Dec
15
2009

Your Golf Improvement Strategy

Posted by Double Eagle in Game Improvement, Golf Philosophy

I love the poll questions because they really give me a chance to learn from all of you.  Sure, it’s not exactly scientific, but I’ve learned something interesting from every one I’ve ever posted.

Golf signsThe latest poll asked about the ways you improve your golf game.  If you haven’t voted yet, please feel free.  The question is, “Which of the following have you done in the past 12 months to improve your golf game?“  I presented you with a bunch of answers and asked you to pick all that apply (my apologies – for a brief period early on, you were only able to select one answer, but that has since been fixed).

This is how the responses broke down as of this writing (out of 167):

  • Practice at a driving range or practice green (81%, 136 Votes)
  • Read or watch instructional materials (63%, 105 Votes)
  • Take a range lesson from a golf pro (34%, 57 Votes)
  • Get a club fitting (22%, 36 Votes)
  • Conduct a video analysis of your swing, (by yourself or with a pro) (20%, 34 Votes)
  • Have a computerized swing analysis done (not at a club fitting) (15%, 25 Votes)
  • Another thing which is not listed (15%, 25 Votes)
  • Take a playing lesson from a golf pro (12%, 20 Votes)
  • Attend a clinic at a local course or driving range (7%, 12 Votes)
  • Attend a golf school (4%, 7 Votes)
  • None of the above (3%, 5 Votes)

In many ways those answers aren’t surprising.

For instance, I’m not surprised that only 34% of you have taken a lesson from a golf pro in the last 12 months.  One look at my driving range tells me that if all of them were taking lessons, my course would need to employ a dozen pros.  I’m also not surprised that only 4% of you have attended a golf school.  They can get pretty expensive, after all, and often require travel and several days of commitment.

(Update: Doug alertly pointed out in the comments that I had originally referred above to the 12% who had taken playing lessons with a pro.  The number taking range lessons is actually at 34%, but I wonder how many of them overlap with the 12% who took playing lessons.  In reality the number taking some form of lesson could be anywhere between 34% and 46%, which actually puts the total in the somewhat surprising category.  Though, I guess I shouldn’t be surprised because as I went on to state below, most people visiting here are those interested in game improvement.  What wouldn’t surprise me is if these numbers are higher than in the overall golfing population.)

A couple of things there are very surprising to me, though.

For one, I’m surprised that 22% of you have gotten a club fitting in the last 12 months.  I expected that number to be much lower.  I’m surprised there were that many of you that bought clubs in the last 12 months (or at least thought about it seriously enough to get a fitting), though I probably shouldn’t be.  We golfers are nuts when it comes to buying new equipment sometimes.

The biggest shock to me, however, is that only 81% of you have practiced at a driving range or practice green in the last 12 months.  I want to scream, “WHY?!” but I’ll just calmy ask.  Why?

In fairness, 3% of you answered “none of the above”.  There are likely some non-golfers that came by and answered the poll.  I’ll throw those out and I’m still shocked that 16% of you haven’t practiced at a driving range or practice green in the last 12 months.

I understand that most of you would rather play than practice.  I get it.  But those of you that found your way here for the first time were most likely looking to improve your game somehow.  As much as I’d like to believe you’re interested in my quest, the vast majority of you were brought here while searching for things to help you fix your game.  The Stack and Tilt.  Learning how to hit from sand.  Straightening your slice.

In general, I expect that most of you like to work on your game in some fashion.  I’m betting many of you like to read golf books, magazines, blogs.  You take lessons.  You buy training aids.  I would have thought going to the range and/or practice green is the most basic fundamental to game improvement like the need for air, water, and food for basic human survival.

It’s not even the fact that 16% of you didn’t practice at a range or green that boggles my mind the most.  It’s really the fact that you selected one of the other answers instead.  I sincerely hope you’re not taking lessons and not putting the teaching to work in between.

I have to know.  Those of you who did not practice at a driving range or practice green in the last 12 months, please tell me your story.  I promise I won’t be judgmental.  I’m just extremely curious.  Do you just not like it?  Did you just accidentally not select that answer?  Do you just prefer to work on stuff out on the course?

Hopefully some of you 16% will fill me in, or maybe the rest of you know the answers and will let me know.  Either way, I’m intrigued with another great poll.  If you haven’t voted yet, please feel free.  I’m going to run it for a while longer.  I’m also interested to hear from any of you about your general practice habits.  If you read regularly, then you know all mine, so let’s hear yours.

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There are currently 14 responses to “Your Golf Improvement Strategy”

  1. 1

    Ottawa Golf Blog said:

    Some highly interesting stats you compiled.

    Posted on December 15th, 2009 at 12:30 pm

  2. 2

    bobby said:

    sorry I missed your poll—so just to add to the stats…
    I am at the range daily…
    I practice chipping and putting at least 45 mins a week…
    i take a lesson every cple months (took more last year)
    I want to take a golf school next year (BPGS), but spendy…
    we shall see…
    my video camera is always in the car—I use it regularly
    My main man at the course has built more clubs than most folks…we just fitted my irons to go 2 degrees flat this last weekend…

    I still suck at golf!!!

    Posted on December 15th, 2009 at 2:05 pm

  3. 3

    Double Eagle said:

    Great routine, Bobby! I’m guessing by your statement that you still suck at golf, that you’re not where you want to be. I don’t know about your current pro, but sometimes switching teachers can help to make progress. Sometimes there are just certain ways of teaching that we connect with in a more effective way. I know that my previous pro was very competent, but I just wasn’t making progress. Switching was a tough decision, but it made a difference and I started improving again.

