How To Be A Good Golfer

I have wanted to write a post on how to be a good golfer for about three years and finally I feel confident enough to do just that. Two years ago to the day I had never broken 100 on the golf course. I think the name for that is a hacker. I played about 8-10 times a year as a fair weather golfer in a small society at work. I could never understand why I wasn't getting any better.

The single thing I did learn was how to become an expert in getting out of the sand. There was one simple reason for that, I spent quite a bit of my time in the bunkers. I was also pretty adapt at getting a ball back on to the fairway through a cluster of trees as I also spent enormous amount of times doing that very thing.

Thank goodness something changed and it was actually staring me in the face.

I was out as usual one bright June morning with 15 other hackers from our small golfing society. It was the third outing of a year and it was reliably going the same way as the previous 2 outings. An average of 6 shots at a Par 4, 5 at a Par 3 etc. For start up golfers you probably know the score.

I had never taken a lesson but always looked forward to my outings on golf courses. I did really enjoy playing but after every round I grew ever more frustrated that I wasn't getting any better. Why is it that on one hole I could a very rare par and on the next make a horrible 8?

It is probably pretty obvious to any golfer reading this why I wasn't getting better but it took a single incident to get it into my stupid head. I was playing the 18th hole and was just about knackered (I am not that fit either) and as tradition would predict I shot my ball into a steep bunker protecting the right hand side of the green. Most people moan about that but I honestly didn't mind because I knew I could get out of it ok. In fact I would rather be in the bunker than have to chip over it.

Anyway, in I went, played my beloved sand wedge and dropped the ball to about 2 feet from the hole. I tapped in from there. shook hands and was then looking forward to a pint of beer. On the way in, a guy stopped me and asked if I would show him how to play that bunker shot. I just laughed at him. He smiled back and said, "No I mean it, I would love to be able to do what you just did." Then I just got embarrassed.

However, we went to the practice area and I did about 10 swings and the ball popped out every time. Mostly it was in about 3-4 feet of the hole. I showed him my technique and his first half dozen strokes were dreadful. We kept at it for about 20-30 minutes and he started to pop them out one after the other. We shook hands and he bought me a pint in the bar afterwards.

It was about a month later he came up to me again (in the bar) and said, "Thanks a million, you have no idea the difference that has made to me." With even more embarrassment I smiled back and said a muted thanks. One of my friends then said to me, "I didn't know you knew Paul, he's one of the best golfers in the club." Can you imagine my face? Can you imagine the surprise on my friend's face when I told him. He didn't believe me and actually went and asked the guy who confirmed it. When he returned he was gobsmacked and then told me that Paul practices my technique for 15 minutes before he goes out to play along with his other routines.

It was that moment that changed my golf life. It was so darned simple. Learn a good technique and then practice it regularly. It probably sounds really silly but as it transpired Paul was a great golfer playing off a 3 handicap but he just could not get out of a bunker. He can now and plays off scratch because he no longer worries about bunkers.

Lesson learned for me. Playing 6-10 times a year with no lessons and hoping it goes ok isn't quite the same plan. Dumb to even think it could be but sometimes you need a slap in the face rather than a gentle nudge.

I set myself the goal of breaking 100, took 10 lessons which cost me £400 ($600) and practiced twice a week at the driving range. After about three months of that I carded a 98. That may sound pathetic to good golfers, but to me it was magnificent. I wish now I had kept the card. Not only that but I have never since that day ever shot below 98 and that more than anything else impressed upon me the facts of learning good techniques and then practice.

I wallowed in the 90s for months and could never move past it. The best score I got was 93 but it became even more frustrating as I could not get under 90, no matter how much I tried. Believe me I tried hard but nothing worked. I got excited a few times when I got off to a great start but one bad hole would usually scupper that. It seemed that knowing how to be a good golfer was eluding me. I did all the usual predictable things like changing my putter, tweaking with my stance, changing my grip etc. None of them made a jot of difference.

Oh yes I should have mentioned that I also won my first golf society outing which was great and also got an 18 handicap which was shall we say challenging, but also made me rather proud. Mind you the society changed my handicap to 16!

How did I break 90?

It all came down to one thing in the end not that I could see it. Putting - the downfall of many. I was consistently three putting. My drives were straight and my irons were ok, but my putting was poor. I bought a book just on putting and also watched some videos and then practiced a lot. It took a few months more but I got it. Regular 2 putts rather than 3 putts can shave many strokes of a round of golf.

I did break 90 at long last and then dipped between high 80s to low 90s for a few weeks but then I got to under 80s on a regular and consistent basis. I guess the learn and practice technique still held true.

If I thought breaking 90 in golf was tough, then breaking 80 was a nightmare. By the way to give you all hope I only started to do this when I was 46 so age should not be a barrier. I was now a consistent mid-80s golf player which is good, but I just wanted to break that barrier of 80 and then I knew I would be content.

I watched every video I could find and again started tweaking without any real guidance to be honest other than what I had seen in the videos. Some days I notice improvement and other days nothing. I even analysed which type of holes I was dropping shots at but generally there was no regular pattern to that either. A close friend of mine then suggested something pretty clever and asked if he could take a video of me playing the different shots.

He did that over a few holes and then he advised me to watch it and see if I could notice anything. That was actually pretty dumb on both our counts as neither of us knew what we were looking for. It all looked ok, same routine, same set-up, same stroke and same result.

Then I paid the local golf pro for a lesson but just wanted him to watch my video. He spotted it almost instantly and within about 15 minutes I had my answer. It was my golf swing, well rather the consistency of my golf swing that was wrong. It changed mainly in the back swing with varying angles of pick up. When he showed me I could see right away. He gave me some very simple routines to do and I also watched some great videos.

I also read a simple golf swing book that helped me make that step change from a 90 to a break 80 golfer. The first day I did that, I can tell you that there were a few beers downed that night. Hope you have enjoyed this hub and I would also recommend these other golf hubs.