One of the keys to playing your best golf more consistently is to reduce the number of things you focus on in practice. This may seem counter intuitive, and you may feel as if every part of your game needs work and should be addressed in practice.  That concept is not only wrong, but also unproductive.  In fact, it’s the slowest path to improving.

You will make much more progress, much faster — and start posting lower scores sooner — through the simple process of prioritizing.

And, believe it or not, your score card has all the clues you’ll need to discover your priorities.

In this newsletter and accompanying video – Part 2 of the High Performance Game Improvement series – I’m going to show you how I use easy-to-keep statistics from the course to set my priorities. As I start to put some serious effort into improving my own golf game (coming off the long shoulder-surgery enforced layoff), I find myself asking exactly the same questions every golfer asks: What do I need to work on? Where should I spend my practice time to get the maximum results? What sort of practice regimen and drills should I be using on the range? How will I know if I am making progress?

This video will show you exactly how I answer those questions and how I am able to sharpen my focus on the most important aspects of my game – both good and bad – to determine my top priorities.   By selecting the one or two top priorities (both strengths and weaknesses) that will make the biggest impact on your scores — and then focusing 80% of your efforts on just those areas — you’ll give yourself a better chance of accomplishing your goals, and you can do it far faster than you imagine.

So let’s start with the end in mind and work backwards from there.

The goal of your course navigation strategy should always be to put yourself in situations where you are playing from your strengths.

Want the perfect example? Consider Luke Donald.

Luke Donald finished the 2011 season ranked the number one player in the world. But you’d never guess it from his driving stats. He finished 147th on the tour in driving – pathetic by PGA Tour standards.

So how did he wind up the #1 player?

By finishing in the Top 10 in a number of other categories:

• 8th in scrambling;
• 8th in accuracy inside 100 yards;
• 2nd in accuracy from 50 to 125 yards;
• 1st from 100 to 125 yards;
• Top 5 in putting inside 15 feet, and;
• #1 in putting from 5 to 10 feet. 

No other player is in the Top 10 in so many categories.

These are clearly his areas of strength, and he is smart enough to navigate his way around the golf course so that he is hitting from these distances as often as possible.

Do you think he is working on his driver? You bet. It’s probably his number one game improvement priority. But it’s not his only priority.

Clearly, he spends just as much time in his areas of strength, keeping his skills in these areas fine-tuned and sharp. How do we know that?  His scoring shot skills from 50 to 125 yards and his putting from 5 to 15 feet are the strongest in the world. And, when all was said and done, this is what earned him millions of dollars and the #1 ranking.

Do you have to be excellent at every aspect of the game? Luke Donald is proof that you don’t … provided you cultivate and continue to sharpen skill strengths you can rely on — with complete trust — when you play.

During your next round, use your scorecard as a tool for identifying your own strength/weakness profile.

In the next newsletter I’ll show you how I use my scorecard priorities to select specific targeted drills, frame my practice session, and then practice effectively.

Let me know if you keep any of your own stats, how you use them, and if you think this approach will help your game.

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Ahh, the Masters. Greatest theater in golf. This year was no exception as Bubba Watson beat Louis Oosthuizen with an incredible hooking gap wedge out of the woods from 155 yards out on the second playoff hole. Earlier in the day Oosthuizen provided his own theater by making a double-eagle 2 on the par 5 second hole – the rarest shot in golf (far more rare than an ace on a par 3, and only the fourth in Masters history).

The two golfers present an interesting contrast in style: Watson the artist, and Oosthuizen the mechanic. Both styles work, and that’s the Armchair Pro’s take-away from this tournament: the “perfect” golf swing is a swing that fits the player because it is a swing that can be trusted under pressure.

Watson has the kind of swing that would probably make you run for cover if you saw it on a muni course. He’s got every shot in the bag – except straight. He’s never had a coach and if he’s smart, he’ll never get one. No one can teach the kind of artistry that goes into his shots. But that’s the point … he’s an artist.

What I admire about Bubba is the direct connection that seems to exist between the kind of shot he can imagine in his mind and the kinesthetic feel he develops for the swing that will produce that shot. I wrote about the importance of linking feel with imagery when Watson won at Torrey Pines. It’s the same kind of link that arises when we get “in the Zone” and play our best golf. It’s one of the most important skills to cultivate.

The lesson from Bubba is that you don’t have to have a perfect golf swing. What you need is the ability to translate the shot you see in your mind into the feel of the swing, and then the trust that your body will be able to pull it off. Bubba proved that he is a master at the art.

Oosthuizen, by contrast, has a very technically correct swing. It’s practically a model for the idealized golf swing. He’s in great balance, his club stays on plane, and his sequencing is terrific. His swing is simple, and as Steve Jobs said “there is great elegance in simplicity.” I like the elegance of Oosthuizen’s swing.

Earlier in the week I was talking about the Masters with a group of my students and we were all making picks for our favorites. Oosthuizen was on my short list because I like the simplicity of his swing. I had a sense that he would be able to “engineer” a great tournament. He didn’t disappoint. He deserved to be in it at the end, and he had a great tournament.

If you want to know what a great golf swing should look like, watch Oosthuizen’s swing. If you want to understand how to use your imagination to create shots, watch Watson. For each of us we need to strike a balance between being technically correct and artistically creative. The trick is to find the balance that uniquely fits our own style.

