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If your golf season is underway by now, chances are you've had a few rounds you'd prefer to forget.
I have. I crashed out of a tournament a few weeks ago and I'm still reeling from it, unable to shake some of the horrific tee shots I hit that cost me dearly over the course of 36 holes.
I'm down, but not out, because like many of you, I have the wisdom of the world's greatest golf instructors at my fingertips. Based on personal experience and keen observation of thousands of golfers I've teed it up with over the years, here are four tips that we can all look to in order to reset after a dismal round.
Cause of disaster: Wayward tee shots
Solution: Develop a 'fairway-finder'
This Instagram-exclusive clip (follow us here!) arrived at the perfect time to help me heal from my latest wayward driving performance. In the latest episode of Playing Lessons, Jake Knapp, owner of one of the PGA Tour's most aesthetically pleasing golf swings, shows Bones how he tones down his prodigious power on narrow holes. The subtle but important adjustments he makes are well within any golfer's capabilities.
Click here to watch the full Playing Lessons episode with Jake Knapp.
Cause of disaster: Fat shots
Solution: Learn to hit the little ball before the big ball
Play
Martin Hall's series Breaking Bad Habits: Full Swing is full of wisdom to help you strike the ball more solidly. Because it's such an insidious issue that can derail a round, Martin devotes just over 12 minutes to covering some drills that will keep you from hitting the ground before the ball.
Cause of disaster: Chipping woes
Solution: Randomize your practice
Play
Most golfers miss the majority of their greens in regulation, which means a lot of chip and pitch shots every time out. If you mishit one early, that can derail the whole day. This tip from Debbie Doniger is clever because it engages your innate coordination abilities to almost force you to hit the ball solidly. Try it the next time you practice your chipping (which you're probably not doing often enough, anyway).
Cause of disaster: Three-putts
Solution: Improve your speed
Play
After a round when three-putts pile up, it's natural for golfers to seek help on short putts, which is understandable. It's not the wrong move, but I would wager that poor speed on long putts is the culprit just as often as shaky short-putting. This great Golf Academy tip from putting guru Dave Stockton serves as a crucial reminder about your backstroke on long putts.
Comments (1)
Interesting and helpful videos–with some out-of-the-box drills that I haven’t seen before from Debbie Dongier and Martin Hall.
The most common “mistake” here, for most players, is the three-putt. These points from Dave Stockton are, as always, excellent.
It’s a fact now, in our current world of seemingly limitless Youtube content, that average players listen MORE to grassroots advisors, even if their advice can sometimes be good and worthwhile. From my observations, only a small percentage of them develop content that does much more than borrow their tips from others.
But the genuinely first-rate teachers are those with a deeper and more coherent understanding of what matters most. And they are being greatly overshadowed on Youtube. Such ‘instructors’ include touring pros and other truly well-versed teaching pros–pros who are spending most of their time on the lesson tee, not making an endless stream of videos whose main purpose is to garner attention.
Stockton, who is one example of an outstanding teacher, has given me the best putting advice I’ve ever applied. Unsurprisingly, he was one of a trio of players who, on the (senior) Champions Tour, led the “Yearly Putts Per GIR” on the category three times or more–the others being Hale Irwin and Berhard Langer. And by the way, Stockton was in his prime before “putts per round” stats were compiled on the PGA Tour. Back then, in the 60’s/70s, he was widely regarded as one of the finest putters of his era. He’s written a couple of masterful books on putting.