How much effort is required over natural ability?

[benjamin]

Re: How much effort is required over natural abili

One of the biggest illusions in golf is that you get better at a steady rate. There are so many peaks and troughs on the learning curve of Golf that you'll feel like a nodding dog if you followed them on a graph.
Consolidate what you have. You've already improved -a bit - let that ability settle and then, all of a sudden, you'll move up a level. That's the way it goes.

Another thing to take into account - and not at all saying that you've reached it - is that we all have a point where sooner or later we're not going to get any better. There has to be a high point, after which it's all, at best level and at worst a slippery slope. Some reach that level very quickly and will never progress from 28 or break 100. Some reach that point having won 14 Majors. It comes to us all eventually, no matter how hard we may try to avoid accepting it.
Everyone has their summit.

I had a bit of a Eureka moment last night. I've been struggling with my new handicap a little over the last 3-4 weeks, although a 76 yesterday was nice, but I thought to myself "even if I have a bad day I'm still playing better than the majority of people who play this game - why am I getting uptight about it?" I've reached a level and it's tricky to keep it there. But if I don't, if I start to slip higher - so what. I'm playing for the enjoyment, it's not my living. I'm going to have good days, bad days, good months and bad months.
There's more to our form of Golf than putting the ball in the hole.

Well said that man!

I agree with the above and have found with my own golf that playing lots really does make you better wich in turn gives you the feeling you are better than your handicap suggests. The bugbear i have found with this is you have to consolidate that feeling and just let the better golf gradually keep coming through by playing regularly and before you know it you have stepped up 2 levels, it is indeed a funny old game.

I am the perfect example of this, i started playing golf again this summer and struggled to get below 100 for a few weeks, played 4 times a week and started hitting mid 90s another 4 weeks of regular play low 90s then high 80s then low 80s all within a few months of playing 4 times a week. I have only been able to play 3 times this month and my scores and feel for the swing i was ingraining are really falling rapidly...do not under estimate the power of playing a lot.

I reckon if you keep up playing regularly Gibbo you'll start to hit the better scores naturally and you wont even feel like your playing any better than you are now, patience is key, let the good golf come by itself mate and course manamgement is key too ofcourse, if you play very attacking calm it down a bit and the pars will come easier in my experience.

Good luck

Ben

 

[bobmac]

Re: How much effort is required over natural abili

How about hand eye co-ordination?
Is that not a natural ability?

 

[Junior]

Re: How much effort is required over natural abili

There has to be an element of natural ability, I agree time and effort play a big part, why hasn't Vijay Singh, the hardest trainer in golf (both on the range and in the gym), won as many majors as Jack and Tiger ? Similarly, why cant every footballer do what Messi and Ronaldo do ? Or every fast bowler in cricket bowl at 95mph ?? Natural ability separates the great from the good.

G1bbo, The first couple of years, I was shooting scores similar to you and playing far better in social rounds than in medals. I found that for me, the Eureka moment came when I became far more relaxed playing golf with a medal card in my round. I tried to keep it in play, got my shortgame a little better and i took my punishment if I sprayed one. This got me down from 20 to 13 in a couple of season.

 

[GeneralStore]

Re: How much effort is required over natural abili

There is definitely an element of natural ability, people have different levels of hand eye co-ord, timing, rythmn...etc, but I dont think that you can spend to much time worrying about natural ability, natural is exactly that, not something you can work on is it? You cant 'get' more natural ability.
Spend your energy and time on what you can improve on

The range is great, but you have to get onto the course and play. Most people, especially beginners, tighten up when they are on the course because 90% of their time is spent on the range. So they then get onto the course, someone is watching them tee off and then it goes OOB...any suprise in that? No!

The experience part is exactly what this does...you NEED to shank it out OOB off the tee a few times before you can deal with that pressure, for some people you need to do that 5 times, for others it needs to be 20. The same applies for hitting a great drive and only needing a wedge to the centre of the green, you need to be in that position enough times, have messed it up enough times before you can aclimatise. First 100 times you are putting for birdie...etc...etc...you get the idea.

I have a friend of mine who has the co-ord of a drunken epileptic pensioner and he plays off a 6 and I know a few like him playing off single digits, same recipe:
1) Short game practise-its not only the way you score, but the long game can be off, but short game is more resistant to off days
2) On course time

We dont all have the time or resources to play a round 2/3 times a week, me included, but dont blame natural ability. Thats a copout

 

[RobbOnTheRock]

Re: How much effort is required over natural abili

There is definitely an element of natural ability, people have different levels of hand eye co-ord, timing, rythmn...etc, but I dont think that you can spend to much time worrying about natural ability, natural is exactly that, not something you can work on is it? You cant 'get' more natural ability.
Spend your energy and time on what you can improve on

The range is great, but you have to get onto the course and play. Most people, especially beginners, tighten up when they are on the course because 90% of their time is spent on the range. So they then get onto the course, someone is watching them tee off and then it goes OOB...any suprise in that? No!

The experience part is exactly what this does...you NEED to shank it out OOB off the tee a few times before you can deal with that pressure, for some people you need to do that 5 times, for others it needs to be 20. The same applies for hitting a great drive and only needing a wedge to the centre of the green, you need to be in that position enough times, have messed it up enough times before you can aclimatise. First 100 times you are putting for birdie...etc...etc...you get the idea.