Here’s my case in point: Tiger Woods. For reasons I cannot fathom Tiger is on a quest to make his swing more technically correct. At the expense of his artistry. When he was playing his best he too was more artist than mechanic. IMHO he should dump Foley (who is far too technical) as fast as he can and find a way to rediscover the link between his imagination and his feel for the shot. If Tiger stays on his current mechanical track it will be a long haul for him to get back.

And that’s one of the issues I see all too often with my students: they want a more technically perfect golf swing, thinking that is the answer to better scores. It’s not. A better golf swing is part of the answer, but not the entire answer. There has to be a balance between technique and feel, and there has to be a link between shot visualization and feel.

Improving technique is a long and gradual process. It will eventually lead to a better golf game, but that better golf game is in the future. Seeing and feeling a shot is what produces your best shots and your best scores today. You can’t, and shouldn’t, sacrifice one for the other.

I always encourage my students to divide their practice time between making swings and making shots. When they make swings they are focused on their mechanics. When they make shots they are focused on a target. By spending time on both swings and shots they keep their current level of play high and continue to improve over time. When it comes time for tournament play, however, put the mechanic down, be like Bubba and let the artist come through. You’ll have your Masters day in the sun.

The Armchair Golf Pro writes about PGA Tour events. Like you he is watching TV from his comfy armchair, enjoying the competition and drama, but also observing lessons that can be used to play better golf. I’d love to know your thoughts.

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If the shortest distance between two points is a straight line, why do most golfers approach the process of improving like it is a roller coaster ride?

In this issue we kick off a newsletter series on High Performance Golf with a technique for identifying your key priorities and taking the fast-track, straight-line approach to better golf and lower scores. I’ll use my own golf game “comeback” to give you specific examples of High Performance Golf in action that will help you adapt the approach to your own game. My goal, as always, is to help you play better golf faster and to have more fun along the way.

High Performance Golf Works For All Golfers

High Performance golf is for everybody, at all skill levels. It’s simply a focused, results-oriented approach that will give you greater insights into your game, help you develop confidence, and provide a clear path to improving. It’s the antidote to mindless play or practice, and the cure for those times when the wheels come off. If you want to improve your golf game this is the most effective approach to reach your goals.

“What” and “How” Golf Goals

Nearly every golfer sets goals, and I’ll bet you have them as well. It’s one of the first questions I ask new students. Here are some common golf goals:

1. Improve consistency
2. Reach a lower index
3. Go from shooting in the XX’s to YY’s (90′s to 80′s, 80′s to 70′s, etc.)
4. Hit better drives (longer, more accurate, more consistent, etc.)
5. Win a XX .. (tournament, match, flight, qualifier, etc.)

It’s important to have goals because as the saying goes “If you don’t know where you are going, you probably aren’t going to get there.”

But take a closer look at the goals listed above. They are all “outcome-focused “what”” goals. In other words they define the end state or, to put it in the parlance of a roadmap, the final destination. Because it defines what golfers want to achieve we call it a “What” goal. What’s missing from “what” goals are the steps to get you take that will get them from here to there. The steps in between are what we call “How” goals.

You need both types of goals – “what” and “how” goals. But the reason I call out attention to the difference is because when you focus on your “How” goals your “What” goals  virtually take care of themselves.

“What” goals are relatively easy to define. The hard part is figuring out the best How steps to use. We’ll use this newsletter series to show you a very effective approach to answering that question. Here’s how it works and how it can improve your golf game.

High Performance Golf = Results-Focused Golf

One of the key ideas behind High Performance Golf is to use stats from your game on the course to tell you where to focus your improvement efforts. Once you identify opportunities and challenges, you then go after your highest priorities, knocking them off one by one as your game improves.

Odds are that if you play with any degree of regularity you have a pretty good “feel” for the issues and opportunities in your game. But you’d be surprised at how much more insight you can get with just a few statistics, and then how much more specific you can get in your practice. The key is to get measurable statistics so you an analyze your improvement over time.

These stats, such as fairways hit, greens in regulation, and length of your putts, are easy to keep while you play and don’t detract your golfing experience or your focus. In the next newsletter I’ll show you how I use a separate scorecard to record my stats each hole while I play, and then the ScoreTracker Excel program used to track the results and provide analysis.

For now, let’s take a look at the process and the steps you can use to start implementing High Performance Golf concepts in your game.

Reengineering Your Golf Game

Here’s the improvement process in its simplest form:

1. Where am I now?
2. Where do I want to be?
3. What are the steps I need to take to get from where I am now to where I want to be?

Anybody familiar with the business concepts of Business Process Reengineering or the Continuous Improvement Process will recognize these steps: Current State Assessment => Future State Defined => Gap Analysis => Action Steps. We’ve just adapted them specifically to golf.

Step 1: Establish a Baseline

The first step to take to incorporate High Performance Golf in your own game is to establish a “Baseline” performance measure, as I discuss in my video.

The goal is determine the “current state” of your game – the “where am I now?” To do that you need to get out on the golf course, and you need to keep your stats.

