Small improvements

Luke Donald

As the professional golf tours get underway in 2012 and before the four majors take all our attention this is the time to reflect on the achievement of the world no 1 golfer, Englishman Luke Donald.

Luke has passed 32 consecutive weeks at the top of the world rankings making him, Tiger Woods apart, the longest standing no 1 golfer since Greg Norman. The latter holding the No1 spot for 96 weeks from 1995 to 1997.

For a man who not long ago, 2008 to be precise, was recovering from a career threatening wrist injury the achievement is staggering. So how did Luke set himself on this journey to the top? What changed? Well the answer is one small step after another.

When Luke came back his short game, widely acclaimed as one of the best, was still in tact. But what was obvious from the statistics was that Luke had dropped further behind in the driving distance stakes averaging around the 275 yard mark. This saw him some ten to fifteen yards shorter than the average hitters on tour. So Luke set about becoming stronger to add more speed to his already immaculate golf swing. Over the two years from 2009 to 2011 Luke gained 10 yards in length and was also hitting the ball much straighter. Not, on the face of it, ground breaking in itself but this relatively small change had a domino effect on the rest of the game. The multi-dependent nature of the game of golf meant that hitting more fairways and being closer to the greens allowed Luke to hit the ball closer to the hole. So this small change moved him from 39^th to 9^th in proximity to the hole in the rankings. History told us that Luke was already a good wedge player. In 2009 from 100 to 125 yards the ball finished 16ft 9in from the hole. In 2011 he led this category averaging 16ft 4in. Again a small but significant change. The final stepping stone to greatness was an improvement in putting stats from just over 60% conversion in 2009 to a 66% conversion in 2011. Ranked 13^th in 2009, with a stroke average of 70.01 he reduced his scoring average to 68.86 to see him sit at the top of the rankings.

What we can learn from this is that sometimes even small incremental improvements in all departments of our golf skills at whatever level will elevate our game significantly and can be the difference between winning and loosing. All to often professionals and amateurs alike look at major changes to the swing expecting major changes in their scores. Why not take a leaf out of Luke’s book and have a look at making little improvements in all aspects of our game and see your scores tumble. (Statistics provided by www.pgatour.com)