Feel or Fundamentals: What’s weighing your golf game down?

• Posted on Grant
• in Golf Fundamentals, Practice
• on December 4, 2013
• Comments Off on Feel or Fundamentals: What’s weighing your golf game down?

Do you know playing golf day after day without practice will hold you back from reaching your potential? You may have flashes of brilliance, but when you look back at your past 5, 10 or 20 years of playing golf, you will realize you hit a plateau because you ingrained the same swing flaws over and over on the course. Lack of practice keeps your swing from improving which, in turn, keeps your scores from improving.

In the same way, If you just practice your swing over and over without playing the game of golf, you will never develop the feel and trust needed to play your best golf over a full 18 holes. You will reach a plateau because your lack of feel will keep you from improving your score.

I have noticed that most golfers tend to lean toward one of two extremes:

Group “A” elevates feel over fundamentals. They play all of the time and never practice correct swing fundamentals.This group has great feel, but tends to make the same fundamental mistakes over and over. Lack of fundamentals keeps them from improving.

Group “B” elevates fundamentals over feel. They practice fundamentals all of the time and never truly play the game of golf. This group tends to have a swing that looks good but does not hold up under pressure. They find that they are not able to trust their swing because they are always changing what they are working on, and they think too much about the swing on the course. Lack of feel weighs this group down.

My cycle of success in golf is this: I practice with focus (Fundamentals) and then play with freedom (Feel). Then I practice with focus and then play with freedom, again. And again… I do this cycle over and over. This is how I keep my golf game in balance and how I am able to keep getting better year after year.

Think about it this way: If I want to walk anywhere, I have to take a step with my right leg and then step with my left. If I just step with my right leg over and over while keeping my left leg planted on the ground, I will spin around in circles and not get anywhere. To reach your potential in golf, you have to put your practice “leg” forward, then your playing “leg” and repeat.

Have you identified what’s weighing your golf game down? Is it lack of playing feel or is it lack of practice on fundamentals? When you take action to balance your play and practice time, I know you will improve and reach your goals! Let me know how it goes!

GB