Before you can improve your game you must know where you are struggling.  For example, I once had a student call me to schedule a lesson.  I asked him what he was hoping to work on and he simply said he could not lower his score no matter how hard he tried.  I asked him what area of his game he was struggling with, and all he could come up with was the fact he could not lower his score.  So before we put a lesson on the books I had him go out and play 10 rounds of golf without keeping score.  His sole responsibility was to carry a notebook with him and take notes after absolutely every shot: how he hit the shot, where it went, etc.  After 10 rounds we determined that he had indeed developed a pattern.  All his approach shots were coming up short.

I told him to go out and play another five rounds and the only change he was to make was to take an extra club on each approach shot.  The very next time he went out he beat his all time best score by four strokes.  All he had to do was be aware of his game and improvement followed.  I can't guarantee that it will be that easy for everyone.  But I can guarantee that before you can improve your game you must know where to start.

Copley News Service

Photo Credit: Paul Nasri