GolfPlus July 2018 Digital Edition (July 2018) | Page 41

middle of the fairway 300 yards. However,
you can only get that kind of satisfaction
14 times during a round. You have many
more opportunities at ¿ nding satisfaction
on pitches, chips and putts during a round.
A good short game is one of the keys to
lower scores and a more satisfying round
of golf. So you need to ensure you devote
quality time to all parts of the short game,
at least the putting and chipping part.
Before you practice or play you should
warm up properly. Many golfers don’t
take this important step and they miss out
on maintaining À exibility, developing a
good rhythm and getting a good feel for the
greens before they play.
day working on their game. It is their livelihood after
all. If they don’t make the ‘cut’ after 36 holes they
go home with no prize money. Yet they still have to
pay for transportation, hotels, food and entry fee not
to mention they have to pay their caddy. No wonder
they devote years of acute preparation to perfecting
their game.
You need to ensure a certain amount of time each
week to work on the game. Let’s say that you
devote two hours in one session a week to this task.
Congratulations! You are already 10 steps ahead of
everyone else. So you get to the driving range and beat
balls for the entire 2 hours. Unfortunately, you’ve not
only lost the 10 steps ahead and all you’ve achieved is
probably getting exercise and reinforcing bad swing
habits.
Whatever time you have; use it productively. I see
people on the range hitting mostly drivers while
the putting green remains empty. Yes, there is great
satisfaction to seeing the ball À y straight down the
GolfPlus
JULY
2018
47