Tips for Spring Golf Success
The weather is starting to get nicer, which means the golf season is fast approaching. Hopefully you’ll soon be finding yourself with some time to get out enjoy a round at your favorite local course.
Early season golf is exciting, but can be frustrating. You probably haven’t been playing, or even practicing, very much over the last several months, which means you’ve gotten a little rusty.
No one wants to spend $60+ and 4+ hours to play bad golf, but often times that’s what happens this time of year. The good news is that there are some things you can do to start playing your best sooner. Let’s talk about those…
Pitch Shots
These first two points are going to be all about your feel. It’s the shots that require some touch or finesse that seem to come back last after a long off-season. So, spend a little more time on the driving range figuring out your pitch shots before you hit the golf course.
None of us want to miss greens, but the reality is, we’re going to. At some point in every round of golf, you’ll come up short and leave yourself 30-60 yards left. It’s way too far to putt, but too short to hit a full wedge. That means you need to take something off a wedge, judge the distance correctly, and execute flawlessly to hit it close and save your par.
That might seem a bit daunting, but it doesn’t have to be. In fact, it’s one of the easiest shots to hit if you know what you’re doing. I’ve written about the shot before and would recommend checking that out. Spending as little as 30 minutes on the range, figuring out your pitch yardages can pay-off big time once you get to the course.
Lag Putting
Like I said, your feel shots are the last to return after hibernating for the winter. That means your lag putting is going to be a little off at first. Similar to missing greens, you’re also going to hit some greens, but leave yourself a 30+ foot putt. In these situations, one bad lag putt makes it easy to 3-putt and nothing kills your score quite like a 3-putt. If you can eliminate those, you’ll be amazed at how fast your scores improve.
Go to the putting green before you play and spend some time hitting long putts. You don’t need to aim at a hole, just an area of the green that’s far away. All you’re trying to do is get the speed correct. Again, I’ve written about the best approach to lag putting before, so be sure to read that as well.
Pre-Shot Routine
The next thing you want to do is figure out your pre-shot routine. Often times, we get into a groove when we’re playing a lot of golf and the routine just comes naturally. After several months off, it’s easy to forget the routine.
Pre-shot routines are important because they help you get comfortable over each shot. When you do the same thing every time, it becomes muscle memory and easier to be successful. It also makes it easier to remember everything you need to do before a shot. Without a pre-shot routine, you might remember to check the wind one time, but forget the next. If you include checking the wind in your pre-shot routine every time, it’s less likely you’ll forget.
Now, maybe you’re wondering what you should do for a pre-shot routine, here’s an example…
Measure the yardage.
Check the wind and elevation.
Select your club.
Pick an aiming line.
Take one practice swing behind the ball.
Walk up to the ball and take one more practice swing.
Address the ball.
Waggle the club twice while checking the target.
Set the club down and swing.
Obviously, that’s an example. You can change yours by adding or subtracting anything you want that would help you be successful. Make it unique and personal, so that you love it and remember it. Setting your pre-shot routine early in the year will help you get in a healthy habit right away.
Swing Thoughts
We all think about something while we swing a golf club, that’s called a swing thought. It’s the idea you have in your mind that you’re trying to do to hit a good shot. Early in the golf season, it can be tempting to think of everything you were working on in the previous season all at once. That’s pretty normal.
Since we’re all a little rusty, our fundamentals aren’t quite second-nature yet. When something is automatic, we feel like we don’t need to think about it in order to make sure we do it correctly. The problem is, you can’t think about more than one or two things during your swing and accomplish them all. If you’re thinking about too much, it’ll all fail.
So, pick one or two of the most important swing thoughts you want to focus on during your golf swing and think about only those. Once those things become a habit, move on to a new swing thought. You’ll know what the most important swing thoughts are for you when you focus on it and hit good shots. Your swing thought is probably something you struggle to do in your golf swing, but often forget.
Common swing thoughts I’ve seen students use are…
Finish with my weight on the left side (for a right-handed player).
Hit the ball and then ground, both, in that order (for iron shots).
Keep my right elbow (for a right-handed player) close to my side during the downswing.
Maybe you can remember what your swing thought was towards the end of last year; try that. It’s easy to forget what that was, so at the end of this year, if you’ve got a swing thought that’s working, be sure to write it down, so you don’t forget it during the off-season.
Play Well
Instead of going to the driving range and hitting full shots over and over without purpose to get ready for the new season, try some focused practice on these areas to help you improve the quickest. Consider going to the driving range for an hour and spending 20 minutes on your pitches, 20 minutes lag putting, and 20 minutes hitting full shots to figure out your pre-shot routine and early season swing thoughts.
And as always, if you’re in the Des Moines area, consider scheduling an indoor golf lesson with me to get ready for the new season.