Four reasons golfers aren't improving

A golfer with an ineffective swing can have the best-fitted equipment and still play very poor golf. Golfers have seen many improvements that should help them to play better.

Technological advancements have resulted in golf balls and golf clubs that produce longer, straighter, and more consistent shots. Advancements in maintenance equipment and agronomy have made for much smoother and more consistent playing surfaces. There is an abundance of information now available to help golfers improve. There are hundreds of books, DVDs, magazines, websites, blogs, and even an entire golf television channel. There are sophisticated computers that can analyze golfers swings as well as fitting them for the best equipment. With all those advances, golfers should be improving, but they are not. In fact, according to handicap records, the average handicap has remained virtually unchanged for the past couple of decades. How is that possible?

Here are four reasons that golfers are not improving:

1. Golfers look to the latest, great-est, ball or club as the answer to their woes. While proper club fit-ting is certainly important, it's only a very small part of the equation. Good players with effective swings can play pretty good golf, even if the equipment they have is not best suited for them. However, the opposite is not true. A golfer with an ineffective swing can have the best-fitted equipment and still play very poor golf.

2. Golfers are bombarded with secrets, methods, and all kinds of golf advice from experts that can be dramatically different, and in some ways, theories can completely contradict each other. Golfers can become easily confused with all of the opposing theories and drown in all of this information.

3. Golfers listen to other golfers: the other guy in the foursome, a best friend, or a husband or wife. However, unless these people are golf professionals, they are not qualified to help you improve your game. And just because a player is a good player, or is a better player than you, that doesn't make him or her qualified to coach you. There is no direct correlation between how good a golfer is and how well he or she can help other golfers improve their games.

4. Golfers use quick fixes, moving from one swing thought to another (i.e., "keep your head down," "swing slow," etc.) Of course, these thoughts never last, which is what leads to the "I got it, I had it, and now I've lost it" syndrome. The ideas are fleeting, temporary fixes, that never lead to any lasting improvement.

So, obviously, all this new equipment, many of the swing theories, and the advice from unqualified sources isn't helping. There are no quick fixes to improvement. However, that doesn't mean that improving one's golf game has to be an arduous, laborious, or an expensive endeavor. There are ways for golfers to realize their full golfing potential, and they involve self-discovery - trial and error learning. However, for selfdiscovery learning to be effective, the golfer must possess the understanding of what's negotiable and nonnegotiable in the golf swing, and how these elements can work together to produce an effective, repeatable swing. Then and only then can golfers begin to experience long-lasting, fulfilling improvement with their game.

- Joe Laurentino is a PGA Professional and author of "The Negotiable Golf Swing: How to Improve Your Game Without Picture-Perfect Form." Visit him online at www.joelaurentino. com.