Who's Your Caddie ... On The Golf Course

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Come on, tell me - Who's Your Caddie? I can't tell you how many times I've heard a Golfer tell me that they played better when they've had a chance to play 18 holes with a Caddie. Why is this? And how can you incorporate these same strategies and techniques into your game all the time?

Is it because they're cleaning your clubs after each shot, raking your bunkers or even carrying your clubs? That may be a small influence. Or can it be that after a couple of holes of watching you play, they know more about your game and your abilities than you may know about yourself?

Now, can you learn how to develop this talent and apply it to your game?

I believe that your good rounds with a Caddie are because the Caddie is giving you the correct club for each shot, along with making a PLAN for you. The Caddie isn't allowing you to play shots that you don't have the ability to play consistently. The Caddie is forcing you to play to your Strengths and away from your Weaknesses.

"Mr. Smith, it's 135 yards to carry the bunker on the right, but there's nothing to carry on the left – it's a wide open approach. So aim left and make a smooth swing with your 8-iron." Though, if you were playing without a Caddie, it might've turned out to be you trying to hit the ball over the sand bunker with your 9-iron.

Maybe you need to be your own Caddie on the golf course. Not just doing the usual Caddie duties of taking care of the clubs, sand bunkers and tending the flag – maybe you can learn to PLAN your game around the golf course like a high ranking Caddie would help you do.

When a Golfer is playing on the golf course – they can't see themselves play. And I'm not talking about watching your swing on video. I'm talking about how you play and the decisions you make on the golf course. When a talented Caddie watches a Golfer – that Caddie can see within a couple of holes what distance you should be hitting your 7-iron from. Or I should say – they know the distances you can consistently hit all your clubs.

Yet, many Golfers go for years, hundreds of rounds, thousands of shots without knowing as much about their game as a Caddie would by just watching you for two holes. Now this isn't an advertisement for you to get a Caddie your next round. This is to say – Most Golfers don't have a PLAN based on what truly are their Strengths and Weaknesses.

Are the yardages you can hit your golf clubs - on a consistent basis - important to know?

Absolutely! Because 99% of the time – you have to be your own Caddie on the golf course – and I'm not talking about just the club cleaning and raking the bunker tasks – you need to determine what your abilities are. You need to understand the yardage you can consistently hit your 7-iron as opposed to the yardage you can hit the ball when you hit it your best – "I can hit my 7-iron 155 yards when I hit it well."

Yet, how many times out of 10 can you hit it well? If you hit your 7-iron 155 yards only 3 times out of 10 – what distances and directions are you hitting it the other 7 times? I don't know – maybe 147 yards, but I guarantee that there isn't a Golfer on the Planet that hits the ball the best they can more than 3 times out of 10. And most Golfers are basing their distances on only what they can hit it on their best shots.

Again, this example can be made with any club or any distance that pertains to your game. Let's just make this simple by sticking with a 6-iron and 7-iron, along with a 155 yard shot.

Though, many Golfers blame bad shots primarily on their golf swing – yet, maybe you make a lot of bad golf swings because you continually have the wrong club and an unrealistic PLAN for many of your shots? On the other hand, if you were able to make your PLAN based on how your Caddie would be doing it - by watching you and understanding what your abilities are – maybe you'd come to the realization that if you played your 6-iron from 155 yards that you might hit the ball well 6 times out of 10.

If you could instantly double your consistency by going from one club to another – would you do it?

Though, I'm sure that there are some Golfers that are now saying – "Yea, but what would happen if I hit my 6-iron really well? I don't want to hit the golf ball over the green." Yet, you wouldn't hit it over the green because if it were 155 yards to the center of the green – it's most likely at least 170 yards to the back of the green. And if you hit your 7-iron 155 yards on your best shot – trust me, you're not hitting your 6-iron more than 170 yards on your best swing.

So, if it's true that you should take your 6-iron as opposed to your 7-iron in the example above – and most people don't ever consistently switch to a longer club and swing smoother; usually most Golfers switch to the shorter club and swing harder – but if it's true that you could hit the golf ball better - twice as often: Why wouldn't you do it consistently?

I can't tell you how many times during our GMS 9 hole On-course Training that a Golfer would say that they were going to hit a club from a distance that I knew they couldn't hit the golf ball well - consistently enough. So after a discussion, I'm often able to convince the Golfer to hit their 6-iron as opposed to their 7-iron. And then after they hit the green with their 6-iron, I'd ask them to hit the same shot with their 7-iron.

