Are You A FOODIE?

#1 REQUEST FROM GOLFERS…CONSISTENCY

Private Lessons

by Darrell Klassen

Study after study shows that golfers all want to become more consistent with their shots, and with their golf game. What is consistency in the first place? I thought I would go to Mr. Daniel Webster for the answer: “the achievement of a level of performance that does not vary greatly in quality over time; His principal problem in golf has been consistency.”

So that’s how the dictionary defines consistency! What a coincidence! I have consistently defined it in the very same manner down through the years. Well, I have used a different set of words, but I believe my definition is about the same as Mr. Webster’s. I have always said, “What golfers call consistency could better be described as perfection.”

Golfers typically want to hit all–yes, I did say ALL–of their shots with any given golf club, the same. They do not want to hit one shot like a touring professional, and then hit the next ten of them like the amateur they, in reality, are.

I have asked golfers for over thirty years how many greens they feel they should be able to hit in what we call regulation. Almost without fail the average 10 handicapper will tell me he feels he should be able to at least hit ten or eleven of them in eighteen holes.

I am going to quote you a statistic which will probably blow your mind. This is a pure statistical fact. The typical 10 handicapper, statistically, averages hitting three greens in an eighteen hole round of golf.

I then proceed to ask them how many greens in regulation they think the very top touring professional hits on the average throughout the season. A very common answer is something in the fifteen to sixteen range. The answer for the past thirty-seven years I have followed that statistic is in the 13.5-13.7 range.

Did you get that? The most accurate professional on tour year in and year out only averages hitting thirteen and a half greens per round.

Come and do a bit of simple mathematics with me. That same touring player carries a handicap of +5 to +6. That is fifteen to sixteen shots per round better that the 10 handicap player can play the golf course. Fifteen to sixteen shots better than the amateur for every full eighteen hole round of golf he plays.

If one were to deduct one green in regulation for every stroke difference in their handicap, the 10 handicap player wouldn’t even be averaging one green in regulation per round. Actually, if one merely took the difference between dead scratch, a zero handicap, and the 10 handicap player, and deducted one green in regulation for each of those ten strokes, he would average 3.5 greens per round.

Why do I take the time to go into all of this? I just like for you to get in front of a mirror and take a good look at the person you see. Then tell him to lighten up a bit on himself and his golf game.

A father out on the front driveway shooting baskets with his son knows in his heart he cannot play against Kobe Bryant. Any 10 handicapper knows in his heart of hearts the could not play Phil Mickelson even up for $100,000. Yet the same golfer honestly believes he should be hitting nearly as many greens in regulation as Phil does.

Phil is now ranked either as the #1 or #2 player in the world, and he averages just around the 12.8 to 13 green area. What do you think makes him such a marvelous player? Unless you said it is his short game, you missed it by a mile. He has what I believe to be the best short game in golf today.

I have worked with a number of youngsters who were attempting to make it to the top and become a PGA Touring professional. Without fail I have told each and every one of them that they would never make it UNTIL they developed a short game which rivals the quality the one Phil Mickelson has developed. Only a couple have taken that advice to heart, and only a couple of them have it all the way to the big time.

This all started with the statement that golfers worldwide have as their number one desire in the game that they want to become more consistent. This one should shock you a bit, also. Guess what the number one thing the PGA Touring professionals would like to have in their game? Consistency!

If the greatest players in the world are looking for more consistence, then what makes you think you are going to satisfy your definition of it in the very near future? It just isn’t going to happen. What you should really be working on with all of your might is to develop your short game.

My dad couldn’t hit a golf ball out of his shadow when he was 70 years of age, but he could still play to a 5 handicap. He was able to do that because he had a short game that was nearly as good as the average to lower players who make in the vicinity of $2 million per year out on the PGA Tour. He never worked on his golf swing, and it was never very good. But he could get a golf ball into the cup about as quickly as anyone in the game from 100 yards and closer.

Consistency? If you really want consistency, you had better learn to chip, pitch, and putt like a professional. That will take some work on your part, but what is there of any value in life that doesn’t?