Practice makes perfect

A teenager's story of getting addicted to the game of golf and discovering there really is only one way to perfect the game - practice, practice and even more practice

Rory McIlroy's swing

I am 14 years old and like many teenage golfers, dream about having the 'perfect swing', one like Rory McIlroy's. When I first started to play golf, I just could not stop and found myself addicted to the game. I remember vividly the day I got my first set of clubs and was practising chipping in my local park. A man approached me and said: "Boy, once you pick up your first club it's nearly impossible to put it down."

I now understand why he said this. Golf takes up every spare moment of my time be it chipping with air balls inside the house, spending hours at the driving range, or weekends spent with friends at various golf courses.

I thought hitting the ball consistently like a pro would be easy. I could not have been more wrong. I spent hours each night watching all the various swings on YouTube, trying to copy them, and watching the pros on televisions. After a while it actually started to pay off. My swing went through many different changes, be it the speed of the club, my body position or the distance I stood from the ball.

Finally after hitting hundreds of balls a week, my swing became consistent and finally I was the one posting the videos on YouTube. The true lesson I learnt was that there is no substitute for practice, more practice and even more practice.

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