Full Swing- where to start
Do you care more about looking good- or scoring good? It is an important question you must ask yourself because these are two different things.
Looking good is easier than playing good and to play good, we need to understand what part of our full swing is working, and what part is not working as good- if we care more about playing better.
Full swing practice should not start with a video camera- or an idea off a reel on social media. It should start with an inventory of your current strengths and weaknesses.
I feel the starting point for a serious player is on a simulator. There are plenty of places these days to access a Trackman, Foresight, or Skytrack launch monitor and gather all the data you need.
Here is where to start:
Start with the simulator in the driving range setting
Use one club at a time and try to hit your distances for each club. Hit 10 shots at a time for each distance. If you have the time- hit all your clubs in the bag, or I would do three sessions with wedges, irons and then woods.
Once completed- go to the History/Analysis/Results page
Use average listed- or manually divide the remaining distance from the starting distance to get the percentage of error for that distance.
As an example: 150 yard shot (10 shots)
Distance offline direction
155 5 Right
162 12 Left
143 7 Short
156 3 Right
148 12 Right
139 15 Short
161 11 Right
151 4 Right
143 15 Short
161 12 Right
Average: 151 yards 9.6 yard ave error with a right miss tendency
If your system tells you left/right it is even better so you can take an average dispersion of 9.6 and use it for approach shot knowledge when deciding where to aim- maybe the wind/hazards/slopes are favoring your common miss side- then you know how to set up to have the best chance of hitting a shot close to the target rather than thinking you hit every shot perfect- and setting up square to the flag every shot.
This also can identify what clubs in the bag need the most work and when to practice more- or avoid leaving yourself in those areas around the course (par 3 distances are something to consider before you tee off- so you have a strategy in place for getting around courses that these distances fall into your weakest statistical clubs)
If one club in the bag is way off compared to the others, see if you maybe doing something differently (ball position is my first check)
If you cant figure it out on your own- take this data to a Coach and have them look at the results and see if there is something that they see you are doing differently.
This is how to get immediate feedback and information that supports a plan to improve.
Looking good is easier than playing good and to play good, we need to understand what part of our full swing is working, and what part is not working as good- if we care more about playing better.
Full swing practice should not start with a video camera- or an idea off a reel on social media. It should start with an inventory of your current strengths and weaknesses.
I feel the starting point for a serious player is on a simulator. There are plenty of places these days to access a Trackman, Foresight, or Skytrack launch monitor and gather all the data you need.
Here is where to start:
Start with the simulator in the driving range setting
Use one club at a time and try to hit your distances for each club. Hit 10 shots at a time for each distance. If you have the time- hit all your clubs in the bag, or I would do three sessions with wedges, irons and then woods.
Once completed- go to the History/Analysis/Results page
Use average listed- or manually divide the remaining distance from the starting distance to get the percentage of error for that distance.
As an example: 150 yard shot (10 shots)
Distance offline direction
155 5 Right
162 12 Left
143 7 Short
156 3 Right
148 12 Right
139 15 Short
161 11 Right
151 4 Right
143 15 Short
161 12 Right
Average: 151 yards 9.6 yard ave error with a right miss tendency
If your system tells you left/right it is even better so you can take an average dispersion of 9.6 and use it for approach shot knowledge when deciding where to aim- maybe the wind/hazards/slopes are favoring your common miss side- then you know how to set up to have the best chance of hitting a shot close to the target rather than thinking you hit every shot perfect- and setting up square to the flag every shot.
This also can identify what clubs in the bag need the most work and when to practice more- or avoid leaving yourself in those areas around the course (par 3 distances are something to consider before you tee off- so you have a strategy in place for getting around courses that these distances fall into your weakest statistical clubs)
If one club in the bag is way off compared to the others, see if you maybe doing something differently (ball position is my first check)
If you cant figure it out on your own- take this data to a Coach and have them look at the results and see if there is something that they see you are doing differently.
This is how to get immediate feedback and information that supports a plan to improve.