I have a friend of mine who has the co-ord of a drunken epileptic pensioner and he plays off a 6 and I know a few like him playing off single digits, same recipe:
1) Short game practise-its not only the way you score, but the long game can be off, but short game is more resistant to off days
2) On course time

We dont all have the time or resources to play a round 2/3 times a week, me included, but dont blame natural ability. Thats a copout

Wot he said........

If you left it up to natural talent why bother practicing.............even if your goal is to break 28hcp.... There has to be an element f self belief that you can and will get better it just may take longer to do so than others.

I left school with very little quals, was lucky and got an apprenticeship, found out I loved engineering and then did the next 7 years of night school to get my degree...........that was not natural ability by any means........personally I think if your clear on your goals and focused on what you want you can do anything, get to single figures at golf etc.......

I do believe though that sportsmen of any sport are better at picking up any sport, that I think is less to do with natural ability and more to do with fitness levels and understanding the mechanics of there own body movements etc.

Cheers
Andy

 

[USER1999]

Re: How much effort is required over natural abili

Natural ability is a lot of crap, you are not born with any sporting ability so it must be something else

When I was fencing, there were a couple of guys (one if them had been the best in the world) who I used to fence regularly. His reactions were way faster than mine, and I was quick. He made me look like I was in slow mo. This cannot be taught. Natural ability exists.

I do a bit of dancing too. People exist with two left feet. They will never be able to dance. Ever. In the same way that I have no talent for playing a musical instrument. I could be trained, but it would have no flair, and might as well be played by a robot.

Natural ability exists in all fields. To deny it is just revealing your lack of meeting any one talented, or the ability to recognise people more talented than yourself.

 

[splashtryagain]

Re: How much effort is required over natural abili

Of course natural ability exists and is important. How else can sporting excellence be explained eg Lineker, Henman, De Villiers etc who whilst good at one sport could have represented county or country at at least one or two others. Often had a discussion with friends on the course about the difference of have and have not in this regard. I believe that less able sportsmen cannot understand their body to the same extent as those who know what to expect or strive for as a finishing result. Personally I can watch an action esp cricket shots and can repeat within a few tries because I know what i'm looking to acheive and my body understands. Why am I not playing for England? Dedication and practice time - none of!! To be good you need the natural talent, to be very good you need to practice. Some golfers are never going to be good and some will accept the level they are at with no thought of improvement. In my case I have imrproved or been static every year since I began 10 years ago. When I begin to get worse or see no improvement for a season I will practice or get lessons.

 

[HawkeyeMS]

Re: How much effort is required over natural abili

I went 3 1/2 years after getting my first h'cap without getting a single cut. It took me that long to learn that I couldn't force myself to score well, that beating myself up didn't help and how to put a score together.

 

[Simbo]

Re: How much effort is required over natural abili

Nurture over nature everytime for me, sure some natural abilitrty with posture hand/eye coordination etc exists but hard work will win every time in my book.

the guy that spoke about the fencing and the other guys reaction times, could be experience on the good guys part, i remember reading somewhere about an experiment that was carried out on this sibject-reactions, cant remember the exact details but it was carried out by tennis players im sure, they put a "good" player up against an elite player and told him to return his serve, the guy couldnt get near it for rthe life of him because they said that the ball was travelling so fast it was almost impossible for a human to react that quick to get to the ball, yet the top players were returning the guys serve almost everytime!!! why?? because the top players were watching something different for the good p[layer(who was watching the ball), body movements and things like that had told them where the ball was going long before the guy had even hit it allowing them to move into place to return it. could be the same with fencing.

 

[USER1999]

Re: How much effort is required over natural abili

Nope, he was fast, that is it. Doing a four way choice reaction, he could leave the decision so late it was ridiculous. I was good at it, he was better. Could not get near him. I could get my point to push his jacket in, and he still had time to make a 4 way choice before I could hit him. Amazing speed of thought.
I could play for a double hit, which meant both hits had to arrive in 1/32 of a second. Not against Steve. Some people are more equal than others.

 

[EZprophet]

Re: How much effort is required over natural abili

There has to be an element of natural ability, I agree time and effort play a big part, why hasn't Vijay Singh, the hardest trainer in golf (both on the range and in the gym), won as many majors as Jack and Tiger ? Similarly, why cant every footballer do what Messi and Ronaldo do ? Or every fast bowler in cricket bowl at 95mph ?? Natural ability separates the great from the good.
.

Just because Vijay is the hardest trainer, doesn't mean that he is the best trainer... You have to be doing the right things in practice. The way Tiger's dad trained Tiger as a kid was probably completely different to how anyone else was taught (his buddhist background and all the meditation stuff and teaching him to deal with distractions by trying to put him off by dropping his golf bag in his backswing etc. etc.) and if you think that Tiger's ability comes from natural golfing talent, then where did this talent come from? Did his dad, who was off low single figures, pass down his golfing talent to create the best golfer of all time?

And hand eye co-ordination is surely not something you are born with but something that is developed at a young age?

 

[Airlie_Andy]

Re: How much effort is required over natural abili

Natural ability will only get you so far. Without putting in the practice etc you will never fully reach your true potential. Just my opinion on the matter.

Oh and to add to another post regarding reaction times. I'm pretty sure that reaction times cannot be "improved" as such, you are born with them and that's it. You can learn to anticipate but your actual reaction time cannot be "trained".