Discipline

[iacas]

 

I'm going to use the same image I used in this thread about good practice being boring practice to kick off a discussion specifically about the word in the title: discipline. That image is to the right here. --->

 

Whether it's Scottie Scheffler using his training grip every day, or Justin Thomas learning that he needs to re-find his "home base" (X link) for his putting, or Tiger taking a year working on something before he calls Butch (or Hank, or Sean, or Chris) to say "I've got it," or even a golfer on the course aiming away from a flagstick, discipline may be the single most important skill in golf. Top three for sure (don't hold me to that! 🤣).

 

I don't always stay disciplined. I don't record video quite as often as I should… I don't go quite as slowly as I should. And yet… I do those things about 15-20x as often as most golfers.

 

Discipline is making yourself practice something at home at least 15 minutes a day (even if that's five three-minute sessions). Discipline is making yourself see no evil, hear no evil when looking at social media swing tips and just focusing on your one priority piece. Discipline is doing it with nearly constant feedback — recording videos, training aids or "stations" — at the right (almost surely slower than you most can possibly imagine at first) speeds. (Here's a search on X showing a few of my practice stations. They're often pretty similar because… I'm almost always working on similar things.) A typical golfer thinks I'm nuts. I've said on my podcast and written it here on GolfWRX that sometimes, a great practice session includes 50% shanks. Discipline is often not caring where the ball is going.

 

More and more society seems to be chasing instant gratification. Can't beat that game? Just buy a level-up. Want to get some "likes"? Post an (edited, quite often faked in some way) selfie or something from the beach (ignoring the screaming kids 20 feet away, the sand fleas biting your legs, the sunburn you'll get from forgetting to put sunscreen on the back of your calves, etc.) and your friends will like it by rote and you'll feel a smidgen better about yourself. Golf is not that. Golf is not instant gratification. Golf is WORK. Improvement at golf requires trust that the light will be at the end of the tunnel, because unless you're highly sensitive to seeing light in a small change (or a larger change at a slow speed), the light at the end of the tunnel is often a LONG ways off.

 

(This is one of the reasons why some people — I'm not saying anyone here — love the "work on your short game and putting" approach. It's one of the closest things to instant gratification that you'll find in golf, limited as the gains may be. They can see a few more balls going in the hole and see tangible relatively quick improvement. Again, though, it's often small improvement, and it doesn't necessarily stick.)

 

Few things are more frustrating than giving a great lesson to a 20 handicapper, having them pause, using mirrors, recording every third swing and reviewing it with them, making them hit the ball only 50 yards or so, and leaving them with a very clear message about what and how to practice… only for them to text you the next day with "I went to the range, it went horribly, here's a video of my swing (at full speed, with no rehearsals), what am I doing wrong?" (This is particularly frustrating when you've helped someone for free and they seem to understand and believe everything, and then you see the same type of response and no evidence of them actually putting in the work.)

 

Even super experienced golfers and lower index players often think (subconsciously at least) that they're going to "get better" from just taking a lesson and practicing for 40 minutes during that lesson. After all, most golfers start to hit it better at the end of the lesson than they were at the beginning. But… golf doesn't work that way. Not at full speed, not quickly.

 

Being disciplined isn't much fun (getting better can be, but there are a lot of valleys between the small peaks). It means spending 15-60 minutes a day (or five days a week, or whatever) being focused on taking small steps. It means knowing that some days you may actually take a step back, but it won't be as far back as going two or three days without putting in the work. It means knowing that the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.

 

How disciplined are you? Could you spend ten minutes less scrolling Instagram or X and spend that on your golf game? While you're waiting for your popcorn, could you use the reflection in your patio door window to work on your golf swing? Can you go at the right speed, with a station set up, and record yourself frequently?

 

Can you?

 

Or, more importantly…

 

Will you?

[GoGoErky]

Great post

 

31 minutes ago, iacas said:

How disciplined are you?

I sacrifice time at home after work to make sure I get my gym training in, my prescribed and food prep when I need to.

 

it ain’t easy, but when you focus on a goal you’ll do what it takes to get there. 
 

it takes 21 days of doing something for it to become a habit

[otto6457]

Thank you for this.  It's so easy to say, "I'll do it tomorrow" or "I'm tired today".  