    Posted on December 15th, 2009 at 6:51 pm

  4. 4

    nate said:

    I’d be interested in the breakdown of that 81% with respect to driving range vs practice green. I spent virtually all of my time this year around the practice green .. partly because of injury but mostly because I just prefer it to beating balls. It seems that no matter how diligent I am I end up devolving to rake and beat after a couple dozen shots but I can spend an hour a day for weeks on end out there … and I will never been confused as a “grinder”.

    Didn’t mean to side track the conversation. :)

    Posted on December 15th, 2009 at 7:00 pm

  5. 5

    nate said:

    “Out there” being on the practice green of course. :)

    Posted on December 15th, 2009 at 7:01 pm

  6. 6

    Doug Kercher said:

    Hi double eagle, I think in your post you said that only 12% took a lesson, that was actually those who took a playing lesson from your figures, those who took a range lesson was 34%, still not a big percentage. These figures are probably lower in Australia. Nice survey, great blog.

    Posted on December 15th, 2009 at 7:02 pm

  7. 7

    Double Eagle said:

    Nate, you know, that’s a great question. I’m going to speculate that the vast majority gravitate toward the range, but I do see a surprising number of people at the practice green at my course. I wish I had thought to split those options in the beginning.

    Doug, thanks for catching that! I’ll correct that momentarily. I’m curious as to why those numbers are lower in Australia. Do Australians just prefer to play and leave it at that?

    Posted on December 15th, 2009 at 7:39 pm

  8. 8

    TP Golf Online said:

    DE, I am one of the 3% that chose none of the above. The only time I was on the range or putting green was before the round. I would not say this was practice but more of trying to get some kind of feel for my swing and speed of the greens prior to playing. My lack of practice reflected my inconsistent scores this year. I find that since I rarely practice anymore the times I played consecutive games in a short span my scores and ball striking would improve with each game.

    Posted on December 18th, 2009 at 3:02 pm

  9. 9

    Double Eagle said:

    TP, I’m surprised the number in that category isn’t higher. I bet the number of people not doing any practice at all is much higher among the general golf population. The people that put work into their game that didn’t include the range or practice green are the ones that surprise me.

    I also believe that a lot of range isn’t the only good way to be a good player. I read Lanny Wadkins saying that when he came up, he would hit balls at the range once a week, but would play 54 holes a day in between.

    Posted on December 18th, 2009 at 7:57 pm

  10. 10

    Golf Club Distance said:

    I’m also shocked at the number of people who haven’t been at a practice green or a driving range. Just goes to show you the flawed thinking that many people have about improving technique by just doing. That’s like a musician who only plays on stage or a hunter who never shoots his gun outside of the woods.

    Imagine never going to the driving range. That means you could only practice your tee shot 18 times in a day, assuming you play a full round. When would experiment with different techniques. No wonder so many golfers have trouble getting any distance from their drives.

    Posted on December 28th, 2009 at 3:19 am

  11. 11

    Doug said:

    QUOTE – “Doug, thanks for catching that! I’ll correct that momentarily. I’m curious as to why those numbers are lower in Australia. Do Australians just prefer to play and leave it at that?”

    mmm, not sure. The PGA here did a survey and most people who took lessons only took maximum 3 lessons, with a majority not taking any at all. Last club round I went to, guys were drinking before, during and after the round. Where I live is like Florida in climate I guess.

    Posted on December 28th, 2009 at 8:14 am

  12. 12

    Paladin said:

    Doug,

    It all depends on what your priorities are. Many guys just want to have some fun and don’t want to put a lot of effort into developing their games.

    As for ranges, Double Eagle is right. While I am a bit of a range rat, I have to say that there’s no shortage of pros who mainly just played dozens of holes a day growing up. And I can tell you one of the reasons why it’s so common: Kids who grow up doing that aren’t getting too technical (kids often aren’t too technical to begin with), and the worst thing you can do is try to orchestrate your swing with a lot of technical thoughts. It’s like the difference between being a martial artist who mainly fights on the street and one who mainly practices forms and strikes. The former is getting practical experience and is learning to “put it all together,” to be effective. The latter can’t really be sure how effective all his training will be in ‘real life.”

    Posted on December 29th, 2009 at 1:59 pm

  13. 13

    Pete said:

    I spent virtually all of my time this year around the practice green .. partly because of injury but mostly because I just prefer it to beating balls. It seems that no matter how diligent I am I end up devolving to rake and beat after a couple dozen shots but I can spend an hour a day for weeks on end out there.

    Posted on January 2nd, 2010 at 1:57 am

  14. 14

    Brent said:

    The only problem I see with driving range practice is that, watching the folks at the range, almost all of them are practicing mistakes.

    And, those mistakes will have to be unlearned before they are going to be able to learn the correct way to swing the various clubs.

    Of course, it helps if one is a natural athlete. Babe Ruth was a great golfer. He used almost the identical swing whether he was hitting a baseball or a golf ball, with the same result.

    His drives were always over the horizon. A beautiful golfer.

    The young men and women who grow up on the golf courses of America learning from an early age to practice correct swings have a much better chance of reaching their personal best than those who at the age of twenty purchase a bag of golf clubs, spend a few hundred dollars buying buckets of balls on the range, and then hit the links for real.

    The lesson here is “Don’t practice mistakes.”

    Just take a look at your driving ranges sometime, concentrating on the form of the golfers.

    50% of what you see will end up hurting rather than helping when it comes time to calculate handicap.

    Posted on January 10th, 2010 at 1:45 pm

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