Hints on How to Self-Diagnose Your Golf Swing

Solving problems as they arise on the course is a skill that most pro golfers have developed – but one that the average golfer lacks. No matter how good you are, there are sure to be bad swings and poor shots along the way. The key to posting good scores and improving your game is being able to respond to those poor shots, fix your mistakes, and hit better shots for the rest of the day. Golf isn’t about being perfect – it is about learning from your mistakes as quickly as possible and eliminating them from your game.

Try using the following hints to become better at self-diagnosing your own swing.

  • Less emotion, more analysis. When you hit a poor shot, try to resist the temptation to get angry with yourself and instead think about what went wrong and how you can fix it. You learn more about your game from your poor shots than you do from your good ones, so take a quick moment to think about the bad shot you just hit and how it could have been better. The next time you face a similar shot, hopefully you will be able to perform better.
  • Take notes on the practice range. As you practice you swing on the range, make notes on what works in your swing and what doesn’t. Doing this on the range is a great idea because you don’t have to be worried about the results of the shot – you can just experiment with different swing thoughts and adjustments until you are able to create the ball flights you are looking for. When you get home after your practice session, review the notes you made and keep them in mind for your next round.
  • Know what you are trying to do. You can’t analyze your own swing and figure out what might have gone wrong if you don’t know what you were trying to do in the first place. Just saying that you were ‘trying to get close to the hole’ isn’t good enough. Were you trying to hit a draw? A fade? You need to have a specific shot in mind before you make a swing, so you can then analyze it after the fact to see how successful you were. Compare your results to the kind of shot you were attempting, and then figure out how you can do it better next time.