Learning From Your Mistakes

The hardest part of giving golf lessons is diagnosing a student's problem. I give hundreds of golf lessons every year and the most difficult part of working with a new student is diagnosing his or her problem. Once I've done that, I can plan a golf instruction session around it or suggest a golf tip designed to correct the problem. In addition, I can prescribe drills to correct the problem.

Spotting swing flaws in other people's golf swing is a good way to learn about your own swing and a great way to improve your game. By watching what others do and then comparing it to what you do, you can isolate your own swing flaws. Then you can find golf tips or golf drills that will help you correct the problem or problems. Incorporating the tips in your swing and working on the drills in practice will help you correct the flaw.

Diagnosing the Problem
Observing others is, as you may have guessed, merely one step in a four-step process that you can apply to your own game to improve play and cut strokes from your golf handicap. Let's take a closer look at the process.

The first two steps in the process are observing and diagnosing your problem. Numerous tools exist for observing your swing. For example, video cameras are great game improvement tools. You can have a friend film you hitting balls at practice range and then view the film on a computer or the television to observe your flaws.

But investing in video cameras and software can be expensive. In some cases, it is also unnecessary. Among the best—and least expensive ways—of diagnosing a swing problem is to simply to watch the flightpath of a shot. You can tell a lot about a golfer's swing by simply observing the flight of his or her ball. It will tell you what the golfer is doing wrong. By observing someone else's flightpath and comparing it to yours, you can identity your swing flaw or flaws.

Next, you need to diagnose the problem. Let's say you're a right-handed golfer and you observe yourself or someone else hitting weak slices the right. This is one of the most common flight paths among recreational golfers. The question is what caused the problem. Was it the result of excess body movement, standing too far from the ball, too little wrist cock, or not enough hip turn?

Normally, this type of flightpath results from too little wrist cock on the backswing. A player who exhibits this flaw merely lifts the club into the air with his arms and then starts the downswing by spinning his front shoulders toward the ball. This forces the club outside the line of play and requires him to cut across the ball from outside to in, causing the slice.

However, the lack of distance indicates that in addition to the above swing flaw the player used no wrist cock and little hand action during the swing. This in turn reduced the force of the swing at impact, resulting in a loss of distance.

Now that you've diagnosed the problem, you need to prescribe a remedy. So how do we correct for this problem? Several drills exist for correcting it. One of the most effective is the cross-handed grip drill. To teach the golfer what the feel of a good wrist cock is like, you have the golfer grip the club with a cross-handed grip and then hit balls at a practice range.

By holding the club in this manner, the golfer can't help but increase the angle between clubshaft and the left forearm at the top of his swing. With more wrist cock he is able to pull downward with his left wrist along an inside path. Once the player gains the feel for a good wrist cock, he can go back to hitting balls with a normal grip. With additional practice, he'll be able to apply the remedy on the course.

Observing, diagnosing, prescribing, applying - four steps in a simply process that can help you improve your game. Use the process to help correct our flaws, lower your scores, and cut golf handicap. It can work wonders.


Copyright (c) 2008 Jack Moorehouse