By Roger Knick, The Golf Performance Center
“I don’t understand why my scores aren’t getting lower? I took a lesson with my PGA professional two weeks ago, I have easily consumed 10 hours of videos on Instagram and Youtube on the fixes I need for my swing, my putting and chipping are good and those are easy anyway, being confined to a desk chair for 50+ hours a week and little physical activity shouldn’t have anything to do with me not playing better, I am tired of feeling so frustrated by my results. Golf isn’t that hard, if I could just get a lesson from the pro who teaches Matt Wolfe, he will fix my problem and I am sure to score better!”
Sound familiar? I am sure you have heard, read, or seen this in your golfing journey. Being a performance coach unfortunately, I hear this often. During interviews with players prior to engaging in a performance plan, the above dialogue is all too common. It doesn’t matter if it is an adult golfer or junior golfer, often the information is nearly the same. When asked why are you here at The Golf Performance Center? Answers are typically, “I want to; get better, lower my handicap, win club championships, I want to hit it further, I want to be the #1 golfer in the world, I want to play DI college golf at Wake Forest or Duke”. It is obvious to me during these initial interviews the aspiring better golfer is frustrated with the results or outcomes they have been getting. As I go through the interview, I ask these questions, do you have any physical limitations? To which I will get a reply of; I don’t think so, I work out with a trainer once a week or I did a long time ago (adult) or nah, I’m young, flexible like gumby, I am pretty good athlete (junior). How much time do you spend practicing or playing golf? Replies: Well, I don’t get to practice during the week, maybe an hour or two, and I play both weekend days typically (adult), hmm, I’ll practice a couple hours and chip and putt before I go out to play when I can, that’s usually when I have a tournament at the course I belong to (junior). Ok, so are you 100% committed and willing to do the work necessary to become better? YES, I think so?
If I 100% guarantee your game will improve, reaching your goals of being a DI college golfer, the best player in the world or lower handicap or win your club championship, will you commit to a performance plan? Hopefully your answer would be yes, but how many times have you said this and didn’t follow through with action? It happens right, you get frustrated with your results or outcomes, based on loosely following a lesson or a work out, but not with the consistency that it requires. I ask then, how could you get upset about having less than desirable results if you haven’t done the work necessary to achieve your intended goals?
If you want to reduce your frustration and have better results, improved skills to gain improved scores, to win events, or to be the #1 player in the world, then you have to put in the work! Without the appropriate effort nothing great is ever achieved. Nothing great is ever achieved without have a plan and consistently working on the plan. This does not mean that there is success every day, quite the opposite, failure during workouts, struggle during practices, a bad shot or round are all parts of learning to be successful.
If you want to achieve your greatness, reach out to us at The Golf Performance Center, set up your Player Development Index assessment, find out where you are in your golfing journey, let us help you plan your success!
Enjoy Your Journey!
Roger Knick
