Do You Really Want
To Improve Your Golf Game?

Here is an excerpt from an article in the February 1998 issue of Golf Digest:

Hogan once said in disgust that he didn't teach because he "couldn't find anybody who wanted to learn." Two generations of golfers have proved Hogan wrong, and even he would probably agree it was the happiest mistake he ever made.

Boy, was this author off base. Things haven't changed one iota! Oh sure, everyone would like to learn how to swing better, but that isn't what Ben Hogan meant. Hogan's point was that golfers are not willing to put in the time and work necessary to improve their golf swings.

Unfortunately a golf swing is not learned by throwing money at it, nor by practicing something for only a week or two. It doesn't come quickly and it doesn't come without effort. Ben Hogan new this better than anyone, yet golfers seem to think, or maybe hope, that it will. If you want to improve, be prepared—you will have to practice and you will hit the ball badly as you make changes, sometimes for extended periods.

Every golfer should have a goal to improve for every year they play, but most golfers peak early and never improve beyond that point. One study, I believe it was from the National Golf Foundation, found that the average golfer reached this level after only three years of playing. This is ridiculous! It shouldn't be this way, and it doesn't have to be.

The reasons for such poor results are simple enough: 1) golfers don't practice properly, or enough, 2) poor golf instruction—many Golf Professionals have minimal training in how to teach golf, 3) golfers don't stick with a program long enough to see real swing improvement.

The road to improvement is simple: practice properly, and long enough—about a month for every swing motion you are trying to change (and come back to periodically practice it for additional months in the future), be sure you're working on the right thing by taking from the best instructor you can find (finding a good instructor can be a challenge, do some digging!), and understand that you will go through extended rough patches—don't stop, deal with it!

 

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Casey Eberting Golf Instruction

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