For example, one of my personal long-term goals is to compete well in and ultimately win a professional tournament. But to get there it is vitally important that I spend my practice time working on the things that will have the biggest positive impact on my scores. To figure out where to spend my practice time in the most productive way possible I decided to play in a professional tournament, even though I’m not technically ready to play at that level yet. But I have to start somewhere, and I needed to know exactly what I to focus on.

So during my tournament round I kept stats as I played, then transferred them to my ScoreTracker spreadsheet. In the next newsletter and video we’ll take a look at those stats and provide an analysis.

But for now I encourage you to try keeping a small handful of stats the next time you play. Here are the simple stats I recommend you start keeping (you can always keep more detailed stats later).

1. Score (note: all stats are hole-by-hole)
2. Number of putts
3. Fairway (yes or no)
4. Green in Regulation (yes or no)
5. Length of first putt (in feet – you’ll want to get in the habit of pacing off all your putts)
6. Length of second putt (feet)
7. Up & Down (yes or no, used only when you miss a Green in Regulation. Called “Scrambling” by PGA Tour stat keepers)
8. Other (Could be penalty shots, sand saves, mental process, or any other stat you want to keep)

I keep all these stats on a separate scorecard as I play as you can see by the example. It takes only a few minutes to transfer them to my spreadsheet, but the payoff is in the specificity of stats. They are your baseline, and they’ll really help refine your practice.

For example, a student recently asked for help with his putting. He could sense that he had too many putts per round and that it was hurting his score. But he wasn’t tracking any putting stats, so we didn’t have a baseline from which to start.

I asked him to track his putting the next couple of rounds and bring the results. Sure enough he was averaging 37 putts per round. But here’s where the stats really helped. Those 37 putts included five 3-putts, most of which came on putts longer than 38 feet. In addition he was making a high percentage of his three- and four-foot putts (60% to 80%), but a very low percentage of his six-foot putts (10%).

With these stats it was easy to focus in on two specific areas: lag putting from 40 feet, and 6-foot putts. Two months later he showed me his new stats. He’d dropped his average putts per round to 32, reduced 3-putts from five to one, and increased his 6-footer makes from 10% to 30%. What’s more, during that time he shot his career-best round – an 80 – with just 26 putts (this from a player who’s average score was just over 100). Overall his index dropped 11 shots in just a couple of months and scores in the 80′s were becoming the norm rather than the rare exception.

Your Next Action Step

The next time you play, try keeping a few basic stats on your game to establish your baseline. The more specific you can be, the more precisely you will be able to identify the biggest opportunities for your own high performance golf.

If you track your playing stats and have learned an important lesson from them, why not leave a comment below and share your experience?

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World long drive champion and PGA professional Eric Jones will speak on the main stage at the Bay Area Golf Show on March 2-4, 2012 at the Santa Clara Convention Center.

He’ll be showing golfers the 5 Keys to getting more distance.

With the knowledge that one does not need a perfect golf swing in order to have distance, Jones, who runs the Golf Coach Program at the Pleasant Golf Center and has Master’s degree in sport psychology, will show golfers the 5 Keys he used to win a world long driving championship and notch 7 top ten finishes at the REMAX World Long Drive Championships held in Mesquite, Nevada.

At the Santa Clara Convention Center, he’ll take the stage on Friday March 2, 2011 at 2:30 p.m. On March 3rd he’ll be speaking at 2:00 p.m. and on Sunday, March 4rth he’ll take the main stage at 1:00 p.m. to show golfers how to develop more distance with a golf swing built for SPEED.

“We’re very excited to have Eric on the main stage. He’s a high energy, entertaining, and popular speaker who genuinely loves helping golfers improve their golf game,” said Katie De La Maza of Varsity Communications, which owns and produces the show.

For directions to the Santa Clara Convention Center and learn more about the Bay Area Golf Show Go to http://www.bayareagolfshow.com. Ticket prices are $10 for adults, $8 for seniors and students, $5 for students, and FREE for kids under 10. Discounts are available on the website.

Jones is the author of “The 5 Keys To Distance” — a program with video drills that debunks the common myth that golfers need brawn, girth or power to hit the ball far. In fact, in the program Jones explains in detail that speed through the impact zone – NOT power — is by far the most important component of a swing built for distance.

“Power can help generate core speed and control the club face square the club face, but it does not itself create more distance and can actually kill distance if it introduces tension in the swing,” said Jones. “However, every mph of speed you add to the swing translates to 2.4 yards of distance. This means if you took your club speed from 85 to 105 mpg, you would add almost 50 yards of distance to your drives.”

The program with video drills also debunks the common myth that golfers have to swing the club according to one specific method to get more distance.

“This program with video drills is not about fixing your swing and it is not a method approach” explains Jones. “It’s about helping golfers understand the fundamental concepts that when addressed correctly, and in the right order, can automatically improve distance and consistency.”

The 5 Distance Keys Distance can be remembered by the acronym B.L.A.S.T, which stands for:
1.    Balance
2.    Leverage
3.    Arc Width
4.    Speed of Hip Turn
5.    Target Extension

Golfers will understand how athletic balance helps them find the center of the clubface and the middle of the fairway, how to use leverage to maximize power, why a wider swing arc produces effortless club head speed, how to generate speed using core rotation, and why target extension is the key to holding lag and accelerating through impact.

