Stop stressing your practice session!

If you are like most people, you go to the range, dump out the balls and start whacking away. There usually is little or no conscience effort for understanding or learning. There is just blind luck and hope that the club hits the ball the correct way.

I usually see people stressing through each ball. With every shot, it usually goes like this: The player scrapes a ball forward onto the mat, looks at the range, takes a swing and hits it. If it goes bad, there is a quick dismissal of the result and a quick snag of another ball. If it goes good, the player stands there in hopes that someone saw a glimpse of his/her mastery. When I see players starting to hit the ball incorrectly and stress to get another ball, I know that the player does not know or is not interested in learning. My motto in my Golf Studio is "There is no Failure, only Feedback." This means that when a player hits a ball with an undesired result, he/she should be spending twice as much time in understanding mode (What was my goal? How far away from my goal did I hit the ball? What needs to be done to improve for the next shot?)

Learning takes place in between shots. It needs to be a struggle. Understanding of what JUST happened vs. what SHOULD happen needs to take place after each shot. Here is a short video that shows a little bit of how the Brain Learns and how YOU should be practicing. Thanks for reading!

Steven

Don't lose your confidence even if you miss a putt

My philosophy with proper putting is basically two areas: The student must be able to start the ball on the proper line and putt to the hole with the proper speed.

Speed, for me, is EVERYTHING in putting. Speed helps us to determine what line to take and how to read the green. If the student practices and practices on the correct speed, line and read of the green there is a chance that he/she COULD miss. It is not always the fault of the player that a putt misses. There are many external factors which influence the roll of the putt such as wind and rain, the imperfections on the green, sand, foot prints, the grass growing during the round, etc...

Here is a little video which shows the same distance putt, line and speed. You can clearly see that the ball may or may not roll into the hole. The point is to keep your cool and confidence no matter what.



Thanks for reading and watching!
Steven

Is a bandaid fix really that bad?

So this is my teaching philosophy, direct from my website:

"Our philosophy is to create successful golfers by focusing on understanding how the student learns and creating a plan for what the student needs. There are no secrets more than good fundamentals and lots of hard work.

We balance our time over 6 areas for improvement: (1) proper swing technique (2) a solid short game (3) good mental skills (4) course management (5) properly fit equipment (6) physical fitness.

We also want to help the student understand HOW to practice; how to divide up the important areas into easy-to-understand concepts so that the student can become his/her own coach. We can only accomplish this by creating trust between student and instructor. That is why EVERY student from beginner to expert will receive the same amount of energy and enthusiasm from our academy. We want YOU to succeed."

I have always taken this philosophy to mean that "If there is a problem, one should get to the root of the problem and then create a practice plan to fix the problem." Last Friday, I had a student that could not get the ball much more airborne than a low hook. She was not having any fun and was very un-motivated to play the game. Even though she likes to practice, she was having difficulty improving. My dilemma is that I could say we should fix the root problem which would mean possibly losing the entire playing season, which is only about 3-4 months here in Sweden. Instead, I decided to "try" a quick fix of addressing the ball on the heel (because her previous shots were very much on the toe) and open the face (to try and match up the swing shape which should take out the curve). WOW! She hit 5 shots in a row 170m straight down the middle of the range. I saw energy fill her body, with enthusiasm she missed for the previous 2 months.

Now, I explained to her that this is an alternative for hitting her driver, since her other clubs were ok. This may not be a long term solution, but just something to get her through the season with some fun. Then when the season is over, we would evaluate the swing again and create a plan for the Fall / Winter to attack the root problem.

So my question is: Is a bandaid (quick fix) really all that bad? If the student gets all the information that this may be short term to get through a golf season, or if the student repeats this motion everytime with this particular club (for example, like Fuzzy Zoeller addressing the driver on the heel), is this a bad thing? I promote self discovery and awareness in the swing with all of my students. If a student knows that hitting on the toe produces a low hook, is it all that bad to stand a bit closer and try and hit the heel?

