Instruction
10 Resolutions to Help Your Game in 2015
If you’re into New Year’s resolutions, you’ve probably already made them — but did you make your 2015 golf resolutions yet?
As an instructor, here’s 10 few things I think you should consider. These drills, assessments and practice plans will have to on your way to playing the best golf of your life in 2015.
No. 1: Create More Speed
Everyone needs more speed in this game — even the longest players in your group could stand to swing a little faster. After all, golfers can always scale back when things are going wrong, but trying to hit your three wood 20 yards farther than you’ve ever hit it? That’s probably not going to happen. And if you’re trying to raise your game to the next level, it’s hard to have success if you don’t hit the ball at least the average distance.
For every 1 mph you add to your club head speed (assuming centered impact), you can gain up to 3 yards more distance. Very few of us will be able to create 10 more mph and still find the center of the face, but if you could find 3, 4 or 5 mph it would be nice, don’t you think?
Use my swish drill to produce more speed. Take an alignment stick and set up as you would normally. Then make a swing trying to make the swish out in front of the ball and as loud as possible. You will hear “more speed.”
Next, take this feeling to the range and try hitting 10 drives as hard as you can. Then hit five drives as you normally would. Using these two drills will help you get faster over time. Try it and you’ll see.
No. 2: Improve Your Wedge Game from 30-to-80 Yards
This is usually the worst part of most amateurs’ game. Regardless of your level of play, you should seek to make your wedge game an asset, not a liability. No one likes to turn a chance to make a birdie into a bogey or worse, and a fat or thin shot from 30-to-80 yards is often the culprit.
Remember that the first key to wedges is to get the ball on the green. Once you can do that consistently, you can then hone in on the hole. If you want to become a better wedge player, you will need to practice and chart your distances and dispersion. You can do this on Trackman or at home on your own. You want to understand how far you carry each shot and what your “miss pattern” tends to be from each yardage so you can plan accordingly.
No. 3: Increase Your Flexibility
I am NOT advocating that golfers spend two hours in the gym each day doing cardio, weights and stretching. If you can, that’s great, but it’s not realistic for most people. There are many things you can do at home to aid your flexibility, however, and one of my favorite things to do is to take a heavy club and use it to STRETCH myself into different positions. What I did not tell you to do is swing the heavy club back and forth.
The stretching I advocate is a way to move your body into positions that it’s not used to so you can find your “normal” swinging position easier. If you’d like more exercises regarding flexibility, strength, injury provention, etc., visit www.mytpi.com, the leader in golf-specific training.
Example: I did not swing into this position at my normal speed. I swung at one-eighth speed and took the club back as far as I could. Then I pushed it a little farther and held it for a few seconds. Then I repeated it a few times SLOWLY so I could feel the stretch.
No. 4: Take More Lessons
If you want to get better at golf and improve your own personal well being on the golf course, you are going to need some help. If possible, I advocate taking a lesson a week. If you cannot, then shoot for one lesson each month. It will help you to make sure you stay on the right track.
You can find a listing of Golf Digest’s Top Teachers by state at this link: http://www.golfdigest.com/golf-instruction/2013-11/best-teachers-state-ranking
It’s always best to find a teacher uses video and some type of launch monitor within their lessons, since most of us need all the help we can get. This listing will help you to find the most active teachers in your area.
No. 5: Audit Your Set Make Up and Get Fit
If I had a dollar for every person who comes into my facility with slick grips, a missing club, and/or a poor set makeup that leaves distance gaps in their game I’d be a member at Bighorn!
There are tools now that help us see if the clubs you have in your bag actually work for your game and answer questions such as:
- Are your lofts and lies correct for you?
- Do you have the right shafts?
- Do you have enough fairway woods, hybrids or wedges in your bag?
- Do you have the right kind of irons for your game?
- Are you playing the right ball?
I would suggest seeking out one of Golf Digest Top 100 Club-Fitters shown at this link and make sure you are on the right track: http://www.golfdigest.com/golf-equipment/2013-05/100-best-clubfitters.
Secondly, take the time to get on a launch monitor and get a “gap” fitting that will show you if you have yardage gaps within your current set.
