A Lesson in How
to Improve Your
Game Faster
By Kevin Smeltz, BGGA Director of Instruction
One of the areas where golf coaching has improved
over the years is understanding how people learn better
and improve faster, which provides more enjoyment
and leads to better scoring. There is also another
element to this which is the bigger picture of growing
this great game of golf. Perhaps we as coaches “missed
the boat” with people that return after the standard
lesson where they left hitting the ball great and return
hitting it exactly like they did before. Maybe it wasn’t
because the student didn’t practice enough. Maybe it
wasn’t because they didn’t understand, or maybe it
wasn’t because the information wasn’t great. Perhaps
we didn’t help them learn in a way they can retain it and
thus actually transfer those things to the golf course.
The introduction of neuroscience to the masses of golf
coaches is becoming more and more popular. How
the brain learns, in combination with what research
shows us about elite performance, has given us the
opportunity to become better coaches and help
players become better sooner, as a result.
Being out on the road at various professional events,
you can see this with some of the best players in the
world as well. The past few years have seen players
jump from coach to coach more often than in the past.
Mostly, this in search of better technique. Now I think
all coaches will start to understand the neuroscience
better. Although a vast area to understand and a huge
undertaking, I think most coaches will learn the basics
which in turn will help players improve more. There
are a lot of golf coaches out there these days, a lot of
good ones. Heck, we are all looking for every bit of
improvement we can get. Even the smallest incremental
change in better scoring averages can mean the
difference between winning a trophy or finishing in he
middle of the field throughout the course of the year.
Amy Yang on the LPGA is no different in the sense that
to achieve her goals it is important to look and analyze
all possible areas for gains. She is currently ranked
No. 8 in the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings and
looking to get even better. Does that improvement
come from hitting more greens, more fairways or more
up and downs? Perhaps it could, which is why keeping
regular stats is important, but in Amy’s case a lot of it
could come from practicing in a more realistic way…
one that mimics the real situations one encounters on
the golf course in tournaments.
For example, a few weeks ago at the U.S. Women’s
Open at Trump National Golf Club in New Jersey, Amy
putted for almost exactly one hour on Wednesday.
During that entire one hour time period, she did not
hit two putts in a row from the same distance or two
putts in a row on the same line. Think about that for
a second. That is about as close to replicating what
you do in a tournament as you can. Why do we all
stand in the same place and hit the same 5-foot putt
over and over again when we would never do that in a
tournament? There are times when you need to work
on something technical and need to get the feedback
of the ball going in from 3 feet more regularly or the
ball starting on the same line more consistently but this
particular week she felt like her technique was good.
Going into the final round on Sunday, Amy was in
the second to last group with a very valid chance to
win and even played with the eventual winner. While
she got off to a slightly rough start and didn’t lift the
trophy that Sunday evening, I am sure she took away
confidence that she prepared herself the best she could
and sometimes we don’t achieve the desired outcome
despite doing all we can.
That being said, it will be interesting in the coming
years with this research into elite performance how
the level of golf will improve. While this research holds
true for the average golfer and the professional, it is
especially important for junior golfers that need to fast
track their improvement by modeling themselves after
elite performers.