The 5 Keys to Distance derive from Jones’s own journey to acquire more distance and consistency in his own game and from his in-depth PGA training and Master’s degree study of how students best acquire the skills they need to lower their index and enjoy the game more.

“Everyone knows that having distance in your golf game makes the game easier and more fun. It’s pretty common knowledge that having a short iron into the green is much easier that hitting your 4 iron in the same circumstances. And let’s face it, hitting consistent, pure shots off the tee and fairway at a distance you know is at or near your very best is very satisfying,” he said.

“Conversely, hitting high weak fades off the tee crushes your confidence and leaves you in at state of embarrassment and frustration, especially when you know you have more in the tank.”
He explains that some of the old approaches to getting more distance get people into trouble or prevent them from reaching their distance goals.

“I often see people on the range – even long drive competitors with whom I work — struggling to hit the distance they know they hit,” he said.

“As I spent more and more time on the range with my students, I began to see that the approach of trying to use ad hoc tips and a totally haphazard learning and practice strategies to get more distance was totally wrong,” he said

He explains that those strategies don’t help students understand their whole swing — how everything has to work together. And they don’t help students improve the core elements in the swing that – if addressed the right way and in the right order – can automatically lead to more distance and consistency.

“Once I had completed my Master’s degree and continued to work with students in my own teaching practice, I knew I could put my knowledge and experience together in a usable, understandable framework that would help golfers put it all together, get more distance and have a much more grounded, integrated understanding of the golf swing,” said Jones.

For more information about The 5 Keys to Distance, visit http://www.TargetCenteredGolf.com.

About Eric Jones

Eric Jones, MA, played college golf at Stanford University and later served as an assistant coach for the Junior varsity team. He’s the 2003 Re/Max World Long Drive Senior Champion, and has competed in the World Championship finals each of the last 8 years, notching three top-3 finishes. Eric is a PGA Class A Professional who also holds a Master’s degree in Sport Psychology. As founder of the Seaver Golf Academy and an instructor at The Pleasanton Golf Center, Eric has been recognized for his innovative approach to instruction, most notably his High Performance Golf Coach Program. He is the author of The 5 Keys To Distance and two new books slated to be released later this year: The Practice Effect: How to Groove A Reliable, Automatic Golf Swing You Can Trust; and “Strategic Golf: The 3 Keys To Scoring.

About Target Centered Golf

Jones developed target centered golf in 2008 as a comprehensive online resource to help golfers play confident, consistent golf faster and enjoy the game more. Jones defines Target Centered Golf as the art of playing golf with automaticity, allowing the natural athlete to emerge through the mind of imagination with the target as the central focus of the swing. His blog, which can be found at http://www.targetcenteredgolf.com, covers real world solutions from his own Golf Coach Program and touches on everything from how to hit it longer and more consistently to putting, chipping, pitching and bunker play; scoring-skill development, shot-making, self-management, game management and course management; and how to play in the zone more often…and not just by accident.

As one of the few PGA reaching professionals formerly trained in both swing mechanics and sport psychology, Eric believes that the mechanical and mental sides of the game should not be separated because that is not the way we play golf.

As his teaching practice has evolved it’s become clear to Jones that golfers benefit most when the best of both worlds are combined. Sometimes students benefit most from a mental shift, sometimes from mechanical change. The key is to put the right solution in front of the student at the right time.

About Eric’s High Performance Golf Series And Golf Coach Program

Information about Eric’s High Performance Golf Training Series and his Golf Coach Program can be found at http://www.TargetCenteredGolf.com. His teaching practice was developed in honor of his grandfather Charles Seaver, who was a past president of the Northern California Golf Association and one of the premier amateur players of his day.

The best way to improve your golf game is through highly focused practice. That means spending 80% of your time on the one or two key areas that will make the biggest impact on your score. As you’ll see from the video there are two areas that jumped out of my play – driver accuracy and mid-iron distance control. These become my top practice priorities, and the majority of my practice time will be spent improving my stats in these areas. By keeping a few simple stats while I play I am able to get insights that will help me improve faster and use my practice time much more effectively.

RECAP – GOALS

In my first Golf Chalk Talk video I mentioned that although I had been practicing it was time for me to find out where I should be spending my time in order to make be as productive as possible. I decided to play in a professional tournament because there are no gimmies or do-overs in a tournament, which is what I wanted.

I set a number of goals for the tournament. The first goal was to establish what I call a baseline performance level. I wanted to know what parts of my game were working and which parts needed the most attention. You can usually get a pretty good feel for that from the round, but it is when you back up your impressions up with stats that the real insights come out.

My second goal was to have fun. One of the keys to having fun is taking the pressure off. I did that by deciding in advance to play without expectations. Although I always want to play well enough to win, my primary purpose was simply to observe and learn. Suspending expectations is a great way to keep your round in perspective.

Smart Golf Goals

I also had a number of performance-specific goals – mostly centered around the mental aspects of the game. These goals fell into two categories: playing smart golf, and managing my mental process.

My goal with respect to smart golf was to make good decisions with respect to course navigation and good decisions with respect to game management. Specifically I wanted to play each hole backward to determine in advance where I wanted to place each shot, and to put myself into a position where I was playing from my strengths as much as possible, while not playing against the strengths of the course.

