Opinion & Analysis

The Wedge Guy: Top 4 reasons why most golfers don’t get better

Published

5 years ago

Jul 22, 2021

A couple of years ago, I attended a symposium put on by Golf Digest’s research department. They explored the typical responses as to why people quit or don’t play more – too much time, too expensive, etc. But the magazine’s research department uncovered the real fact – by a large margin, the number one reason people give up the game is that they don’t get better!

So, with all that’s published and all the teaching pros available to help us learn, why is that? I have my rationale, so put on your steel toe work boots, because I’m probably going to step on some toes here.

The Top 4 Reasons Golfers Don’t Improve

Most golfers don’t really understand the golf swing. You watch golf and you practice and you play, but you don’t really understand the dynamics of what is really happening at 100 mph during the golf swing. There are dozens of good books on the subject – my favorite is Ben Hogan’s “Five Lessons – The Modern Fundamentals of Golf.” But pick any good one and READ IT. LEARN IT. It will help you immensely if you understand what the swing is really all about. Use a full length mirror to pose in key positions in the swing to match the drawings and photos. All the practice in the world will not help if you are not building a sound fundamental golf swing.
Learning golf doesn’t start in the middle. A sound golf swing is built like a house. First the foundation, then the framing, roof, exterior walls, interior, paint, and trim. You can’t do one before the other. In golf, it all starts with the grip. If you do not hold the club properly, you’ll never accomplish a sound golf swing. Then you learn good posture and setup. If you don’t start in a good position, the body can’t perform the swing motion properly. With a good grip and a sound setup posture, I believe anyone can learn a functional golf swing pretty easily. But if those two foundations are not sound, the walls and roof will never be reliable.
Most bad shots are ordained before the swing ever begins. I am rarely surprised by a bad shot, or a good one, actually. The golf swing is not a very forgiving thing. If you are too close to the ball or too far, if it’s too far forward or backward, if you are aligned right or left of your intended line, your chances of success are diminished quickly and significantly. The ball is 1.68 inches in diameter, and the functional striking area on a golf club is about 1.5-inches wide. If you vary in your setup by even 3/4 inch, you have imposed a serious obstacle to success. If you do nothing else to improve your golf game, learn how to set up the same way every time.
Learn to “swing” the club, not “hit” the ball. This sounds simple, but the golf swing is not a hitting action: it’s a swinging action. The baseball hitter is just that, because the ball is in a different place every time – high, low, inside, outside, curve. He has to rely on quick eye-hand coordination. In contrast, the golf swing is just that – a swing of the club. You have total control over where the ball is going to be so that you can be quite precise in the relationship between your body and the ball and the target line. You can swing when you want to at the pace you find comfortable. And you can take your time to make sure the ball will be precisely in the way of that swing.

Learning the golf swing doesn’t require a driving range at all. In fact, your backyard presents a much better learning environment because the ball is not in the way to give you false feedback. Your goal is only the swing itself.

Understand that you can make a great swing, and often do, but the shot doesn’t work out because it was in the wrong place, maybe by only 1/4 inch or so. Take time to learn and practice your swing, focusing on a good top-of-backswing position and a sound rotating release through impact. Learn the proper body turn and weight shift. Slow-motion is your friend. So is “posing” and repeating segments of the swing to really learn them. Learn the swing at home, refine your ball striking on the range and play golf on the course!

So, there you have my four reasons golfers don’t get better. We all have our own little “personalization” in our golf swing, but these sound fundamentals apply to everyone who’s ever tried to move a little white ball a quarter-mile into a four-inch hole. Working on these basics will make that task much easier!

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Terry Koehler

Terry Koehler is a fourth generation Texan and a graduate of Texas A&M University. Over his 40-year career in the golf industry, he has created over 100 putter designs and dozens of wedges. In 2014, he put together the team that reintroduced the Ben Hogan brand to the golf equipment industry with his TK 15 wedges and Ft. Worth 15 iron designs. Since receiving a U.S. Patent for his “Koehler Sole” in the early 1990s, he has been challenging “conventional wisdom” in the wedge category. In addition to inspiring multiple companies to emulate this sole technology, the performance of his wedge designs have stimulated all other companies to reposition some mass toward the top of the blade in their wedges. Terry is retired from his role as Chairman and Director of Innovation for Edison Golf, and remains active in the industry as an independent designer and consultant. But his most compelling work is in the wedge category. Since he first patented his “Koehler Sole” in the early 1990s, he has been challenging “conventional wisdom” reflected in ‘tour design’ wedges. The performance of his wedge designs have stimulated other companies to move slightly more mass toward the top of the blade in their wedges, but none approach the dramatic design of his Edison Forged wedges, which have been robotically proven to significantly raise the bar for wedge performance. Terry serves as Chairman and Director of Innovation for Edison Golf – check it out at www.EdisonWedges.com.