 

I do it all the time.  I'm most let down by myself in most every case of my failures.

 

Long term discipline is hard.  It's really hard.

 

Probably why greatness is so rare.

[Rbsiedsc]

Well said. You make the important distinction of even a little bit every day can go a long ways. Its partially in the spirit of James Clear and "Atomic Habits" . If you start doing something 1% everyday, that will compound itself overtime into massive improvement.

 

For me this is the gym 3 days a week.

 

Taking 15 mins a day to at least do some swing feels

 

Going on daily walks over lunch.

 

[getitdaily]

I am. It's just how my brain works. I love to work on getting better. 

 

I have 141 recorded swings since the beginning of March. My wife goes to bed early so I usually have 2 hours to myself before I go to bed. I read a bunch, since I bought it, I've had my downshift board and a 7i in my living room to get work in during reading breaks. I do 15-20 justin rose drill micro swings about 4 nights a week. 

 

I putt when on work calls that I don't have to lead. I get up at 520 Wednesday mornings to go putt for an hour before work, every week. 

 

Want to be good, gotta put in disciplined work.

Edited May 20 by getitdaily

[golferdude54]

I don't even take it back to P3 in practice nor do I play on the course at the moment. I just take it back to P2 and swing through from there on video until I'm satisfied with how it looks and feels and then I'll move onto P3 swings and full swings. I might want to play from the front tees and add an extra par value to each hole with these P2 swings I've been working on.

 

At one point, I dis-assembled every club that I own at my place except my putter and lob wedge just so I wouldn't try to move to the longer clubs too fast.

[DCCarpenter]

@iacasthanks for posting a new topic, would appreciate your opinion on a few things. 
 

I have read a lot of your posts and they often bring up movement changes , which I agree are key to raising your ceiling to their highest. One caveat being they require a trained eye to make sure you are doing them correctly (which can be expensive or hard to find). 
 

I wanted to see how you feel about self organizing movement changes while applying disciplined work with feedback via practice. 
 

Examples include monitoring strike location on the club face via spray or tape multiple times a week for weeks on end and comparing results and working to improve. Measuring ground impact location and measuring results and working on it with either a divot board or using different sources of swing focus to improve it. 
 

My iron and wedge play has improved by leaps and bounds by doing this while practicing off grass, including clubhead speed/distance which I verify with a launch monitor and confirm by using a handheld gps on course. I can’t say the same about my game off the tee, perhaps hitting the limit of non movement intervention there. 

[bilbry57]

You posted this before I think you have this sign at your facility. 100% agree I trained at a gym 5 days a week arrived at 5:30 every morning.  The number of guys that were dedicated enough to be there everyday and train was less than 10.  Over the years there were hundreds and hundreds of people that declared they were motivated to make a change only to stop showing up 7-14 days later.

 

i never thought about golf and the examples you shared of dedication needed to improve the same way as the gym.  For me it's not a lack of trying but mostly not staying dedicated to a process that includes daily drills that don't include hitting ball 100%. I have a net outside, mirror in the house, and tools for feedback stations.  No reason not to give this a go.  Thanks for posting

 

 

[iacas]

@DCCarpenter, your questions feel off topic (skill work vs. technique work?), so…

 

Spoiler

 

1 hour ago, DCCarpenter said:

I wanted to see how you feel about self organizing movement changes while applying disciplined work with feedback via practice.

 

I've talked about it on my podcast (and the one I did with Mike Carroll recently). Basically, attempting to self organize often leads to creating more problems. Want to move your low point forward? There are a bunch of ways to do that incorrectly. Fewer to do it properly. And… you may be skipping too far ahead, as that may not be the priority thing. Slicing your driver? Again, lots of ways to learn to hit draws… but many are bad ways.

 

1 hour ago, DCCarpenter said:

Examples include monitoring strike location on the club face via spray or tape multiple times a week for weeks on end and comparing results and working to improve.

 

That's skill work. It has its place, but… overall… meh. There are often mechanical reasons someone is prone to shanking it. Or hitting it way out of the toe. Or chunking/thinning 2/3 of their shots.

 

1 hour ago, DCCarpenter said:

My iron and wedge play has improved by leaps and bounds by doing this while practicing off grass, including clubhead speed/distance which I verify with a launch monitor and confirm by using a handheld gps on course. I can’t say the same about my game off the tee, perhaps hitting the limit of non movement intervention there. 

