Improving without breaking the bank

[Bigwill]

I'm really starting to get serious about wanting to improve my game, but practice, play, and lessons on a consistent basis cost a decent amount of money, which I don't currently have available. My current budget is about $20 every 2 weeks (seriously). Any creative ideas for improvement on a budget? Any suggestions are welcome.

Thanks.

 

[c21heel]

Bigwill, do you have access to an open area to hit pitches and chips? If so, I would recommend you buy a shag bag full of balls and just work on short shots focusing on the flat left wrist through impact. And, I guess the $20 budget includes the Driving Range as well? Most driving ranges have short game areas that you could spend a lot of time on, which we all know is a quick way to improve both your game and scores.

If I was working on a similar budget; I would spend a lot of time practicing the short game at a local golf course or driving range (maximize those purchased golf balls; chip, pitch, putt and then hit then down the range), spend some time reading this board and hitting a bunch of pitches and chips in the back yard. And, when you can afford it, treat yourself to a round of golf and/or lesson with a good instructor.

Another thing to consider, my friend bought a practice net and hits balls into the all the time. He hits the ball very well and spends a lot less money than I do hitting at the local driving range.

Good Luck!

 

[mrodock]

You might want to see if there are any pro-rated driving range memberships. Perhaps a place would sell a $120 range membership for the rest of the year as an example. I couldn't believe when a practice range in my area offers a $40/month range membership.

 

[Perfect Impact]

Search for books and dvds on instruction that have endorsements and support from "the public" -- real live experiences of real people being helped - (as opposed to official sounding certification, which often has nothing to do with quality to help you as much as those endorsements that are contrived for commercial purposes).

You can get 20 lessons from a $30 book if you pay attention to it and actually do things it says to do. I.e, you don't learn to ride a bike by reading about it: GET ON THE BIKE (and do it exactly as taught).

That'll well fit into your budget, along with sensible practice in front of a mirror, in the yard with whiffle balls, and on an indoor outdoor carpet for putting and chipping....

 

[mrodock]

Those "almost golf" balls are supposed to be quite good, could allow you to practice at a local park or something.

 

[bendet3]

Spend your first $20 right here and purchase Brian's video shorts, they are great! Well worth the $.

 

[tourdeep]

“Fixing it after the swing”…from the stallion’s Flipper vid

I'm really starting to get serious about wanting to improve my game, but practice, play, and lessons on a consistent basis cost a decent amount of money, which I don't currently have available. My current budget is about $20 every 2 weeks (seriously). Any creative ideas for improvement on a budget? Any suggestions are welcome.

Thanks.

A mirror, a club, and you.

Assuming the fact that one is not a visual learner (most young kids are great at it), and more of a feel type learner with massive repetition necessary to ingrain that feel, “kinesthetic identification” is a great alternative, if not a necessity.

Essentially, it is holding those positions (3-10 seconds) that are vitally important to grooving a sound golf swing tailored to your body. Feeling that position, getting feedback from your body senses and a visual check with the mirror to place feeling to that position probably work better for those of us who’ve ingrained bad swing habits over the years. We’ve got to deprogram and reprogram.

Setup, takeaway, top of swing, transition, release, impact fix, follow thru, finish, are all key areas of the golf swing. Feeling and getting immediate feedback from a mirror on the checkpoints can help tremendously in building a swing if there is time, patience, commitment, plenty of reps, and a belief that it will work.

I think you will find the biggest cost will be your time and patience.

 

[Bigwill]

Thanks for all the responses. I'll be trying to apply what's been said so far to see what works. George's post about getting a good instructional book is something that I've done a lot in my 6 years of playing. I figured "Hey, it worked for Larry Nelson". I discovered in the last year that I learn best by feeling what I need to do, and so I haven't been able to improve at all by appying things that I've learned in books, mags, or dvd's. Thanks again for the responses.

 

[Brian Manzella]

Well there is this forum....

..and it IS free!

And, you can practice in a mirror—free.

And you can hit balls in a field—free after shag bag abd used ball purchase.

And you can have a friend upload your swing to this site and you'll ghet lots of free advice from the peanut gallery.

And you can buy two PLASTIC flashlights, D-batteries and DUCK Tape, tape the flashlights together and work on your plane line.

And keep coming to this free forum—fo'free!