By Tim Stone, Head Teaching Professional, The National G.C.
It is human nature to practice what we are already good at. Our egos get a boost and we leave the practice area with a guaranteed smile on our face.
But what happens to the parts of our game that are causing our handicap to increase?
Without addressing our faults we have little chance of improving our scores. I am sure that if people only practiced what they needed to to improve there would be a lot more single figure handicappers and … many golfers who would decide not to practice at all!!!
Facing reality and accepting our golfing flaws is sometimes difficult. Most of us have a very poor idea of what we are actually proficient at and, conversely, what part of our game is dragging us down.
So my first suggestion toward improving your golf is to start with a bit of homework.
Statistics are vital when trying to understand any sport. We see it discussed regularly in AFL Football – how many effective kicks, how many handballs one team has compared to the other. These figures help the coaching staff to structure training sessions in a way that will increase the performance of the team.
Without these figures how would coaches know what to practice? Touring Golf Professionals will always be able to give you their personal statistics as it is these figures that determine what they practice too!
Begin by writing down where you think you’re at for each of the following departments: fairway hits(%), greens in regulation(%), total putts (?), putts per green hit in regulation(?), sand saves(%) up and downs from within 30 metres(%).
After each of your next five rounds record what you did in these afore mentioned departments. After the fifth round average each of your scores. Then, just as with a financial budget, you will be in a position to judge how you are traveling and whether you have a good grasp on your game.
With that sort of information you can start to plan your practice so that your time spent is both efficient and effective; you are able to properly concentrate on the areas of your game that need attention.
By comparing your original “self appraised” figures and the statistics you’ve gathered you will be able to plan goals for where you want to be in 3, 6 and 12 months time.
It is these goals that will determine how much you practice and what it is you need to concentrate on for the majority of your time.
Continuing to keep round by round statistics will determine whether you are improving or not. If you have allocated practice time to a certain area and the statistics in this area are improving, then you know the practice is paying off.
If your figures are not improving then, you may not have allocated enough time to practicing that skill, or you may be practicing incorrectly or your technique needs improving and it is time for a lesson. Which ever, you will have a much better understanding of your own game.
For those who are more serious about their golf these steps can be taken a step further. Rather than recording whether you hit the fairway or not, record whether you missed it to the right or to the left. Do the same for hitting greens in regulation and putts missed.
Not only will these statistics give you a total percentage of fairways or greens hit but, by recording the side you missed on, you will have an even better understanding of your technique. After five rounds of more in-depth statistics you will find certain trends that you may not have previously realized.
If you are constantly missing fairways to the right there may be a swing fault that needs to be corrected.
As a coach it is a bonus when a student arrives for a lesson with some statistics. I can not monitor his/her game week-in week-out but the statistics will give me the picture and we can work on the game area that really needs fixing.
To give you an idea of what U.S. Touring Professionals are doing, here are some of their statistics:
How do your figures match up?
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