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Ten Tips To Improve Your Game Without Lifting a Club
Story By Kim Inglis
- The Consequences of a Bad Shot
A bad shot is just a bad shot. Unless you play this game for a living, just think about what a bad shot really means. Will you lose your job if you hit it OB? Will you? Will the earth stop spinning if you hit it in the water? (I hope not because I couldn't stand watching a sequel of "The Core"). Unless you play this game for a living, a bad shot wont cost you a Claret Jug as it did Jean Van De Velde or a Green Jacket it has Greg Norman. A clear and concise four-letter word to voice your disapproval is acceptable, but after that, move on, get over it and make up for it on your next shot.
- Be Target Oriented
Quit staring at the ball so much. It's not going to move, so why do so many players spend more time looking at the ball than where they want to hit it? Don't believe me? Just watch any of your playing partners next time and time how long they spend looking at the ball compared to how long they look at the target. If you don't know where you going it's hard to get there.
- A Quitter Never Wins and a Winner never Quits
Don't know who said that, but they would have been a great golfer. People always say they can tell a little about a person by playing golf and it holds true. I've seen some pretty big ego's cut down to size on the golf course and you can always tell the true character of a person by the way they handle themselves when things start to go wrong. True winners never give up regardless of their score and situation.
- Leave Your Ego in the Car
Check your ego before you tee it up. Ego golfers have only concern and that's how far they hit it. They'll tell you what club they hit on every hole, or they'll ask you in the hope that you'll ask them. The Ego golfer would prefer to hit driver, 8-iron on a Par 5 and make triple bogey than hit driver, 5 -iron wedge and make birdie. Fortunately (or unfortunately if you're an Ego golfer) there's no place on the scorecard to record what club you hit on each hole.
- A Simple Question
Every time you tee it up and every time you find yourself in a temper tantrum, ask yourself why you are playing this game. If your answer is anything else than to have fun, then you need to think about selling your clubs. The reason we play is for fun. Don't let the Pro's staunch and stoic looks fool you, they're having fun out there when they're on the leaderboard Sunday. Asking yourself why you play this game will help you get a better perspective. Admittedly golf is not much fun if you're hitting it all over the golf course, but if you decide to have fun before you start, it can produce some surprising results.
- Fix Your Swing on the Driving Range
The golf course is for playing golf, not working on your swing. You're not going to cure any 30 yard slices on the golf course and the more you try the worse you'll play. At the very maximum, think of one swing "key". Anymore and you're not playing golf, you're practicing. Once you understand that your swing and feel is different almost every time you tee it up and learn to manage your game accordingly, you'll start shooting better scores. If you normally hit a fade and start drawing the ball, just adjust your aim accordingly. The golf course is for playing; the driving range is for practice.
- Getting What You Give
Like life, you get out of golf what you give or put into it. There are no shortcuts and if you play once a week or less, your score will show it. The great Jim Flick has a great question he proposes to the business golfer. "If you went into your office once a week for about 5 hours, would you be very good at your job?" For some reason we expect so much from a game that we play so little, yet requires so much more than what most of us put into it.
- What is a Handicap For?
It surprises me the amount of players that play off 18 handicaps or higher and get disappointed when they don't make par on every hole. If you have a handicap of 18, your par on a Par 5 is not 5, it's 6. Players are usually surprised by how many less double and triple bogey's they make after they start playing the hole as "their" par. It does take a lot of commitment to really play a long Par 4 as a three shot hole, but you'll find golf becomes a lot easier and your scores are a lot lower if you have the discipline to follow this through.
- Who Da Man?
Okay, you deserve your moment when you hit a great shot, but don't give up your day job just yet. One of the biggest game management faux pas is overestimating your abilities. Just because you once hit a 3-wood 230 yards over water to a front pin location doesn't mean you can hit that shot every time. Your 180 yard 7-iron, downhill, downwind, 3,000 feet above sea level is not your average 7 iron-distance. If you don't care about your score and are just out there to hit a few good shots, go ahead and try to hit your 1-iron from the cart path with a 30 yard hook around those pine trees. It's no coincidence the best players have the greatest sense of what they can and can't do on the golf course.
- Thank the Golf Gods
I think Karma was invented on the golf course. There are certain rules and etiquette that should be observed if you're a serious golfer and if you don't, you'll pay the price eventually. Not repairing pitchmarks, raking bunkers, and replacing your divots are golf's givens. It's an easy game to cheat and I know it's a clich?, but you really are only cheating yourself. Play by the rules and the Golf Gods will repay you by ricocheting your ball off OB markers and trees, giving you good lies in the rough and lipping putts in, rather than out.
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