How to play better golf (or just not suck)

A few weeks back I posted a few pieces of advice on a golf posting and got some serious requests for more info. I hadn’t considered how many out there need some simple advice about how to get around a golf course and not make an idiot of yourself in front of peers and bosses. When I got a pouring in of responses, I figured I’d write some stuff down to help out some fellow monkeys. So without further ado, I give you a few thoughts on how to play better when you don’t have time to practice.

Allow me to begin by qualifying myself to hand out advice. I would never take suggestions from an unqualified hack, so here’s my background. I played college golf, I previously worked in the golf industry, had my Class A card through the PGA, and taught 1000s of lessons. I used golf networking through my students to break into IB and am now in an analyst stint. Won’t give any more detail on that as there cannot be too many of me out there, someone probably already knows who I am.

(Those of you who can break 85 regularly, pretty much ignore all that follows, it’s not for you, but you likely already know/use it all).

How to play better:

1: Put away the driver. I have spent years convincing people of this, and it rarely sticks. There is no point in hitting 1/3 drives (or usually worse) in the fairway. If you are trying to break 100, you ABSOLUTELY do not need a driver. I once had a student that swore his driver was keeping him from breaking 100, so that is all he would work on. I challenged him to go out on the course with me, and I would drop a ball for him on EVERY par 4/5 at 150 yards out and pretend it was his approach shot (second on a par 4, 3rd on a par 5). It only took a few holes to prove my point when he still couldn’t come close to bogey golf. Think of it this way if you must: On an average par 4 you can hit 3 125 yard shots and be putting for par. Hell you can hit two 160 yard shots and have a LW into every hole. Stop playing your woods and hit short iron shots.

On that note, stop hitting fairway woods on par 5s. It’s not going to work but 10% of the time. Hit an 8 iron up there and then hit it again. You aren’t on tour. If you read nothing else of this post, just stop hitting your woods all the time, irons irons irons!

2: Putting. Most of us work crazy hours and have just north of zero free time to practice fricking golf. If you ever do get any time to practice though, spend it putting. Here’s why: of an average golfer’s 100 strokes per round, usually about 40 of them are on the putting green (40% ON ONE CLUB!). About 65% of them occur within 50 yards of the green! Seriously. If you hit driver on every hole, that’s 14 shots. You should practice putting 3x as much.

Go do 20 minutes of reading on a good putting stroke somewhere online (I recommend Todd Sones on YouTube) and then go practice. Most people can knock 4-6 strokes off their putting in a few months. Do you know how long it would take to get 4-6 strokes better with your driver? I promise, adding 20 yards doesn’t account for that. There is no higher ROI in golf practice than putting, bar none.

3. Course Management: This is the easiest thing to fix, but no one commits to it. Play boring golf. I could shoot

4: Stop going to the driving range and pounding buckets: This always amazes me, why the hell are you taking the time to perfect bad habits? Now if you are new, this is necessary to figure out how to hit a golf ball. But if you are semi-experienced but suck, this is disastrous. You need to be doing drills, and the most important is usually contact drills. You need to hit the golf ball first, and you need to hit it in the center of the clubface. No shit, right? Easier said than done? Well, no, you just need to do the right drills a couple times.

The two easiest things you can do are 1) Put a towel flat on the ground about 4” (the width of your palm) behind the golf ball, and you should be able to hit the ball and never touch the towel. This will ensure you hit the ball first and THEN the ground. 2) Put a tee on either side of you clubface at setup. So one outside the toe, and one inside the heel, effectively creating a “gate” the size of your clubface (make it a little wider to start). You don’t even need a golf ball to do this. Make a gate, and swing through it, if you cannot swing through that gate, how are you going to hit a golf ball? Repeat this until you can swing every time through that gate.

5: Understand ball flight laws. Fixing a golf swing is easy once you know what’s wrong. Problem is, most people have no clue, they just make some ignorant reason up like “my head came up” or “I flipped at it.” Truth is there are 5 laws that affect where the ball goes, and it’s very easy to tell which one caused it. They are: path of the club, angle of attack, centeredness of contact, clubface at impact, and clubhead speed. Do not worry about speed or angle of attack, and I just discussed contact and centeredness of contact, so all that is left is path and face. These two are slightly related, so this statement only mostly holds true, but the direction the ball starts is mostly due to the clubface, and the curvature or where it lands is due to the path of the club through impact, give or take a little. So if you are slicing is it that your clubface was wide open? No. It’s your path. I promise. I can prove it to you by holding the clubface 3* open and hitting a draw by making the path inside-out.
Don’t worry about this step until you have mastered 1-4, but if you do find yourself suddenly hooking or slicing or pushing or pulling, stop and think what would cause that, your face or your path? And then adjust.

