I had an interesting thought while watching a PGA Tour tournament the other day: A manufacturer’s advertisement stated that over the last 20 years or so, the average handicap has not gone down, yet we have better equipment and better teaching technology. However, if you hit this club, everything would all change (how nice it would be if just a club could really make all the difference).

The question I pondered was if the equipment is better (it is) and teaching equipment is better (it is), then why do people not improve more quickly or at all? The answer lies not in the equipment used (to a point) or the information given by the instructor (hopefully it is sound). Rather, it lies in the application as to what is practiced — how the student applies the information given during the lesson in subsequent trips to the practice tee itself.

In this article, I will give you several quick tips in applying the given information, no matter what it is, to your own game so you can learn as quickly as possible.

Use a mirror to audit correct/incorrect motions so you can see them visually and feel them kinesthetically!

The first thing I tell my students to do after a lesson is spend some quality time in front of a mirror looking at the differences between the old/incorrect movements versus the correct/new feeling movements. They will feel different and will also look different in the mirror. It is up to students to figure out what exactly makes them perform the correct move versus the incorrect move in the mirror.

Here is why students have to do some of this process on their own — instructors can’t tell you what you feel, and can only go by what they are told by others making the same move or what they felt personally. They are not in your body, so they probably have no clue as to what you are feeling. But they can show you where you should be and tell you biomechanically and physiologically how your body makes the motion in question.

The real key is to make sure you can see and feel the different motion that you have been asked to perform by your teaching professional.

On the practice tee, use small stop-action swings hitting balls off of a tee that only fly between 30 to 60 yards.

Once golfers can see and feel kinesthetically what they are trying to do, it is time for them to try and hit balls using the same motion. But it is still too early to use full swings, even at partial speed.

That’s why I suggest that my students use short iron stop-action swings, hitting small pitch shots feeling the correct move versus the incorrect one. If golfers can identify if they are in the correct/more fundamentally solid position and can visually verify it through the stopping motion, they are ready to move into slow motion swings. But they should only do so once they have mastered this step and can perform it at least 90 percent of the time without too much mental or physical strain.

On the practice tee, make slow motion swings with the ball on a tee trying to feel the same (correct vs. incorrect) motion identified above.

If a golfer has identified the stop-action feeling of what they are trying to do, it is up to them to re-configure their full swing motion to integrate the new and more correct motion. It is here that I suggest using small, slow-motion swings with a short to mid iron using a tee so that they can focus on mechanics rather than ball flight. This step will allow golfers to hit slow motion full-length swings producing ball flights one-quarter of their normal distance so that they can feel what they are trying to do kinesthetically.

If golfers make full-speed swings right away, they will do little good because most golfers go back to what feels normal right away. Rmember, there will be plenty of time to hit full-speed shots later.

As golfers become more proficient at slow-motion swings, they should build up their swing speed up notch by notch until they are moving at full speed again with mid to long irons. When they can make slow-motion swings with those clubs at least 70 percent of the time correctly, then they are ready to move to the long irons and woods at partial speed.

Hit the long irons and woods at partial speed (working up to full speed) along with the small, slow motion pitch shots with the short irons.

Integrating the longer clubs to a new swing feels impossible sometimes, which is why I suggest curing this “latency” by switching back and forth between the long clubs and the short slow-motion pitch shot swings of the short irons. This way, golfers can feel with no doubt the difference between these motions. The long clubs will feel different and will react differently to your changes, but remember that the fundamentals are the same.

Master this drill before moving to full speed swings with all clubs.

If you find yourself slipping back into the same swing flaws, go back to short swings!

Golfers tend to do the same things wrong from now until the end of time, so if and when they fall back into their same swing flaws, they should just repeat the steps above and they should find their way again.

It’s tempting for golfers to go start practicing a new move without trying the steps above again, assuming the new move doesn’t work. But remember, golfers fall back into their old habits 90 percent of the time — guaranteed!

These steps are not fun nor are they anything but boring, but these are the proven motor learning steps to improve — no one is exempt from these steps, some people just move through them quicker than others!