24 Comments

David W Largen

Sep 5, 2021 at 1:34 pm

Fastest way to lower scores:
1. Course and Game Management
Don’t always have to hit driver.
Have a go to shot to find a fairway
Know how far you hit each club. Be realistic.
Play to center of green.
In trouble get ball back in play. Chip out.
Par 5 second shot. 250 yards to green.
150 yard puts you 100 yards in. Much easier shot than whacking a 3 wood in the woods or ob
STAY DISCIPLINED PLAY SMART SHOTS.
Know your miss and shot pattern and play accordingly.

Reply Report comment
Jason Corro

Aug 10, 2021 at 1:46 am

My opinion is yes people don’t know enough about the golf swing, but you don’t need to know everything. Have a good understanding and then keep everything simple. The big problem people don’t get better is too much information. Now with social media, there are many people out there with a fix for everything, or a secret for whatever you want. As soon as I meet a golfer that says they get tips from YouTube or any other platform, I already know they have no idea what they are doing and their mind is a cluttered mess of incongruent ideas. Stop getting advice from 100’s of different sources on YouTube, get in shape, spend 75% of your time on short game. I guarantee you will improve.

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Steve Dodds

Aug 5, 2021 at 9:45 am

I think the reason most people don’t get better at golf is the same reason most people don’t get better at other sports.

Good golf requires a level of athleticism and hand/eye co-ordination that most people simply do not have. It is easy to tell who has the potential to have a decent swing. Just watch them throw a ball.

Those who can throw a ball properly can usually swing a club (or a bat, or a racquet) properly.

Attempting to teach those without basic athleticism an athletic swing (which the vast majority of teachers try and do) is futile. None of the points in the article are applicable to golfers without basic natural ability.

Golf’s great equaliser is that it is a game of two parts. Hitting the ball, and then putting the ball in the hole.

You do have to be athletic to hit driver and irons well. You don’t to putt (or to a lesser extent chip) well.

And if you can do that, and scoring is the most important thing for you, you can enjoy golf without actually being good at it.

I’ve been playing seriously for over 30 years. But I would never have kept playing if I didn’t have the basic athleticism to hit the ball properly. I was very chuffed the other day when, at age 60, a new playing partner said my swing reminded him of Ernie Els.

Despite hating putting I’ve taught myself to be a bit better at it. And with age my misses tend to less penal than when I was younger because I don’t hit it as far. So my handicap is lower than it was when I was younger. But I don’t have a better swing.

Mind you, I have friends with awful swings who don’t know or care. They could have dozens of lessons and apply themselves like monks but they will never be able to change what their body is capable of. So no 300 yard drives. No high and soft wedges. But even though they can’t swing like a pro, every now and again they get the same result as a pro.

And that’s why they keep playing awful golf.

So most golfer’s don’t get better because they can’t get better. Although most can score better.

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Donald Drumph

Aug 3, 2021 at 10:02 am

Just cheat, like me

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Gordy

Aug 2, 2021 at 11:51 am

#1 reason why most golfers do not improve. Golf is hard and they give up. They do not play/practice enough either.

Drop EGO golf and you will get better. #1 on the PGA Tour for proximity to the hole is 32 ft 8 inch. Average birdies per round for PGA Tour Player is 3.65. Be happy with a shot to the green, being on the green, and walking off with a par.

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- geohogan
  
  Aug 11, 2021 at 8:16 am
  
  Golf swing is not so much difficult, but demands movment that is not natural, not genetically preprogrammed.
  
  What is preprogammed is: Tonicity of muscle. (2) The muscle in a steady partially contracted state caused by the successive flow of nerve impulses, as in muscle tonus.
  
  In so many ways the golf swing demands muscles work contrary to “Tonus”
  Understanding which genetically preprogrammed muscle contractions need to be overridden.
  Thanks to Gerry Hogan for doing the research.
  author “The Hogan Manual of Human Performance: GOLF, 1991.
  
  Reply Report comment
geohogan

Aug 2, 2021 at 9:36 am

Golf magazines and the non stop, “TIPS” perpetuates the myth that the golf swing is learned
by tips, when in fact it is a complex movement happening at too quick a speed to be controlled by conscious thought.
Rather all complex human movement are subconsciously conceived and orchestrated, triggered by a single intent.
A single intent for the golf swing? YES. Very few have uncovered that intent.
Until the proper intent is known, golfers will be doomed to follow tips , conscious movement over riding the subconscious and lead to the YIPS, perpetuated by golf instruction magazines.

Reply Report comment
Dennis

Aug 2, 2021 at 8:47 am

I don’t know. I see a lot of golfers with low scores and an ugly golf swing. Maybe face control and hitting sweet spot is more important than most Teaching Pros will ever admit.

