There was a bloke at my club once, who one of my fellow professionals christened the magpie.
Now the magpie was a lovely fella, the sort of chap you hope your future father in law will be like.
He was kind and he was often quick witted with a joke or two. He was good value and had plenty of banter, always a pleasure to see him walk into the shop.
And that’s where the trouble with his golf game started.
Any new club, any new training aid, any new piece of instruction, he had to have it. And hence why I found out why he was called the Magpie.
He had bright shiny object syndrome.
Just like real Magpies have a reputation for collecting and hording bright shiny objects so did the golfing Magpie. But golfing bright shiny objects.
Trouble was it would do his game more harm than good, particularly when it came to learning the game and instruction.
He’d have a lesson and the very next day he would be in the shop telling me about how he was now trying to swing the club like the latest tour sensation to grace our tellies at night.
Better yet he’d watched the golf last night and seen the latest swing guru giving an explanation on the latest swing theories and was now trying that.
He’d jump from one thing to the other, if he thought it would help him get better, and that’s what the golfing version of bright shiny object syndrome is.
If you keep jumping from one method to another, trying to copy this pro instead of that pro, take a lesson from bloke A and then a lesson from bloke B, swap your clubs every two minutes; then you have golfing bright shiny object syndrome as well.
And as always Dr Bob here is more than happy to dish out ye olde medicine.
What you need is a plan, and improvement plan and you need to stick to it. Now this plan can be written up by you on the back of a fag packet by yourself or you could pay thousands and have someone like world famous swing coach Butch Harmon do it for you. I don’t care.
You just need to have some direction in your game. If you need to work on your putting, work on your putting, get some drills or exercises, set aside some time and work on it. Same with your chipping, bunker play or long game.
Have a plan, give yourself some direction and stick to it. Your golf game will thank you for it in the long run.
Now for something that truly will help your golf game. I bet, your like most other golfers and would love a few more extra yards off the tee?
Thought so.
Fact is, many golfers are being robbed of yardage from their drives through no fault of their own, want to know why and how? You can find out here.
Bob James PGA