Plan, Aim, Swing

John Toepel

In my many years as a golf professional, I have found only a few golfers who know how to play the game. Even some of the good golfers play by accident rather than by design. When the football or basketball coach says he has a game plan, he has a big inclusive plan and the smaller plans that make the big plan possible.
Most golfers have a big plan that is to keep the ball out of the trees and water, kill it and make a par when it stares them in the face. Most golfers plans are to keep the left arm straight, never look up and follow all the 1005 swing rules they have heard at one point in their lives.
The good golfers, and I’m talking about the best of the best on the PGA Tour, have a different game plan. They have a plan for the day and that is to score as low as possible. They have a plan for each hole and that is to make a par. They quickly reverse engineer each hole from the green back to the tee. They have a plan for each shot and that is to make the next shot the easiest one possible – like the good pool players.
Their thought is never on the swing or what the body is supposed to be doing. They get paid for scoring low. If their mind is on their body and what it is supposed to be doing, their chances for scoring low are slim to none.
One of the two Playing Principles is Plan, Aim, Swing. Have a plan for the round, a plan for the hole and a plan for each shot. Then simply aim and swing. Let’s explore this principle in more detail so you can have lower scores every round.
Plan……Aim, Swing
Playing the game is really quite simple. Just plan, aim and swing. It's a game with a stick and a ball. We hit the ball with the stick until it goes in the hole. Who said anything about keeping score? Our first job is to make a plan for this shot, based on a bigger plan for the hole. Once we have a plan, aim properly at the target and swing. Then we find the ball and repeat the same procedure. It's that "hit it, hunt it, hit it" routine. I've already talked about the aim and the swing. Now I am going to talk about the planning part of the game.
Planning is the most overlooked part of the game of golf. Most golfers are so focused on the swing and hitting the ball that they don't even realize planning is part of the game. Learn to play smart. Ask yourself the question, “How can I make a par on this hole with the golf game I have today?”
If you execute properly, but have
no plan, the course will win
The plan I hear the most is, "I hope I don’t hit it into the water." A real plan will help you get beyond constantly thinking about the body in terms of the swing and will enable you to deal with challenging situations on the course. Good golf courses are designed to make you think, plan, and then execute properly. If you execute properly, but have no plan, you will lose shots and the course will win. A good course is designed so that all levels of golfers can play the course well -- if they think about each hole and each shot.
First, you must develop your plan for the whole course. I remember seeing Jack Nicklaus playing the course on paper with Angelo, his caddie, both before and after the round. It's important that you become one with the course before you play it rather than trying to figure it out while you are playing. How can you shoot a good score on today's course? Plan it out. Get a sense of which holes you can birdie and the ones on which you should be happy with par. Get a feel for where to be aggressive and where to be conservative. After the round, spend a few minutes going over each hole to check for planning errors and determine how you can improve your plan for tomorrow.
How do you plan for a course that you are playing for the first time? You can check the scorecard for pictures. At a minimum, take a look at the first, ninth, tenth and eighteenth. These holes are important. With your peek at them, you will have some idea about the holes and you will know where the pin is on the 9th and 18th greens.
You are not trying to improve your swing to lower your score; you are planning so your score will go down because of intelligent play. If it is reasonable for the best golfers to do this type of planning, it’s probably something you should consider. Once you have a sense of the plan for the whole course, you need to develop a plan specific to each hole.
Here is another way to help prepare for the course you are playing today. If you know the course, sit in a comfortable chair, close your eyes, and play the course in your mind’s eye. This gives you a chance to experience your round before you actually step on the course.
What is your plan for the course? How do you determine your plan for the course and for each hole? Plan with a single principle in mind: play each shot in a way that makes the next shot as easy as possible. Plan each shot in a way that sets you up for success on the next shot. The good pool player controls each shot after the first one. He is able to leave the cue ball in the spot that makes the next shot as easy as possible.
What makes the next shot the easiest? Sometimes your target needs to be the flat spot in the fairway as opposed to a downhill lie farther out. Frequently, your tee shot needs to end up on the side of the fairway that creates the best opening to the pin. As a general rule, if the pin is cut on the right part of the green, you want to position your tee shot to the left side of the fairway. This will typically open the pin for the easiest shot.
Always know exactly where you
want the ball to end up, how it will
get there, and why.
You generally want your shot to the green to end up underneath the hole to leave you an uphill putt. You do not want to run your uphill putt too far past the hole, leaving yourself one of those “fun” downhill putts. By the same token, you don’t want to leave your downhill putt short. More downhill putting is not the most fun.
Use the lay of the land to your advantage. If the land slopes from right to left on the tee shot, hit a draw down the right side of the fairway to maximize your distance. If the slope is left to right, hit a fade down the left side.
Always know exactly where you want the ball to end up, how it will get there, and why. I was giving a lesson to a student, Richard Parker, who is a good ball striker and can shoot in the 70’s. On the first hole he hit his drive to the left of the fairway. The shot to the green was uncomplicated, about 160 yards slightly downhill. The ball was lying down in the grass slightly and the grass was not too long. He could expect the shot to behave normally from the lie and not be a “flyer.” The green was large and flat, the pin was cut in the back third on the right, and there were big bunkers right and left of the green. As he was preparing for the shot I asked him, “What is your target?”
“The green.”
“What kind of shot are you going to hit?” I continued asking.
“A regular six iron.”
At that point we started talking about planning every shot and being very specific about every aspect of every shot: the exact target and why, which club to use and why, the height of every shot and why, and the shape of every shot and why. At the end of nine holes he said he had learned more about playing golf than he had since he had taken up the game. He had no idea there was so much planning needed for every shot. He began to appreciate the game and enjoy it more. And he hit the ball very well. He had been terribly concerned about every detail of the swing mechanics -- until he learned how to play the game.
John Toepel is a Veteran PGA Tour Player, instructor, author, and professional speaker. He is also the discoverer of Concept Golf, the quickest way to immediate, life-long lasting improvements to anyone's golf game. To learn more about Concept Golf, including the most comprehensive golf instruction system ever, "The Concept Golf Perfect Shot Making System", please visit http://www.conceptgolf.com/PSMS.htm and Discover the Par Golfer in You!