Why You Practice Golf But Shoot Lower Scores

Happy Monday,

This week, we cover one of the most useful mental models for evaluating your rate of development.

I’ve used this with high handicappers, elite amateurs and tour players, and it tends to get great results.

Enjoy.

This Week

Your Performance Cycle: This video shows you how to accelerate the rate at which you shoot lower scores.

Weekly Skills Game: A game for your next driving range session.

Tip of the Week: Quick, actionable advice to apply to your game.

Quick Video: Lessons from caddying on Tour.

Enjoy.

Your Performance Cycle: Great Mental Model To Understand Your Rate Of Improvement

You track your stats. You practice.

But your scores aren't improving — here's why (and how to fix it with a better performance cycle).

📢 Listen to the Full Episode:
🎧 YouTube: Watch here
🎧 Apple Podcasts: Listen here
🎧 Spotify: Listen here

🏌️‍♂️ Rapid-Fire Takeaways:

✅ Most golfers have a broken performance cycle — random practice based on vague feelings, not related to how they build their score

✅ Tracking your playing stats properly is the fastest way to turn your time and effort into real scoring improvements.

✅ Playing stats data doesn't need to be perfect — 70% accurate stats are infinitely better than no stats.

✅ If you have 1-2 hours a week to practice, pick the weakest part of your game and focus on that.

 ✅ If you have 3-6 hours pick the weakest two areas and build a plan around them. Don’t spread yourself too thin and make zero progress in all areas.

✅ Your practice should be a targeted mix of skills games (for outcome focus) and technical work (for improving what causes your poor shots).

✅ Practicing without transferring skills back to the course is like training for a marathon by only running on a treadmill — you must practice on the course too.

✅ New insights from practice and play (like your natural shot patterns) should directly shape your on-course strategy.

✅ A 1/10 performance cycle today means you have huge room to improve — that's exciting, not depressing.

✅ Optimising your performance cycle even slightly (5–10%) can compound into big handicap drops over a season. This process can help you improve quicker, with fewer practice hours.

⛳️ A Challenge for Your Next Round:

🔹 Before you practice next: Rate your performance cycle from 1–10, then give each section a rating 1-10. Pick an area to improve and see if you can develop that step within the next 2-4 weeks.

🔹 After your next round: Spend 5 minutes to keep your playing stats (check the free tool below).

🔁 Want to Shortcut the Process?

✅ Use the Free Strokes Gained Calculator to get actionable data.
✅ Use the Break X Golf app to build a personalised, evolving practice plan based on your real weaknesses.

🎯 Quick Coaching Nugget:

Break X Golf – Weekly Skills Game

If you hit your driver great on the range, but struggle to get the ball in play on the golf course, try this skills game naext time you are at the golf range.

For personalised practice plans and over 140 skills games, check out Break X Golf.

Break X Golf is a sister project to Golf Insider and was co-founded by Will Shaw.

You can check it out here.

Lessons From Caddying On Tour ✍️ 

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Happy golfing – Will @ Golf Insider

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