I find it very interesting..
.. that over the past thirty years the average golfer has NOT improved ONE SHOT! Only about 15% of all golfers have a USGA index (handicap) card. This 15% averages shooting +- 90. The question that begs to be asked is…WHY? Why ,in spite of all of the improvements and advancements that have been made in physical fitness, sports psycology,equipment,the golf ball,video technology and agronomy(turf grass), the average golfer shoots around 100.
Is it money , time , desire , why aren’t golfers getting any better?
The one clear logical reason I know, as a 30 year plus member of the PGA of America, and as a professional that has been standing on the front lines teaching golfers from ages of 4 to 94, is that 99% of the 35 million golfers playing the game of golf every year don’t really have a clear understanding of the fundamentals and disciplines needed to play the game of golf at a level that they ALL intrinsically know they are capable of playing.
By this I mean , we all know when we hit a shot that was” good” for us. No one has to tell us , we just felt it and saw it with our own two eyes. Yet most golfers don’t seek out and find a golf professional that is a capable teacher with a passion to help any level of golfer improve his or her game, and take lessons to learn how it all works. The game of golf is really no different than learning any other skill like playing the piano, or scuba diving or driving a car for that matter. These are all skills or maybe better stated DISCIPLINES that are learned and usually, he said facetiously, by having been taught by someone else who possesses skills in that arena and the correlative teaching skills necessary to communicate to the student.
This is such a simple premise that leads me to conclude that the main reason people don’t take lessons, and then practice on what they have earned and then continue to learn , practice,and build a sound repeatable equence of motions is that they haven’t quite gotten to the place that they WANT to get better. I think there is a difference between a game and a sport. People play games to have fun,to pass time and aren’t necessarily that serious about it. A sport people tend to work on and take more seriously, at least in the context of wanting to be able to improve to play at some level of respect.
As I said music is an excellent comparison. How did you learn to play the musical instrument that you play? Had you not been passionate about choosing to get better you would not have had the drive to take lessons and then practice on those fundamentals.
Whew !!! That all having been said, in my future articles for this website I will be sharing with you what the fundamentals of the golf swing and short game are ,and their cause and effect relationship. I’ll be sharing my thoughts on equipment, practice,course management,rules,and whatever you might have questions about regarding the game of , or I should say the DISCIPLINE OF GOLF.
If you have any questions or would like to schedule an appointment to work on your golf game please email me at timxwilkins@hotmail.com.
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