One of the very best ways to see what you doing wrong is to watch yourself. That's right, watch yourself. Do this by videotaping yourself and then reveiwing the tape. In fact, one of the best things you can do for your overall game is to videotape yourself hitting a few balls with each of your clubs in various situations.



This is a great excercise for the off season, by the way.

The easiest way to do this is to have a buddy do the camera work and then you return the favor and film him or her. However, if you can't find a buddy to brave the cold with you or if you just hate the idea of someone watching you through a veiwfinder, you can try this.

If you have a golf cart, you can turn the cart so that it faces where you will be hitting from. Hang the camera from a bungee cord or something similar--windsheilds usually have a protrustion of some sort that you can use for this. Check the focus and hit Record. Walk away from the cart and forget the thing is running.

If your drives are suddenly looking like chip shots, go ahead and drive a few balls. Hit them the way you normally hit them.

Go back and stop the camera.

I don't suggest that you try to review the tape on the course. Instead, I'd recommend that you review it at home.

I mentioned drives in this example, but you can do this with any shot, including putting. The whole trick is to get the camera facing you. Once that part is done, the rest is a snap.

From my own experience I can tell you that you're going to see many things on your review tape that you wish you hadn't seen. Be nice to yourself. Focus your attention in on one thing at a time. You might want to critique your stance, or check for head wobble, or look at your backswing. The idea here is try not to look at yourself overall until you've had time to inspect all the components first.

Reading about how to do something or having someone else critique you is helpful, but nothing drives the message home as well as seeing yourself in action.

Try it. This works.