How to Practice

Potential!

We all do it. We are working on our game and suddenly, we have hit an entire bucket of 6 irons flush and feel the world is perfect. “I’ve got it!” Then we head to the course and suddenly it is a different world.

The range is an alluring beast for our ego. But it is also a great place, if we know how to use it. No, we cannot usually create long rough or sidehill lies, but we can do things that will make the transference to the course. How to do that? Follow this general practice plan and you will start to see improvement between your practice sessions and your scores.

First, WARM UP. This is done by just making practice swings and then starting with short shots and gradually working up to full swings. It is different for everyone, but this portion should be done quickly but completely. Swing thoughts and judgement of ballflight is not the concern, getting loose is.

Second, using whatever your swing thought you are working on, spend the next 25 balls hitting 2-3 balls per club. Going through your shot routine and focusing on making the changes you are working on. It is critical that you use your shot routine on every shot so you do not just bang balls. This has a two fold effect in that one, it slows down your range session so it is not just see and react and two, it starts to train your routine on every shot until it becomes as automatic to pick an intermediate target as it is to make a backswing. Always have a target during this portion of practice to start making it like the real thing.

Third, if you have a short game area, spend some time there hitting chips, pitches and bunker shots. Like the range, take every ball just like you would on the course. remember, you are training your ability to take it to the course, not to zoom into making one specific shot over and over. I would suggest for every range ball you strike, you hit a minimum of twice as many of each of the three short game shots as you do with the full swing. In this way, you will start to build in a safety blanket to be able to get your misses closer, which ironically takes some pressure off your full swing and then those shots begin to be closer. If you do not have a short game area (a severely lacking thing in the golf industry) then hit pitches and chips on the practice tee, picking specific targets and pitching or chipping to those. It may not be the same thing, but the repetition of the stroke is the key here.

Fourth, practice your visualization. Go back to the practice tee and ‘play’ 18 holes. Start by imagining the first hole of your course and think about the strategy for that opening tee ball. Then go through your routine, picking targets, aligning yourself, then actually hitting the shot. Be realistic. if you hit one perfect, imagine on your course where you would play from. If you slice one, be honest with yourself and imagine where that second ball would be played from. Then play that second shot, going through all of the routine. Follow this process over and over until you have played 18. This exercise is critical to making you comfortable with hitting shots on the course. Are they the same lies and such? No. Of course not, but this is rehearsal. Take advantage of it. Be as realistic in creating pressure/stress as you would on the course. Then train yourself to overcome.

Finally, go to the putting green and work on two things. Distance control and making 3-4’ putts. Hit from different distances, hit right to left and left to right. Test all of the conditions (within reason) and become an expert at getting the ball close and then knocking 90% of the short ones in.

If you do this on a regular basis, you will improve. Both in your practice sessions and when you take it to the course.

Of course, if you are making a major swing change, this is moot. For those periods, work with your instructor to modify your practice.

Otherwise, become a better player by practicing being a better PLAYER and not just a range rat.