Working for a golf club that offers complimentary lessons to members has given me some eye-opening insights into why players don’t improve their golf games, and it’s far simpler than people think. The people who don’t improve their games are the ones who try to play their way to improvement, typically the 15-10 handicap player. Trying to play your way to better golf never works because improvement requires failure and experimentation. Both failure and experimentation are never good for your golf score, but they are necessary for improvement to your golf score.
The only way to improve your golf game in the long run is to dedicate time to practice so you can experiment with new techniques and learn through failures that improve your skill. The reason people don’t want to practice is because the time doesn't seem worth the payoff. Everyone wants to see immediate dividends from their practice time, but practice is a compounding habit. If you do it once, the payoff is minimal and will disappear quickly. Multiple practice sessions with only a few days off between is where you really begin to see the benefit. Imagine you are going on a hike to a scenic clearing overlooking a mountain. The trail starts in a forest, and with the first step you take on the trail, the scenery remains the same, but you're now one step closer to the goal. One practice session is taking your first step. Only after many steps on the trail do you get to the end destination. So how do we get players to stay on the trail?
There are two ways, one way is to be so motivated by the goal that you will stop at nothing to achieve it, this is what we picture tour players thinking of during practice. This level of motivation is often difficult for amateurs because life gets in the way. The second way is to make the journey itself as enjoyable as possible. Make the walk along the trail easy and exciting. Once the journey itself becomes worth taking, reaching your intended goal is inevitable. Legends of the Links works to make your golfing journey more enjoyable. By gamifying golf practice, it changes from a chore to an activity that is desirable for its own sake. By enjoying practice, achieving your golfing goals is more fun than ever before and makes improvement inevitable.