A time to take stock...

As we near the end of the season, it's a time for many to take stock and consider their achievements over the summer. Those of us who endeavour to set clear goals have it easier here- if you know exactly what you wished to achieve, it's naturally far easier to see if you've done this, and what areas need more focus, than if you haven't clearly defined what you want.

As you know, most of my goals have been met; the main omission from this (breaking 90) is about outcomes rather than process, and as such would not now feature on my list of goals. It's also clearly "in the post" and thinking about breaking 90 is more likely to militate against it's occurrence, rather than facilitating a score in the 80's.

I would urge anyone in a similarly reflective mood to turn it toward their golf game. Take a full and frank inventory of your entire game, including but not limited to current abilities, your scores, and how you golf your ball. Be honest and kind, without being self deluding (the classic is for us weekend golfers to claim "my short game is excellent" when it's really not- perhaps because we remember only the last short game shot on any given hole, rather than all of them, 0r because we remember our 1 success not where we had difficulties). Accuracy is essential, so it may even be worth keeping stats for a few rounds to get any idea of any trends.

Once we've taken this inventory we can then ask ourselves the $64000 question:

"Given the state of my game as it currently is, and the time I have available to play and rehearse playing, what intervention(s) will have the biggest effect on how I play the game?"

or "If I were a pro, what else might I be trying to do to give myself an edge over the rest of the field?"

If we've done out inventory properly, the chances are that the answer we get will not involve a major overhaul of the manner in which we swing a club. For most of us, the answers will lie elsewhere. This became clear to me when I started playing competitive golf this year. Playing with 10-13 handicaps, I realised there was little to pick between their & my best swings. In some cases my best swings were substantially better than one or two 12 handicappers. What they did do was have fewer swings they were unhappy with, rarely followed a bad shot with a dumb one and had a short game way in excess of mine. Most of my practice time has thus been centred on scoring with attendant benefits to my game and scores.

The other thing that came out of my holistic inventory was the realisation that years of rugby in the tight 5 followed by a decidedly couch potato lifestyle for some years had left me very inflexible. I went to see a physio with extensive golf experience and I've not regretted that for a second. Put simply, the £30 I spent there led to what was by far and away the single biggest development of this season. And in a season where I discovered both Roseanna Leaton (look for Golfer Within mental skills toolkit) and Instinctive Golf, learned how to practice smart in a deep & deliberate fashion and also learned how to shape the ball, this is no mean claim. But, honestly, I could easily have spent £300 on traditional golf lessons without coming anywhere near seeing the same benefit in my game.


There may be things that you can improve with minimal effort that improve your game out of all proportion to the effort you've had to put in. An example of this is my change in breakfast habits if I'm playing a round; I fore go my sugary breakfast cereal for a big bowl of porridge and I've certainly noticed a difference in my energy level on the course. From observing my playing partners, on course nutrition is an area where many golfers could make improvements with little effort paying disproportionately large dividends. It's an area I plan to post a bit on, as there are many well-intentioned "nutritionists" involved in golf, who although meaning well often confuse the situation with information which has at best dubious scientific basis, despite starting with a seemingly logical premise. On course strategy and course management are other areas ripe for harvesting.


So have don't just give your game a cursory glance before setting the same goals down as last year ("fix my slice" "break 90" "don't embarrass myself in the club championship" etc- these are not the best type of goal anyway). Give your game a thorough and testing examination, peer into and clear out every metaphorical nook and cranny. Squeeze every last bit of performance out of your potential. Be the player that seems to win despite seeming less talented on paper than your opponents and fellow-competitors. Time is a commodity; if we manage it properly we can get more from our golf game and indeed our life. Average golf handicaps have not improved over the years despite all of the technological advances we've had in club and particularly ball technology. If we want to buck that trend, we need to start doing things differently. Take a long hard look at yourself and your game, and you might just find a way to feel, play and score better.