Are golf balls bad for your game?

I may be wrong, but I think I may be getting better at golf because I’m writing a book about trying to get better at golf.

I think the secret’s in the chapters. And the lack of balls.

Every few weeks I go up to Knightsbridge to interview Dave and Steve. Then I return home and listen to what they said and write it into a chapter. In other words, I get two or three weeks to think about a particular action or segment of the swing.

I’m not sure I’ve ever done that before – really think long and hard about one specific part. Normally, I think for about half an hour and then go to the range and try and practise it.

And what happens? Soon I’m ‘ball-watching’. The balls starts, say, fading, so I respond. I forget what I was meant to be practising and think new things, and then more new things. I fidget and tamper and experiment. And every now and again the ball goes straight again and I think: “Cracked it!”

Only by then I’ve long stopped doing what I was trying to do.

Now though, at home, in front of the computer, I type away and I think. Then I go and get a coffee. There, in the kitchen, is my training club. I swing away while waiting for the kettle to catch up. I concentrate on the move Dave and Steve have described. There’s no distractions. There’s no balls.

And this goes on for weeks. I stick to one part of the swing. One chapter. No balls.

I’m beginning to think this is why I am improving…