How many times do you think the person that successfully used their 6-iron was able hit the ball on the same green from that same distance with their 7-iron?

Exactly, less than 10% of the time. Because the Golfer knew that they'd have to swing just a little bit harder ‘to get it there' – and because of that they wouldn't hit the golf ball as solid and they'd end up missing short of the green or flaring the ball off to the side into the sand, water, trees or otherwise.

Why were so many Golfers that took their 6-iron able to hit the green much more often? My belief is that they knew that they had the correct club in their hands and were able to make a smooth, natural swing that had all the parts of their body working together to produce a solid ball strike. Which are exactly the kinds of swings we like to see at GMS.

Why did they miss so frequently with their 7-iron? My belief is that because you know you have to be absolutely perfect, while at the same time giving it a little bit extra to be able to ‘get the ball there' - was enough to throw off your golf swing.

The Monkey just goes out and hits the clubs they always hit because "if I hit it well, I can get it there"

The Player makes a more consistent swing because their PLAN is based on what their Caddie would tell them to do

Go ahead, Be a Player!

Be your own Caddie.

Regards,

Marc Solomon - Your Instructor For Life

www.GolfMadeSimple.com



By the way – Golf Made Simple has just completed our first DVD. After years and years and offers upon offers from people that wanted to produce a DVD for us – we decided we wanted to do it our own way. We've created a DVD to help you become a Player, as opposed to all the other Monkey stuff that's already out there.



Our DVD - How To Improve Your Golf Swing Indoors – is improvement GMS Style. What's GMS Style? It's a Results Based Approach as opposed to a Theories and Assumptions Based Approach.


Please Click here to purchase through our website or call us at 1 (888) 580 - 3635.




Click here to purchase on Amazon.com

and/or to read the reviews of Golfer's that have purchased the DVD

On The Golf Course With Tiger Woods

Now, I know you're excited about Tiger Woods. But, let's all calm down, take a deep breath and repeat after me – 'Tiger is a Player. He holds the title of The Best Player On The Planet. And although I'll never hit the golf ball like Tiger, I can at least watch how he's in control of his game and sticks with his PLAN.'

Was Tiger Woods the best ballstriker last week in the tournament at Bay Hill? Was Tiger the best putter in the tournament?

No, surprisingly enough – he wasn't even close in either category!

Over the 4 Rounds of Golf:

13 Players had more Greens in Regulation than Tiger Woods. In fact, Cliff Kresege hit 7 more Greens than Tiger. Cliff who?

18 Players had fewer Putts per Round than Tiger Woods. In fact, Frank Lickliter had 8 less putts than Tiger.

37 Players hit their average Drive farther than Tiger Woods. In fact, Bubba Watson averaged 22 yards more distance off the tee than Tiger.

46 Players hit more Fairways than Tiger Woods. In fact, Brian Gay hit 10 more Fairways than Tiger.

So what's the point of these stats? The point is that these Players listed above, along with a bunch of other Players, although not necessarily household names – hit and putted the golf ball better than Tiger. And in fact, Tiger wasn't even in the Top 13 in any of these categories!

And if I had taken a poll asking who was the best ballstriker on the PGA Tour – would anyone leave Tiger out of their Top 5?

How is it possible that Tiger wins as much as he does, when he's not the best ballstriker (or according to the stats, not even in the top 13) or in the top 17 best putters? What's the secret to Tiger Woods? Is there any category that he's ranked #1?

Yes, there's one category that he's always #1 – Scoring Average and Winning. Or as GMS prefers to say -- he's #1 in Cashing Large Checks! How is it possible that Tiger is the best at winning Tournaments, but not close to the best in any of the ballstriking or putting categories? Simply put - there's nobody on this Planet that's better at sticking with his PLAN.

How good are you with sticking to your PLAN? Or do you not even have a PLAN?

What's the first aspect in having a PLAN? Knowing your Strengths and Weaknesses. What's the second aspect of your PLAN? Playing to your Strengths on the golf course and staying away from your Weaknesses. And nobody does this as well as Tiger Woods!

Now I've received emails in the past that have said – "Marc, it doesn't matter how I PLAN if I can't hit the ball where I want to." Well, that's the point of your PLAN. Do you think Tiger intentionally tried to miss 27 Greens at Bay Hill?

