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Golf Lessons -
Why Do I Practice Well And Play Poorly?

I always seem to hit the ball so well in practise at the range but can’t produce the same results out on the course. Or, I played a few holes on my own last night and hit the ball beautifully but as soon as I have a card in my hand I go to pieces. Does that sound like you? It happens to thousands of golfers on a regular basis. It becomes so frustrating trying to produce good golf shots when it really matters out on the course.

You’ve probably experienced a similar problem trying out new clubs on a demo day. You pick up a straight face driver and after a few swings are thundering balls down the fairway like you never have hit before. So you buy the club and expect the same to happen in play. But it rarely does. Every tee shot seems to have a mind of its own and the ball flies all over the place instead of down the middle.

Sometimes the same thing happens after having golf instruction. The next time you play the swing just does not perform as it did during the lesson. The feel changes and all the old bad shots return.

But why does this happen? What stops a golfer from playing his best golf at the time that he needs to? Well the two most important ingredients in any golf swing from high handicapper to the very best Tour player are rhythm and timing. A golfer can look at all ways to try and find the secret ingredient to making his swing work. Sometimes an alteration can make a big difference. But how often have you adjusted your swing with a new movement only to find a couple of games later you have lost that feeling again. The good shots have stopped flowing. You seem to have worn out the new movement but the endless quest goes on in search of the next alteration to find the perfect swing.

We can see that no two golfers swing the same. Even amongst the Professional Tour players there are so many different styles. Yet that does stop any golfer from achieving success. The style is not as important as the repeatability of a swing. The faster you swing and the harder you try to hit the ball the more likely you are to miss hit. The smoother is the swing, holding back with the power until the correct moment of impact the more likely you are to hit your best shot. Examples can be seen in so many different ways. Try writing your name as fast as you can. Then write it smooth and slow. Which is the easier to read? When throwing a dart at a board do you throw as fast as you can with all your strength or do you conserve power and throw smoothly looking for accuracy? Using a hammer to drive home a nail do you swing it back and down as fast and hard as you can or do you swing it smoothly back and apply power just before impact? Think about it, we use rhythm and timing around us all day long in so many different ways. Yet when hitting a golf ball we swing so hard and fast in the wrong area in an effort to produce power that our body movements are so out of sync with the club and we stand very little chance of success.

When you practice well it is because you have found a good rhythm, timing becomes easy, shots flow. On the course that same swing produces poor result because effort is applied in the wrong place. The back swing becomes hurried and sheer effort is applied at the start of the down swing to try to hit the ball hard and a long way. Don’t. Swing smoothly. Particularly when starting the downswing. Try to feel that you are holding back the flood of power, just as when taking a practice swing. Feel the way the body and club work in harmony together. Feel how easy it is to swing the club instead of forcing it. Always try to swing within yourself. Golfers then say “but I won’t be able to hit the ball very far”. But that is the whole point, the smoother the down swing the more time you have to get into position to apply power through impact. Just like driving home that nail. The more power you put into the start of the down swing the more you expend before impact and the more likely for the big body muscles to work too early instead of waiting for the club to get into the correct position. Look at players like Ernie Eels. Look at how effortlessly he swings and how far he hits by pure timing. If he wanted he could probably swing twice as fast as he does. But he knows rhythm and timing produces the best result.

Practice by hitting golf balls without effort. Do not encourage the turning on of power and effort during the swing. Let the swing produce its own power. Allow the body to fit into the swing of the hands and arms. Don’t allow the body to dominate. Feel as good as you do when taking a practice swing. Notice how little effort it takes; see how good the balance is throughout the swing. Compare that with a swing using all of your power. It will feel rushed and hard work, balance will be all over the place.
With time, after developing good co-ordination through smooth swinging, you will be able to increase power through impact encouraging long, well timed shots with all clubs. So remember if practice ground quality shots are not being reproduced on the course, swing more slowly.