Last month, the LPGA was in Aventura for the Stanford International Pro-Am – an event not unlike the PGA Tour’s Pebble Beach Pro-Am. A number of LPGA stars were on hand to share what they thought were the most common mistakes amateurs make. After Cristie Kerr’s quip, “Where do you want me to start?”, these great ladies of golf shared their top ten.
Take a look and see how many apply to you.
Rank |
Amateur Mistake |
Shared by |
Comments |
1 |
Their expectations are too high. |
Annika Sorenstam Morgan Pressel |
"This is a tough game, and it’s tough (even) when you play every day. If you only play once a week or once a month, don’t have such high expectations." Pressel added, "People will get upset over shots that you know if they stopped counting their score, they would be perfectly happy with. So you say: ‘Look, you hit a great shot. Don’t complain that it’s 10 feet (from the hole) instead of two feet." |
2 |
Their practice priorities are backward: Most amateurs aren’t very good putters. |
Leta Lindley |
"I think they spend most of their (practice) time on the driving range." |
3 |
They swing too hard. |
Meg Mallon |
"Have you ever seen Freddie Couples swing really hard at a golf ball? And how far does he hit it?" |
4 |
They don’t finish their backswing. |
Nancy Lopez |
"I always tell them to finish the backswing before they start the downswing." |
5 |
They don’t take enough club with their irons. |
Juli Inkster Meg Mallon |
"A lot of them, they don’t get to play much. They just want to come out here and hit it." Mallon agrees, "They hit that one 8-iron 160 yards one time and they think they can do that all the time." |
6 |
They don’t pay attention to course management. |
Annika Sorenstam |
"I see this a lot at my academy in Orlando. I take our guests out and I do course management. It’s almost like they don’t plan ahead; they think because they’re on the tee it means driver. I always tell them to think about where they want to hit their second shot from. You’ve got to think ahead before you just hit it." |
7 |
They don’t have proper speed on their putts |
Annika Sorenstam |
"They focus so much on the line sometimes that they don’t think about the speed. To me, speed is almost more important than the line, because if you don’t have the speed, it really doesn’t matter." |
8 |
They have too much body movement. |
Leta Lindley |
"I see a lot of movement on their short-game shots, whether it’s putting or chipping. All that movement – if they could keep their bodies still a little bit better, then their short game’s going to improve a lot." |
9 |
They’re in too big a rush |
Meg Mallon |
"I think that’s the biggest thing that they do. And they try to do things that they’re not comfortable doing. Stay in your comfort zone. We (pros) have to do the same thing." |
10 |
They don’t have fun. |
Annika Sorenstam |
"I do this for a living and they don’t, so I try to make that clear. They’re very good at what they do, and I happen to be decent at what I do. Let’s just have fun. You play to your level and I’ll play to mine. Enjoy the fun format and the facility." |
For me, #1 is absolutely #1. I have such a hard time managing my expectations on the course. Not only do I expect to be able to take my range game to the course (which never happens), it is not uncommon for me to birdie a hole and double bogey the next because of unrealistic expectations. I once did a whole post around just this challenge, that even the pros like Mike Weir struggle with...
As for the rest, I think I regularly struggle with 5 or 6 of them. Sigh...will this game ever get any easier? Time for me to get back to the GFW Challenge for help.
Golfgal
Well done Golfgal, all true. About expectations....Some of my best rounds have been early in the season. Long winter, no anticipation of scoring well. Just glad to be outside without a parka on. Next thing you know, great score. The chase that follows to top that score rarely works out well. If you've time I have a related article called "Ten Average Golfer Myths Debunked"
If I follow 1/2 of the advice you've listed I'm bound to shave a few strokes.
Posted by: Bobbio1 | May 18, 2008 at 08:55 PM
Hi Bobbio
I just went and read your article. It made me LOL! And is worth adding a link to right here:
http://averagegolfer1.blogspot.com/2008/04/10-average-golfer-myths-debunked.html
Thanks!
Golfgal
ps: I need to work on #10 in my list this week - golf was not fun this weekend - why? Too high expectations! Quite the vicious circle eh?
Posted by: golfgal | May 20, 2008 at 04:05 PM