‘In golf, you don’t really need to re-invent the wheel’

By Rahul Banerji

Every recreational player has experienced the disgust of a badly-hit shot, even those who make a living from golf. It happens to the best.

Many a time, you’ve hit the perfect drive off the tee, only to fluff your lines on the next shot. Slowly, the gremlins and doubts creep in.

“May be this would be a better line, or a more effective way to play the shot instead” is very often the next thought that follows a badly hit drive, or fairway iron.

Then the corrections start, a little but more to the left or right to cater for straying in direction. Only, that doesn’t work either. And gradually, your game unravels.

At other times, the start is an awful one, and one is left playing catch-up for the rest of the way.

So how does one go about finding some consistency in results?

This is a question that has been bothering me for long. Having avoided any real coaching since picking up golf some years ago, it was time to find some answers.

Late, certainly, but better that than never, was the thought.

For Monish Bindra, head coach at the Jaypee Greens academy and many, many others in his line I’m sure, this is an old story.

“Usually what happens is that we get out there on a weekend and we just go and play and hope for the best possible round,” Monish told teetimetales.com recently.

Technicalities in play

“But golf is a little more than hoping for the best because you really can’t reinvent the wheel.”

So why do casual golfers get so frequently hit by the inconsistency bug, I asked him.

“What happens is that you get out there on the weekend, you end up playing like you know, chasing golf,” feels Monish.

“You’re hitting balls to the right and then you try and re-correct it and start hitting balls to the left and this carries on, you know and you don’t really consolidate your swing because you’re only chasing results.

“But the game is actually is more process-based where it is process, followed by the outcome.”

Do the right thing

For the man who gave cricketing icon Sachin Tendulkar his first few lessons in golf, it is about doing a few basic things on a regular basis.

“What I would suggest for recreational golfers is that you guys actually love golf, and like to enjoy playing the sport.

“So, like you send your car for annual maintenance, you should go to a coach for an annual maintenance.

“Take maybe four lessons or eight lessons on your long game, short game and keep in touch with technique because there is no substitute for technique.”

Can technique slip away from casual players and errors return to their game?

“Yes, absolutely,” was the emphatic answer.

“You would have heard of the term muscle memory which we now redefine as neuro-muscular memory.

Practice is the key

“That’s why practice is very, very important and you see the pros and the better players always practicing hard to reinforce their technique, all the time.

“So, you take a bunch of lessons or you get a good tip that works for you but you must get out to the range to reinforce that learning.

“I would also suggest that before starting your round, you get to the range, hit 30 to 50 balls, warm up and consolidate your process, and play with that.

“Otherwise, the first three-four holes are sometimes just horrendous.

“It’s actually your warm-up time and you land up dropping a bunch of shots and that really puts you out of pace, you don’t start on a good note.

Playing catch-up

“You let go the first three-four holes and that does not really put your mind and your body in sync and it’s not really a good way to start.

“You’re basically playing catch-up golf, you’re playing catch up handicap, you’re not really in a great frame of mind.

“So get the bad shots out of the way on the driving range and go out there and enjoy your game to the best of your ability,” is the suggestion of one who’s been teaching golf for the last decade and a half.

Some food for thought. And it works, more often than not. There never are perfect answers to golf gremlins, but you’ve got to start somewhere, right?

Also read: Jeev reflects on a productive career, says self-belief is key