

This is one drill that more people really should pay attention to. The drill is designed to work on developing hip alignment and body movement through the swing.

Stand above the ball with your body square and swing your driver but with only one hand/arm. This will force you to develop hip rotation and bring more power and weight transfer into your swing which is where the power and distance will come from.

Give no Quarter Drill

The last drill we’ll mention is one that many people think will be simple. It’s goal is to develop balance in the golfer, simply place a quarter on your golf shoe and go trough your swing technique. The goal is to not have the quarter fall off your shoe, if it does you’re experiencing to much foot movement. This is a symptom of bad balance through your driver golf swing if you have trouble keeping the quarter balanced.

For some it will be easier if you already have good balance. If you do have difficult stop and practice this drill until you develop the balance to be able to swing and not have the quarter fall off.

Drills aren’t the same as the game itself but they are a must to drop your handicap and improve your score each round. If you invest the time in drills and practice you’ll be repaid multiple times over as you watch your score drop round after round.