 

Sounds like you're doing skill work. It has its place.

 

Okay.

 

28 minutes ago, bilbry57 said:

You posted this before I think you have this sign at your facility.

 

Yeah, the first sentence links to the "good practice is boring practice" topic with that image in it. 😄 

 

28 minutes ago, bilbry57 said:

i never thought about golf and the examples you shared of dedication needed to improve the same way as the gym.  For me it's not a lack of trying but mostly not staying dedicated to a process that includes daily drills that don't include hitting ball 100%. I have a net outside, mirror in the house, and tools for feedback stations.  No reason not to give this a go.  Thanks for posting

 

You got it. Motivation comes and goes, like the sign says. Discipline rules.

Edited May 21 by iacas
Cleaned up spacing (I think?)

[Hawkeye77]

I can't even summon the discipline to finish reading it after now coming back for the third time, lol.  

 

Not saying it isn't 100% on point, not at all, but I'm watching the NCAA women right now and then saw there were incredible looking new Titleist irons to look at in the Tour Release forum and then had to go grab some crackers and then came back to this again thinking I'd finish it --- there's a reason my handicap has stalled out.

[petep52]

I have none. 

[Canada8888]

Motivation is the "why" behind your actions, the spark that gets you started. 

 

Discipline is the "how" and "what" of consistently acting, even when it's not easy or enjoyable. 

[naval2006]

I agree.  Learning and improving at golf is more about discipline than anything else.  You have to put the time to practice, lessons, drilling, rinse and repeat. 

 

Motivation makes things easier but it usually doesn't last long.  And there's  a lot of times when practice can be frustrating but you have to get going.

 

One of the most inspiring stories of discipline is Nick Faldo under Leadbetter before he became #1.

 

However, it's not easy to be so strict with your golf as you grow older, you have long days of work and family stuff AND you want to play golf.  It's common to show up with what you have, shoot a couple of doubles until you warm up and just keep on grinding through the round.  

 

And discipline is key as someone is working on their swing so as to not fall to the charms of YouTube, Instagram or the forums.  More and more you find students questioning coaches after watching an AMG or Eric Cogorno vid on a Sunday night.  

[Brokensticks]

Im guilty of this, atleast partial. 
 

Practice swings and the technique just fly out the window the second I stand over a ball. I deliberately practice slowly and its fine, but when Im thinking ”Ok lets hit it” everything just returns to normal. 
 

Recording myself helps but again, its having me thinking Im doing the right thing but 2 swings later Im not. In my mind I would also like some kind of ”reward” for doing the right swing, but thats not happening either. 
 

I would love to improve my swing and hover 130mph CHS but Im starting to think that most of us just cant. Just like most of us cant run 100m on sub 10 seconds no matter if we dedicated our entire life because peak athleticism is gifted, not learned. 

[baudi]

On 5/21/2025 at 2:08 PM, Canada8888 said:

 

Motivation is the "why" behind your actions, the spark that gets you started. 

 

Discipline is the "how" and "what" of consistently acting, even when it's not easy or enjoyable. 

 

The nature of being is like a causa finalis. 

 

Trust is the answer to the why question. Believe.   

Motivation is about how one can act. Prepare.

Discipline is the liberty to act. Redeem.

 

 

 

Fundamentally,...

 

 

 

 

[bortass]

Great post.

 

I am slowly learning that good intentions are worthless. It’s a lesson that bothers some fundamental part of me since it has forced me to face and admit the reality of my situation.

 

Discipline is a struggle for me but I have always seen the best results when I have it regardless of what it is related to, golf, gym, diet, etc.

[iacas]

Discipline is a habit. Creating new habits is hard. That's another reason why getting better at golf via changing your mechanics is hard. It requires changing TWO habits: your golf swing, and how you practice/your discipline level. 😄 

 

I was going to say that another of my signs is "You Don't Grow When You're Comfortable." That applies here as well — it's uncomfortable to go slowly, not care immediately or even early about the results, etc. It's tough.

