We all need to have a certain time of year where we can evaluate our golf game and determine if we are willing to make necessary adjustments to improve it. For most golfers winter time is that golden opportunity.
So what are some great ways to take advantage of not being able to get outside to play and practice as much as we like? Below are a few aspects of the game you should be concerned about this time of year.
Fundamentals
Maintaining proper fundamentals is a year round task, but winter months offer an opportunity to get serious about making necessary changes and learning to stick with them. For example, grip and posture are always two fundamentals I see students struggle with the most. You can take 5 minutes per day, practicing your grip and getting in front of a mirror to work on the correct posture without having to leave the comfort of your own home. Even if your grip and posture are already fundamentally sound, do this to keep the “rust” from forming during winter months.
Path and Clubface
Any golf instructor will tell you that if you have good swing path and clubface position through impact, then good things are likely to happen when you hit the ball. Problem is, changes related to path and clubface aren’t always the easiest to implement into our game midseason. That makes winter the perfect time to get with a PGA professional and make sure your path and clubface are helping you make the kind of contact you want with the ball. Several teachers are now using cutting edge technology like Trackman and FlightScope to measure the path of the club through impact as well as the position of the clubface. With this data, you and your teacher will know exactly what needs to improve, but most importantly, you will have a way to measure that improvement.
Make Solid Contact
Most of our practice during winter months will be indoors, whether it is making swings in your garage, or actually hitting golf balls into a net. With golf clubs being as forgiving as they are these days, it’s not as easy as you think to guess where the ball is hitting the clubface. It is very important that you know the quality of the contact you are making, especially if you can’t see how far the ball is going. Applying impact tape is one way to see this, but there’s a cheaper and easier way. Use a dry erase marker to make a mark (about the size of a coin) on the back of the ball. This will leave a mark on the clubface where the ball hit. Then all you have to do is wipe it away with your finger, and do it again. You can also use Dr. Scholl's foot powder spray to apply to your club face so that the ball leaves a mark where it made contact.
Combine proper fundamentals, good path and clubface positions, with solid contact, and that will be the most valuable practice you can have, no matter what time of year!!
