COMMUNITY

Community / Forums / Consistency-Consistency-Consistency

Consistency-Consistency-Consistency

Posted in: Swing Tips and Golf Fitness

JimStipp Professional Champion
Go to Last Reply 153 Views 49 Replies 3 Likes
Consistency - Consistency - Consistency, how in the world do you maintain consistency with every stance, grip, take away, top position, down swing, impact and follow through? Although I have improved my scoring, I am unable to be consistent with lower scores and every swing of the club. I practice a lot and usually have great practice sessions but there are to many times that the ball flight and distance is never the same. Lets start with my 9 iron for example. I can go out and hit 10 balls and maybe 3 or 4 of the shots will be the same flight and distance, the remaining shots will vary in distance and ball flight. I will hit a nice 130 yard shot and then hit the next shot a 100 yards. I feel no different in setup or swing (that I notice) but yet the results are always different. The amount of time I spend practicing my game, I get aggravated that my game is not consistent or improving enough. I believe a lot of my problems are mental thoughts with each shot as I am the player that will usually shoot the highest score in the group and I believe that is what affects my game when I get on the course. I have changed my practice routines many different times over the past 2 or 3 years trying my best to improve across all aspects of the game and then to go out and play when I believe I have it all figured out to discover that nothing has changed in the direction I would like it to. Just wanted to release some winter blues frustration so it's back to more practicing in anticipation of the 2013 season. Merry Christmas to all.
njgolfer Legend
# 1 12/16/2012 11:02:20 AM
Welcome to the real world of golf. I have tried to be consistant for over 30 years. It only happens a few weeks out of the year but it is still frustrating and fun to keep on trying. A Merry Christmas to you and all your loved ones, Jim.
dewsweeper Legend
# 2 12/16/2012 8:51:23 PM
First thing you need to understand in order to play a better game and be able to enjoy the game more. There is, no consistency in this game. When you are dealing with the human body, nothing is consistent every time out. even the best of the best in the game will win a tournament with their B game because their A game did not show up that day. Ben Hogan, Vijay Singh practice hundreds and thousands of range balls a day, some days until their hands had blisters. All the practice is good but it also wore out the body. Ben Hogan had those jumbo sized grips on his golf clubs in the later years owing to the arthritis in his fingers. 60-70% accaptable golf shots is rather pretty good. Learn the recovery shots and enjoy the game. Then you will be rewarded. A couple of good reads for you. Golf Is Not a Game of Perfect Golf Is a Game of Confidence by Robert Cullen, Robert J. Rotella
armygrunt47 Professional Champion
# 3 12/16/2012 9:06:35 PM
A couple of good reads for you. Golf Is Not a Game of Perfect Golf Is a Game of Confidence by Robert Cullen, Robert J. Rotella "Golf is Not a Game of Perfect" is the best book that I have found for the mental side of the game.
Mark Simmons Legend
# 4 12/17/2012 12:21:07 AM
Jim while you may have started this with the only expectation being the opportunity to vent, it is a very good topic to discuss. Already there have been some pretty insightful posts. I'm a guy that as a golfer has been given the nickname "Boring" more times than I can count. Folks see me hitting fairways and greens all day and racking up pars, sometimes twelve or more holes in a row. It sure didn't used to be that way!!! Here's a few big ideas I learned that are keys to being consistent. 1) Become a student of the game. You can't become consistent if when something goes wrong, you don't have a clue what happened. 2) Become a student of YOUR game. Learn what your body does, how it reacts, and so on. 3) Discover and apply the guiderails of the game. Golf is filled with guiderails. Learn what they are and how to use them. Guardrails exist in preshot routines, grip, stance, backswing, and downswing basics and more. We'll probably get into some of those specifics in future posts. 4) Consistency is all about minimizing variability and dealing with what remains. Consistency does not mean identical. We build consistency when we learn to minimize (not eliminate variability) then learn how to effectively work with the variability that remains to create an equivalent level of performance INSPITE of our variability.
gj24 Legend
