Golf Punk Article

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Commitment Issues

Do you have commitment issues? No I’m not talking about your tattered love life. I’m talking about commitment as a golf skill that has to be learned and even practiced.

Lets talk first about commitment to the shots you hit on the course. There is a little process that you should go through before you hit every shot that starts with a clear decision about what strategy, what shot and what club you are going to hit. Followed by execution with a high level of commitment.

Golfers too often after hitting a bad shots wonder what swing fault caused the bad shot when in fact the mistake had more to do with the fact that they simply didn’t commit to the shot. Here is way that you can measure commitment and understand if you are in fact experiencing commitment issues during the shot.

Give your shot a score on a commitment scale of 1-4:

SCORE: 1
There was no clear decision or target, and during the swing you were full of fear and doubt. Also known as the EPIC FAIL!

SCORE: 2
You made a clear decision but it was a terrible one. You’re swinging scared and praying for a miracle. SCORE:2

Score: 3
You make the smart decision, have a specific target, experience mild fear or doubt during the swing.

SCORE: 4
All systems go, target is clear, no fear or doubt whatsoever!

I bet if you took the time to evaluate your shots on this little scale, and worked on turning you’re your commitment ones and twos, into threes and fours, you would be playing better golf than ever.


The second kind of commitment that you might want to be aware of is committing to some sort of game plan. It can make a significant difference in your golf game. Here is an example of a game plan that I will often recommend to my students who are trying to break 100.

On a golf course with a par of 72 you can shoot a score of 99 without having even 1 par on your scorecard. 9 bogeys and double bogeys will do the trick.

Before you start your round, mark the scorecard by putting a 2 next to each hole index 1 to 9, and a 1 next to each hole index 10 to 18. For each hole marked with a 2, play for double bogey, so if it’s a par 5 play for 5 on 2 putts, double. If it’s a bogey hole and a par 3, you would play for 2 on 2 putts, bogey.

The key with this kind of game plan is to develop consistency and discipline in your shot selection, and just because you made a double par on one hole, doesn’t mean that you throw the game plan out the window and think you need to make a birdie in order to make up for it. No it’s not about that, it’s about commitment. You said you were going to stick to the game plan so do it. You may not break today but 100 but you will certainly learn more about course management discipline and commitment, all of which are essential skills for playing your best golf.

There are all kinds of possibilities when it comes to game plans. Come up with something that suits your game and commit to it.