CEgolf.com

Casey Eberting Golf Schools and Private Golf Instruction
In Texas Hill Country between San Antonio and Austin, Texas
(35 minutes north of San Antonio International Airport)

The Key To Playing Better Golf

As a golf instructor, my main goal is to improve a client's golf swing, which over time, will make that client a much better player. Because of the emphasis on golf swing mechanics and golf swing improvement, one may easily get the impression that this is what one should concentrate on while playing.

You, as a golfer, need to know that golf swing thoughts, or golf swing mechanics, should primarily be used for the purpose of learning a new motion (developing motor memory), or refining a motion that needs improving. This training should only take place on the range or when swinging around the house or office—definitely not while playing golf!

When you arrive at the range on a playing day, and throughout the day, your only thought should be of where you are going to hit your ball—your target. On the course, pick a spot from which you would like to hit your next shot (another advantage of playing target golf is it forces you to think ahead) and try your best to hit it there.

This sounds easier than it is. Very few people are able to keep their target in mind as they swing. Most who try, pick their target before address but when they get over the ball they start thinking of swing mechanics again.

If you are going to give target golf a try, work on it for at least a few months, preferably a little on the practice tee at first, before judging its value. For at least the first month, I guarantee that you will have a mighty struggle—this is a different way to play golf. It will take time to become acclimated. As you get used to playing and practicing target golf, you will get a glimpse of a new game—a game in which golf is more in the mental realm, not physical. This is the game great players play!

The following is a brief excerpt that I copied from one of my responses on my "Questions and Answers" pages. There is a lot of good information on these pages that isn't covered anywhere else on my site.

let's look at two scenarios. 1) When you stand on a tee and aim in a general direction down the fairway, anytime your ball ends up in the fairway, you have hit your target—you have accomplished your goal. Somewhere in your brain you are rewarded for your achievement. Scenario 2) When you stand on the tee and you aim at a sprinkler head that is 7 yards in from the left rough and 263 yards out and your ball ends up 248 yards out and 5 yards in from the right rough, you have missed your target by approximately 23 yards. Even though the ball is in the fairway, possibly in great position, you have not achieved your goal—it wasn't the shot you were trying to hit. No reward this time!

Which of these two methods of playing do you think will promote precision ball striking and, ultimately, better golf?

I would like to end this page with an excerpt from the October, 1997 issue of Golf Digest in which a 1987 interview with Ben Hogan was reprinted. The interviewer was Nick Seitz.

Seitz: There is a modern theory that when you warm up before a round you don't want to be worried about your swing, you just want to get loose. But it was serious practice with you, wasn't it?

Hogan: I didn't just go out there and hit balls. I tried to narrow this thing down. If I aimed to a tree out there, I wanted to try and hit that tree. Because that is what you do on the golf course: You aim at a specific target.

Seitz: You were thinking target with every practice ball.

Hogan: That's right, because you do it on the golf course. Why go out there and merely take calisthenics and run to the first tee?

Next Page—Why Are Your Practice Swings So Good?

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