When it came to game management my goal was to select a shot strategy where I had a high level of confidence. The overall idea is to adopt a conservative strategy so I could make an aggressive swing. I was largely successful with both course navigation and game management strategies, and it helped with my scoring.

The Hero Shot Mistake

The one time I deviated it cost me at least one shot and maybe two. I attempted a “hero” shot on a par 5. I was within striking distance with a hybrid on my second shot, but I had a lie in the rough with the ball below my feet to a green with water in front, out of bounds right, and trees left. The smart play would have been to lay up to my favorite wedge distance.

But in that moment I’ll admit I was thinking about how cool it would be to hit the green, make the putt for eagle and possibly pick up a skin on the field. The problem is that it was a shot I could pull off only about 2 in 10 times, which is why we call it a hero shot. I wound up putting my ball in the water, which goes to show you how hard it is to stick to your strategy. I imagine it is a lesson I will continue to learn. I graded myself a “B+” on my smart golf goals.

Mental Toughness Goals

My other goals with respect to the mental aspects of the game were to trust my swing and maintain a target focus. I wanted to play without mechanical swing thoughts and trust that my athletic brain would be able to create the shot I imagined.

For the most part I was successful with my mental toughness goals. Early in the round there was a little corner of my mind that was wondering what would really happen. I could have let that uncertainty take over, which would have manifested in me trying to control the swing rather than swing tension free. The first few holes were definitely a challenge. But after the third hole I was pleased that I was able to put the uncertainty down and just commit to my strategy and shot selection. I grade myself a solid “B+” in this area as well.

Breaking Down The Stats

Here are the raw numbers from the round: I shot a 77 (+6 over par), with 32 putts (and three 3-putts). I hit 8 of 14 fairways (57%), and 9 of 18 greens (50%). My average first putt for greens in regulation was 26 feet, and 14 feet on up&down opportunities. My up&downs were only 40%.

Priority Number 1 – Driver Accuracy

Here’s what really jumped out at me from the stats. First, when I hit the fairway I made par or better 6 of 8 times (75%), and I was -2 under par. Contrast that to the times I missed the fairway, where I made bogey or worse 5 of 6 times. In fact, when I break down my driving further I used a 3-wood twice and a hybrid once (all of which found the fairway), so in reality when I used my driver I hit the fairway only 5 of 11 times, or 45%. The implication is clear: Hitting more fairways is critical.

But the great thing about this stat is that it give me a very concrete starting point and allows me to set specific goals. When I go to the range my goal will be to improve my fairway percentage to 65% initially, and then 75%. To do that I’ll pick out markers on the range to define an artificial “fairway” and hit 10-ball sets to see how many stay in the fairway. I’ll track my progress over time, and use the feedback to help me focus on different aspects of my golf swing.

The beauty of using a stat like this is that all the work I do on my swing and on my target focus has one purpose: improve my fairway percentage. All the practice I do can be highly focused and evaluated with respect to whether it is helping me improve my accuracy or not. In other words, I won’t just be trying to improve my swing. I’m only going to be making adjustments and refinements if they contribute to more accuracy. And since I will be tracking my stats on the range I will have concrete knowledge that what I am doing is working.

I hope you can see that this is a very different approach to spending time on the range. It is far more productive than just banging range balls with the vague hope of trying to improve consistency. This is specific and measurable. It allows me to select specific drills and it give me a framework within which I can evaluate the effectiveness of the drills and my progress. I also know that if I can improve my fairway numbers to 65% it will save me two to six shots per round. That keeps me motivated because I know what the payoff will be.

Priority Number 2 – Mid-Iron Distance Control

Here’s the second priority from the stats. As I mention in the video I would normally be headed straight to the short-game practice area if my up&down percentage was only 40%. But when I use the stat to reflect on my short game and tie it back to what really happened, I know that many of the up&down opportunities were impossible. They were impossible because my approach shots kept putting me in positions where I could not get my pitch close.

The real culprit, it turns out, was my yardage control with my mid-irons (7, 8, 9 irons). I was long with these clubs (read “over the green”) all day, and in a “short-sided” position with the green sloping away and no chance to get the ball to stop near the hole.

In contrast, when I had a wedge into a green my distance and direction was usually quite accurate. I have been practicing my wedges and I know my distances to the yard. But not so with the mid-irons.

So the lesson from my round is that I need to “gap” my mid-irons. That means I need to hit a number of 10-ball sets with each of my mid-irons, plot where each ball lands and the yardage it flies, and come up with a standard distance for a normal, full swing.

Summary

I established a baseline performance level with my round. By keeping stats and combining that with what I felt and remembered from the round I was able to identify my top priorities with a high degree of specificity. Since I have metrics I can now frame my practice sessions and select the drills to help me achieve my goals. The framework also provides me with a context that allows me to evaluate the effectiveness of the drills as well as a way to measure my progress.

The next step is to head out to the range and execute. In the next video I’ll show you exactly how I plan to work on my priorities. My hope is that by showing you the process that I use you, too, can integrate high performance techniques into your own game and practice to start playing your best golf.

If you found this analysis helpful, please leave a comment and your thoughts below. Please share this article with your golfing friends.

