The very first step in getting better at playing golf is an honest understanding of how lasting improvement happens.  Regardless of what you have been told by countless articles and youtube videos, there are no quick fixes or magic motions that transform your life.  

This highlighted by one of my favorite passages from The Art of Learning by Josh Waitzkin – “It is rarely a mysterious technique that drives us to the top but a profound mastery of what may well be a very basic skill set”   To me this begs two questions; What skills do I have? What skills do I need to achieve my goals?

Golf demands only four easy to understand but difficult to achieve skills.  They are difficult on their own but especially challenging when performed in combination to produce workable golf shots:

• Club Head Speed – We must swing fast enough to make the ball travel far enough.
• Solid Contact – The best place to strike the ball is below the equator, with the middle of the clubface.
• Clubface Alignment Control – We must be able to start the ball toward our intended target or all is lost.
• Club Path / Swing Direction Control – This will allow us to make the ball fly straighter or curve intentionally.