Learn from Every Shot
They say that insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results. By that definition, most amateur golfers are absolutely nuts. To be fair, though, all golfers are a little bit crazy, but that’s another discussion altogether.
Too many golfers hit a poor shot and either don’t take the time to learn from their mistake, or don’t know how to identify what went wrong.
Golf isn’t a game of perfect. It’s also not a game of repetition like many people think. Sure, you want some muscle memory to consistently hit quality golf shots, but you rarely encounter the same shot twice. As a result, we all make slight changes from swing-to-swing, whether consciously or unconsciously.
This means, you need to adapt, learn, and be creative about how you execute each unique swing. Without learning from past experience, it’s nearly impossible to adequately prepare for an upcoming swing.
Instead of trying to repeat the same swing over and over again, making the same errors each time, take some time after each shot to assess, so you can improve on the next one.
Listen to Your Ball Flight
Imagine you’ve just hit a shot. What’s the first thing you should do? Watch it! I mean really watch it closely and observe exactly what its doing through the air. Don’t drop your head or start praying for a lucky bounce. Instead, get curious about why the ball is doing what it’s doing. As the saying goes, the ball doesn’t lie. Listen to what your golf ball’s flight is telling you.
There are only nine possible flights that your ball can take. When the ball is in the air, your goal should be to identify which of the nine matches the shot you just hit. Once you identify your ball flight, that’ll tell you two things; your club face angle at impact and your club head path direction.
There are three possible face angles (closed, square, and open) and three possible path directions (inside-out, straight, and outside-in). Also, it’s important to note that the face angle is in reference to the path, not the target line. Knowing those two things help you learn from your mistakes.
Below are the nine ball flights followed by their description to help you identify them. Each one of the nine flights are created by some combination of your face angle and path direction.
The flight can be identified by noticing two factors about your shot; (1) where the ball starts and (2) where the ball finishes. Where the ball starts refers to the first part of the shot, right off the club face. It’s often the most difficult to identify because it happens quickly. That’s why you need to be paying close attention. Where the ball finishes is the second half of the ball flight. This doesn’t necessarily refer to where the ball finished in relation to the target, but instead, in relation to where the ball started.
Now, you need to understand something about path. Path is the direction that a club is swung. Think back to when you were a kid and played with sparklers on the 4th of July. You’d light the end and then quickly write your name in the sky. Your eyes would pick up the light and you’d “see” your name in the sky for a few seconds. Those lines that create your name is the sparkler’s “path.” Same thing with a golf club. If the head had a light on it, you’d see which way it was swung.
The club can either be swung outside-in, inside-out, or straight (which is technically inside-inside). For a right-handed player, swinging the club outside-in will put sidespin on the ball and it’ll actually finish to the right of your target (with an open face), even though “in” refers to swinging left of the target. That’s where a lot of people get messed up. They miss a shot right and think they need to swing more left. The exact opposite is true though.
The nine ball flights, how to identify them (for a right-handed player), and their causes are…
Pull-Hook: starts left, finishes left | clubface is closed, path is straight.
Pull: starts left, finishes straight | clubface is square, path is outside-in.
Pull-Slice: starts left, finishes right | clubface is open, path is outside-in.
Hook (Draw): starts straight, finishes left | clubface is closed, path is inside-out.
Straight: starts straight, finishes straight | clubface is square, path is straight.
Slice (Fade): starts straight, finishes right | clubface is open, path is outside-in.
Push-Hook: starts right, finishes left | clubface is closed, path is inside-out.
Push: starts right, finishes straight | clubface is square, path is inside-out.
Push-Slice: starts right, finishes right | clubface is open, path is straight.
Read Your Divot
Next, after the ball has landed and you’re done assessing it’s ball flight, you need to look at the divot that was made. The divot, or lack thereof, actually tells you a lot. First, it can reinforce both of the elements talked about above; where the ball starts and where the ball finishes.
Imagine a straight line running between your target and the ball, that’s called the target line. If you’re wanting to hit a straight shot, your divot should be about the size and shape of a dollar bill and pointing towards the target. So, after you’ve hit a shot, stand with the divot directly between you and the target and see where it points. That’ll also tell you what your path was like through impact. If you’re a right-handed player and the divot points left, then your path was outside-in.
Now, maybe you’re divot is pointing left and the ball went left in a straight line. Obviously, no sidespin was put on the ball to take it right or farther left. That’ll tell you about your club face at impact. If your ball flies straight, whether it’s on target or not, that’ll tell you that your face was square to your path at impact.
You also want to take a look at the depth of the divot. For your irons, your divot should only be about an inch deep. Anything deeper, and your swing is too steep, meaning your club head is coming down at a sharp angle. A divot that takes very little grass is often times too shallow. This means the club head needs to attack the ball with a more downward angle.
Measure Your Distance
Finally, you need to measure every shot you hit. Amateur golfers have a tendency to do one of two things.
First, they either assume that the farthest they’ve ever hit a club is the yardage they hit it every time. This person remembers one time when they hit the ball absolutely perfect. It might’ve even been downhill or with the wind or both. Let’s say it was their 7-iron and it ended up flying 160 yards. They make a mental note of that because it was particularly memorable. Then, for countless times after that, when they have a shot that’s 160 yards, they grab a 7-iron, only to leave it short over and over again. This person likes to remember the good and block out the bad, so these shots are forgotten. In reality, this person probably only hits their 7-iron about 150 yards, so they constantly come up short.
Second, other players might ignore the distance they typically hit a club and assume that they won’t hit it well, so opt to take way too much club to compensate. When they hit a shot well, it often sails over the green. Both approaches fail to accurately assess the most likely distance you’ll hit the ball.
Fear or doubt take over rather than true skill. Even though they have the capability to hit the 7-iron, 160 yards, they go with the 6 because they’ve already assumed it won’t be hit well. Then, they step up to the ball, swing, and the ball goes flying over the green because they have plenty of strength and skill to hit a 7-iron, 160 yards.
Both situation aren’t helpful. Both balls missed the green, right? The solution is to try and accurately measure before and after every shot. Figure out the distance you want to hit the ball and the distance you actually hit it under normal circumstances most of the time. Then, make an accurate assessment, in your head, about what club you should’ve hit. Did you hit the right club? Was the ball hit well? What were the environmental factors that impacted the distance? If you need to, write these things down, so you get a clear picture of how far you hit your clubs.
Now, don’t let bad habits keep you from adapting and learning from every shot you hit.