Saturday, November 27, 2010

How Do I Become A More Consistent Golfer?

By Matthew Seppanen


Want a more consistent pitch with your golf ball? What about getting solid hits with your 6 iron all the time? What about changes in your score? What can make you shoot 82 on one day, then 96 on another?

Unfortunately, hitting the golf ball solid more often does not always translate into lower, more consistent scores.

To have consistency, there are two things you have to consider: course management, and ball striking.

To play more consistent and manage the course more effectively, it helps to have a key thought that you are going to think about that day. Each time you play, before your round, select one wing thought. Be proactive and choose to think about that thought rather than react to your shots. That single thought could last weeks, months or even an entire season.

One golfer who practices this is the prominent PGA Tour player, Ernie Els. He thinks about tempo throughout his round, and he thinks of nothing else.

There are some people who like to think of mechanical swing thoughts. They could either think about adding a bit of shoulder turn in a back swing, keeping the right knee a bit flexed, or even getting the club face to be a little more square up on top.

The thing is, having a swing thought will allow you to be more proactive rather than reactive when you get a fade into the trees. Being reactive will have you to try and fix that slice. But by being proactive, you can go on and use the same swing thought you had in mind earlier when you were able to hit great shots.

Before teeing off, be sure to decide what your swing thought is. Focus on this thought for the whole round, and you'll be seeing consistency on the golf course.

Moving on to increasing the consistency of striking the ball. What you should do is maintain the angles of your body to get solid shots. This means that you should have consistency with your posture, the height of your chest, and your hip flex.

What happens here is that you permit your club to bottom out on the same spot by maintaining your body angles. Make sure to maintain the height of your chest when you swing. Focusing on the height of your chest will make sure that you don't end up standing up or dropping down during your swing. More consistent shots will result if you just maintain the height of your chest.

Overall, keeping consistency during your golf round will occur when you focus on these two things:

1. Thinking about one swing thought during your whole game. Start thinking about it before you tee off, and make sure this thought will keep you proactive, not reactive.

2. Keep your body angles at a similar position throughout your whole swing. Remember to keep your chest height at the same level from the back swing, to the impact, and finally to the follow through.




About the Author:



0 comments:

Post a Comment

Related Posts with Thumbnails