June Newsletter- Consistency?

As long as I have been at this, I’ve never played around with the idea of writing a newsletter. The idea was floated to me last week by one of my players, and upon further contemplation, I can see the value it can afford those interested at the club. 

For those of you that don’t know me by now, my name is Mike Krahe. I’m the Director of Instruction at Continental Country Club and have been in this role for the past five seasons. When I’m not at the club, I’m coaching in Phoenix or around North America for Tour Striker Golf Academy. In that role, I’m a Master Level Instructor, working under the #7 ranked Instructor by Golf Digest in the Country- Martin Chuck. For those of you that aren’t familiar with Martin, I’d certainly encourage you to check him out. He’s an amazing communicator, which we can all appreciate when trying to navigate changes within the complexities of this game we love. 

Now that the niceties are out of the way, let’s talk golf…

Golf is hard. If you haven’t figured that out by now, it won’t be long before that reality sets in. At Continental alone, I’ve shot 63 more times than I can count, I have made a hole-in-one on holes: #6 (yes it’s a par 4), 2X on #8 (pw and 3i), # 13, and #15. I’ve won 6 City Championships and lost one. That’s a pretty good record, but I still think golf is hard. That’s part of what makes it a great game. Every shot is a new challenge and its never the same from day-to-day. In my experience, the sooner you can come to terms with this concept the better off you’ll be. Any expectations of mastery around this crazy game can be motivators, but they will also be sure to cut your performance and enjoyment down quickly.

With that being said, it’s worth diving into the #1 reason people take lessons from me. Everyone wants to be more “consistent”. I get it, why wouldn’t you want to be? Here’s the problem, you are attempting to hit a tiny ball that is several feet away from you, on the ground, and at high speed. You are doing this with a club that will have the shaft traveling in one direction horizontally, while simultaneously traveling different amounts in a vertical direction. The leading edge of the clubhead can point in one direction, while the loft of the clubface will be pointing in another direction entirely (and yes.. the 3-dimentional nature of impact is confusing and can make your head spin). By itself, this would be enough to make golf hard. Then you can add in different lies, different amounts of wind, altitude, moisture, hard/soft fairways and or greens, course layouts and grass types/ conditions. Oh… did I mention you play golf with other people, not in a bubble? So not only do you have to have sufficient skill to move the club quickly and precisely, but you also have to have the nerve and concentration to do it when it matters. 

If we consider all the demands placed on us to perform in this game, it’s amazing to me that the desire to be consistent still holds precedent in the developmental process. What might be a better mindset, would be to understand that golf is a game of endless variability. Every shot is different than the last, and therefore requires a completely different program from the brain. If your goal is to make consistent swings, you can certainly expect wildly variable results. As an example, the 6-iron you hit off a tee on hole #1 has a different demand than that same 6-iron off a sidehill lie into #5 green, and an entirely different demand than the 6-iron you may hit from the rough into #9. It might be the same yardage, and same club, but the execution is far from consistent if you are looking for similar results. 

Ok…ok... we’ve established that golf is hard. Now before you all hang up the clubs and dash to the pickleball courts, lets look at a few ways we can improve. 

1)  Contrary to popular belief, there is no such thing as muscle memory. Memory is stored and processed in the brain, and as such, we need to do our best to make sure our concepts and intentions are properly placed. Accepting that golf is hard is a start, more-or-less, because it gives you permission to miss. You must have this freedom if you are ever going to improve or perform your best. Toddlers fall over-and-over again before walking. Children fall left-then-right multiple times before learning to ride a bike. For some reason, the adult golfer thinks they should be good at everything right from the start. The fact of the matter is this: every shot you hit will either be good, bad, or indifferent. The reality is that most good players hit in upwards of 80% of their shots with an indifferent outcome. The shot will likely finish around the distance they wanted and somewhat in the desired direction. Rarely do they hit it as well as they know they can, and rarely do they hit it well below something that is functional. Each of us has had glimpses of what we think greatness is in golf, but that doesn’t mean those shots become the “gold standard”. The home run hitter knows they won’t hit every ball out of the park, the tennis player knows they won’t serve an Ace every time, and Steph Curry knows he will inherently miss even when he believes he can’t. So be kind to yourself when you are practicing and playing. If that sounds too much like sunshine-and-rainbows for you, then you can stick to being objective. No one is their best at anything every day. Rather than get on yourself about your small failures, consider concentrating on what you can do better. There’s a good chance it will behoove your performance. 

2)  Try to introduce and welcome variability into your practice. I rarely try to hit every shot straight in practice. If I did, my brain would go on autopilot and the learning would stop. I might get good at hitting 7-iron over-and-over again from a flat lie, but I won’t get very good at meeting the demands of the golf course. Instead, I try to curve the ball left and right, hit it high and low, and do these changes at difference distances with different clubs and from difference lies. If you can learn to do this, you begin to give your brain reference points to draw solutions from. For example, if you know how to swing too far to the right and close the club face too much, you can always navigate your way out of a slice… and vice versa for a hook.

a.  Sample drills: (lefties have to flip instruction around )

 i.  Make the ball curve left: Put a ball on a tee with a 7iron. Start with very small swings felling that you turn the back of your left hand down to face the ground before you make contact with the ball. If it curves left, congratulations- you achieved the exaggeration! If it didn’t curve left, or only curved a little bit, you need to do more of this feel and you need to do it sooner! If this still doesn’t work, watch my Grip Building Video on my website to make sure your hands are on the club in a way that allows the wrists and forearms to rotate adequately. 

 ii.  Make the ball curve right: Do the opposite of the left curve

 iii.  Move your path to the right: Put a ball on a low tee and grab any club you’d like. Take your towel or a headcover and place it just behind and to the right of the ball. If done correctly, the only way you can possibly get the club back to the ball without hitting the object would be to approach the ball from in-to-out. 

 iv.  Move the path to the left: Set up the towel or headcover behind the ball and just to the inside of it so that you can only hit the ball and not the object with a severe outside-to-in club path. 

 v.  Make it dance: Once you can manage your hands to be able to control the face angle, and you can manage your arms to control the path, you are ready to start the ball left and make it curve back to the right(fade) or start the ball to the right and make it curve back to the left (draw). Practice these for a bit. You’ll notice that its easier for you to curve it one way or the other. Spend some time on the one that is hardest for you. The more you do, the more balanced your swing will become and the easier it will be to hit it “straightish” when you play!

If you made it to the end of this ramble, I’m super impressed. I’m sure I would have checked out after the genius statement that Golf Is Hard. Since you stuck around, I hope that means you founds some value in what you read. If you have any questions about the information or drills, you can always call or email me directly and I’d be happy to chat with you to get you on track. 

“I have an above average tolerance for mediocre shots”.

-  Matt Kuchar, when asked about why he has been so consistent.