Review All Thing Golf

More often than not, a golfer can compensate for poor driving, poor iron shots, or poor wood shots during a round.  It is far more difficult, however, to make up for a series of three-putts or par misses during a round because of how vital putting is in golf.  Along with putting, chipping and pitching are really irreplaceable in golf because they cannot be substituted like a drive can.  Laying up with irons if your drive is off, or trying to drive a green instead of relying on irons are two ways these parts of the game can be compensated for.  Unfortunately, for many golfers, putting is the aspect of the game that causes the most woes.  Even professionals this past weekend at the US Open struggled putting on the unusually slow greens at Bethpage Black, and had difficulty chipping from the thick rough that surrounded holes like the fifteenth.

Ben Hogan once said that, “There is no similarity between golf and putting;  they are two different games, one played in the air and the other on the ground.”

This distinction truly reveals just how different a putt is than any other shot in golf.  While practicing with a golf driving range mat or golf chipping mat will help with the aspect of golf played in the air, the only way to properly practice putting is on a putting green.  With practice will come the ability to read greens and understand the pace needed for different types of surfaces and green speeds.  Although practice will help, there are some cases, like at Bethpage Black, where the conditions and overall course difficulty will provide too steep a challenge for even the best putters in the world, like Tiger Woods, to consistently make putts.

Perhaps the most difficult aspect of golf is the mental aspect of the game.  Of course, the game is most often played as a leisure activity, but even at this level it is mentally stressing.  The focus required to play the game is extraordinary, and to play it well takes an even greater amount of concentration.  The best way to alleviate some of the pressures surrounding each shot is to practice often in order to become comfortable with your swing and not have to focus on every particular part of your swing during your actual round.  Allowing the swing to become like second nature is essential to having success on the course.

Lee Trevino, two time US Open winner, said that, “Most people want to spend all their time on the golf course, but if they want to be good players they’re wasting their time.  You’ve got to hit balls every day.”

Trevino states something that is essential for all golfers: the need to practice.  Using golf driving range mats can help improve the driver.  Other golf training aids, like a putting green, a golf hitting mat, and a golf chipping mat, can be used in the backyard to help practice golf daily and conveniently.