No. 6: Get a Short Game Lesson
When I ask golfers how their short game is, I almost always hear the same answer. “It’s fine,” they say. But when I watch them play it’s usually a total disaster. Why? Most golfers ONLY care about hitting the ball and they forget that the key to scoring is to have a short game that is not a total hindrance. I have seen plenty of players get around the green in two shots on a par 4 and then take four more shots to get the ball into the hole. Nice double!
Please take a short game lesson so you can better learn to hit a stock chips, pitches and flops around the green and I promise that you will thank me in the end. This is where I see a ton of shots wasted on the course and it tends to get worse over time if not corrected.
No. 7: Work on your Lag Putting
How many times have you REALLY worked on your lag putting? No, I’m not talking about hitting a few 30 footers and calling it a day, but actually hitting super long putts, working on huge breaking putts and putting from different shelves. These are the things that will help you stop three-putting! Everyone can hit the normal putts we have from 30 feet or so on the flattest portion of the green, but it’s not those that give people the problems.
You should spend at least 50 percent of your putting practice on super-fast putts, huge breaking putts, etc., so that you have a feel of how to control your ball on different lines and with different speeds. A great drill to work on is to find a huge breaking putt and work on lag putting it to the hole using as many different “lines” as possible. This will help your visualization, as well as your feel on the greens.
To be a great lag putter, it’s absolutely necessary to understand how different lines necessitate different speeds. Take the time to understand how to do this and you will not three whip it too often in 2015!
No. 8: Learn to Hit the Horizontal and Vertical Center of the Club
Everyone knows that you need to find the center of the club as often as you can, but few know that there are two different places you should be mindful of when hitting shots. You need to control your vertical impact point and your horizontal impact point on the club.
The vertical portion of impact controls your launch and your spin rate. Hitting it low on the face creates a lower launch and gives your ball more spin. Hitting the ball on the high part of the face gives you a higher launch and less spin.
The horizontal portion of impact controls the “Gear Effect” on the ball. If you hit the ball on the toe, you will tend to see the ball curve more left (for righties). Hitting the ball on the heel will cause the ball to curve more to the right. Gear effect can also negate curvature or exaggerate a shot that is curving right-to-left or left-to-right.
Spray your club face with Dr. Scholl’s Foot Spray and you will see what I mean.
Once you establish your usual pattern, take small swings and try to move the impact location back into the center of the face. Doing this will add ball speed and help you to hit the ball straighter and more consistently.
No. 9: Leave Your Ego in the Car
Know your limitations and don’t be a bonehead on the course. If you really were that good, you’d have a lower handicap, so relax and accept your limitations!
Note: This includes myself!
No. 10: Find a “Go-To” Shot Under Pressure
On the range, it’s so easy. We are relaxed and things tend to work, but what happens when it goes bad on the course? Do you have an exit strategy?
A go-to shot is one that gets you back into the clubhouse with the lowest score possible. If you don’t have one, go to the practice facility and find yours. It could be a low cut, a punch shot, or even a big slice. When the chips are down and you are hitting it sideways, trust your go-to shot so you can salvage your round.
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!
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!
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!
‘Why would anybody want to change that swing?’ – Brandel Chamblee says PGA Tour star was wrong to change his swing
‘The stupidest freaking thing I’ve ever heard’ – Billy Horschel slams Open idea suggested by Padraig Harrington
WITB Time Machine: Brandt Snedeker’s winning WITB, 2018 Wyndham Championship
Golfer proudly posts photo of ball mark on iron, receives immediate roasting
WITB Time Machine: Matthew Wolff’s winning WITB, 2019 3M Open
Oakmont Country Club bans Wyndham Clark over locker incident; Reveals specific conditions to earn reinstatement
Adam Scott puts Callaway blades in the bag at Wyndham Championship
Report: LIV star fires caddie and coach in shock shake up
Rickie Fowler makes equipment change to ‘something that’s a little easier on the body’
The championship formula: How 3 key stats separate winners from the field
Peter Malnati WITB 2025 (August)
Peter Malnati what’s in the bag accurate as of the Wyndham Championship. More photos from the event here. Driver: Titleist...