There you have it, follow those steps and I promise you’ll play better. I plan on posting a few more times on golf networking events, tips for better players, and equipment, but I figure this is a good amount to chew on for now. I try to respond to any PMs on golf, as I do really enjoy helping others play better, so let me know if you all would like any specific topics.

 
UFOinsider:

Nice article!

6. Don't forget the beer :)

This is nearly a crime that I forgot that. Yes, beer is a must. Really any social lubricant will do.
"We're not lawyers, we're investment bankers. We call you for the paperwork. We didn't go to Harvard, we went to Wharton, and we saw you coming a mile away."
 

You're totally correct on curvature, which is probably the most misunderstood part of golf. Just to phrase it slightly differently, curvature is determined by the path of the club relative to the face. So in your example, if the club face is 3* open and the path is 4* to the outside, the ball would start right of the target (assuming righty) but would then draw. If the club face were still 3* open with a path only 2* outside, the ball would start right and fade.

 
Pirho:

You're totally correct on curvature, which is probably the most misunderstood part of golf. Just to phrase it slightly differently, curvature is determined by the path of the club relative to the face. So in your example, if the club face is 3* open and the path is 4* to the outside, the ball would start right of the target (assuming righty) but would then draw. If the club face were still 3* open with a path only 2* outside, the ball would start right and fade.

This is 100% correct, but wayyy to complex for the common golfer. Even drawing it out doesn't help sometimes. But yes curvature is from clubface relative to path.

We could bring in a D-plane discussion as well, which I personally love, but is too complex for anyone not shooting in the 70s really.

"We're not lawyers, we're investment bankers. We call you for the paperwork. We didn't go to Harvard, we went to Wharton, and we saw you coming a mile away."
 
VanillaGorilla:
Ipso facto:

Great post. If you could provide a little more detail on #5 in future posts, that would be great.

Seconded. Good stuff. Thanks for this.

Just to clarify this request, is it the face vs path info you are looking for or more information on the 5 laws? It gets difficult sometimes to explain face/path in text, I usually have a white board of some sort to draw on to explain. I'd be happy to get you whatever info you need here though.
"We're not lawyers, we're investment bankers. We call you for the paperwork. We didn't go to Harvard, we went to Wharton, and we saw you coming a mile away."
 
diverse_kanga:

This is all great advice, thanks! Now I just wish I had the time to play..

I plan on discussing this in a future post. Unfortunately, golf in its most enjoyable form can consume about 6 hours of free time, and that's not possible for most. However, there are alternatives for practice and play that can be achieved using less time (no, not putt-putt).

"We're not lawyers, we're investment bankers. We call you for the paperwork. We didn't go to Harvard, we went to Wharton, and we saw you coming a mile away."
 

Simulators are my go-to for in the city. While the mat may be extremely forgiving, you can still work on contact, clubhead speed, etc. all during a half hour lunch break each day. Lot easier than using up 4 hours to go play 18.

Frank Sinatra - "Alcohol may be man's worst enemy, but the bible says love your enemy."
 
BTbanker:

Scratch golfer, played varsity in HS...

Watch Rory Mcilroy and Adam Scott swing vision analysis on YouTube. I promise it helps.

These are super high quality swings. Just complete works of beauty. Problem is, most people are not capable of moving their bodies like these two. It simply requires too much training. Rory's hip rotation per second to initiate the downswing, and then deceleration of hips at impact are off the charts higher than anything ever measured.

Tons of good fundamentals to be learned there, but no one should ever spend massive amounts of time trying to mimic these body motions without the proper physical requirements being met first.

Again, great swings to learn from though.

"We're not lawyers, we're investment bankers. We call you for the paperwork. We didn't go to Harvard, we went to Wharton, and we saw you coming a mile away."
 

Great post, lots of good easy to read info

There is an important tip/step I would like to add for novice golfers: SETUP. I always tell people, be consistent with your setup at address. Learn a setup that is correct and feels comfortable. Consistency and comfort are so important. Once you have a proper setup and stance, it will be much easier to diagnose other problems.

 

I've been playing golf since I was 10. Unfortunately, I rarely have time to get out on the weekends anymore and my handicap reflects the neglect.

My advice for anyone who has never swung a club, go get one lesson from a PGA pro. You can easily find them on Groupon, Living Social, etc... for pennies. If you can start off with good form you'll avoid the angst of ironing out the bad habits.