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Video #1: Prepping-for-a-golf-tournament-and-establishing-a-baseline-performance-level

Long before fitness was made a priority by Tiger Woods and others of the current golf generation, Gary Player devoted himself to strength, conditioning and nutrition to remain competitive. Here’s a picture of him demonstrating a one-armed push up to a crowd in the 1970s.

Player is living proof that fitness matters. But if you’re wondering, as I did, what a golf-specific training program would look like, here’s a summary of best-practices I found from researching the answer to that question.

• The best golf-specific program includes exercises that mimic aspects of the swing and use the same muscles. That means we should be doing exercises in posture and with rotation, maintaining spine angle and balance — just like the golf swing.
• A good program should include both strength training AND flexibility. Both are critical for playing solid golf. Strength training alone can actually reduce flexibility, while the extended range of motion gained from flexibility training requires greater strength to support it. Strength and flexibility training work hand-in-hand.
• Cardio cross-training – like using a treadmill, bike, stair stepper, and walking or running – uses more muscles, adds variety, burns more calories, and will give you the conditioning you need for a strong finish to your 18-hole round.
• Nutrition and Hydration play a vital role, and it is important to understand how the body uses carbohydrates, protein, and fats throughout a round of golf to maintain strength and stamina so you can give your body the right kinds of fuel at the right times. (Here’s a little secret from the PGA Tour: did you know the food of choice among Tour players – who could have any food they want – is a peanut butter and honey or peanut butter and jelly sandwich? Skip the hot dogs at the turn!)
• You should be able to custom-tailor a fitness regimen that fits your specific needs and works within your schedule. The most important thing, though, is to develop a regimen you can stick with, and then stick with it long enough to turn it into a habit.

Keep in mind that I’m not an expert in exercise or fitness training. I relied on other experts for the information above and you should too.  In fact, I interviewed one of those golf-fitness experts – Mike Pedersen – whose exercises and stretching form part of my fitness program. (To listen to the interview CLICK HERE)

My goal is simply to encourage you to get into the habit of exercising regularly.  Read more about my own journey to build a fitness program that works for my lifestyle that grew from the rehab of my shoulder.

The Silver Lining To My Shoulder Injury

In 2010 I tore my rotator cuff during a charity fund-raising exhibition and had to have surgery (see my Journey to The Worlds posts). The procedure is only 90 minutes, but rehab is six long and painful months. It was miserable going through it. But like so many things that seem like setbacks at first, there was a silver lining. Here’s what I mean.

The experience of rehabilitating my shoulder sparked a renewed commitment to my own golf-specific fitness. You see, I had no choice. I HAD to rehab my shoulder. I had to follow the exercises and protocols my doctor and physical therapist prescribed or I ran the risk of not being able to play golf, and that was not an option.

So I diligently did my exercises. Little-by-little the pain diminished and my mobility returned. Bit-by-bit my strength returned. It was hard at first. Not only did it hurt, it was difficult to make the time. I didn’t have a regular schedule set up, and you know how that goes … other things kept trying to take priority. But I stuck with it.

Then, after about four months, a curious thing happened: I found I had gotten into the “habit” of exercising regularly.

Although the exercises started as something I had to do, after a while they turned into something I wanted to do. I stopped seeing exercise as a chore and started to see it as an opportunity – a way to make my next 50 years as much fun as the first  50. That was a pretty cool realization.

So when I passed the six-month mark of my rehab and the Doctor gave me the “all clear”, I wanted to do more than just sustain my new habit. Let’s face it, the golf swing puts a tremendous amount of pressure on the human body – particularly as your swing speeds increase, and in particular the twisting motion necessary to swing that club at high speed puts us all at risk for injury. I wanted something that addressed what I needed for the golf swing.

The problem was that I didn’t know what to do.

Researching Fitness Programs

I started investigating fitness and training programs. I read dozens of books and bought a few programs. Most dealt with general fitness and nutrition, which were good, but I wanted golf-specific exercise training. Eventually I found a few I liked (see the golf-specific training programs on my Resources page).

One year after surgery I’m pleased to report that my shoulder is 100%. I have full mobility and strength back and more. And although I’d rather not have had the injury in the first place, the silver lining is that it forced me to focus on making fitness a priority, because I know for darned sure it’s something I do not want to go through again.

In any case the point is this: if you start thinking of fitness as an opportunity rather than a chore you can have a direct impact on the shape of your future. If you get started on a program – any program – and stick with it, it will become a habit. It’s a habit I encourage you to develop, so you can enjoy the game for a long time to come.because I want you playing golf a long time.

I’d love to hear your own fitness stories, particularly if you’ve had to overcome hurdles and have come out the other side even better than before (I a sucker for hero stories!) Just use the comment box below to share.

Related Links:

Expert Interview: Fitness expert Mike Pedersen
Review: Ultimate Golf Fitness Guide: How to Easily Get In Shape For Golf In Less Than 30 Days
Resource Page
My Journey to The Worlds

• How would you go about structuring your practice sessions so that you are working as efficiently and effectively as possible?
• What parts of your game would you address first?
• How would you prioritize your time and activities during practice?
• How could you be sure you are working on the single most important issue that will have the biggest impact on your score?
• How would you know you are successful or that you are making progress?