Of course not, but because he knows what his Strengths and Weaknesses are, he can PLAN for his misses. He can PLAN that if he misses the green, he won't be in a spot near the green that he'd have to play a shot that's a Weakness. He makes a PLAN to only hit shots that he knows won't get him in trouble if he hits that shot bad.

In essence - he makes a PLAN so that he knows that either he's going to hit a good shot or if he hits a bad shot, it won't end up in a place that he'll have to play a shot he can't execute well. Now obviously, every once in a while, we're all going to hit a horrible shot that no PLAN can help – but this doesn't happen as much to Golfers as they might think it does.

Unless of course - they continually attempt to hit a golf club that they're not skilled enough to hit.

Does Tiger hit a 3-wood on every Par 5 when the only club that could get him to the green would be a 3-wood? No. Why? Because the set-up of the hole might mean that if he doesn't hit his 3-wood well – he possibly could end up playing a Weakness the next shot. So, many times he'll play a Strength for his second shot (possibly a 5-iron) that'll put him position to play another Strength (possibly a wedge). And probably make birdie!

Do You Have Any Weaknesses?

Do you have a club in your bag that you only hit well 50% of the time – yet you still play it on the golf course? Do you think Tiger would ever hit a shot that he hits well only 50% of the time? If you only hit a shot well 50% of the time – I'd consider that a Weakness. And a Weakness shouldn't be played on the golf course unless you enjoy hitting bad golf shots and making double and triple Bogey's.

I don't know a Golfer that scores above 80 that hits their 3-wood off the ground well more than 50% of the time. Yet, I know thousands of Golfers that score above 80 that hit it on every Par 5 and a high percentage of Par 4's because as they say – "I'm trying to get close the green." Yet, 50% of the time you hit it bad. And 99% of those bad shots don't get close to the green!

In fact many of those shots end up closer to the trees and/or water than they do the green!

The reason you should have a PLAN is not for your good shots –- the reason for your PLAN is so that your bad shots won't hurt you as much. What are your Strengths? What are your Weaknesses? Have you ever written them down and then made sure that the next round you play that you didn't hit one shot that was a Weakness?

Sadly, that's not the case for most Golfers. Sadly, most Golfers don't even consider their Weaknesses. And sadly, most Golfers end up with scores that reflect that.

The Monkey continually plays their Weaknesses as they wish that magically, one day they'll find the secret of hitting their 3 wood

The Player avoids their Weaknesses regardless of what the other Golfers in their group are wishing for

Go ahead, Be a Player!

Regards,

Marc Solomon - Your Instructor For Life



www.GolfMadeSimple.com





By the way – Golf Made Simple has just completed our first DVD. After years and years and offers upon offers from people that wanted to produce a DVD for us – we decided we wanted to do it our own way. We've created a DVD to help you become a Player, as opposed to all the other Monkey stuff that's already out there.



Our DVD - How To Improve Your Golf Swing Indoors – is improvement GMS Style. What's GMS Style? It's a Results Based Approach as opposed to a Theories and Assumptions Based Approach.


Please Click here to purchase through our website or call us at 1 (888) 580 - 3635.




Click here to purchase on Amazon.com

and/or to read the reviews of Golfer's that have purchased the DVD

Is Your Golf Swing As Consistent As Tiger Woods' Golf Swing?

Continuing from last week's Golf Improvement Weekly about the length of your drives ….. Tiger Woods only hits a drive over 300 yards 24% of the time. Or in other words - only once in four drives. So if his drives over 300 yards can be considered his best drives – then 3 out of every 4 drives the 'Best Player On The Planet' hits would have to be classified as either average or below average for Tiger.

Yet, if the 85, 95, 105 or 115 Golfer doesn't hit their best drive at least 3 out of every 4 drives – you're disappointed. If Tiger is hitting his best drives only 24% of the time – what percentage of time can you expect to hit your best drives?

Well, to help you answer this question, I've come up with a complex mathematical formula (or if I wanted to sound smart – an algorithm) to give both you and Tiger a Consistency Rating to see if your Expectations match Reality – Let's take the years you've been playing golf, add that to the number of days each week you're on the golf course (playing in front of millions of people and/or playing regular rounds of golf), add that number to the hours each week you're on the practice range, then multiply that by the number of PGA Tour Events you've won.

