I know why the majority of amateur golfers play to higher handicaps and golf scores than they should. They shoot higher golf scores and have higher handicaps because they simply don’t have a better way to go about playing golf and producing lower golf scores.
They limit their potential for lower golf scores by basically playing the same way every time they play, which is to say, they think about their golf the same way every time and so their behaviour tends to reflect this through their scores.
The only way around this is to develop a different way of playing. I’m not talking about developing a different style of swing, just a different way to play.
When someone like me talks about learning a different way of playing golf, golfers usually think that I’m talking about changing their golf swing technique. I’m not, because that would be crazy considering that most golfers will never devote the time required to change their stroke pattern.
To give you an idea of what I’m talking about, if you wanted to change an aspect of your golf swing technique you would need to apply a minimum of one hundred and fifty hours to do it.
Now what golfer in their right mind would want to do that?
And here’s the kicker… there’s no guarantee that what you changed would actually make you play better. What a scary thought that is.
No, it’s much easier for you to just go about changing the way you go about playing. In other words change your strategy firstly in your mind by becoming more confident in your approach to hitting your golf shots by choosing to play shots that are well within your capability limits.
Instead of hitting a driver off the tee that rarely if ever goes where it’s supposed to go try your 3 wood or even your 5 wood from the tee. On your approach shot into the green take more club than you normally would. If you’re trying to force a 9 iron to the green, hit a smooth 7 iron.
If you’re trying to hit a delicate pitch shot over the bunker to a tight pin, pitch it well behind the pin and take two putts. I know you get the idea. Make golf easier rather than difficult. Choose the shot that for you works 7 times out of 10-not the shot that comes off 2 times out of 10.
This great game is so much more enjoyable when you leave the ego at the club and play well within your limitations. The next time you go to play golf, play with the 7 out of 10 rule and I guarantee you that in the weeks and months ahead you will play better, shoot lower golf scores and have a lot more fun.
Until next time,
Lawrie Montague
Recently I was asked a very good question about how to change a golf swing stroke pattern where the golf club travels too quickly to inside on the backswing making the golf swing too flat. This golfer was challenged to find an effective way to change his golf swing pattern when he was attempting to hit a golf ball towards a target.
In a perfect world every golfer would learn the golf swing techniques first then learn how to use them to hit golf shots to a target, however this is not realistic for the majority of golfers who have already learned their golf swing techniques at the same time they are attempting to hit perfect shots to the target.
If you desire to change your stubborn golf stroke pattern this year once and for all you might like to try the following reprogramming technique.
You can make significant progress with a golf swing change by practicing your swing against a wall (carefully) using the Back to the Wall Golf Swing Reprogramming Drill.
The idea is to stand with your back to the wall with your rear end about 6 inches away from it in your address position with a 7 iron. (grip down on the iron if you’re limited for ceiling height)
Important: Put a head cover or something protective on the club head before you swing back very slowly to the top of your backswing. When you arrive at the top swing down very slowly through the bottom of the swing and back to the top of the finish position. This is the stroke pattern that you will ingrain over the next few months.
The idea is to change the pattern of your golf swing very deliberately at home initially, and ideally you would go about it just like this.
- Swing the golf club back and through at 25 percent of its normal speed being very careful not to hit the wall. Do this 50 times each day for consecutive 7 days.
- Swing the golf club back and through at 50 percent of its normal speed being very careful not to hit the wall. Do this 50 times each day for consecutive 7 days.
- Swing the golf club back and through at 75 percent of its normal speed being very careful not to hit the wall. Do this 50 times each day for 7 consecutive days.
Now that you have completed the golf swing reprogramming home segment you will go to the driving range to develop the new pattern with golf balls.
- Week 1. Go to the driving range and hit 75 shots with your seven iron at 50 percent of your normal speed 3 times each week for 2 weeks. (Do not worry about where the golf ball is going)
- Week 2. Go to the driving range and hit 75 shots with your seven iron at 75 percent of your normal speed 3 times each week for 2 weeks. (Do not worry about where the golf ball is going)
- Week 3. Go to the driving range and hit 100 shots with your seven iron at 75 percent your normal speed 3 times each week for 2 weeks. (Aim to hit your golf shots towards targets)
Now you have completed the golf range reprogramming segment you can go to the golf course to test the new stroke pattern in play.
- Week 4. Go to the golf course and test out your new technique. Swing the golf club at 75 percent of your normal swing speed and have someone video some of your golf swings to validate the changes you have made.
You will discover that you can change your golf stroke pattern if you go about it very deliberately and also improve your golf shot-making consistency.
Remember though, that you change the stroke pattern before your develop your shot-making consistency.
It is very important that you get the order right.
On the driving range before your play you hit golf shots at 75 percent of your normal speed. This is important as your old program operates at 100 percent and if you increase the speed of your golf swing pattern to 100 percent it is likely that your old pattern will start to manifest itself.
This reprogramming technique will work if you follow the program just as it is written.
Let me know how you go once you have completed the program.
Until next time,
Lawrie Montague
Hale Irwin played some great golf on the 2011 Champions Tour in his mid sixties and shows us all the importance of maintaining our health and fitness and a strong, competitive drive so we can continue to tap into our awesome potential.
In 2011 he played in 21 tournaments and made the cut in every event. He had 7 top ten finishes and earnings of $624,811. I believe that Hale Irwin has been a consistent and competitive professional golfer for a long time because his golf swing and approach to the playing the game has been kept simple. His technique hasn’t got shorter or changed much in forty years and he has kept his short-game sharp.