# 5 12/17/2012 7:13:08 AM
You get to a place in your game where you have to either focus on the fundamentals, get lessons or you just have to go with what you have that day. My practice time is next to nothing. My scores this time of year have been pretty consistant and thats with 0 practice time. The course I play this time of year doesn't have a range so its pretty much warm up with chipping and putting only. But honestly Jim, sometimes people tend to get too technical with the swing instead of just playing. Right now I would say learn as much about the swing as possible and just try and let it happen without thinking about it. Golf becomes fun when you know what your doing wrong by just watching the ball flight and you know what you need to do to fix it. Problem is fixing it. Just because you know don't mean your going to be able to fix it right away. Have fun with the game Jim. Yes, everyone wants to play well and be consistant, but sometimes its just not in the cards. Keep practicing, but make it fun. Remember, there's nothing out there thats do or die and theres nothing thats going to happen on the course any particular day that is going to change your life. So accept it for what it is, a game!
JayPet Legend
# 6 12/17/2012 8:06:43 AM
It doesn't happen over night and it takes lots of practice but the simple answer is to make your swing repeatable. When you DON'T think about your swing every time you get to your shot, you're there. No magic formula here. Just practice and get very comfortable with your routine and motion.
dewsweeper Legend
# 7 12/17/2012 9:48:49 AM
Jim Flick helped Jack Nicklaus at his first Champions Open after the first day when Jack could not find his swing. Think of what the golf clubs are doing first instead of what your body is doing. To think what the golf club should do then apply your body to acheive that.
Duckhunter Legend
# 8 12/17/2012 12:00:16 PM
If you could every club the yardage you wanted on the line you wanted why even play the game???
Dandy Professional Champion
# 9 12/17/2012 2:08:54 PM
Consistency is an illusion. A good short game is very real and makes up for the lack of consistency that we all face.
LyinLewis Legend
# 10 12/17/2012 3:29:31 PM
Dandy, hit the nail on the head. Take me for instance, I am a low handicapper with a handicap between scratch and 3 for the past couple of years. I go to the course somedays and spray the ball all over the place off the tee. When I can't predict my tee shots I tell myself to just get a chance around the green. Chipping is a safety net that allows you to play freely. The chip shot is also the easiest shot in golf (easier than putting because your expectations are different). Built a chipping game...a real solid chipping game and you can go low regardless of how bad you are swinging. I had a round this year where everything was off...driver, irons, wedges you name it. I think I hit one green in regulation. I shot a 76. Why? Because more often than not I was chipping once and one putting. And if you are playing a match, nothing is more annoying to your competitor as getting up and down all day long.
Goynes42 Professional Champion
# 11 12/17/2012 3:48:45 PM
Yup. I need to put my money where my mouth is and practice short game more, but here is ALL YOU NEED TO DO: 1) Build a long game that simply can get you somewhere on or around the green in regulation. Don't worry about hitting it close. Just get it up there somewhere. 2) Build a solid short game and putter that enables you to get up-and-down the vast majority of the time when you do miss a green. 3) Enjoy shooting in the 70s.
LyinLewis Legend
# 12 12/17/2012 6:04:04 PM
The beautiful thing about chipping and putting is that its something you can work on year round no matter where you live. The key to good chipping is keeping your wrists from uncocking at impact. It is a dead armed chip with no wrist action. This shot (in my opinion) is the easiest shot to master in golf, and yet 90% of golfers flip through impact
Mark Simmons Legend
# 13 12/17/2012 6:39:02 PM
I know guys who can consistently shoot over 100. Is that good?
larryrsf Professional Champion
# 14 12/17/2012 8:37:57 PM
I know guys who can consistently shoot over 100. Is that good? Consistency in ball striking is a product of a consistent top position. A consistent top position is a product of a correct and consistent grip, setup, and backswing. So get those right EVERY TIME. You can practice those in stopped and slow motion. You can practice those in your home while it is raining. Take lessons until you understand how to achieve a correct top position. A teaching pro can show you. Then do it over and over again until your subconscious mind understands what you want. Do it with a 9i until you can hit 10 or 20 in a row, perfect impact, perfect ball flight. Then take that swing to your other clubs. Every time you reach a poor top position you will hit a poor shot. Every time you reach a correct top position, you will hit a good shot. Duh. I think the best training aid ever invented is the Educator from Tour Striker. It teaches what teaching pros do. Most should endorse and love it and use it themselves. Larry
Goynes42 Professional Champion
# 15 12/17/2012 9:01:26 PM
Every time you reach a poor top position you will hit a poor shot. Every time you reach a correct top position, you will hit a good shot. Duh. A correct top position can help, but this is definitely not a true statement. There are so many poor moves a golfer can make to initiate the downswing even from a perfect top position. You can watch my swing (I have a recent video up on my profile)...I'm close to scratch, and a pretty good ballstriker. I have a good position at the top, as you will see. I can still hit bad shots from there. The majority of the time, it's due to a poor move at transition.

