This past summer I have become a fan of The Dan Dakich Show
on the ESPN radio affiliate in Indianapolis, 1070 The Fan WFNI. One of the
reasons I enjoy his show is Dan's ability to use the sports issues and developments
of the day as teachable moments to help his audience in their day to day lives.
Once a coach always a coach. One of the things I hear Dan stress on a regular
basis is that the key to success in sports, business or really any aspect of
your life is to make a consistent effort in whatever you do, every day.
As I have thought about this over the course of the summer,
I have found that not only is it great advice in how you determine to live your
life, but that it has major applications in the fun, but probably less important
aspect of playing a round of golf. I
have been fortunate in my life to be able to make a living by promoting a game.
Currently by promoting the Pete Dye Golf Trail, but throughout the majority of my
career to promote golf as an instructor. I learned early on that the game is more fun
for my students when they play better. In an effort to play better golf I have
found we are tempted to try all manner of things. Often trying something new on
almost every shot. So much so, that when we do hit a good shot we have no idea
what we did to produce the improved results.
My suggestion is to use the Coach's advice and make a
consistent effort. Do the same things every time you hit a golf shot. Even down
to making the same swing in the same sequence of motion, regardless of results.
Will you miss some shots? Of course, we all miss shots regardless of skill
level. But by recognizing the effort and trying to repeat it in every swing, we
can learn something about our swing and making educated changes as opposed to
random moves.
One thing you can do in the off season to help is to try and
verbalize your swing. Tell yourself how you swing the club. An example would be
as a right handed player , my left arm starts the club back as my hips clear
out of the way. When the club gets past my back foot I start to use my shoulders
to finish the backswing. To start back to the ball, I start my downswing with
my knees, clearing the way for my arms and hands to swing the club to the ball.
There are countless number of combinations so the best way to start is to
describe simply what you do. Don't worry about right or wrong just identify
what you do. Two good things will happen. It will be easier to identify the
need to make a change for improvement and when you indentify that need, you
will have a guideline to base your decision. More important you will have the
basis of making the consistent effort that is a key to successful golf game.
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