The Best Players at Your Golf Club

[Tball88]

Some things I've noticed about the best players at my club.

1. They don't practice much
2. They started playing young
3. They don't get lessons
4. They have one swing and they don't mess with tinkering around with whatever the latest article in Golf Digest was
5. They have good short games
6. They don't appear to think much, swing is ingrained they aim and fire. Usually the better players play fast, the worst one's play slow.
7. They think about Golf very little, it's a secondary thing for them, behind fishing, hunting, family, or whatever.
8. Usually what I would call feel players, not mechanical players. Oftentimes the swing is kind of ugly looking, but they know what it does and how to score.



Just some observations.

 

[magicmarker]

agree completely with 3, 4, 5, 6, and 8.

 

[brian ridley]

Mmmm not sure? The best players not just at my club but in my area

1.Practice Lots
2.Started at varying ages
3.All taking lessons
4.They will have a 'stock take it to the bank shot' but they are always tinkering, experimenting.
5.They all have better than good short games
6.I am pretty sure they are thinking, there pre shot routine is so engrained that it just appears they aren't
7.Would not know about the importance of golf in the life but pretty sure it's high up the list
8.i am pretty sure most elite players know how to get the job done however they swing it! Maybe if the better players at your club took more lessons the swings wouldn't look so ugly!

I am going to make an educated guess that this would vary club to club to be honest!

 

[Jim Kobylinski]

Some things I've noticed about the best players at my club.

1. They don't practice much
2. They started playing young
3. They don't get lessons
4. They have one swing and they don't mess with tinkering around with whatever the latest article in Golf Digest was
5. They have good short games
6. They don't appear to think much, swing is ingrained they aim and fire. Usually the better players play fast, the worst one's play slow.
7. They think about Golf very little, it's a secondary thing for them, behind fishing, hunting, family, or whatever.
8. Usually what I would call feel players, not mechanical players. Oftentimes the swing is kind of ugly looking, but they know what it does and how to score.



Just some observations.

The bolded one is the reason for most of the others imo

 

[ZAP]

Most of the good players around here play so much that they don't have time to practice

 

[mjstrong]

The golf club that I'm a pro at has quite a few good players; their scratch teams have won the city competitions for years, recently. Here are my related observations after a few seasons:

1. Most of our + hcps practice fairly regularly
2. Most of them definitely started playing fairly young, but not all
3. Most don't get "lessons," but even those that don't will still ask for an eye on the range from time to time. They just don't normally need a full lesson...
4. I don't think many are looking to "change" their swings very often, just work on "maintaining."
5. They have good short games, absolutely.
6. They don't appear to think much, swing is ingrained they aim and fire. Usually the better players play fast, the worst one's play slow.
7. Most of our guys still talk golf away from the course, but I'm sure many have very balanced lives.
8. Similar to #4, I don't think most of them would be preoccupied with too many mechanical thoughts,

 

[mgranato]

In our area...

1. Play way more than practice.
2. Always play for money.
3. Respect scores more than swings.
4. Can smell blood from the parking lot.
5. 90% match play to 10% stroke play.

 

[JEREMY5577]

What drives me nuts about the good players at my club is 1 thing...
1. Don't have nice sounding impact, but still hit it decent (which drives me nuts when they pose after an awful sounding shot that lands 5' from the flag) and I'm like wtf was that???

 

[Robbierob99]

.... me included

1. Good, but they aren't as good as they think they are
2. Don't dwell on bad shots, holes, breaks, etc
3. Serviceable to great short games
4. Know their predominate miss most days
5. Hit wedges inside of 25' 95% of time
6. Bad shots don't kill round
7. NEVER SEEM to be HAPPY WITH HOW THEY ARE PLAYING

 

[Erik_K]

Not part of a club, but in my league I notice the better players:

1) Find the fairway often - not a lot of lost tee shots
2) Decent to excellent short games - they have no fear pitching over bunkers, they can chip well, sand play is OK
3) Their misses are playable
4) Agree with others that the better players seem to play rather quickly - no practice swings, step back, make 5 more swings than pull the trigger
5) They hit the ball pretty straight for all shots

