Instruction

5 ways senior golfers can improve consistency

Published

12 years ago

Jul 9, 2013

One of the most difficult issues that golfers over 50 struggle with more than younger golfers is golf consistency. In this article we will tackle the top five issues golfers can address today to achieve tour-like precision and consistency.

Incidentally, regularly striking the sweet spot is one of the top issues affecting power and distance.

Consistent ball contact is really about executing the correct mechanics. As we have discovered, mechanics are much more difficult to execute when the body is limited by age-related factors. Many golfers struggle with this. Golfers enjoy hitting the ball beautifully one day, and spend the next frustrated wondering where their swing went.

It seems that this is one of the primary reasons golfers fail to drill down and work on mechanics. Because, every now and again, it all comes together and they hit the ball great. They tend to believe they just need to keep practicing instead of exploring the root cause of the swing problem and changing the swing.

Remember that every so often the stars will align and golfers can play a fantastic round of golf with bad mechanics. But there exists little margin for mistakes — all the components must be working perfectly. This is the reason why most golfers have difficulty playing consistently good golf.

In contrast, a golfer with a sound golf swing can even strike the golf ball “well” on an off day when the stars do not align. With good mechanics, they have a greater margin for error.

In summary, if golfers take the time to correct their mechanics, the odds are in their favor and they can still play well, even if they are having a “bad” day. However, the player who does not master the following mechanics will tend to only play well when all their idiosyncrasies are working in perfect timing. The result: no consistency.

1. Let Us Begin With the Quick Tips

The following tips are easy and simple to incorporate.

Quiet the Legs: Regardless of how sound your golf mechanics are, having over-active legs will ruin your golf consistency. Over-active legs are hard to control and very difficult to be consistent with.

Focusing on quiet legs is also one of our top tips to salvage a bad round of golf. Give it a try the next time you are having a difficult time with golf consistency.

The second quick tip is to relax your hands, wrists, and elbows. Again, a flawless golf swing is no match for stiffness in these key joints that control your release into the golf ball.

2. Head and Spine Movement is Much More Difficult to Control in the Senior Golfer

Loss of flexibility is a big issue with senior golfers because in order to maintain their range of motion, they have to stretch. Some do and some don’t. Basically, you want your body to be in a consistent position while you swing the club: You want pure rotation and minimal side-to-side movement and up-and-down movement with your body.

Golfers over 50 struggle with this more due to bad posture. If golfers are unable to keep their mid-back flat in the golf swing, the spine will not be able to rotate very much. When this occurs, most golfers over 50 have to stand up in their backswing and then flex down again in their downswing. PGA pros do this on purpose in the golf swing to add power, but it is very difficult to be consistent with for the average every day golfer.

Stretch your harms forwards, sit back on your heels, hold for 30 seconds.

In addition, golfers over 50 tend to lack enough neck rotation to keep the head still in the backswing. As a result the head rotates and pops up. As far as I am aware, nobody on the planet purposely moves their head very much during the back swing, because it makes consistency extremely difficult.

3. Right Foot Position at the Top of the Backswing

Again, one of the keys to golf consistency is to eliminate excessive and unnecessary moving parts. A key component of this is to prevent backwards swaying in the backswing. Many times swaying is caused by limited right, or trail, leg hip flexibility. Either way, a simple method to control lateral sway is to make sure you feel your body’s weight stay on the inside of your trail foot at the top of the backswing.

If you feel your weight travel to the outside of the foot, then you are likely sacrificing consistency. The age old drill that you can use on the range, is to have a golf ball under the outside of your back foot while you swing and hit balls. Just remember to allow your back foot to come off of the ball as you transition to impact and follow through.

Place golf ball under outside of back foot. Take some practice swings and hit balls. Remember to allow your foot to come off the ball naturally in your follow through.

4. Wrist Position at the Point of Impact

At the position of impact, the lead wrist needs to be flat and the trail wrist needs to be “cupped,” or bent. If the lead wrist hinges, also known as “flipping” because the club moves in front of the hands, the club head will bottom out, or reach its lowest point behind the ball instead of in front of the ball as desired. This increases the odds that the golfer hits the ground and takes a divot before hitting the golf ball.

Left picture is correct. Right picture shows early release and cupping of the left wrist.

The golfer is also more likely to hit the ball thin because if the the club head reaches its lowest point behind the ball, it may only ascend to the golf ball. As a result, the ball will typically be hit low on the club face missing the sweet spot, or worse, hitting the leading edge of the golf club. When the leading edge hits the ball, it will roll on the ground (topping the ball) or result in low screamers that fly past the target. Either way, it is nearly impossible to be consistent unless your wrists are in the right spot.

5. Weight Distribution from Impact to Follow Through

One characteristic that all great iron players and swing methodologies have in common is that their weight is centered or forward of center at impact and in the follow through.

Weight Distribution at Impact.

The reason why your weight should be positioned more forward at impact is the same reason given for wrist positions: to allow the golf club to bottom out after you hit the ball. If you hang back on your back foot, the club head will bottom out before the ball.

