“The harder you practice, the luckier you get.”
-Gary Player

It’s been a busy summer here at GU. We’ve been reviewing products, adopting new pets, creating new college football dynasties on EA Sports, and watching too much golf. But despite all of that, we’ve still managed to find new ways to practice and improve our skills the past few months. 

So in honor of that, we wanted to start a little something up where we as a group could track our own skills and see how we are improving - or at least trying to.  We will be giving you all a look into our very own golf games and how, we too, are trying to get better at hitting a little ball into a tiny hole.  Not only is this a fun competition in our own group, but hopefully this will relate to a lot of you.

A Little About Me

I have been playing golf for about 20 years. All of those years were not focused on improving; I was mainly out there to have some fun playing with friends and family. Now that I’m a husband and father (of a very active 4-year-old!), the amount of time I’d like to commit to the game is less than doable.  I currently hold a GHIN of 11.6.

While I have played golf for a long time, there have been several long gaps in that timespan where I wasn’t playing at all. Between school, work, family, and other interests, sometimes golf took a backseat. Even this season, I didn’t get started until Mid-May – which is pretty late for golf in Georgia. I knew if I really wanted to improve this time, I needed to set some goals to work toward. In no particular order, I made a list of some broad things I wanted focus on:

• Scoring no higher than 90

• Practice at least once a week

• Gather more information about my own golf swing

Now, I realize that is a short list and most of these goals are pretty generic. But there are lots of little goals that can be broken down within each major one. So this week, let’s take a look at the “Practicing once a week” goal.  

This was a big one and the most foundational one, in my opinion.  I know that a lot of us may not have time to go out to the course for dedicated practice or lesson time multiple times a week. We may be considered a casual/weekend golfer.  While I am no elite golfer or instructor - and will never claim to be – I do believe that to get better at anything it requires practice.  Going out each Saturday with your group of friends is great, it’s consistent and keeps you active and swinging.  But obviously, that is not the time to work on your golf game either.  It’s too hard to get feedback on why you just hit a slice into the retired couple’s backyard or try to readjust your swing that you just snap hooked right into a 100-year-old pine. (Not that I’ve done either of those…..) You may know that you opened the face, or felt your hands roll over too quickly, but without seeing what led you to that, it is tough to just fix it on the next tee box.

How to Achieve These Goals

That is where I had to start, I needed a way to get some feedback on my swing in order to create any consistency. So my first step was to stop going to the driving range “just for.” When I go to the range now, I go there with a goal in mind and a task to work on.  I used to go to the range, purchase a large bucket of balls, and swing away.  While that can be fun, it wasn’t doing anything for me in terms of feedback or helping me improve. I wasn’t aiming at a target or working on anything specific. 

That is when I started looking on Google and YouTube for drills I could use. (Sorry to those who despise YouTube golf tips.) While doing these drills, I would make sure to take a video of myself.  That alone was the biggest help - being able to watch a video of your own swing, and then compare it to one you just studied or even against another video of yourself, allows you to get a visual of what changes need to be made. You may be able to watch a YouTube video or even get a lesson, but having a visual of your own swing will help tremendously.

In addition to improving my range sessions with drills, I wanted to have more feedback on my actual swing.  I know all of you have hit a shot that looked great and went too far by 20 yards because you hit a club you thought was the right one but wasn’t. That can be beyond frustrating, especially when trying to break that number you’re hoping for.  That potential birdie putt just turned into having to get up and down off a tough slope or thick lie. Strokes lost simply because you didn’t know exactly how far (or short!) you are hitting your own clubs. 

My solution to this was a device I found online.  It is an entry level, on the go launch monitor made by Flightscope, the Mevo.  Yes, this can be a costly tool that some people feel is not necessary. But for the goals I was trying to achieve, it was well worth the money. I was able to find one on Facebook Marketplace only ten minutes down the road for $220. (They sell new on their website for $349.)  This device is roughly the same size as a range finder, very easy to set up and use.

This tool informs you of multiple data points you can focus on improving.

It offers carry distance, clubhead speed, ball speed, ball height, smash factor and more.  It also has a video feature the records your swing and can be posted side by side along data for that swing.  It is not going to tell you every little detail, but for the price it is fantastic. If you are looking for something with even more data, they now have the Mevo+ on their website. Although the price point is significantly higher, coming in at just under $2000.  But still cheaper than a lot of the other launch monitors out there, while providing the same data. After only using this tool for a few months, I have been able to see a big improvement in my game and scores.  While no its not “cheap” it is far less expensive than the high-end ones in hitting bays.  

Whether you get fancy gadgets or gear doesn’t matter, the biggest thing is just to get out there and get some practice each week. It really has made a huge difference for me.  I hope this has helped you all who may be trying to find the time to get out and improve your game maybe relate to some of us here at Golf Unfiltered as we try to do the same.  Remember to always just go out and have some fun.