 

[Kevin Shields]

Most started playing young but I agree not all
Can shoot a good score whether they hit it good or not
The ones who started young have legit short games, the ones who didn't often don't
Have swings and putting strokes that look athletic, but some might say technically not perfect
Agree that they care about score but still want to hit it good
Practice a ton
Someone said they aren't as good as they think they are and I agree with that

 

[BIGBALL]

Of all these - I thinking starting young is probably the biggest advantage. For 90% of the golfing public, it is much easier to learn & ingrain a good swing when you are young, and really "Don't know any better!" And I would say that some of that has to do with not having as much mental baggage making it easier to learn, but also has to do with maybe having more time to devote to practice when it is easier to ingrain a good swing...

 

[wulsy]

Saw a couple of old codgers on the range yesterday at a decent club who were pretty decent players. Been doing the same thing for years no doubt. Just perfecting their control of THEIR swings.

One guy hit about 30 balls from about 80 yards inside a circumference of about 3 yards. Fekin impressive. But the poor dude could hardly hit the green from 30 yards. Therein lies the problem for people who stick with what they've got: they never improve their inherent weaknesses.

 

[Tball88]

One of the guys who won our member/member this weekend, did not hit one practice ball at all, not even a warm up shot, barely got there before his tee time. Played college golf, hits a punch draw and can roll out of bed after not playing for six months and shoot 68-75, drives a guy like me who practices all the time absolutely crazy...

 

[Kevin Shields]

.....and don't forget, their fathers were probably good players

 

[Keefer]

The two best players (~ scratch) in our Quota Group have different stories. One started young and had lessons from Harry "Lighthorse" Cooper growing up at Westchester CC in N.Y.. This guy had a bad slice when he was young and Cooper asked his father whether he wanted him to fix it or learn to play it. His father said fix it. This guy has his own repeatable unique swing. It is a very short backswing / very fast tempo swing. He's now ~ 69 years old.

The other didn't start until he was 35 (now 65) and looks just to be a natural at golf.

Neither practice very much except to hit a few balls before they play. I doubt there is a common denominator to being a good golfer. Like some other things in life, a few find golf easy when most find it hard.

 

[Jared Willerson]

Starting young is a huge advantage, especially with the short game. There is something about learning a skill as a kid, it never really goes away.

I do play with a lot of guys that started in their twenties, who were athletes in other sports and are all around scratch, they all hit it decent and have decent short games but what allows them to score day in and day out is their ability to manage what they have, most scores between 71 and 75. Will they every be "plus 5" tour or national amateur contenders? Not likely, but their handicaps will always stay in that plus one to minus 2 category. Solid club, local, perhaps state amateur players. That is pretty good golf.

Also, most of these guys realize how far off they are from being on a national elite level and realize that unless they catch lightning in a bottle, an ex college player, mini tour player, kid that played since they were 8, are always going to have a bit of an advantage.

 

[Jared Willerson]

This past summer I played a round with a guy that made a run on the Carolinas Tour. He played in college and is an excellent player. I played really hard, was grinding on every shot and shot a couple over. He shot an easy 66, never once was he in trouble, misses were always to the correct side, always had the ball in the proper place. Granted, this was a casual round but I realized that I will probably never shoot a 66 that looks that easy. Can I shoot 66? Yes, but doing it that easy? No.

 

[Kevin Shields]

What would your 66 look like? I'll bet easier than it feels to you.

 

[SPmoser87]

A few things that I've notice about the best players at both the club where I work and the club where I'm a member are:

1. They play more than they practice.
2. They are not super technical.
3. They tend to work on putting and short game more than anything else.
4. They put themselves in situations where they are uncomfortable; too much money out on the bets or playing in a state or USGA event.
5. They don't quit on a round, ever. No matter how bad things go, they grind.
6. They prefer to play with the other better players.
7. They love to win and hate losing, but lose repectably.
8. They have an innate trust in their playing abilities. They don't question decisions, just make them, accept the result, and go about their business.
9. They have fun on the course.