I follow a couple dozen golf blogs in my Google Reader. One of the blogs that I'm always eager to read is Consistent Golf by Nick Bayley. Nick is Director of Golf at Consistent Golf in New Zealand and authors a blog to share ways to help golfers make more effective use of their practice. He teaches you what you need to practice so you'll improve.


New Zealand's Cape Kidnappers, by Donal at flickr

Nick started playing golf at 12 years old and was a scratch golfer by the time he was 16. He left school early to pursue his passion and become a tour professional. He practiced and played golf practically all day every day. He played in every golf tournament he could.

But, as the story goes for so many golfers, the harder he worked and the more he practiced, the worse he got! He just hit a lot of balls and kept trying one thing after another to improve. He took lessons with the best pros in the country, read magazines and books, watched videos, and tried new gadgets and equipment. Some things would help, but not for long.

Eventually, Nick decided to start a quest to research and experiment to find out what was needed to be practiced to improve, and when he found the answers he decided he'd share them with as many golfers as he could. At that point his goal and dream changed. This led to the creation of the Golf Potential Club in 1999 which helped to improve the games of thousands of golfers in New Zealand. In 2007, Nick launched consistentgolf.com, where he shares with each of us his simple, yet powerful, step-by-step instructions to help us become consistent golfers.

His latest article on the short game inspired me to share his website. He includes some putting stats from the Tour to demonstrate that there is a big drop off in your chances of making a putt as you move further away from the hole. So, no matter how good a putter you are, the only way you can lower your scores is to get the ball closer to the hole.

I'm convinced that my ongoing improvement is directly related to the fact that I spend nearly all my limited practice time around the green, not on the range and not putting. I spend most of my time practicing with one ball, trying to get up and down as many times out of 10 as I can, with each shot coming from different spots around the green and to different pins. These shots also vary between chips, pitches, and lobs. I don't shoot a lot of birdies, but I get a lot of pars. If I hit a green in regulation, I normally 2-putt for par. If I miss a green, I get up close and make my putt for par.

If you want to lower your scores, practice your short game. To improve your short game, Nick encourages you to learn how to hit the ball consistently to the spot you want. And initially to help you learn this you should do it from a perfect lie. Give it a try.

p.s. After posting this entry, I went out to my home course in the afternoon and played the back nine twice (back nine is rated 72.2/140) and shot another career round! I shot 1-under the first time around and 2-under the second nine, recording 4 birdies and only 1 bogie for a 3-under 69 -- my 2nd ever round under 70 and my first on this difficult a course! I chalk this up to finally spending some time practicing my short game yesterday.

Labels: Consistent Golf, Nick Bayley