This is true with the exception of the driver and some tee shots. With the driver, you want to hit the ball on an ascending path. But you can get away with this with consistency, because the ball is on a tee instead of being on the ground.

Finally, even with the driver, your weight should naturally finish on your lead foot with only the toes of the trail foot touching the ground.

Check these keys for tour-like precision and reliable results!

Instruction

The Wedge Guy: Beating the yips into submission

Published

3 weeks ago

Aug 1, 2025

Terry Koehler

There may be no more painful affliction in golf than the “yips” – those uncontrollable and maddening little nervous twitches that prevent you from making a decent stroke on short putts. If you’ve never had them, consider yourself very fortunate (or possibly just very young). But I can assure you that when your most treacherous and feared golf shot is not the 195 yard approach over water with a quartering headwind…not the extra tight fairway with water left and sand right…not the soft bunker shot to a downhill pin with water on the other side…No, when your most feared shot is the remaining 2- 4-foot putt after hitting a great approach, recovery or lag putt, it makes the game almost painful.

And I’ve been fighting the yips (again) for a while now. It’s a recurring nightmare that has haunted me most of my adult life. I even had the yips when I was in my 20s, but I’ve beat them into submission off and on most of my adult life. But just recently, that nasty virus came to life once again. My lag putting has been very good, but when I get over one of those “you should make this” length putts, the entire nervous system seems to go haywire. I make great practice strokes, and then the most pitiful short-stroke or jab at the ball you can imagine. Sheesh.

But I’m a traditionalist, and do not look toward the long putter, belly putter, cross-hand, claw or other variation as the solution. My approach is to beat those damn yips into submission some other way. Here’s what I’m doing that is working pretty well, and I offer it to all of you who might have a similar affliction on the greens.

When you are over a short putt, forget the practice strokes…you want your natural eye-hand coordination to be unhindered by mechanics. Address your putt and take a good look at the hole, and back to the putter to ensure good alignment. Lighten your right hand grip on the putter and make sure that only the fingertips are in contact with the grip, to prevent you from getting to tight.

Then, take a long, long look at the hole to fill your entire mind and senses with the target. When you bring your head/eyes back to the ball, try to make a smooth, immediate move right into your backstroke — not even a second pause — and then let your hands and putter track right back together right back to where you were looking — the HOLE! Seeing the putter make contact with the ball, preferably even the forward edge of the ball – the side near the hole.

For me, this is working, but I am asking all of you to chime in with your own “home remedies” for the most aggravating and senseless of all golf maladies. It never hurts to have more to fall back on!

Instruction

Looking for a good golf instructor? Use this checklist

Published

4 weeks ago

Jul 31, 2025

Sue Shapcott

Over the last couple of decades, golf has become much more science-based. We measure swing speed, smash factor, angle of attack, strokes gained, and many other metrics that can really help golfers improve. But I often wonder if the advancement of golf’s “hard” sciences comes at the expense of the “soft” sciences.

Take, for example, golf instruction. Good golf instruction requires understanding swing mechanics and ball flight. But let’s take that as a given for PGA instructors. The other factors that make an instructor effective can be evaluated by social science, rather than launch monitors.

If you are a recreational golfer looking for a golf instructor, here are my top three points to consider.

1. Cultural mindset

What is “cultural mindset? To social scientists, it means whether a culture of genius or a culture of learning exists. In a golf instruction context, that may mean whether the teacher communicates a message that golf ability is something innate (you either have it or you don’t), or whether golf ability is something that can be learned. You want the latter!

It may sound obvious to suggest that you find a golf instructor who thinks you can improve, but my research suggests that it isn’t a given. In a large sample study of golf instructors, I found that when it came to recreational golfers, there was a wide range of belief systems. Some instructors strongly believed recreational golfers could improve through lessons. while others strongly believed they could not. And those beliefs manifested in the instructor’s feedback given to a student and the culture created for players.

2. Coping and self-modeling can beat role-modeling

Swing analysis technology is often preloaded with swings of PGA and LPGA Tour players. The swings of elite players are intended to be used for comparative purposes with golfers taking lessons. What social science tells us is that for novice and non-expert golfers, comparing swings to tour professionals can have the opposite effect of that intended. If you fit into the novice or non-expert category of golfer, you will learn more and be more motivated to change if you see yourself making a ‘better’ swing (self-modeling) or seeing your swing compared to a similar other (a coping model). Stay away from instructors who want to compare your swing with that of a tour player.

3. Learning theory basics

It is not a sexy selling point, but learning is a process, and that process is incremental – particularly for recreational adult players. Social science helps us understand this element of golf instruction. A good instructor will take learning slowly. He or she will give you just about enough information that challenges you, but is still manageable. The artful instructor will take time to decide what that one or two learning points are before jumping in to make full-scale swing changes. If the instructor moves too fast, you will probably leave the lesson with an arm’s length of swing thoughts and not really know which to focus on.

As an instructor, I develop a priority list of changes I want to make in a player’s technique. We then patiently and gradually work through that list. Beware of instructors who give you more than you can chew.

