By John Diekmann
I’m going to let you in on a little secret about improving your golf game. I’ve validated it based on my own game, my friends’ games and PGA Tour pros.
First we start playing golf and after a period, let’s say a couple of years, we reach a plateau. This plateau is more than a scoring range, it’s also how much golf you play and where it fits in your life.
Let’s take a fictional golfer named Doug who is a 12 handicap, plays once a week in a nine hole league and gets out, on average, for another 18 holes a week. He might hit a bucket of balls once a week, practice putting for 20 minutes and maybe even get 15 minutes of greenside chipping.
New technology or swing ideas or anything else won’t improve Doug’s game unless he plays and practices more. There are no magic bullets that will help him that don’t require more time invested in golf each week. That’s the truth plain and simple. If Doug wants to get to the next plateau, say an 8 handicap, he is going to have to commit more time to playing and practicing each week.
If you’ve been playing golf for any length of time, you know this to be true. I’m not saying that you won’t ever have an outing that is much better than normal, but you won’t sustain it for any period without more time on the course and practice area.
Sure it’s OK to read tips, buy new equipment or even invest in one on one instruction, but don’t expect to get to the next level without spending more time playing and practicing. If you don’t believe me, just look at the likes of Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson.
As soon as they cut back on playing and practicing time, their games go down a notch. They know it and expect it. After a winter break, even the best in the world have to spend more time on a weekly basis at playing and practicing to get back to the highest level of play.