If you are like me, you have taken many golf lessons. You have also spent countless hours on the driving range trying to improve your swing. Why is it so difficult to develop a consistent swing? It is my contention that learning how to be a successful adult actually sabotages our quest to develop a consistent golf swing. How does this work?
Extra Credit
In order to be successful as an adult, we had to do well in school. This means we did well in tests. If we wanted to do well in tests, we did the extra credit problems. As an adult, doing “a little extra effort” is natural to who we are. But in golf, doing the extra credit problem will result in an “F”: a failing grade!
Instead of just doing only what is required to produce a good golf swing, it is natural, as successful adults, to embellish or add a little extra motion with our arm, hands, or body to ensure a good result. In fact, doing a little extra always results in poor results. It is difficult to go against what is natural and only do the minimum to produce a good golf swing.
The Ball
So here we are with a golf club and a golf ball. Naturally, we know what to do. We have done our homework. We know we want to hit the ball with the golf club. We also know we want to hit the ball in the air. Well, the golf swing is making a motion with the club towards the target and the ball just gets in the way. That is easy to say, hard to do for adults. The big distraction is the ball. The reality is that golf is not about hitting the ball! This is a lot easier for an eight-year-old to grasp, but is beyond adults. You have seen how golfers execute the practice swing with a rhythmic and efficient motion, but then use a different swing when the ball is present. This is because the ball is now the focus instead of a free and rhythmic motion. Now the focus is to try to hit the ball and try to help the ball in the air and we wonder why we don’t have a good swing. All golfers have a good golf swing but they only use it in the practice swing!
Try Harder
Another thing that adults do is to try harder. When we did not do well in school, we were told to try harder next time. Trying harder is what successful adults do naturally. But trying harder never works in golf. This is another example where our natural instincts, as adults, prevent us from making consistent golf swings.
The Trap
The biggest trap in golf is the thinking of “I need to keep up with the competition.” When a golfer is successful, the next thought is not “I’ll continue to do what got me here,” the thought is usually “I need to drive the ball farther.” It is the trap of I need to keep getting better so I need to change my swing. This has happened so many times to professional golfers that they get lost and never regain their swing that initially made them successful; that got them there. Examples are Ian Baker-Finch who won the Open Championship and tried to get more length. Lydia Ko, who won professional tournaments at the age of fifteen and became number 1 at the age of eighteen and tried to get more length. Tiger Woods won major championships by 10 shots and made at least four swing changes.
The really great golfers, Ben Hogan, Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, Byron Nelson, Gary Player all kept using the swing that brought them success.
Even weekend golfers who finally break 80 decide to tinker with the setup or ball position the next time they play and barely break 100. It is difficult for adults to leave well enough alone. If you are playing well, then try to keep doing the same thing for one year. If you want to improve something, spend the time to improve your chipping and putting.
What should we do? We need to be mentally strong to go against what are natural tendencies: hit the ball, do a little extra, try harder. We need to consciously change who we are. We need trust that if we focus on making a motion towards the target, the ball will get in the way and go towards the target. That is easy to say, hard to do. But that is the challenge for golfers who are learning the game as adults.