There’s nothing more frustrating for golf enthusiasts than playing what they think is the same as they’ve played before, only for the ball to end up nowhere near their intended target. Certainly, I know that’s the case for me, anyway.
That’s where you – like me – will benefit from some advice from a professional golfer. I’ve had many lessons over the past few years, and I’m passing on some of the wisdom that I’ve learned in a series of articles. Starting with the most important lesson – keep the ball moving the right way.
My golf coach impressed on me from the start of my lessons that almost nobody ever achieves the perfect swing, perfect grip, perfect stance etc. He assured me that most amateur golfers will waste 90% of their time trying to perfect what they see as a problem. And indeed most golfers have plenty of issues to be concerned about, such as keeping their arm straight or their head still.
The most important thing, then, is to make sure you hit the ball in the right direction, so that it moves forwards towards the hole. My coach showed me what he meant by playing a shot that started off very unexpectedly.
Taking an outrageously off-centre backswing, and letting go of the club with one hand, he proceeded to bring the club down in such a manner as to send the ball flying straight from the tee. There wasn’t a huge amount of power in the shot, but it was certainly in the right direction.
I realised from this that the key element of the whole shot was the club face hitting the ball. So long as you have this under control, you can send the ball towards the hole. Which is where I started to focus my efforts in practice.
It would be silly for me to suggest that having control over the other things is irrelevant, and obviously things such as your choice of club and the power you put into the shot will affect the distance the ball travels.
The main lesson I learnt from this, though, was that if you can get the ball heading in the direction you want it to, you’re halfway to becoming a good golfer. After all, the aim of the game is to get the ball from the tee into the hole. This is where I concentrated my efforts for quite some time, which has made me a better golfer, and hopefully will help you, too.
Mike Jackson runs an online golf equipment store, where you can buy golf clubs, golf balls, golf gifts, golf bags etc.
