Pulling your game out of a rut is never easy. Dr. Chelsi Day has one technique to help you on your way.

Whether you’re a stick or a hack, if you want to maximize your time on the course, you must be able to identify what you want to get better at and do something about it. You can talk a big game or you can get out and start playing an even bigger game. Most of us struggle to maintain focus and implement the changes we’re trying to make consistently when it comes down to it. (We usually want to want to do the work more than we actually want to do the work.)

Unless you’re independently wealthy (if so – do you need a new best friend?), it’s unlikely you can devote every day to improving your golf game. So I’m here to share with you some quick strategies for maximizing your time on the course to promote quicker improvement. 

  1. Do a SWOT analysis of your golf game. Identify your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Where do you excel, what are your biggest challenges, what are the easiest ways to improve, and what threats are there to your ability to do so. 
  2. Use your SWOT matrix to set a few concrete goals and strategies that you can begin working on. Make sure they’re manageable and easy to implement.
  3. Choose ONE thing to work on each round. Yea, yea, I know that feels tedious and like it will take forever. But if you can intentionally put your effort into one change for 18 holes, you’ll saturate your learning in a way that is likely to stick.
  4. Take notes throughout so that you have in-the-moment data to reflect on and to reinforce the learning you’re doing. Retrospective memory isn’t always reliable and we tend to diminish things over time, so capturing the real-time info can be tremendously impactful. 
  5. Spend a few minutes post-round to reflect on how your efforts went and what went well that you can carry forward with you. 

If you can follow these steps and stay consistent, you’ll notice improvements in your game will happen more quickly, more easily, and more permanently. 

Improvement in the game requires intentionality, commitment, and learning. By making sure you are maximizing your time, you make sure that you are both enjoying your time on the course and always getting better. 

Dr. Chelsi Day

Dr. Day is a licensed clinical psychologist. She is an Ohio native who completed her Bachelor's degrees in Psychology and Health and Sport Studies at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio while competing on the Varsity Swimming and Diving team as a diver. She then went on to earn a Master's degree in Sport and Exercise Psychology from the Chicago School of Professional Psychology followed by a Master's degree and later a Doctoral degree in Clinical Psychology from Antioch University New England in Keene, NH.