He never overpowers his golf swing and his timing and tempo has remained consistent. His basic shot-shape is the fade and this ball flight allows him to control the direction and distance of his shots with precision and consistency.
Hale Irwin had 20 victories on the PGA Tour beginning with the 1971 Sea Pines Heritage Classic and finishing with the 1994 MCI Heritage Golf Classic, and won prize money of just under six million dollars. His 1994 Heritage win at the age of nearly 49 made him one of the oldest winners in Tour history.
He also won two Piccadilly World Match Play Championships at Wentworth in the 1970s. His successes kept him ranked high among his peers – he was ranked among the top five in Official World Golf Rankings for a few weeks in 1991.
Irwin qualified to play on the over-50 Champions Tour (formerly the Senior PGA Tour) in 1995 and has enjoyed even greater success at this level than he did on the PGA Tour.
He has won 45 Champions Tour titles and tops the all-time Champions Tour money list with earnings of over USD $23 million. He was the winner of the U.S. Senior Open in 1998 and 2000. Irwin was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1992.
A truly great golfer Hale Irwin inspires us all to keep working hard at our golf and at the same time keeping it simple and fundamentally consistent.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hale_Irwin
Until next time,
Lawrie Montague – Golf Confidence Pro
If you asked one hundred regular amateur golfers to honestly rate the quality of their mental game on a scale of 1 to 5 with 5 being highly competent at managing their mental/emotional state on the golf course and one being totally incompetent on the golf course what do you think the majority of golfers would say?
I bet they would say that they rank too low on the scale, probably about a 2 or a 3.
If you then ask them what they need to do to raise their score most would have very little idea about what they need to do.
Some will say that they have read popular authors like Bob Rotella and other popular golf psychologists who write about the mental game and golf.
The truth is that very few golfers ever spend any time developing their mental skills and there’s no doubt that it is holding you back from hitting better and more consistent golf shots and shooting lower golf scores.
How much easier would it be if you knew what your unique personality style was for learning and performing on the golf course?
If you knew that your particular style meant that you needed to take instruction a certain way as well as the way you play on the golf course?
If you were oblivious to your performance style could it mean that every time you play you are no better off than the last time you played?
That in fact you would never get better at golf because you don’t know what you need to do.
Golf is a game of gross generalisations.
Golf books, golf magazines and other forms of media try to persuade you to go with a popular style that may not be even close to being the best way for you.
This has been a challenge for me for many years up until recently when I came across a golf personality profile that actually got it right.
Someone finally developed a golf personality profile for every golfer that helps you to understand why YOU play golf the way YOU do and how YOU can get better at it by following some simple guidelines.
The profile was developed by Bobby Foster, a management consultant headquartered in Columbia, SC. Bobby is a former teaching professional and golf coach at the University of South Carolina where he coached several All-Americans including four players who played on The PGA Tour.
He is a Certified Behavioral Analyst specializing in the D.I.S.C Behavioral Style Model. He explains the purpose behind the development of the mental golf profile -
“Our company has had great success using DISC profiles in work language to help people improve performance in all types of working environments.
Over the years, I’ve often thought about how much better I would have been as a player, instructor and coach if I’d known about the DISC System during that stage of my life.
We built this profile in golf language so that players, instructors and coaches could enjoy the same benefits I’ve seen countless experience with DISC profiles in the workplace.”
The system generates personalized information for working on your mental game just as video and launch monitors produce personalized information for working on your swing and customizing your equipment. The profile works great for self-coaching as well as for collaborating with your instructor or coach.
It’s Quick…It’s Accurate…It’s Comprehensive… “The beauty of this system is that our players get an accurate and comprehensive report without having to spend hours completing a laborious questionnaire. You sure get a lot for the time and money you invest in this process.”
– Dr. Greg Rose, Co-Founder, Titleist Performance Institute
Following is the 5 step outline of the Mental Golf Workshop™ profile process -
- Log in to www.mentalgolfworkshop.com with my access code procollege (all one word).
- Pay US $65.00 (worth every penny too!)
- Spend about ten minutes answering the multiple-choice questionnaire.
- Your answers go through the proprietary scoring system to produce a 20 plus page report.
- Review the detailed descriptions of your mental golf tendencies and customized strategies for these areas of your game – Golf Temperament
- Pre-Round Preparation
- Mental Tendencies When Playing Shots
- Course Management
- Working With Your Instructors
- Mental Tendencies Toward Golf Fitness
Your report is produced in a “workshop” format, with space provided to make notes as you work through your report. This format makes it easy to self-coach yourself or to review with your instructor or coach.
I know that this great tool will be the tool you need to make the New Year your best year ever to play golf the way you have always wanted to.
Lawrie Montague – Golf Confidence Pro
Top Professional golfers who play golf on tour are unique individuals who passionately pursue their dream of achieving success on the PGA and LPGA tour’s with drive, energy and determination. They allow us to see what lies within; the potential to be a lot better than we currently are.
To improve your golf you need a strong passion to constantly fuel your motivation. Passion comes from your desire to be excellent at what you do, and golf is one game where you have to work very hard over a long period of time to gain a high measure of control over your golf shots and ultimately your golf scores.
By removing the “quick fix” mentality from your thinking and working hard on your weakest, most important skills you can make progress with your golf. Your passion to improve will keep you focused on the task, and in the weeks and months from now you will reap the rewards of your dedication with better golf shots and lower golf scores.
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