JimStipp

Professional Champion

Go to Last Reply

153 Views 49 Replies 3 Likes

Consistency - Consistency - Consistency, how in the world do you maintain consistency with every stance, grip, take away, top position, down swing, impact and follow through?

Although I have improved my scoring, I am unable to be consistent with lower scores and every swing of the club. I practice a lot and usually have great practice sessions but there are to many times that the ball flight and distance is never the same. Lets start with my 9 iron for example. I can go out and hit 10 balls and maybe 3 or 4 of the shots will be the same flight and distance, the remaining shots will vary in distance and ball flight. I will hit a nice 130 yard shot and then hit the next shot a 100 yards. I feel no different in setup or swing (that I notice) but yet the results are always different.

The amount of time I spend practicing my game, I get aggravated that my game is not consistent or improving enough. I believe a lot of my problems are mental thoughts with each shot as I am the player that will usually shoot the highest score in the group and I believe that is what affects my game when I get on the course. I have changed my practice routines many different times over the past 2 or 3 years trying my best to improve across all aspects of the game and then to go out and play when I believe I have it all figured out to discover that nothing has changed in the direction I would like it to.

Just wanted to release some winter blues frustration so it's back to more practicing in anticipation of the 2013 season. Merry Christmas to all.

njgolfer

Legend

# 1 12/16/2012 11:02:20 AM

Welcome to the real world of golf. I have tried to be consistant for over 30 years. It only happens a few weeks out of the year but it is still frustrating and fun to keep on trying. A Merry Christmas to you and all your loved ones, Jim.

dewsweeper

Legend

# 2 12/16/2012 8:51:23 PM

First thing you need to understand in order to play a better game and be able to enjoy the game more.

There is, no consistency in this game. When you are dealing with the human body, nothing is consistent every time out.
even the best of the best in the game will win a tournament with their B game because their A game did not show up that day. Ben Hogan, Vijay Singh practice hundreds and thousands of range balls a day, some days until their hands had blisters. All the practice is good but it also wore out the body. Ben Hogan had those jumbo sized grips on his golf clubs in the later years owing to the arthritis in his fingers.

60-70% accaptable golf shots is rather pretty good. Learn the recovery shots and enjoy the game. Then you will be rewarded.

A couple of good reads for you.
Golf Is Not a Game of Perfect
Golf Is a Game of Confidence
by Robert Cullen, Robert J. Rotella

armygrunt47

Professional Champion

# 3 12/16/2012 9:06:35 PM

A couple of good reads for you.
Golf Is Not a Game of Perfect
Golf Is a Game of Confidence
by Robert Cullen, Robert J. Rotella

"Golf is Not a Game of Perfect" is the best book that I have found for the mental side of the game.

Mark Simmons

Legend

# 4 12/17/2012 12:21:07 AM

Jim while you may have started this with the only expectation being the opportunity to vent, it is a very good topic to discuss. Already there have been some pretty insightful posts.

I'm a guy that as a golfer has been given the nickname "Boring" more times than I can count. Folks see me hitting fairways and greens all day and racking up pars, sometimes twelve or more holes in a row. It sure didn't used to be that way!!!

Here's a few big ideas I learned that are keys to being consistent.

1) Become a student of the game.

You can't become consistent if when something goes wrong, you don't have a clue what happened.

2) Become a student of YOUR game.

Learn what your body does, how it reacts, and so on.

3) Discover and apply the guiderails of the game.

Golf is filled with guiderails. Learn what they are and how to use them. Guardrails exist in preshot routines, grip, stance, backswing, and downswing basics and more. We'll probably get into some of those specifics in future posts.

4) Consistency is all about minimizing variability and dealing with what remains.

Consistency does not mean identical. We build consistency when we learn to minimize (not eliminate variability) then learn how to effectively work with the variability that remains to create an equivalent level of performance INSPITE of our variability.

gj24

Legend

# 5 12/17/2012 7:13:08 AM

You get to a place in your game where you have to either focus on the fundamentals, get lessons or you just have to go with what you have that day. My practice time is next to nothing. My scores this time of year have been pretty consistant and thats with 0 practice time. The course I play this time of year doesn't have a range so its pretty much warm up with chipping and putting only. But honestly Jim, sometimes people tend to get too technical with the swing instead of just playing. Right now I would say learn as much about the swing as possible and just try and let it happen without thinking about it. Golf becomes fun when you know what your doing wrong by just watching the ball flight and you know what you need to do to fix it. Problem is fixing it. Just because you know don't mean your going to be able to fix it right away. Have fun with the game Jim. Yes, everyone wants to play well and be consistant, but sometimes its just not in the cards. Keep practicing, but make it fun. Remember, there's nothing out there thats do or die and theres nothing thats going to happen on the course any particular day that is going to change your life. So accept it for what it is, a game!