[rsballer10]

29 minutes ago, iacas said:

Discipline is a habit. Creating new habits is hard. That's another reason why getting better at golf via changing your mechanics is hard. It requires changing TWO habits: your golf swing, and how you practice/your discipline level. 😄 

 

I was going to say that another of my signs is "You Don't Grow When You're Comfortable." That applies here as well — it's uncomfortable to go slowly, not care immediately or even early about the results, etc. It's tough.

How do you approach playing golf while making mechanical/swing changes? It's challenging enough to be willing to hit some shanks on the range, mentally it just seems even harder when the scorecard is involved. It's just so easy to revert back to bad habits, just to try and score well in the short term.

[iacas]

3 minutes ago, rsballer10 said:

How do you approach playing golf while making mechanical/swing changes? It's challenging enough to be willing to hit some shanks on the range, mentally it just seems even harder when the scorecard is involved. It's just so easy to revert back to bad habits, just to try and score well in the short term.

 

Find your one feel that helps the most and use that as your swing thought/feel on the course.

 

Everyone's a bit different, but… that's the general recommendation.

[rsballer10]

2 minutes ago, iacas said:

 

Find your one feel that helps the most and use that as your swing thought/feel on the course.

 

Everyone's a bit different, but… that's the general recommendation.

thank you!

[getitdaily]

13 minutes ago, rsballer10 said:

How do you approach playing golf while making mechanical/swing changes? It's challenging enough to be willing to hit some shanks on the range, mentally it just seems even harder when the scorecard is involved. It's just so easy to revert back to bad habits, just to try and score well in the short term.

I've posted this a couple of times before. But you just have to push through a change while playing and accept that scores will suffer. Your playing days should provide a ton of feedback both positive and negative while working on a change. 

 

This is my summary of the stages of playing through a swing change.

 

1. Early on in the change..let's call.it the first 6 weeks. The on-course swing will feel.super mechanical. You've been repping changes at the range and working on exaggerated moves. You try to take that to the course and it doesn't go well. Best thought...whatever your key move is, use it as a feel in your preshot routine and then just swing away. You are going to hit some stinkers.

2. Next 6 weeks. You continue to ingrain the change. On course starts to feel less mechanical but you still feel like you're placing the club in certain spots rather than just swinging it. You start to hit fewer stinkers but you still hit too many bad shots and your scores continue to lag behind where you were before you started. You get fooled on course by thinking "the changes feel natural now". You feel good about progress and then hit the range and see that your positions have regressed. Onward you march into exaggeration moves. 

3. Next 6 weeks. It's starting to click and scores start to show improvement. Swing feels less and less manipulated each round. You're finding it. 

 

Each of those phases can go a couple weeks longer and a couple weeks shorter. Depends on how big and disruptive the change is, how much time you have to practice, and how disciplined you are in your practice. 

 

[dpc]

16 minutes ago, getitdaily said:

I've posted this a couple of times before. But you just have to push through a change while playing and accept that scores will suffer. Your playing days should provide a ton of feedback both positive and negative while working on a change. 

 

This is my summary of the stages of playing through a swing change.

 

1. Early on in the change..let's call.it the first 6 weeks. The on-course swing will feel.super mechanical. You've been repping changes at the range and working on exaggerated moves. You try to take that to the course and it doesn't go well. Best thought...whatever your key move is, use it as a feel in your preshot routine and then just swing away. You are going to hit some stinkers.

2. Next 6 weeks. You continue to ingrain the change. On course starts to feel less mechanical but you still feel like you're placing the club in certain spots rather than just swinging it. You start to hit fewer stinkers but you still hit too many bad shots and your scores continue to lag behind where you were before you started. You get fooled on course by thinking "the changes feel natural now". You feel good about progress and then hit the range and see that your positions have regressed. Onward you march into exaggeration moves. 

3. Next 6 weeks. It's starting to click and scores start to show improvement. Swing feels less and less manipulated each round. You're finding it. 

 

Each of those phases can go a couple weeks longer and a couple weeks shorter. Depends on how big and disruptive the change is, how much time you have to practice, and how disciplined you are in your practice. 

 

The 2nd 6 weeks (no. 2 above) always goes awry if you don't have a trusted pair of eyes - either someone who can spot the change you're implementing or you have to be diligent with video.  It's too easy to fall back to old patterns at this point if you don't monitor it relentlessly.