Cameron Young’s winning WITB: 2025 Wyndham Championship
Driver: Titleist GT2 (9 degrees, A1 SureFit setting) Buy here. Shaft: Mitsubishi Tensei 1K Pro Orange 70 TX 3-wood: Titleist...
Camilo Villegas WITB 2025 (July)
Camilo Villegas WITB accurate as of the Wyndham Championship. Villegas was undecided on a 3-wood when we shot his bag. ...
WITB Time Machine: Brandt Snedeker’s winning WITB, 2018 Wyndham Championship
Brandt Snedeker fired a final-round 65 at the 2018 Wyndham Championship to outlast Webb Simpson and C.T. Pan. His 5-under...
Regis
Jan 7, 2015 at 2:13 pm
Tom you could take the boxes and boxes of books, tapes and DVD’s I have and edit them into these simple pieces of advice and it’s all I really need. Following that advice? Thanks
Tom Stickney
Jan 7, 2015 at 7:55 pm
Reg– thx!!
TR1PTIK
Jan 6, 2015 at 8:22 am
Tried out the Dr. Scholl’s for the first time over the weekend. It’s far too cold to go to the range and I don’t have a net to use in the house, but I do have a hitting mat, rubber tee holder, and plenty of golf tees so I went to work. The first swing was dead center horizontally, but a little low. The next one found the mid-toe area. After a few more swings (less than 10 altogether) I could find the horizontal center without problem and just need to adjust either ball position or tee height to make sure I’m striking the ball at the vertical center as well. Liked the tip about lag putting as well because while some would say it is more important to work on putts inside 10ft (and it certainly is important), how many approach shots stop that close to the pin? If I could get more of the long putts to stop within tap-in range, I’d probably make par a little more often and perhaps even sink a nice birdie bomb every once-in-a-while.
tom stickney
Jan 6, 2015 at 11:54 am
tr1- glad you enjoyed the article; good luck!
Jake Anderson
Jan 6, 2015 at 8:05 am
I have to disagree with some of the points. For example the part on lag putting. Unless you have unlimited time lag putting is a waste of it. It is not effective. Rather, it is important to improve putting within 10 feet. Also, the point about improving wedge-play within 30 – 80 yards is not ideal advice. While it is important to hit the green safely from these distances, it will do much more good to a person’s game to improve play from 150 yards to 200 yards, because that is the usual length for approache shots which influence scoring way more than short game prowess.
tom stickney
Jan 6, 2015 at 11:57 am
Jake- if you can’t lag it or hit it inside 10 feet then what good is working on 5-10 footers? Secondly, weekend golfers don’t have the ability to hit the ball on the green from 150 to 200 yards with any consistency thus the shorter wedge shots make more of an impact.
Jake Anderson
Jan 8, 2015 at 8:54 am
Maybe you are targeting absolute beginners. Then your advice might be correct.
The majority of golfers who keep a handicap are between 8 and 25. These players can lag to within ten feet regularly and would most improve their score by hitting more greens and not by learning to scramble better. Therefore, while it is not wrong, that improving lag putting and wedge play helps, it is definitely not optimal practice. You need close range putting an GIR!
I hope you can appreciate this point and retract your previous advice.
Tom Stickney
Jan 8, 2015 at 9:55 am
Jake….every shot counts is a great book but it’s slated to professionals. The 10 or below has different goals but I still hold true to my comments over a 12 handicap player based on 21 years on the lesson tee full time
larrybud
Jan 9, 2015 at 8:35 pm
20 handicappers should work on not spraying the ball off the planet. 3 off the tee 4 or 5 times a round are killers.
Tom Stickney
Jan 10, 2015 at 8:30 pm
Larry…the big miss is a killer
other paul
Jan 6, 2015 at 2:01 am
Controlling strike location on the face of a driver sounds pretty tough. I can miss all over just aiming for the middle. What if I blow apart my adjustable hosel while trying go hit off the heel? ????
Tom Stickney
Jan 6, 2015 at 2:44 am
Not sure why you’d want to hit the ball anywhere but the high center of the driver.