Developing Golf Skills and Improving Performance

Few people enjoy doing anything poorly and golfers are always passionate about developing their golf skills and improving performance. While it is sometimes difficult to see immediate results from practice and learning on the golf course, there are many benchmarks of success that are achievable and rewarding.

Many professional and amateur golfers set skill-development goals and then craft an effective practice system to meet those goals. Professionals in particular, use on-course performance information to analyze strengths and weaknesses in their golf games and then set practice goals based on this information. This is an effective strategy that works for golfers of all levels.

First, keep a record of vital statistics while you play a round of golf. This is rather easy to do if you simply record a little extra information on your scorecard. Basic performance statistics focus on four areas: hits on the fairways, greens, putts and short-game skills. The first two statistics provide an indication of full swing mechanics; the last two identify player skill within the crucial area 100 yards from the green - the touch shots. Identifying the strongest and weakest areas in your game will allow you to take the second step; setting goals.

If you don't hit the fairway very often, it is difficult to get the ball on the green and give yourself a chance to make a putt for a good score. Missing the fairway means finding your ball in the rough, in the trees, in a hazard or out of bounds. If your game analysis shows that you hit a low percentage of fairways, then this may be an area where you can construct a practice goal. Once your practice goals are set, you are ready for the third step; practice for improving performance.

Golf practice involves comprehension, a deep commitment and evaluation. In other words, you must know what you are working towards and how you are working towards it. You must be committed to achieving that goal and be willing to put in the necessary time, and you must monitor your progress so that once you achieve that goal, you can set and pursue the next goal.

If you were to set a routine goal such as hitting 50 percent of fairways and accompanied that goal by the practice goal of hitting 13 out of 21 practice fairways, you could establish a schedule and monitor your progress.

Next, commit to a regular practice time each week. Begin by taking practice swings in your living room to evaluate your mechanics, but even better, plan on spending an hour or two several evenings a week at a practice range, working on drills. Practice your golf with a goal in mind, because practice without purpose achieves nothing.

Finally, have a mechanism in place to monitor your progress. To see if you can hit 12 out of 20 practice fairways, go to the practice range, take 20 golf balls and see how many you can stroke into a fairway,

Skill improvement doesn't always need to be firmly united to performance, especially for the novice. Developing and achieving practice goals on a practice putting green will speed your progress toward becoming an accomplished putter.