3 Most Common Mistakes In Golf (times 5)
Touring professionals are often asked, “What are the most common mistakes you see your amateur partners make in pro-ams?” Usually, the answer is limited to one or two things, which is understandable. Touring pros are more focused on their own games instead of the amateurs’.
Teaching professionals, on the other hand, are trained to observe others, and can come up with a more comprehensive list. The USGTF Technical Committee has put together a list of what it believes are the three most common mistakes in five different phases of the game: Driving, iron play, pitching, chipping, and putting.
DRIVING
Using driver when you shouldn’t.
It seems no matter what trouble lurks ahead, many golfers pull out the big stick and whale away. Players should remember that the role of the tee shot on a par-4 or par-5 is to not find trouble; very seldom is there an attacking situation with a driver. If a tight par-4 can easily be reached in two shots with less than a driver off the tee, a better play might be to use a 3-wood or even a hybrid.
Swinging too hard.
Maybe amateurs get enamored with the 300-yard drives they often see the pros make, or maybe they feel they simply have to hit the ball as far as they can. Whatever the case, many players stand up to the ball and try to rip the cover off, instead of taking a controlled swing. Most pros say they swing between 80-90 percent of their maximum effort off the tee, and that’s a good rule of thumb for amateurs, too.
Wrong driver specs.
Using too little loft and too stiff of a shaft are common specification errors from which many golfers suffer. With the myriad of driver options available today, there is no excuse for a player to have the wrong driver in his or her hands.
PITCHING
Little or no turning of the body.
Since a pitch shot is really a miniswing, the turning of the body should not be neglected. Players may take the club back properly, but then forget to turn their body back through along with their arm swing. A feeling of allowing the body to turn with the forward motion of the club, rather than forcing it to turn, can be helpful.
IRON PLAY
Not using enough club.
It’s rare to see amateurs hit the ball over the green, or, in many cases, to even hole-high. The number to know is the average carry distance of each iron, not the total distance. Unfortunately, many golfers base their iron selection on their best shot ever – never mind that it was downhill and downwind. With electronic measuring
devices, and with Google Earth to measure landmarks
on the course, golfers today have the ability to know
their actual carry distances to a very precise number.
Trying to help the ball into the air.
This might be a malady more confined to inexperienced golfers, but staying on the back foot in a misguided attempt to get the ball into the air is a common problem.
Shooting for sucker pins.
Even professionals occasionally shoot for flagsticks that they shouldn’t. A good visualization for many golfers when facing a sucker pin is to imagine a “fairway” between the flagstick and the edge of the green that is farthest away, and shoot for that.
Deceleration.
This happens to many players, including accomplished ones. You can tell players are decelerating when the backswing is longer than the follow-through. As long as the follow-through
is at least as long as the backswing, a proper
accelerating swing usually results.
Scooping with the hands.
Overactive hands are the bane of many players in all phases of the short game. Two drills are effective for pitch-shot scoopers: 1) Use the claw drill, where the player employs a double- or triple-overlap to help take the dominant hand out of the stroke; 2) let go with the trailing hand at impact to lessen its influence.
CHIPPING
Using the wrong club.
The Technical Committee has observed that, for some reason, more and more players seem to be using only a wedge, particularly a sand wedge, for hitting chips. Traditionally, players were taught to use a mid-iron near the
greens. This is not to say a wedge cannot be effective near
the edge of the green, but using a less-lofted club with more
of a putting-type stroke will probably improve most players’
chipping.
Falling back.
Many golfers tend to lean or fall back in an effort to help the ball into the air. A good drill to combat this is to place most of the weight on the forward foot with the rear foot moved behind the player so that only the toe is on the ground. This forces the weight to stay mainly on the front foot.
Scooping with the hands.
In chipping, scooping is done mainly through the dominant hand. Two drills are helpful for chipshot scoopers: 1) Place the butt end of the grip against the lead forearm and then take a normal grip.
During the stroke, the butt end of the grip should not move from the forearm; 2) take an old 7-iron,
cut a hole in the top of the grip, and place a shaft into it. The player should grip normally with the
extended shaft outside his or her lead hip. This is a time-tested chipping club that many teachers and
coaches have used.
PUTTING
Flicking with the dominant hand.
Many golfers take the putter back properly with both hands, but then often “flick” at the ball with the dominant hand taking a leading role. There are some training aids to address this problem, but the chipping drill where the butt end of the grip is placed against the lead forearm can also be used in this situation.
Under-reading the break.
Dave Pelz conducted a famous study that showed almost all golfers, even touring professionals, greatly under-read putts. This study has been replicated by the Technical Committee,
and similar results were found. Hitting putts croquet-style or putting on a dew-covered green can help golfers get a better sense of how much a putt actually breaks.
Lack of distance control.
We saved the best for last! In the Technical Committee’s opinion, this is by far the most important factor in putting, and perhaps in all phases of golf. Studies have shown that the best force to hit a putt on excellent greens is the force to finish about eight inches behind the hole, if missed, and 17 inches by the hole on greens that are not perfectly smooth. Most golfers practicing their putting don’t really put much effort into distance control. They simply hit putts, and if it goes in they think it’s a good putt, and if not, it’s a bad putt. Instead, they should strive to get all “makeable” putts of about 20 feet (6 meters) or less to finish within one clublength past the hole, if missed. Focusing on this most important aspect to this degree is sure to help any golfer’s putting ability.
