Consistency… I've almost come to hate the word. All of my golfing life, I've searched for it…longed for it. Over the years, it's almost taken on a magical existence that seemed so close but suddenly disappeared when I tried to grab it. Most of the golfers I played with craved it. They wished for it. They begged for it. And, of course, I woefully joined the cause!
When I look back at my golfing life, I find many entrenched axioms that have roots in traditional golf instruction. It's there that I find my problem with consistency. For years we have all heard what traditional golf teaching says about consistency and why we can't have it! According to them, we setup poorly, have club face issues, have poor balance, play the wrong clubs, don't hit the ground properly, have too many golf weaknesses, don't practice smart, don't understand cause and effect, and overreact too much. I even heard one instructor tell his students to be more consistent; they needed to take more practice swings! Really!!! Is there anything else? Please!
Golf is hard enough without the guilt trip! So what traditional golf is telling us hacks: we have to get a tour-level swing, practice till our hands bleed, take more practice swings, think better, be more intelligent, hit the ground first, and play the correct clubs. All this is to achieve the illustrious goal of being a "consistent" golfer. Well, I can tell you that I spent years traveling this road, and all I achieved was more inconsistency!
My search for consistency was fleeting at best. No matter how well I hit the ball, how low my handicap went, or how well I scored, there were always shots during the round that I missed, and scores that could have been even lower. I became more frustrated whenever I thought about "consistency." I eventually had to find a way to forget it and never think about it again. So, I stopped placing the priority on being "consistent ." Instead, I switched my primary focus to solid contact at impact. It took some time and a lot of effort, but it eventually paid off. My game began to improve when I prioritized my ball striking by enhancing the club-to-ball impact. Quality ball striking and pure impact became my goal when I played, not "consistency"!
I forgot all about that word as time passed, and in the process, I was finally able to grab ahold of that elusive concept... Consistency! Yes, it's true….the road to being a consistent golfer went through how I contacted the ball at impact. The higher the quality of my impact led directly to becoming a consistent golfer!
I became less frustrated and more focused on the simplification of my swing. This led me to the One Plane Swing, where I found the simplest and quickest method to improve my ball striking. I eventually found Kirk Junge's setup4impact teaching and his priority on setting up with quality impact in mind. Now when I play, I see more joy and less stress. When I have great impact, I become less concerned with the ultimate shot result. Of course, I love good shot results, but the point I'm making is that I forgive myself if the shot impact was pure but ended up slightly offline. Maybe in a green side bunker, a few feet into the rough, slightly long or short or right or left….you get the picture. As long I strike the ball with quality contact at impact, then I'm ok with the results. Of course, I still get upset when I miss a shot because of poor impact…hitting it fat and thin with poor club face control. I still loathe "clanking" shots when I play, but with the focus off consistency and now on solid impact, those clanked shots are getting fewer and fewer each round.
The One Plane Swing was the answer for me in finding quality impact and the consistency I had searched for so long. From the simple setup, to swinging on one axis, to reaching impact on the same plane I started on, I've never hit so many solid shots. Try it. It could be the best golf decision you have ever made!
Please consider trying the One Plane Swing. It will give you the best opportunity for quality impact and make your game more consistency!
Dr. Chris Nix
**For more information on the One Plane Swing the One Plane Golfer eBook is available for sale on the homepage of this site. It's a beautifully illustrated description of the One Plane Swing and how to apply it to your game.