I would love to hear your thoughts on this matter. Thanks for reading!

Regards,

Steven McDaniel
PGA of America member
PGA of Sweden member
TPI GP3
TPI Junior Coach 2
AMF Instructor member

Your golf swing doesn't have to look pretty!

I see this ALL the time: Too many golfers trying to make their swings look pretty. The function of a golf swing is to repeat so that it produces a predictable ball flight. No matter if that flight is a pull fade, push draw, high, low...etc...the point is that the Hall of Fame is full of people with unconventional techniques. You have to know YOUR tendencies (what you can do good and what you can improve on). Then you can add various shots into your bag without having to constantly change your technique. Here is a quick video on this subject. Leave a comment if you like.

Thanks for reading,

Steven

Don't forget about balance!

When you are planning your practice, don't forget about balance! Leave a comment if you like what you see. Thanks.



Regards,
Steven

How do you know if you are making progress?

So I have recently completed the 3rd week of our Supervised Practice sessions. This is a session where the golfer brings what he/she is currently working on, as well as other standard practice procedures that I throw into the mix. The session looks a bit like this:

PUTTING GREEN
* 5 minutes focusing on your putting TEMPO. Putt to a tee. Use Block practice.
* 5 minutes - Short Putting within 1 meter. Use the "STAR" drill, Start each shot with your routine. If you miss, start over from the beginning.
* 5 minutes - Long putting. Play the "LADDER" drill or the like. Get the feel for distance.
* 5 minutes ending the session focusing on your TEMPO. Putt all the balls to the edge of the green.

RANGE
* 5 minutes with your 6 iron focusing on TEMPO. Use BLOCK practice.
* 5 minutes - Work on ONE aspect of improving your technique. Feel the movements, start each shot with your routine. Slow down and take time between each shot. Concentration!
* 5 minutes hitting 7 shots, with 7 different clubs to 7 different targets. Start each shot with your routine. Play parts of the golf course on the range!
* 5 minutes ending with TEMPO. Hit wedges to a close target and feel the rythym in your body.

So how do you know if you are making progress whilse doing this practice session?

For me, the "result of the shot" is only part of the picture. I think the player must be in an attitude of long-term development or growth to understand what I mean. Quick fixes here or there don't really lead you anywhere. So here are my responses to how you know you are making meaningful progress during your golf journey:

(1) Stay Process Focused. This seems like an easy one, but it's not. The process (or journey for development) should give you just as much satisfaction as the end result. Your golf journey is like the Stock Market. There will be highs and lows but the process of improvement will make you better over the long term.

(2) Maintain a high level of concentration during practice. I set up my practice sessions between 5-10 minutes each because I want my students to concrentrate 100% on each shot. If you are thinking about what you are going to do for dinner or your plans for the next day, you might as well not be there. BE PRESENT! What did Ben Crane say? "I am speaking to you as we speak from the NOW in the middle of the NOW!"

(3) Give yourself time between shots to understand. When you are trying to learn or remember something, you must give yourself time to digest the information. Try this: Do your pre-shot routine and hit a shot. No matter the result, watch the ball the entire way until it stops and access what happened. Describe everything about that shot and what you did with the club and your body to hit that shot. Now, is that the type of shot you want to hit? If not, describe to yourself (BEFORE YOU SCRAPE FOR ANOTHER BALL) what you would like to do instead. Rehearse this motion. When you got a feeling, put a ball down, do you routine and hit the ball. Then Repeat this process.

(4) Lose the Control! You can not fully control a golf ball. You can have a great routine, align your body and mind to the starting line, have excellent tempo and a perfect strike. The ball might take a hard bounce and go out-of-bounds or end up in a bad lie. Instead of judging yourself, lighten up on the control. Accept bad shots/breaks as part of the game and focus on the entire process instead.

Thanks for taking the time to read this, now go out and practice!

Regards,
Steven

Book Recommendation: The Game Before the Game by Pia Nilsson and Lynn Marriot (with Ron Sirak)