Establishing a Baseline Performance Level

Here’s my short answer: You need a baseline. I made a quick video for you on how I prepared for the tournament and how I’m going to establish my own baseline, as well as a few additional goals.

A baseline is simply a starting point. Something against which you can measure future performance. With a baseline you can set goals and track your progress. But you need the right kind of data in your baseline to reach your goals more quickly and easily.

For example, a handicap or average score is a simple baseline. Let’s say your current index is 15. That’s a baseline performance indicator. If you want to get to 12, you have a baseline and a goal.

But this kind of baseline isn’t specific enough to help you focus your efforts in the areas that will provide the biggest payoff. It’s like saying you want to fix your house. It’s a good goal, but it doesn’t really tell you where to start because you can’t “fix” a house. You can only fix specific parts of your house. You pick a project, fix it, then move on to the next one. When the projects are done, your house is fixed.

Your golf game is the same. You can’t fix a golf game. You can only address parts of it. Pick a swing issue or a new skill to learn, master it, then move on to the next one.

Using My Own Golf Game Analysis As An Example

Here’s the scoop. I think the best way to help you learn how to analyze and improve your own game is to see a real life example. So I’m going to do an analysis of my own game to show you how I go about deciding what to prioritize and what to work on.

I’ve been practicing the last month and making a swing changes. I’m at the point now where I need to know for myself what the priorities are, and the only way to do that is to go establish my baseline by playing. So I’m playing in a local professional event tomorrow, and I’ll be taking you with me.

I’ll keep my score and show you what happens. I’ll also show you how I use my ScoreTracker program to keep my stats and give me insights.

So I invite you to come along with me for the ride. My plan is to play, track the results, analyze the stats, then prioritize my practice activities. Then I’ll practice and track my progress there as well. It should be fun, and it will definitely be something different than mere swing instruction.

Share Your Thoughts

I would love to hear your comments and feedback as we go through this process. It will take a few months at least, so it will be another journey. Please leave me a message in the comment box below. I read every one of them and respond to as many as I can.

There is no one “right” tempo. In fact, as you experiment to find a tempo that will work for you, you’ll likely find that your best tempo will match your approach to the game and even your personality. An intense personality with an aggressive approach – guys like Nick Price and Ricky Fowler – will be more comfortable with an up-tempo swing. Laid-back personalities like Ernie Els and Reteif Goosen have a slower tempo. Both up-tempo and slow-tempo swings work equally well because they fit the player. Don’t be afraid to swing at a pace that matches your style.

The one aspect that up-tempo and slow-tempo swings have in common, though, is the relationship between backswing cadence and downswing cadence. A number of studies have been done comparing the length of time of the backswing to the length of time of the downswing. The relationship is consistently around three to one — that is, the backswing takes three beats compared to one beat for the downswing. It doesn’t matter if the whole swing is up-tempo or slow. The relationship stays the same.

You’ve probably heard golfers admonishing themselves to “slow down” (and probably even said it to yourself at times). I don’t think this is effective advice to give yourself. Here’s why.

The challenge with this advice is that it is usually addresses to the whole swing, including your downswing, and I don’t advise you to swing slowly on the downswing. Your subconscious probably agrees. In fact, if you slow your downswing you won’t hit the ball the distance you need and your subconscious will try to add a little extra at the last minute to make up for the slower swing speed. You should be swinging as fast as you can as long as you maintain your spine angle and balance and can deliver the club face square at impact.

Where many weekend warriors get into trouble is on the backswing. They get out of rhythm by rushing the club to the top of the backswing. Instead of three beats they get the club to the top in two beats or even one beat. The result is a timing mis-match. Typically the club and arms out-pace the body. Consequently, there is too much tension in the swing and then the sequencing of the swing gets out of order, resulting in a mishit.

When a student’s swing feels rushed, I’ll have him or her do a drill we call “Rhythm Swinging.” Since the three-to-one backswing-to-downswing ratio is a perfect waltz beat, try humming or counting a waltz beat if your swing feels out of sync. Start your backswing on the “one” beat, get to the top of your swing on the “three” beat, and make contact on the next “one” downbeat. If you listen closely to the video you’ll hear a song I like to use from the Sound of Music called “These are a few of my favorite things.” Give it a try the next time you lose your tempo or feel as if you are rushing your swing. It’ll really help your tempo — and your consistency.

Related Posts:

Play Consistent Golf Part 4: Athletic Balance

Play Consistent Golf Part 3: Spine Angle

Play Consistent Golf Part 2: Set-Up

Play Consistent Golf Part 1: Pre-Shot Routine

Balance is seldom addressed in the popular golf magazines and TV. Perhaps because it isn’t as sexy as a great lag position or perfect swing plane. But balance is like the foundation of your house. If your foundation is solid, your house will be solid. If your foundation is off, it throws everything else off.

Watch any of the players on any of the Tours. You just don’t see Tour players out of balance. Every single one of them has learned to start in balance, swing in balance, and finish in balance, on every swing. Then watch the golfers at any local muni course. Half of them look like someone is trying to pull the rug out from under them during their swing. They don’t have a finish position as much as they have a finish dance … an extra step or two to keep from falling right over.

