It’s that time of year again. The sun is warm, the sky is blue, and the grass is turning green. The tee sheet at your local club is filling up. Finding an open bay on the practice tee is a bit more difficult. However, amongst the excitement also exists a bit of frustration. Golfers are trying to cure their sliced drives and chunked iron shots that leads to double bogey, or worse. Avoid thier demise by following my 4-keys to play your best spring golf.
On the Range
Don’t neglect golf’s pre-swing fundamentals. Grip, stance, posture, and ball position
are boring to work on. I get it, you’ve been locked up all winter. You want to swing away with the big stick to see how far you can drive it. The truth is that you aren't going to hit your best golf shots if your setup is sloppy. Pre-swing fundamentals is the only area of the game that you have complete control over. It’s also the only part of the swing where you have as much time as you need to make a swing change. Golfers overlook this critical aspect of the swing becasuse they're eager to watch the ball fly. Pre-swing fundamentals has the biggest payoff for time invested. Small improvements spent here yields huge dividends!
On the Tee Box
Your driver has a landing area. Find it and put the ball there. This was the advice given to me when working with Mick Hartsfield at Shell Landing Golf Club in Gautier, MS. It’s the one piece of advice that took my FIR from 51% to 67.2% my last season on the scratch tour. Golfers have always been crazed with longer drives. It’s the #1 selling point of every driver manufacturer in the industry. In reality, distance isn’t unlimited. Pick out a spot in the fairway you know you can get to and hit the ball to that spot, just as you would with an approach shot to the green. Any extra distance you may get from a well struck shot is a bonus. I still use this advice today. It works for me and I know it’ll improve your driving stats too!
From the Fairway
Don’t do too much with approaches into the green. Chances are that you’re not swinging with your best stuff in the early part of the season. Trying to hit fades and draws into tucked pin positions most likely isn’t going to work out in your favor. More than likely, you’ll end up in a bunker or short sided. In either case the up and down save is drastically more difficult. Instead, aim for the fat portion of the green. You’ll find that pars are easier to convert.
Around the Greens
Cross out the high lob shot from your list of shots when you miss a green. Tour pros seemingly hit this shot on command. That's because they practice it a lot. Chances are you don’t have as much time to practice this shot. A better option? The basic bump and run. The bump and run is very forgiving. You can hit it a little fat, or thin, without much penalty. It can come up short of your landing target, or a bit longer, and still finish near the hole. It can also be played with many different clubs, even the 3-wood! Just get the ball on the green and rolling and leave a makeable par putt. That's as difficult as shots around the green need to be.
If you want to play your best golf early in the season then follow my 4-simple keys. You’ll write down more fours and shout less fore’s.