Posted on: 20 January
Over the years I often hear “I practice. Why am I not getting better?” or I may get asked “how many balls should I hit?”- the inference being that there is a magical number. My cliched response to this would be “practice makes permanent…perfect practice makes perfect”. Practicing isn’t a race to see how many balls you can hit in an hour.
Every golfer’s time is precious. Below are 4 simple ways to improve your golf and make your practice session more efficient.
1. Develop a Pre-shot routine and use it all the time – With limited time available you might think a pre-shot routine seems tedious. You may ask yourself how can hitting less balls in a session be better for your swing and game? A pre shot routine allows you to approach each shot with intent, and also develops a rhythm and pace to your swing and game. It may also help to reinforce any coaching you may be having at the moment. If you go to the practice range during a tournament you will always see pros using a pre shot routine. It should be considered an integral part of your overall swing.
2. Pros practice their wedges- Smashing drivers is fun and driving the ball well is an important part of the game. And pros will hit a lot of drives. However, it can be tiring; fatigue and bad habits will quickly set in. Watch for long enough and you will see a pro hit a lot more wedges during a practice session or during their pre-round warm-up. The advantages of this are; it’s easier to develop rhythm and tempo in your swing, it’s easier to work on your technique, it’s less tiring so you are able to maintain your form, and it allows you to develop a good wedge game which can save your score on any hole.
3. Practice with a purpose – At the range it is very easy to get into a rhythm and before you know it you’ve hit 100 balls. But can you walk away confident you can repeat the ball striking next time? A professional will always walk to the range with a purpose and plan in mind. The biggest sin of practice is practicing for the sake of practicing. You need to practice with a goal in mind and make it measurable. You may be reinforcing instructions from your last lesson, such as maintaining form and technique. You may be working on something quite technical. Whatever it may be, just make sure your practice session has purpose. Remember to mix practice with drills. Set yourself mini, measurable goals – for example: hitting all your shots right of a certain target or holing 30 x 5 foot putts in a row. That way you don’t practice for the sake of practicing.
4. Get coached – All professionals will have a coach. On a range at any tournament right now there will be a discussion between a coach and a player and a swing will be in the process of being tweaked. Or the tweak could be made online the week before or a month before. Basically, everybody has a coach and different players learn in different ways. Whether you are a player that responds to visual learning (video) or to chatting and listening, structured coaching helps us all stay on track and committed to a plan of improvement. Basically if it is good enough for the best players in the world to have a second pair of trusted eyes to help them with their swing it has to be good for any amateur.
Effective practice shouldn’t be a mystery even if it’s not the same for everyone. By understanding the practice habits of professionals you can make better use of your valuable practice time. If you would like to develop your game further and develop effective practice routines book a lesson at michaellonggolf.com