How To Get Better

Getting Better with Limited Time and Money

You want to get better at golf. All golfers do. Once bitten by the golf bug, trying not to get better is impossible.

The question is how?

Golf is expensive. Drivers are $600 or more. Putters run over $300 to $600. Top of the line golf balls are $60 a dozen. Playing a round at a good public course can run $100 or more. Lessons with a teaching professional run at least $100 an hour.

If you’re like me, you have to figure out how to maximize your golf budget to get the most out of it. Let’s face it, we want to play the game as much as possible, so the bulk of our dollars go to greens fees or memberships at clubs.

Besides money, time is valuable. There is only so much time in a day. Fitting in playing time and practice time along with family and work commitments provides challenges.

First and foremost, finding a quality golf coach and purchasing some lessons is worth the money. You may think you know what needs to be fixed in your swing, but, until someone who understands the golf swing and knows how to coach evaluates your swing, you may be completely wrong in your personal assessment.

I still suggest starting with a few lessons if you can.

But I get it. Those can be expensive.

So, short of getting lessons, can you get better with limited time and money?

Yes, you can.

Here’s how.

The only thing in golf which matters is when the club makes contact with the ball. How it gets there can matter, but there have been many great players who accomplished this task with unorthodox methods. Jack Nicklaus swung upright. Gary Player swung more around. Moe Norman swung…well look him up if you’ve never seen Moe Norman swing the club.

Many tour professionals are identifiable by their swing alone. Jim Furyk swings the club with his own unique swing. Dustin Johnson doesn’t look like Tiger Woods when he swings the club. John Daly has his long, way past parallel swing. The list goes on.

The point is, no matter how a swing looks, if the club makes great contact with the ball, that’s all that really matters.

When you go to the range to practice, rather than work on a swing technique or swing drill, focus on contact and face control.

You can do this a couple of ways.

1. Ball then ground contact with irons. Work on making sure the club strikes the ball first, then the ground. This produces solid contact and a better ball flight.

2. Practice face control. Hit shots trying to have the face of the club closed, open and square at impact. Where the face is pointing at impact is where the ball will end up. Learning to control the face at impact is an invaluable skill. It allows you to be better able to self-correct on the golf course if you are hitting shots off-line on a particular day.

3. Hit shots intentionally off the toe, heel and center of the face. This goes to face control as well. Intentionally hitting the ball off the wrong part of the face provides feedback for what not to do and creates the opportunity to self-organize to strike the ball in the center of the face.

If you can learn to make better contact and control the face, you will see more distance and better shot dispersion. Improve those two areas alone, and you will see your scores improve.

As always, be grateful when you play. Be thankful for the privilege and opportunity to play this amazing game. Now, go golf!