Do You Play?

Golf is a game to be played.  Unfortunately, many golfers hit a ball around a golf course and never really play the game.

Learn more at golfecoach.com

For many pros, teaching golf has morphed into fundamentals and mechanical practice.  Golfers can be limited by the belief that they must master one fundamental before tackling another.  It is not that fundamentals are irrelevant -- it is the premise that with the singular emphasis on fundamentals, golfers may never be 'allowed' to progress into the play of the game.

To play a game it involves different 'maneuvers' or plays.  You don't play Monopoly by rolling the dice and moving your piece around the board.  To play, you actually buy properties, charge rents, improve properties, and sometimes pay penalties for actions.  In golf, trying to hit the ball straight every time on the golf course is like rolling the dice, moving your piece, buying Baltic Avenue, sometimes falling off the board, and moving back to Go to try to it again.

Some pros won't teach golfers how to curve the ball until they can learn to hit it straight.  But, paradoxically, if they can't hit it straight, they can already curve it...and often, the course curves the ball for them.

Some pros believe that mental intensity is the missing link to performance.  But, even the most intense mental effort cannot overcome all conditions on the course, and failure to consider them contributes to failures.

Mandating straight performance is a mistake.  The search for a good swing nears success until the golfer hits the first hole.... then, it's about how well he plays...

Deep Play?

"Deep Play is the 'Play of the Game' that is lost to players who embrace long periods of mechanical practice as the most essential part of training." 


How does that grab you?  The 'Play of the Game' is what drives this blog, and it certainly includes swing mechanics.  But, somewhere along the line with all the launch monitors and videos and 3-D swing analyses, it seems no one is playing the game anymore.  Just what does 'playing the game' mean?  That's the key question. 


Players still fail on the golf course, even with massive amounts of practice.  Vijay Singh is one of the most renowned and revered 'practicers', but has he perhaps limited his success by what he practices? 


With Deep Play, we're going to explore what it means to 'play' golf, and how to effectively 'golf' your ball around the course. 


“The true difficulty in golf is not in repeating a swing. It is the belief that for ball control on the course you must repeat the same swing.”

 

What does it mean to you to Play Golf?

 

-- Bob Duncan, golfecoach.com