5 Steps to Your Best Golf Year Ever

Trent Rommann Golf

5 Steps to Your Best Golfing Year Ever

My daughter recently had a skin rash on her legs. When I noticed the rash, I went straight to the doctor. That’s just what you do when you’re not an expert, right? That’s why I’m always shocked by how often golfers rely on their friends, who usually aren’t much better than they are at golf, for feedback or swing advice. Listen, I understand everyone is looking for help in times of desperation but PLEASE, your 20 handicap best friend may be able to tell you that you “have a rash” but an incorrect golf swing diagnosis can influence your physical and mental health!
My dad grew up playing golf, so he has the understanding and training to mentor a junior golfer in the game, right? The fact is, golf requires one of the most difficult movement patterns in sports. It also requires a diverse group of skills including putting, chipping, pitching, an iron game, driving and course management. In my opinion, these are practically impossible to learn without a professional instructor who is trained on handling different levels of golfer.
“When players get good information, are inspired to apply it and engage in this process with a purpose, they are not only happier but also more motivated,” says Golf Digest Best Young Teacher Iain Highfield. “In my experience, happy, motivated people are fulfilled, and improved performance is just a byproduct of this process.”

2) Physical Limitations

Exercise: Exercise is GREAT for golfers and golf is exercise! Don’t be afraid to ditch the golf cart and walk you next round of golf…it will make you feel and play better!
Flexibility: Hip, pelvis, thoracic spine, lumbar spine, hamstring flexibility are some of the common weak areas of many golfers due to things like: lifestyle, job characteristics (sitting in a chair all day long), injuries, and lack of exercise. My tip, take a few minutes a day to stand up and try some static stretching.

Don’t know what stretches to do? Check out my article on golf exercise and stretching:

Article : http://trentrommanngolf.com/golf-fitness-flexibility-mobility/

Balance: Golf is balance, and to improve balance you must practice your balance. Whether you are 1 year old and learning to walk or you are 90 years old and struggling to walk, balance must be learned and repeated for a lifetime and golf is great way to do that!
Diet: Watch what you eat at home as well as on the golf course to manage your weight and spikes in blood sugar while playing.

Related Articles:

http://www.mytpi.com/articles/fitness/the_top_6_physical_attributes_of_elite_golfers

To learn a new skill, you must first engage in something called “blocked practice.” This means isolating one specific motion or skill and working on only that with repeated repetitions over an extended duration. As we build competency in the skill, we must then learn to transfer the skill from the range to the golf course. There is no way around the process; there is no secret, no special club or magical training aid we can buy. If you want to get better, you’re going to need a good process and hard work.
Practice Stations: use your time wisely with practice stations that target the weak areas of your game. Don’t know the weak areas of your game? Keep track of your golf stats: fairways, greens, putts and up and downs.

Here is a great app (It’s FREE) that I use every day to chart my golf statistics:

App Store Search: Offcourse Golf

Game Based Learning: Make it fun. Whether you are 4 years old and learning the game or 40 years old and an accomplished golfer, nothing makes practice more fun than game based learning. Find a partner, challenge yourself to games. Set Goals. Whatever it takes to focus your mind and challenge yourself to become better.

4) Goal Setting

Most of us start with a goal that we can never realistically expect to achieve and quickly get discouraged. The fix? Start smaller. Try segmenting your practice into achievable tasks. For example, lowering your handicap by two strokes throughout the season is a reasonable goal, whereas going from shooting in the 90s to shooting in the 70s over a three-month period is not.

I play a lot of golf with people who hit the ball far when they connect. For every bomb they hit, however, they hit a couple foul balls that end up off the planet and out of bounds. On the other side, I play with golfers that hit the club “they are supposed to hit” rather than one they are comfortable hitting. In my experience, hit the club you know you can hit well if you are playing for score and leave the long balls to the driving range! Golf is about shooting the lowest score possible over 18 holes.
The reality is most of us don’t take lessons and don’t practice enough. And when we do get to the course, we’re not doing everything we can to play our best. This doesn’t mean we should stop playing the game; it just means that we should not expect to improve. Ever wonder why places like Top Golf are getting more and more popular?
Have a great summer, and I hope you shoot a personal best this year… counting all your strokes and following all the rules, of course. If you don’t, remember that there’s always next year, and there’s nothing wrong with playing golf just to have fun!

Happy Golfing,

Trent Rommann, PGA, TPI