I would like to recount a story of a very successful young business person. Obsessed with the business, this person became mentally frail, they were overworked and had little to no free time. A very concerned friend insisted for months that they take up a hobby and make time to get away from the business and enjoy life. We arranged to meet at the clubhouse, as the client wanted to take a few minutes to explain to me their wishes, I was extremely interested and decided that there was no way we could fail, given the incredible level of dedication being shown even before hitting a single ball or holding a club.
Beginning with the short game, I made it clear that you should learn from the hole back towards the tee, to make this interesting and to avoid disappointment, as the client was hoping to get their hands on the driver, so, I created challenges and goals that the client had to reach. When the lesson, which had been extremely successful, the client was a very quick study, was over the client asked how could they reach their desired level with only a few hours a week to get down to the range or take another lesson. Now, I am a huge advocate of practicing at home, I believe that home practice is, perhaps more beneficial then heading down the range. So, I gave the client the following practice exercises to do at home, everyday in the morning before leaving and in the evening when they arrived home from work.
Drill 1 – Posture perfection
I asked the client to practice their posture or setup (I had explained the correct position at the end of the lesson). Using a mirror, the client had to practice setting up. Being very visual the client decided to use a table tennis ball as a guide. This would create a solid base, from which to begin the swing.
Drill 2 – Perfect pendulum
Using an old-briefcase the client was to place the toe of their putter as close to the briefcase as possible without touching it, then make the stroke so that the putter stayed as close to the briefcase as possible, both on the backstroke and the follow through. A great drill to groove a reliable putting stroke.
Drill 3 – Distance distinction
Can be done with the briefcase drill, I asked the client to place two coins next to the briefcase but far enough apart to act as a swing guide, the idea is to swing the putter back until the face reaches the coin and swing through to the other coin. Using a ball and changing the space between the coins, immediately allows learning and how swing lengths affect distance.
Reaching a desired level in golf doesn´t require hours and hours of practice, instead it requires dedication to a practice routine. Each person will learn at their own speed and some will learn quicker than others, but just because you can´t dedicate hours to practice or learning, you can still reach your goals if you are determined enough to.
Recent Comments