So if you are in the market for golf instruction, I encourage you to look beyond the X’s and O’s to find the right match!

Instruction

What Lottie Woad’s stunning debut win teaches every golfer

Published

4 weeks ago

Jul 29, 2025

Brendon Elliott

Most pros take months, even years, to win their first tournament. Lottie Woad needed exactly four days.

The 21-year-old from Surrey shot 21-under 267 at Dundonald Links to win the ISPS Handa Women’s Scottish Open by three shots — in her very first event as a professional. She’s only the third player in LPGA history to accomplish this feat, joining Rose Zhang (2023) and Beverly Hanson (1951).

But here’s what caught my attention as a coach: Woad didn’t win through miraculous putting or bombing 300-yard drives. She won through relentless precision and unshakeable composure. After watching her performance unfold, I’m convinced every golfer — from weekend warriors to scratch players — can steal pages from her playbook.

Precision Beats Power (And It’s Not Even Close)

Forget the driving contests. Woad proved that finding greens matters more than finding distance.

What Woad did:

• Hit it straight, hit it solid, give yourself chances

• Aimed for the fat parts of greens instead of chasing pins

• Let her putting do the talking after hitting safe targets

• As she said, “Everyone was chasing me today, and managed to maintain the lead and played really nicely down the stretch and hit a lot of good shots”

Why most golfers mess this up:

• They see a pin tucked behind a bunker and grab one more club to “go right at it”

• Distance becomes more important than accuracy

• They try to be heroic instead of smart

ACTION ITEM: For your next 10 rounds, aim for the center of every green regardless of pin position. Track your greens in regulation and watch your scores drop before your swing changes.

The Putter That Stayed Cool Under Fire

Woad started the final round two shots clear and immediately applied pressure with birdies at the 2nd and 3rd holes. When South Korea’s Hyo Joo Kim mounted a charge and reached 20-under with a birdie at the 14th, Woad didn’t panic.

How she responded to pressure:

• Fired back with consecutive birdies at the 13th and 14th

• Watched Kim stumble with back-to-back bogeys

• Capped it with her fifth birdie of the day at the par-5 18th

• Stayed patient when others pressed, pressed when others cracked

What amateurs do wrong:

• Get conservative when they should be aggressive

• Try to force magic when steady play would win

• Panic when someone else makes a move

ACTION ITEM: Practice your 3-6 foot putts for 15 minutes after every range session. Woad’s putting wasn’t spectacular—it was reliable. Make the putts you should make.

Course Management 101: Play Your Game, Not the Course’s Game

Woad admitted she couldn’t see many scoreboards during the final round, but it didn’t matter. She stuck to her game plan regardless of what others were doing.

Her mental approach:

• Focused on her process, not the competition

• Drew on past pressure situations (Augusta National Women’s Amateur win)

• As she said, “That was the biggest tournament I played in at the time and was kind of my big win. So definitely felt the pressure of it more there, and I felt like all those experiences helped me with this”

Her physical execution:

• 270-yard drives (nothing flashy)

• Methodical iron play

• Steady putting

• Everything effective, nothing spectacular

ACTION ITEM: Create a yardage book for your home course. Know your distances to every pin, every hazard, every landing area. Stick to your plan no matter what your playing partners are doing.

Mental Toughness Isn’t Born, It’s Built

The most impressive part of Woad’s win? She genuinely didn’t expect it: “I definitely wasn’t expecting to win my first event as a pro, but I knew I was playing well, and I was hoping to contend.”

Her winning mindset:

• Didn’t put winning pressure on herself

• Focused on playing well and contending

• Made winning a byproduct of a good process

• Built confidence through recent experiences:

Won the Women’s Irish Open as an amateur
Missed a playoff by one shot at the Evian Championship
Each experience prepared her for the next

What this means for you:

• Stop trying to shoot career rounds every time you tee up

• Focus on executing your pre-shot routine

• Commit to every shot

• Stay present in the moment

ACTION ITEM: Before each round, set process goals instead of score goals. Example: “I will take three practice swings before every shot” or “I will pick a specific target for every shot.” Let your score be the result, not the focus.

The Real Lesson

Woad collected $300,000 for her first professional victory, but the real prize was proving that fundamentals still work at golf’s highest level. She didn’t reinvent the game — she simply executed the basics better than everyone else that week.

The fundamentals that won:

• Hit more fairways

• Find more greens

• Make the putts you should make

• Stay patient under pressure

That’s something every golfer can do, regardless of handicap. Lottie Woad just showed us it’s still the winning formula.

FINAL ACTION ITEM: Pick one of the four action items above and commit to it for the next month. Master one fundamental before moving to the next. That’s how champions are built.

PGA Professional Brendon Elliott is an award-winning coach and golf writer. You can check out his writing work and learn more about him by visiting BEAGOLFER.golf and OneMoreRollGolf.com. Also, check out “The Starter” on RG.org each Monday.

Editor’s note: Brendon shares his nearly 30 years of experience in the game with GolfWRX readers through his ongoing tip series. He looks forward to providing valuable insights and advice to help golfers improve their game. Stay tuned for more Tips!