If you're like me and trying to get that coveted PGA card, you know it's tough. You know it costs money; and in this recession, money is hard to come by. So here's a few tips to help you reach that goal:
- PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE! You can't possibly think you will pass your PAT (player ability test) without practicing. Get yourself out on that range and learn muscle memory.
- LESSONS! I have taken golf instruction from 5 different instructors since I was 14 years old. Thats seven years of instruction. Find that one instructor (even if it takes 5 times) that gets your swing. That one instructor can make all the difference.
- USE IT ON THE COURSE! There's no point in taking golf lessons if you don't take what you've learned onto the course. In my personal experience, I have learned to score better just by taking my muscle memory and what I've learned from my instructors to the course.
The first step is your Player Ability Test. It requires you to play 36 holes in one day and shoot a more than decent score through those holes. I once had a friend take it and he got by on pure wit and knowledge of the game. STUDY THE GAME. If you do these things, you will be fine. The money for the books and everything else will come in time.
This is an article of encouragement. YOU can do this. You know you can get it done. The one thing stopping you is "What if I fail?". In the words of the great Harvey Penick, "Can't is not a word to be used in the game of golf". I for one, one hundred percent believe that. As an instructor and as a student of the game of golf, I never let "can't" and "wont" enter my mind. Because if I do, I know I've already lost.
Remember: Golf is 95% mental. Think about that next time you step up to the first teebox and definitely remember it when that first teebox is for your PAT, because you will never be closer to your life goal than when you are standing on that teebox making your first drive at getting that coveted PGA card.
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