Because I pay such close attention to it I can tell you that nearly 90% of the golfers I see for lessons are not in athletic balance. Compare that to virtually 0% of Tour players and you can see that balance is one of the major advantages of better players. The message is simple: if you want to be a better player, do what the better players do and learn athletic balance.

Athletic balance is a ready position has you in a posture with your knees slightly flexed and your center of mass positioned directly over the balls of your feet. Keep in mind that your center of mass is a couple of inches above your belly button and a couple inches in from your spine. If you lean forward at address or bend from the waist instead of from the hips you will more than likely move your center of mass too far out over your toes. As soon as you do – and this is a number-one fault with most students – you introduce instability into your swing, which is a major contributor to a lack of consistency.

In an athletically balanced position you are capable of moving in any direction. You are athletically “ready.” You have “centered balance.” Whether your club is on the ground or in the air, your balance is independent and remains unaffected by your club position. If you were to hop from an athletically balanced address position you would hop straight up and down. You can also try alternately tapping your toes (the Happy Toes drill) to feel good athletic balance.

Here’s an action-step recommendation for you. The next time you have a chance to play a “fun” round, dedicate the entire round to observing and learning about your balance. Instead of mechanical swing thoughts, focus exclusively on starting in balance, swinging in balance, and finishing in balance. Count the number of times you finish your swing with a step, wobble, lean, or any other off-balance indicator. The closer you get to zero the closer you will be to playing high-performance golf.

Related Posts:
Play Consistent Golf Part 5: Tempo
Play Consistent Golf Part 3: Spine Angle
Play Consistent Golf Part 2: Set-Up
Play Consistent Golf Part 1: Pre-Shot Routine

Most of the golf swing is an exercise in figuring out how to deliver the club face squarely to the back of the ball at the moment of impact – and at high speed. A squarely-struck ball will travel straighter to the target, on a better trajectory, and will travel farther. Plus, it just feels good to hit a solid shot.

The whole idea of keeping your spine angle consistent is that it will help you to keep the “shape” of your swing consistent. When the shape of your swing is consistent, it is much easier to deliver the club face in a square position at impact.

In addition, a consistent spine angle will keep your club on plane. More specifically, it will keep your shoulders on the same plane – a lesson Tom Watson said he wished he’d learned earlier in his career.

Here’s why. During the swing you rotate around your spine. Your spine is your “axis” of rotation. When you were first learning golf you probably heard advice like “keep your head down” or “keep your eyes on the ball.” These and similar adages are just simplified instructions designed to help you maintain your spine angle. It’s not so much that “keeping your head down” will improve your ball striking, but that the “effect” of keeping your head down will allow you to maintain your spine angle — and the result will be more solid contact.

There are several areas you can focus on in your pre-shot routine that will improve your ability to maintain spine angle. Two of the most important are Good Posture and Good Balance.

Good posture starts with keeping your back straight and bending from the hips (not the waist) to address the ball. If you bend from the waist instead of the hips – as too many high-handicappers do – your back will be round at address. When your back is round – particularly the thoracic or middle and upper part of the back – you limit your body’s ability to rotate.

On full swings, especially with the driver, the consequence of limiting your rotation is that your spine will straighten on the back swing. When that happens, your head comes up and you’ve effectively moved “away” from the ball. Somewhere on the downswing you then have to move “back” down to the ball. If your timing is just right, you’ll return to your original angle and make a nice shot. But if you over-do the move back you’ll hit it fat or sky your driver, and if you don’t “move back” enough you’ll top it or hit a slice.

Good balance is another way to help maintain spine angle. I define good balance as “Athletic Balance”, where your weight is centered over the balls of your feet and you are athletically “ready”, capable of moving in any direction. You can check your athletic balance during your pre-shot routine by using the “Happy Toes” drill. If you start in good, athletic balance, it is much easier to maintain balance throughout the swing and the shape of your swing will be more consistent, resulting in more consistently solid shots.

If, on the other hand, you start your swing out of balance your body will compensate during the swing, usually by changing your spine angle. The vast majority of golfers I see are out of balance at address. They have their weight (center of mass) too far out over their toes. The most common consequence is that the hips move in toward the ball on the downswing, causing the head to move up and a topped shot, or causing the arms to shorten and shoulders pull up, leaving the club face open and causing a slice. Worse yet.  when the hips move in to the ball they stop rotating, causing an early release, which means lag is lost too early, which means the club head isn’t traveling as fast at impact, which means you lose distance.

The next time you watch golf on TV, pay attention to the way the pros maintain their spine angle. Once they set their forward bend at address there is very little deviation from that angle throughout the swing until well after impact when they turn to face the target. You’ll also notice that there are almost no “rounded” backs on the tour, and all of the pros finish their swing in perfect balance.

A little time spent during your pre-shot routing on getting into good posture and good balance will pay off with a lot more consistent ball-striking. If you want to improve your consistency, improve the consistency of your spine angle.

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What’s your experience been with maintaining spine angle? Why not leave a comment below.

Related Posts:

Play Consistent Golf Part 5: Tempo

Play Consistent Golf Part 4: Athletic Balance

Play Consistent Golf Part 2: Set-Up

Play Consistent Golf Part 1: Pre-Shot Routine