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Mark Eting-Grifter

Jul 26, 2021 at 1:12 pm

5. Buying new equipment every year hoping that will fix it.

Reply Report comment
- jgpl001
  
  Aug 5, 2021 at 5:58 am
  
  Does that not fix it?
  OEM’s are always telling me it will
  
  Reply Report comment
Kauaiboy

Jul 23, 2021 at 1:08 pm

I’d recommend Top Speed Golf with Pro Clay Ballard to learn all the fundamentals. I’ve been playing for over 50 years and his system got me from a 10 to a 4 index.

Reply Report comment
GN

Jul 23, 2021 at 11:39 am

The main reason golfers don’t improve is too much L.O.F.T.

Reply Report comment
- GaGolfer
  
  Aug 20, 2021 at 5:41 pm
  
  LOL. I see what you did there. Absolutely correct. I look at some of these weekend golfers and wonder what the heck they’re doing out here. It can’t be fun hitting it that badly.
  
  Reply Report comment
Greg McNeill

Jul 23, 2021 at 10:27 am

I think one of the worst things to do when trying to develop a sound, repeating swing is “Use a full length mirror to pose in key positions in the swing to match the drawings and photos.” A golf swing is NOT a series of static positions that you consciously attempt to emulate. The “key positions” are the “effects” of a proper swing, not the cause. For example, the tour player’s head remains well behind the ball (or even moves away from the target) at impact, not because the player is forcibly seeking to keep his head back. Rather, it is a consequence of the offsetting forces of the downswing. As the force of the swing moves to impact, there is a counterforce which keeps the head and upper body back naturally, just like a baseball player’s. Simply trying to keep your head back to match some picture of the swing will will ruin your swing.

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- Rascal
  
  Jul 31, 2021 at 10:04 pm
  
  100% correct.
  
  Reply Report comment
- Tyler Durden
  
  Aug 9, 2021 at 9:59 pm
  
  Ben hogan, seve among many many others practiced in front of a mirror and they were pretty good golfers
  
  Reply Report comment
Ben Hogan

Jul 22, 2021 at 10:02 pm

Unless you have the time and patience like me the average golfer needs to get off the range. I dont know how many times people need to say this to get better practice grom 100 and in!! What wins PGA tournaments….. This is why if you give the average golfer a tour quality caddy they will shoot significantly better than they ever have. He doesnt change your swing but knows what to do when it comes to wedges and reading putts.

Also remember I use to hit HUNDREDS AND HUNDREDS of putts a day!! The grind is real if you want to get better

Reply Report comment
- GaGolfer
  
  Aug 21, 2021 at 1:26 pm
  
  ‘Drive for show and putt for dough’ doesn’t work for the average hacker. You aren’t putting for any dough if you’re getting to the green in 6. I have an excellent short game (around the greens it’s nearly scratch) but have too many rounds where I don’t know which side of the fairway I should aim at; and some where it doesn’t seem to matter where I aim because I’m going to be losing 3-4 balls or chipping out too many times.
  
  I agree with you 100% that you have to put the work in, but it has to be the right work, with the right coaching. I’ve taken tons of lessons over the years (an ungodly amount, really) and at least half of the instruction wasn’t good. Not that they were wrong, but they weren’t right for what I needed to accomplish. Practicing wrong, I was historically a 10-12, and got as bad as a 17. Practicing right, with the right coaching, got me to a 7 within a year. My goal this coming year is to get to a 5, and we’ll adjust accordingly (if there’s a God, downward) once we get there – after a lot of work and patience.
  
  Reply Report comment
Dan

Jul 22, 2021 at 8:28 pm

You focused on just the swing. Exactly where people go wrong.

The REAL reason people don’t improve is that they practice the swing, and short game is an afterthought or non thought. Just like your article.

Reply Report comment
- Ollie
  
  Jul 22, 2021 at 10:29 pm
  
  Dan
  You don’t quite “GET IT”
  
  Reply Report comment
aziz shafi

Jul 22, 2021 at 2:39 pm

Very nicely written and well reasoned. I wish I had been able to read something like this twenty years ago…I would be a different golfer today.

Reply Report comment
- geohogan
  
  Aug 1, 2021 at 11:22 am
  
  Golf magazines and the non stop, “TIPS” perpetuates the myth that the golf swing is learned
  by tips, when in fact it is a complex movement happening at too quick a speed to be controlled by conscious thought.
  Rather all complex human movement are subconsciously conceived and orchestrated, triggered by a single intent.
  A single intent for the golf swing? YES. Very few have uncovered that intent.
  Until the proper intent is known, golfers will be doomed to follow tips , conscious movement over riding the subconscious and lead to the YIPS, perpetuated by golf instruction magazines.
  
  Reply Report comment
percy freeman

Jul 22, 2021 at 1:39 pm

“Learn the swing at home, refine your ball striking on the range and play golf on the course!”

Terry, this says it all.

Thanks

Reply Report comment

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