So Tiger's Consistency Rating would be: 30 (years of playing golf) + 6 (days a week playing on the golf course) + 24 (hours of practice each week) x 63 (PGA Tour wins) = 3,780 (Consistency Rating).

Now it's your turn. Take your time and add it up. You probably won't need a calculator like I needed while figuring out Tiger's rating.

Though, based on what my 9th grade math teacher Mr. McNamara taught me – any number times zero equals zero. So since you haven't won a PGA Tour Event – you can't even compare your game to Tiger's. But, even if we blur the lines of Reality a little and give you 1 PGA Tour win – would it make that much of difference?

Tiger plays a completely different game than you and I play!

And although situated in the gap between the Consistency Rating of you and Tiger there are 720 Players playing on the PGA, LPGA, Nationwide and Senior Tour. Along with thousands of Golfers playing on the smaller Tour's (trying to make the big tour), 24,000 PGA Professionals (like myself) and thousands upon thousands of low single digit Players that could probably give you 9 shots a side and still squash you like a grape – there still are many Golfers that have Expectations that they should hit their best drive at a higher rate than not just all these ten's of thousand's of Players above, but also more consistently than the Best Player On The Planet's current rate of 24% of the time!

Tiger's 'only' hitting his best Drives 24% of the time. So in order for you to start playing to your PLAN and your potential on the golf course – it needs to be time to stop thinking you can hit your best Drive a higher percentage of the time than Tiger does.

Once you can move away from 'Unrealistic Expectations' and embrace 'Reality' to accept that as a 95 Golfer that your average drive maybe 210 yards (85 Golfer - 240 yards; 105 Golfer - 180 yards) – your golf swing, ball-striking and scores will improve. The Golfer with 'Unrealistic Expectations' will never be happy with the progress they're making and will continually start to "Fiddle" with your swing in the middle of every round trying to hit that 250 yard drive that in Reality should 'only' happen 12% of the time.

Though, if you're not happy or disagree that you should hit your best shot 'only' 12% of the time? Let me ask you - if Tiger is hitting his best drives only 24% of the time – do you think you should be able to hit yours the same percentage of time as Tiger? Do you believe that your golf swing is as consistent as Tiger's? Or think about it this way - do you believe that you should hit your best shot once out of every 6 Drives which equates to 17% of the time? If so, then you must believe that Tiger is only 29% more consistent than you.

How much more consistent is Tiger than you?

Can this be determined? I'm not sure – I'm definitely not smart enough to figure something like that out. But, I don't believe that I'd be going out on a limb if I said that Tiger is at least 100% more consistent than you or me. And if that's the case – it puts you at hitting your best drives at 12% of the time. Once out of every 8 drives.

And considering that during an 18 hole round, you most likely are using your Driver on 14 holes – it says that you should 'only' hit one or two great drives a round. And just as importantly, it means that need to accept 11 or 12 average to below average drives per round.

Yet, I've seen Golfers on the golf course complain when every other drive isn't their best drive. And because of these 'Unrealistic Expectations' – your game gets worse and worse every shot – sometimes to the point of such disappointment, that you just don't enjoy golf anymore.

Are you expecting too much from yourself on the golf course. Do you have 'Unrealistic Expectations' on the golf course that's causing you to always 'Fiddle' with your golf swing because you're not hitting your golf ball the best you can on every shot? And before you automatically say – "No that's not me!" – you might want to think about it. Because I can't tell you how many Golfers we see each year that don't have a 'Realistic PLAN' and are making it harder and harder for themselves to improve because of it!

The Monkey gets disappointed and starts to 'Fiddle' with their swing if they don't hit their best drive 50% of the time

The Player understands that the 'Best Player On The Planet' (Tiger Woods), only hits his best shot once out of every 4 Drives

Go ahead, Be a Player!

Regards,

Marc Solomon - Your Instructor For Life

www.GolfMadeSimple.com




By the way – Golf Made Simple has just completed our first DVD. After years and years and offers upon offers from people that wanted to produce a DVD for us – we decided we wanted to do it our own way. We've created a DVD to help you become a Player, as opposed to all the other Monkey stuff that's already out there.



Our DVD - How To Improve Your Golf Swing Indoors – is improvement GMS Style. What's GMS Style? It's a Results Based Approach as opposed to a Theories and Assumptions Based Approach.

Click here to purchase our new DVD! or call us at 1 (888) 580 - 3635.


Now Available on



Click here to read what people are saying about the new DVD on Amazon.com!