1. Get the ball in play
This means driving the ball safely onto the fairway. Sometimes that means an iron, hybrid or 3 wood instead of driver – give up a little distance to get an easier second shot to the green.
When playing indoor golf and missing the fairway, you have to put the ball into a hole in simulated rough or sand and this makes it difficult to make clean contact (see key # 2), which makes it difficult to control distance and direction. These are the same results when missing a fairway outdoors.
2. Make clean contact
This means hitting the ball first, and indoors also means picking it clean. In golf there are pickers and diggers – I am a digger, I take big divots. Indoors that is not possible – the surface will grab my club, shut the face and slow my follow through. So I adapt to my environment – not unlike when playing outdoors in hard dry conditions, or late in the season when fairways start to freeze. I move the ball a little forward in my stance – hit the ball first with a sweeping stroke and pick the ball clean. A side benefit to this is more yardage with the same club – I get 10 to 15 yards extra with every club because of this adjustment.
Tiger Woods says that when approaching the green you goal should be to get the ball hole high at worst – that is to hit the ball the correct distance. Club selection and clean contact are the two most important variables to getting the ball hole high.
3. Manage obstacles / mistakes
When you hit the ball into trouble your number one goal is to get out of trouble. If you have an unobstructed view to the green, take extra club (1 to 2 extra) as the rough and sand tend to grab your club even if you hit it clean.
If you are in the woods or there is an obstacle in your line to the flag – hit away from trouble. Pitch out sideways if necessary – aim at an opening and visualize the ball flight through the opening (see point 4). Take less club, you don’t want to go through the fairway to trouble on the other side.
Your goal here is to give your self a shot at an “up and down”, that is a clean shot to the green and then you make the putt. You don’t want to get stubborn and become a bushwhacker – hopelessly flaying away trying to make the impossible shot, then ending up with a double bogie or worse.
4. Visualization on short game and escape shots
This is the hardest thing to learn – and to teach. The short game on a simulator is different from real golf (the ball goes further so you don’t need to swing as hard); however there are similarities:
In both cases you have to picture the shot you want, feel the swing you need to get the ball there, and then make it so. Don’t get hung up in numbers: saying “there is no way that you hit a sand wedge X yards or more” will not help. Once you know what yardages the simulator will give you using a given swing – trust it – and repeat it. You will get consistent results.
When escaping from the woods – find the biggest hole, then imagine the ball flight required to go through this hole, pick a club, aim and fire. You’ll be amazed at how this visualization works – you will hit the hole more times than not. Remember I said find the biggest hole – that is to say give yourself the best chance to escape. Once again take a little less club – you don’t want to go through the fairway to trouble on the other side.
5. Tempo on full swing and putting
This is huge. You have to find the tempo that works best for you and it's different for every player. Once you find it – you will know you have it when you start to hit shots to a consistent distance and putts start to go in – burn it into memory. When things go wrong, think tempo, am I going to fast (jabbing at the ball) or too slow (decelerating through the ball).
Just thinking tempo gets me back on track. Just a quick note for right handed players, if you are missing shots short and right or putts to the right – you are probably decelerating. If you are yanking the ball left – you may be going to quick – closing the face at impact.
6. Roll with the punches
This one is hard to swallow, but applies equally to indoor and outdoor golf. How many time have you hit what you thought was a great shot, only to find out it was too great (too long and now in trouble), or you get a bad bounce off a sprinkler head or a rock outcropping in the middle of the fairway, that sends your ball into trouble. These things happen in golf all the time – how you handle the bad breaks will define the level of golfer you become. If you follow some of the earlier keys to managing obstacle and mistakes, you can salvage par or bogie – if you get angry and distrustful, double, triple or worse lay waiting for you to get a bad bounce.
7. Putting is the easiest way to lower your score
Last but not least – putting is the easiest way to lower your scores, both indoors and out. Anyone can become a good or even great putter, you simply have to commit to working on this often ignored but most important skill. 35 to 40 % of your strokes are on the putting green – the better you get the higher the ratio. It only makes sense to work a little harder on honing a good putting stroke, with good tempo.
Get yourself a nine foot putting green for your basement – then while you are watching Tiger hole the big one, you can be working on a winning putting routine – grip, stance, stroke, and tempo. Just hearing the ball go in time after time will give your brain the memory of being a great putter – and you will start to expect to hole them on the first try. Each putting routine is personal – find the one that works for you, then repeat it over and over until it is part of who you are. On any given day I will hole 50 to 100 putts at home, from different lengths, different angles – until I believe I can from anywhere.
These seven keys have helped me to lower my scoring average indoors by 8 strokes a round, and outdoors by 5 strokes a round. More importantly, I have more fun because shooting a 61 is way more fun than 71, 81 or 91.
See you on the sims or on the links.
