A day spent golfing can be one of great relaxation, meditative presence and healthy competition surrounded by gorgeous vistas. It can also be a frustrating nightmare of defeat and self-sabotage. To help increase your chances of the former, the following will explore some of the things you can do to help improve your golfing skills.
Master Your Hold
Compared to many sports, golf requires hardcore precision and attention to detail. In particular, learning how to hold a golf club can drastically alter your game. Not only will this keep your wrists in good condition, but it will also allow you to improve your swing and, therefore, your game. If your grip is poor or wonky, this means your stance and swing will also be off.
See What You’re Doing
Again, because precision is so crucial for developing good golf form and habits, it’s really important that you get your stance correct. One of the major challenges of this is that you can’t see what you’re doing from the outside. To remedy this and gain an understanding of how your swing looks, you’ll want to practice in front of a mirror or set up your phone to record you so you can watch the playback. If you want to take this to the next level, watch a video of yourself swinging and then watch a video of a professional. Take note of the differences, adjust, the film again, and compare again.
Keep Records
It’s really difficult in any area of your life to continue to improve if you’re not measuring your results. Keep a golf journal where you write down the type of practice you’ve done and for how long as well as other exercise and mental-state-influencing events (like meditation or an especially stressful presentation at work) and your performance during games and at the golfing range. Having data can let you know what you’re doing that works and what you’re doing that doesn’t. You might even want to include instances of watching golf, as some studies have shown that watching experts perform their tasks helps rewire our brains for those very same tasks.
Meditate
Anyone who knows anything about golf will bring up the mental fortitude part of the game. The mental challenge of the sport is likely one of the reasons golf has traditionally been used as a backdrop for business deals—you’re able to see the mental faculties of the person you’re considering signing a contract with in action. It’s also no secret that stressing, losing focus, psyching yourself out, or choking can seriously alter your game.
Meditation is an excellent way to give your mind a little boost in the calm and focus departments. As a bonus, meditation has been shown to have several extremely positive impacts on other areas of your life, including your relationships, work performance, creativity, mental health, and energy levels. The best part is that you only need about twenty minutes a day to start seeing results.
Visit The Eye Doctor
This is an odd tip, but one that can make all the difference. If you haven’t had your eyes checked in a while, have a professional look at them. When vision weakens for whatever reason, the symptoms might be so mild at first that you don’t realize them. This being said, over time, vision impairment makes things like golf way trickier than they need to be. If it turns out your eyes have lost a bit of their edge, glasses or contacts can change the whole game of golf for you.
Change Things Up
Another vital tip, if you want to keep improving your golf game, is to include variety in your practice. If you’re always working with the same course, you will improve, but only to a certain degree. Your body is learning how to master that particular course, but you might struggle if you’re suddenly playing somewhere else. To mitigate this risk, be sure to change up your practice locations and routes every so often.
The above tips should help you get your golf game improving. Of course, these are just the beginning. As you develop your golf skills, you’ll notice areas where you’re plateauing and areas where you’re falling behind. You’ll want to begin to focus on these points when you’re practicing, rather than reiterating aspects of the game that you’ve mastered (as good as that feels). It’s also a good idea to have someone else’s input from time to time. A more objective opinion on your weaknesses can direct your future practice to the areas that need the most improvement.