 

[getitdaily]

26 minutes ago, dpc said:

The 2nd 6 weeks (no. 2 above) always goes awry if you don't have a trusted pair of eyes - either someone who can spot the change you're implementing or you have to be diligent with video.  It's too easy to fall back to old patterns at this point if you don't monitor it relentlessly.

 

100%

[GoGoErky]

45 minutes ago, getitdaily said:

I've posted this a couple of times before. But you just have to push through a change while playing and accept that scores will suffer. Your playing days should provide a ton of feedback both positive and negative while working on a change. 

Seems a little contradictory. You don’t want to make the backswing change you need because it will affect scores during tournament season

 

 

[TheDeanAbides]

100% this. I'm in the process of writing a book, and there are plenty of days when I don't feel inspired, and I seriously do not want to write. I could just sit on the forum or scratch my butt, but instead I sit down and write. Even 100-200 words of nonsense is better than nothing because nothing spreads and grows like a cancer. Just. Do. It. 

[TheDeanAbides]

On 5/21/2025 at 2:49 AM, Hawkeye77 said:

I can't even summon the discipline to finish reading it after now coming back for the third time, lol.  

 

Not saying it isn't 100% on point, not at all, but I'm watching the NCAA women right now and then saw there were incredible looking new Titleist irons to look at in the Tour Release forum and then had to go grab some crackers and then came back to this again thinking I'd finish it --- there's a reason my handicap has stalled out.

ADHD for the win, dude. 

[Nard_S]

It's pretty much a waste of time to gauge swing progress by index progress. Better to build a higher floor to reach a higher window of potential. One is a marathon the other is a sprint. Going about it that way takes discipline. On a practical level, practicing to intention & purpose most of time takes discipline.  This one is easy to screw up. Like gym work, you can habit to a plateau, but unlike gym not always clear how best to shift focus and effort. Can wander in desert of stink for a while and waste a lot of time. Clearly where Pro guidance is of most value. Another discipline is getting house in order ideologically about greater swing principles. Took me many years to understand, scope of how little i understood. Not alone on that one. Honest believe that is of major issue. Generally guys who were taught in last 10-15 years, they swing a lot better than guys who were taught 25-30 years ago and basically it's because we all knew a lot less back then. Maybe last 5 years, knowledge base has really been elevated and that's been great.

[Pepperturbo]

Interesting and valuable topic, different from one person to the next.

 

During my youth, training was extreme in hopes the result would keep me alive and moving forward when the time came. 

Discipline kept reminding me of the importance of never quitting, training was to stay alive and, if called upon, motivation was to be able to keep brothers alive.

 

Discipline is functional, not creative, seldom viewed as an admirable attribute, but is consistent to the outcome and probably more valuable.  Motivation can come from multiple areas, and change when you least expect it, there one minute, not there the next.   

 

I relied upon discipline to keep me going to the range, day in day out 5hrs a day. Will and motivation was always reach my goal, single digit then scratch, as fast as possible, while college golf buddies more skilled said it wasn't possible at my age.  Motivation was to make them eat their words.

 

My golf inspiration today is simple, keep hitting the ball well and as far as possible.  Discipline keeps me chipping in the office 4-5 days a week since the 90s, and working out 3-4 days a week since HS, just to be strong enough to do what is tasked.  Simple motivation comes from hitting the ball solid.  It's not beneath me to conjure up any ole mental image to motivate myself.

 

Today is gym day, and don't really want to go.  Motivation is Father time never lets up busting our azz, strength and cardio training keeps him at bay, and discipline gets me dressed, in the car and off to the gym.  Again, thanks to the OP, great subject.

[kenwiggins11]

[MK7Golf21]

18 hours ago, Pepperturbo said:

 

Today is gym day, and don't really want to go.  Motivation is Father time never lets up busting our azz, strength and cardio training keeps him at bay, and discipline gets me dressed, in the car and off to the gym.  Again, thanks to the OP, great subject.

 

That can happen sometimes but every time I made it to the gym after about 15-20 mins into my workout all that is gone and enjoy it. I'd also go after work during the weekdays and found over the years of going that before getting to the gym I felt like eating a buger, fries or pizza etc. for dinner. After your workout all those cravings are gone and you feel like eating grilled chicken, vegetables etc. to fuel what you just did in the gym. I rarely felt like eating greasy pizza after working out.

Edited May 23 by MK7Golf21