Also, start small and work your way up. Start with the putter, then learn chipping, pitching, punching, and finally the full swing. Everyone loves a good 300 yard drive but it doesn't mean shit if you can't sink a five footer.

http://thedanplan.com/a-summary-of-the-dan-plan/

This guy's story is interesting. He started off with the putter. That's all I'm going to say...

 

As you get older, you realize the importance of golf. If you could only learn one game/sport for networking, golf would be it. Once invited, it's good to be decent. You don't have to be a Pro or so humble you seem like a hustler. Conversely, don't be the guy who has NEVER played. I look forward to this series.

Great signature OP. Easily one of the best lines from "Suits"

PE is the new black.
 
Best Response
FishermanFromAfar:

OP- any comment on Ben Hogan's 5 Lessons?

It's difficult to attribute a value to the 5 lessons without knowing how a user is intending to apply them. Meaning, good for some, but not all.

Don't get me wrong, guy was spot on with timeless fundamentals of the swing. The grip? Duh. Should I start in a good or a bad position? Well of course.

The problem lies in that you can violate any one of those lessons and still be good. I've seen people take a reverse grip and hit a ball a mile. I've seen terrible swings produce bombs, and works of art struggle. It simply comes down to how you put the clubface on the ball and your ability to control that factor. A good grip helps, but it isn't the only determinant. This is why hockey/baseball players can be so good at golf so easily.

It really comes down to ball flight laws, and your ability to influence them. The 5 lessons put you in an optimal position for this to happen, but it's not for everyone. This is a gross over-simplification of the golf swing, but it's the best way to address "How do I fix my problem?" There is no good way to explain the golf swing except for on a case-by-case basis. If there was a perfect way, someone would have found it already.

See the problem, fix the problem. Repeat.

"We're not lawyers, we're investment bankers. We call you for the paperwork. We didn't go to Harvard, we went to Wharton, and we saw you coming a mile away."
 

started playing golf this summer...was invited by the bosses but had to turn down the offer since I didn't know how to play.

Could you make a post on etiquette, like spelled out to the tee, if you feel like it? And could you elaborate on some shots like the rolling chip/with iron. and how the hell do you hit a sand shot (the swing), struggle with those. Googled and watched a bunch of videos but still no where even near 120. lol its bad

 

I'll touch on a few of the finer points of golf etiquette:

Be aware of the time. If you're the last person to the green on every single hole you need to pick up the pace.

Let people play through. (Unless they're assholes and hitting into your group for no reason)

When teeing off, always have a second ball in your pocket.

Never stand behind someone during their golf swing, don't stand in their peripheral vision. Stand in front of them.

Always sand or replace your divots.

Always repair two ball marks on the green. Yours and some douche's that didn't fix theirs.

Always rake the bunker. Put the rake back where it was.

Don't throw the flag onto the green. Place it on the fringe.

Try to walk around the green when possible and not straight across it.

If you can't find a ball after a few minutes just let it go.

Knock the sand off of your shoes with your wedge so you don't track it all around the hole when putting.

Be aware of golf honors on each tee. Maybe you got your first par, but the guy with the birdie tees off first.

Don't be the drunk idiot driving your golf cart all over the course.

Don't set your bag on the green.

Don't throw clubs. You look like an idiot when you do it.

Don't play from the tips/championship tees unless you're a single digit handicap.

Don't give out golf advice unless someone directly asks for it.


Private Clubs

If using caddies, ask your host about the club's tipping policy. Don't hand a caddy a wad of 20s on the 18th green.

Always wear soft spikes

To be on the safe side, you generally want to plan on wearing pants. Double check with your host.

There are a lot subtle nuances to the game of golf. You'll learn a lot more of them as time passes.

 
Johnson:
kingtut:

Don't give out golf advice unless someone directly asks for it.

This is the best advice in the thread.

This is my biggest pet peeve on the golf course. I'm decent at basketball, tennis, baseball, etc... and I don't care if someone critiques my 3-pointer or backhand, but I take pride in my golf game. In a really good year my handicap gets down to a 4 or 5. The last thing I want is for some 25+ handicap hacker to give me putting instruction from the Dave Pelz DVDs he ordered off of HGTV.

 

sure I could get up at 5 AM to play golf OR...OR... i could stay in bed and hit that fine aspiring actress/model ass i brought home last night for another hour or so before gym. if you think this is a tough choice you need to have your balls clamped.

"I'm talking about liquid. Rich enough to have your own jet. Rich enough not to waste time. Fifty, a hundred million dollars, buddy. A player. Or nothing. " -GG
 

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"Give me a fucking beer", Anonymous Genius

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