20 Laws of Golf according to the Golf Doctor

In our great country we have laws for everything: taxes, violent crimes and illicit drugs, although those laws have been modified lately. Many fine books haven been written that consider laws of_______ (you fill in the blank). In this edition of my golf column I present Dr. Golf’s 20 Laws of Golf.

Know and follow the rules. That means the USGA Rules of Golf, proper etiquette, sportsmanship and proper attire for golf. Proper attire does not include sleeveless shirts or flip-flops.

Behave like gentlemen and ladies on the golf course. No club throwing or stupid antics.

Golf instruction is a necessity, especially if one is a beginner, junior or novice player.

Putting represents approximately half your strokes if you are mid-to-low handicapper, so you have to spend half your practice time on putting, and take some lessons.

Suitable equipment is a must. If you play regularly your equipment needs to be up-to-date, meaning produced by the manufacturer within the past seven years.

Controlling your mind and emotions is required. Whether you are a recreational golfer or a tour pro, the mental game is critical to getting the most out of your ability. But it’s complicated. Once a person knows how to swing a golf club with some skill, the game of golf then becomes an exercise in mental toughness and emotional self-control.

Practicing correctly and often will lead to improvement. I have written about this as recently as a year ago with “High Yield Practice. As I say, “the more I practice the luckier I get.”

Over-trying doesn’t work in golf. To play your best golf you need to attend to the process of your play, rather than the outcome and the results. If you are committed to the process, the results will take care of itself. In that way you will stay focused on the shot at hand in this moment.

Some good putts don’t go in; some others happen to go in. Just watch the pros on television. Some days they make everything; some days they can’t buy a putt. It’s a “game within a game.”

Luck – good and bad –  definitely is a part of the game of golf. It’s part of life. Take a look back at where you are today – successes and failure, good breaks and bad breaks – and notice how much chance plays in the outcome of where we are today. Golf is just a mirror of that.

Strength, flexibility and balance are essential components of a proper golf swing. If you are not working out at home or at the gym to keep yourself fit, you are sacrificing your ability to hit the golf ball.

You must know your distance, directions and conditions. There are a multitude of variables on the golf course in playing circumstances, so it’s important to calculate those variables with rapid cognition in preparing for a shot. As amateurs we cannot take as long to do that as the pros.

Focus, visualization and attention are musts. Those three things seem to be lost on everyday high-handicappers. Two weeks ago I wrote about awareness and adjustment. Pay attention to everything, be aware. Picture your shot and putt to etch a mental image of what you are trying to do; Jack Nicklaus called “going to the movie in my head.” Focus on your only task at hand, not your phone.

Mistakes are guaranteed I golf. That’s why the short game is so important. In my case, I seem to make too many mistakes, but my short game – chipping and putting – saves an awful lot of shots.

When you believe you’ve  unlocked the secret and mastered golf you’re dead wrong. Look at my column from a few weeks ago. Golf involves lifelong learning. We’re never done improving.

In the end, despite the ups and downs, bad bounces, bad breaks, the golfer is solely responsible for his or her shots, play and score. Some golfers are chronic complainers and they don’t get that.

Bouncing back from mistakes, adversity and set-backs is the sure way to save your score.

One of my personal laws when I play is “never give up on a hole.” Recently I hit my tee shot into a pond on a par 5, then hit my forth shot ten feet from the hole and made the putt, for money.       

Three of the earliest commandments are do not lie, cheat and steal. I do not know how golfers justify stealing nice looking range balls marked with Titleist or TaylorMade, but it is still stealing.

And remember, putts left short hardly ever go in the hole, trees are not 90 percent air, nervous tension escalates exponentially the more people that are watching.