Golf can sometimes feel like spinning a roulette wheel and having no clue what number will come up. Why does it seem like one day you are hitting a slice and the next day a draw?
What the average golfer needs to realize is that golf is a game of percentages, and the better your percentages, the better your play. Imagine a bag of Jelly Belly jelly beans of just piña colada and sour grapefruit. The average golfer’s bag has about half and half and before every swing they shake the bag up and pick one. Fifty percent of the time it will be what you want, but also 50 percent of the time the ball will end up like the sour grapefruit.
As you practice and learn, those percentages start to move in your favor. Even Dustin Johnson, Jordan Speith and Tiger Woods have sour grapefruit in their bags. The difference is, in a bag of 100, they may only have three sour grapefruits. What I am trying to make you realize is that you should try not to let those poor shots get you down. You can’t always control your shots, and golf is a game of always trying to reach an unattainable goal of perfection.
Practice, practice and then practice some more. When my son played high school golf, he would get frustrated when he wasn’t as good as the other kids that spent hours every day practicing. All those hours of practicing kept taking away those sour grapefruit jelly beans while introducing more piña coladas and more shots that you want and less you don’t.
Please email me with any questions or comments at golfguyosprey@gmail.com.
Jason Blanchard, PGA
General Manager, Summerfield Crossings Golf Club
