3 Realities About Golf Swing Instruction

I'm just like you an amateur weekend golfer who would love to be able to get out and play 18 every day, but settles for the weekend and sometimes afternoon weekday round. I struggled for 7 years shooting in the mid to high nineties, and the odd time over a hundred. I hit bucket after bucket of balls at the driving range, never understanding why I couldn't duplicate my performance at the range on the course. It wasn't until I got serious about my golf game and sought out some golf swing instruction that I really began to improve my consistency and my scores.

For me, it wasn't golf lessons that taught me the skills that improved my game, but rather a range of video golf instructions produced by a golf pro that believes in teach amateurs how to play as an amateur and not attempt to get them to swing like the pros.

This article is dedicated to covering a few of the realities about the game of golf and instruction I realized on my journey to become a better golfer and lower my score.

You are not a golf pro so why learn to swing like one?

It didn't take me a long time to realize this important point. The first couple of group golf lessons I went to the instructor kept talking about how certain pros did this and that. To me it didn't make sense since I didn't have the time to whack 1000 balls a day to improve my game, should I really be trying to do something exactly like one of the pros on the PGA tour does it? Maybe I'm wrong, again I am not an instructor but it made more sense to me that I should be trying to play within my skill set as an amateur weekend golfer.

When you're learning to improve your game, and the correct swing mechanics don't try to swing exactly like your favorite player on the tour. Now this isn't to say that you won't pick up some amazing pointers and see how it's really done when watching a round on Sunday afternoon, how ever it makes more sense to learn a swing that can be easily repeated and not get to technical.

There are more clubs in your bag then the driver

I've spent my fair share of time a the driving range, as I am sure many of you have as well. How many times would you go to the range and hit a full bucket of balls with just your driver? The thing about the driver is that it's the one club everyone wants to hit perfectly so badly yet it's probably one of the least used clubs in the bag to ratio of total number of strokes in a round.

Consider this, you shoot 100 in a round, at most you might have hit your driver 15 times, that's only 15% of your shots. While compared to your putter, you may have hit it 40 times. Where do you want to put your work in. Give this a try next time you're at the driving range, imagine your playing a course you like, start on hole number one in your mind and grab the club from your bag you'd normally hit off the tee. If the shot is good, imagine where you'd be on the hole, if it wasn't so great still do the same. Would you need to recover with a long iron or fairway wood, or are you maybe just a 7-iron into the tee? This allows you to use and practice with more of the clubs in your bag, and learn some great course management skills. Trust me this will help you out a lot more then hitting 100 balls with just your driver.

Each part of the game is different

This took some time for me to understand, and it wasn't until I watched some quality video golf swing instruction that I understood. There is a lot of talk about swing mechanics, correct setup and the likes. This is important for your full swing, and you need to master your technique in order to play consistently, and keep the ball in play. How ever just as important as your full swing is the correct mechanics for a chip or pitch shot, as well as putting. Like I mentioned in the previous point about the driving range not just becoming an expert about one club. Don't do that with your swing technique either.

Spend time learning the correct setup and swing control to make varying length pitch shots. Also while you might think you know all there is to know about putting, learning how to correctly hold the putter and setup for a putt can save you a stroke per hole if you're used to three putting. Your score is made on and around the green.

It was recognizing these three points about the game of golf that allowed me to really improve my score. I began treating each hole as separate parts, I'd think I might not have a great tee shot, but I could make it up in my short game. Or recover with a great second shot into the green and two putt for par still. As you improve your confidence builds and quite honestly this is half the game. If you have confidence in your ability to hit shots consistently then you will no longer stand on the fairway wondering if you're going to make that 6 Iron into the green. You'll know you're going to make it.

If you're still stuck in that stage where you're frustrated with your score, and can't seem to bring it all together to have one consistent round then I highly recommend you research some quality golf swing instruction. Find a video series, teacher, or book that focuses on all facets of the game (full swing, short game, and putting) and learn all you can, you'll enjoy the game of golf so much more.

The above article was writing by Drive The Fairway golf resource website. A site committed to providing quality golf swing instruction to beginner golfers. Visit our site and sign up for our free golf tips newsletter, visit our site at the following link Beginner Golf Lessons.