JayPet

Legend

# 6 12/17/2012 8:06:43 AM

It doesn't happen over night and it takes lots of practice but the simple answer is to make your swing repeatable. When you DON'T think about your swing every time you get to your shot, you're there.

No magic formula here. Just practice and get very comfortable with your routine and motion.

dewsweeper

Legend

# 7 12/17/2012 9:48:49 AM

Jim Flick helped Jack Nicklaus at his first Champions Open after the first day when Jack could not find his swing.
Think of what the golf clubs are doing first instead of what your body is doing.

To think what the golf club should do then apply your body to acheive that.

Duckhunter

Legend

# 8 12/17/2012 12:00:16 PM

If you could every club the yardage you wanted on the line you wanted why even play the game???

Dandy

Professional Champion

# 9 12/17/2012 2:08:54 PM

Consistency is an illusion. A good short game is very real and makes up for the lack of consistency that we all face.

LyinLewis

Legend

# 10 12/17/2012 3:29:31 PM

Dandy, hit the nail on the head. Take me for instance, I am a low handicapper with a handicap between scratch and 3 for the past couple of years. I go to the course somedays and spray the ball all over the place off the tee. When I can't predict my tee shots I tell myself to just get a chance around the green.

Chipping is a safety net that allows you to play freely. The chip shot is also the easiest shot in golf (easier than putting because your expectations are different). Built a chipping game...a real solid chipping game and you can go low regardless of how bad you are swinging.

I had a round this year where everything was off...driver, irons, wedges you name it. I think I hit one green in regulation. I shot a 76. Why? Because more often than not I was chipping once and one putting. And if you are playing a match, nothing is more annoying to your competitor as getting up and down all day long.

Goynes42

Professional Champion

# 11 12/17/2012 3:48:45 PM

Yup. I need to put my money where my mouth is and practice short game more, but here is ALL YOU NEED TO DO:

1) Build a long game that simply can get you somewhere on or around the green in regulation. Don't worry about hitting it close. Just get it up there somewhere.

2) Build a solid short game and putter that enables you to get up-and-down the vast majority of the time when you do miss a green.

3) Enjoy shooting in the 70s.

LyinLewis

Legend

# 12 12/17/2012 6:04:04 PM

The beautiful thing about chipping and putting is that its something you can work on year round no matter where you live. The key to good chipping is keeping your wrists from uncocking at impact. It is a dead armed chip with no wrist action. This shot (in my opinion) is the easiest shot to master in golf, and yet 90% of golfers flip through impact

Mark Simmons

Legend

# 13 12/17/2012 6:39:02 PM

I know guys who can consistently shoot over 100. Is that good?

larryrsf

Professional Champion

# 14 12/17/2012 8:37:57 PM

I know guys who can consistently shoot over 100. Is that good?

Consistency in ball striking is a product of a consistent top position. A consistent top position is a product of a correct and consistent grip, setup, and backswing.

So get those right EVERY TIME. You can practice those in stopped and slow motion. You can practice those in your home while it is raining. Take lessons until you understand how to achieve a correct top position. A teaching pro can show you. Then do it over and over again until your subconscious mind understands what you want. Do it with a 9i until you can hit 10 or 20 in a row, perfect impact, perfect ball flight. Then take that swing to your other clubs.

Every time you reach a poor top position you will hit a poor shot. Every time you reach a correct top position, you will hit a good shot. Duh.

I think the best training aid ever invented is the Educator from Tour Striker. It teaches what teaching pros do. Most should endorse and love it and use it themselves.

Larry

Goynes42

Professional Champion

# 15 12/17/2012 9:01:26 PM

Every time you reach a poor top position you will hit a poor shot. Every time you reach a correct top position, you will hit a good shot. Duh.

A correct top position can help, but this is definitely not a true statement. There are so many poor moves a golfer can make to initiate the downswing even from a perfect top position.

You can watch my swing (I have a recent video up on my profile)...I'm close to scratch, and a pretty good ballstriker. I have a good position at the top, as you will see. I can still hit bad shots from there. The majority of the time, it's due to a poor move at transition.

Participants