Are these good scores?

[cypressperch]

as good at golf as you can get. If that is the case, I will be a little more blunt than some of these fine folks. Your scores are not really that low at present compared to the scores of many serious young golfers out here in the golf world. PLEASE DO NOT LET THAT BASIC FACT DISCOURAGE YOU IN ANY WAY!!! I am an older person who believes that today we sometimes go too far in telling young people how great they are, how wonderful they are, etc. At present, I would say that you are about average. What the future holds for you depends on a lot of stuff, and much of that depends on you and how much time you put into your golf game.

It may seem that we have all the time in the world, but that is not the case. If you want to get really good at golf, it will take some time. If you are not ORGANIZED, golf will take up so much time that you will not have time to do other things that are sometimes more important than your golf. You need to spend time with your family and friends. You need to devote time to your school work. You need your rest. Yes, lots of things take up your time, and therefore, there is really no time to truly waste. So get organized.

An organized approach to developing your golf game will allow you to devote time to all aspects of the game. You do need to develop a basically sound full swing. Though many, including myself, will say often that we need to devote a lot of time to the short game, I would say that when we start out, around half of our practice time should be devoted to the full swing. Believe me, you do want to be able to use your driver with confidence. You need to be good with the wedges. You need to be a good putter and have a complete short game including sand shots. You need to be able to hit fairway metals, hybrids and long irons. Those mid-irons and short irons have to be sharp to get you good putts at birdies every round. You, therefore, must devote some time to every aspect of the game. So, on some days you devote time to one or two aspects. The next time out, some other areas get your concentration. And you are constantly reviewing so that you get to the point to where you have it all under your control. Without such review, you will get good at one aspect, switch to another, then another, then realize you have "lost it" with things you did OK on earlier. You want to have the whole package.

My coaching made a turn for the better when I developed the habit of always having a notecard made out for each and every practice I conducted. On that card, you can grade yourself on how well you did on each area you went through. Again, getting good at golf requires time, and to cover the whole game of golf, you need to move on to new aspects as soon as you can. You will have to take up new areas even when you have not progressed as far as you would have liked to with some other aspect. So, these note cards will help you keep track of all of that progress or lack of progress. The cards will always give you a sense of direction for how to use your time on the next practice. You will see when you might be neglecting some aspect, like chipping, so you include it the first chance you get.

No day should pass without swinging a golf club. How hard is it to hit a few chips or pitches or stroke a few putts? Get some good golf books, and read. Work on developing more strength, flexibility, endurance. The more fit you are and the more you know about the game, the greater your potential becomes.

Now back to those scores. The truth is they are about average. But the greater truth is that, right now, those scores are not that important. If you get hung up on your daily or weekly scores, well, you will get hung up on them. Trust me on this, IF YOU GET ORGANIZED AND APPLY YOURSELF IN AN INTELLIGENT MANNER YOUR SCORES ARE GOING TO START FALLING AND THERE IS NO TELLING HOW FAR THEY MIGHT FALL. It does no good to watch the water to see when it starts to boil. Just turn the heat on and know that it will start to boil as long as the heat is applied. In golf, your effort is the heat.

Good instruction is very important at the beginning of one's golf journey. Sometimes that might be too expensive. If you can get a video of yourself doing all the aspects of golf from time to time, that will be your greatest tool if you cannot get instruction on a regular basis. You do not have to be an expert to study your swing. Get a video of a good swing like Retief, Tiger, or Ernie, or whomever, and simply work on your swing to make it look like the model swing you have chosen to copy. Above all, notice their smoothness which comes from their great tempo. Do not try to kill that ball! Just smooth that clubhead through the impact area with nice tempo and it will be a solid hit that goes as far and as straight as you will ever want it to go.

Best of luck to you. Golf is work, but golf should be very fun work to do.

Sincerely, Cypressperch

[Lil_Huth]

Ok Ignite, you better listen to Cypress. That post is too long to read but I am sure it is full of great info and suggestions to help you.

[MIKE1218]

Excellent advice cypress. I think you are one of the most eloquent people I have met.