On the fairways and driving ranges throughout the golfing world, you will very rarely find a golfer who truly does not want to improve their golf game in some shape or form.

Some, because of other commitments, have to resign themselves to this sporting fate because family or work responsibilities simply allow them not enough time to play or practise in order to improve. However, it must be said, that when some golfers claim to be content with their standard of play, one can detect a false modesty to perhaps explain away lack of success.

The reason for this could be in the text below.

Nonetheless, for the great majority, improvement is one element which makes golf enjoyable.

It is irrelevent whether you are trying to reduce a 36 handicap to 35 or a 4 handicap to scratch, age and talent dictate many things in life and most people have a healthy attitude in this regard.

There is however, one aspect which transcends whichever of these personal goals you are attempting to achieve.Time!

 

It is a modern day truism that our recreational time should have a certain standard or quality.

How then does this apply to playing golf? What steps can one take to insure a maximum efficiency in regard to improving your individual game.

Whilst accepting that no one person has all the answers for every situation, here are a few guidelines to game improvement.

 

First of all, when we contemplate how paradoxical golf instuction is, try to be cautious which information you choose to invest in. Now, this is not as easy as it sounds, because a lot of instruction is based on opinion or, in the case of golf magazines, commercial interests. So the golfer is bombarded with a flood of information making the subject matter much more complicated than it really is. One weapon at your disposal to alleviate this problem is the following. It involves three steps:

 

1) Is the advice logical?

 

2) Do I find the advice in question in other sports where a ball is thrown or hit?

 

And probably the most important

 

3) Does it feel natural?

 

Let's take one example. Keeping the head still throughout the swing. Is it logical? The answer is a categorical NO because you do not find this in sports where a ball is thrown or hit, especially when the player has time, which is the case in golf.

Put your head against a wall, close your eyes and execute a backswing. How does it feel? Uncomfortable? The golf swing needs a certain amount of (positive) tension as does throwing a ball, but do you feel uncomfortable when throwing a ball?

When you learnt to throw a ball, if the movement was uncomfortable then most likely you adapted to an alternative movement. This would be applicable to keeping your head still if you found it to be uncomfortable.

 

Lastly, there is one other element which fundamentally influences the learning process and therefore improvement, which up until now has been swept under the golfing rug. And that is the effect the equipment you are playing has on your game.

In other segments of this website we have explained why it is biomechanically and medically illogical for golfers of varying heights to play the same length of club or ones that have been "Custom Fitted".

But at the end of the day playing golf, or any sport for that matter, is an emotional experience.

All golfers forced into an unnatural position by their equipment inherit a problem, which stunts the learning process, takes away anatomical intelligence and worst of all,wastes precious recreational time.