A Couple of Ideas for Better Practice

I recently had a lesson where the student talked about not being able to take his game from the range to the course. I observed him on the course saying "Typical shot," refering to a missed driver. Being the curious person that I am, I enquired why something like that was "Typical." He went on to explain that the range was always so comfortable. His swing worked, but as soon he was under the pressure of making the shot work the first time, he could not pull it off.

This is a situation of not practicing at all in preparation for performance. His shot is pretty typical, but not in a positive way. We started to examine further HOW he practices and what practice means. This player is under the incorrect idea that trying to perfect his technique will automatically produce favourable results. We talked about it and decided he should start doing this:

(1) Test his short game. By doing a series of basic tests (approximately 40minutes), twice a month, the player can actually measure his progress. It makes it much easier to understand where opportunities for improvement lie.

(2) Basic Practice Session for Technique improvement (15 minutes). This session is designed to be BRAIN TRANSFORMING and mentally challenging. Try and keep the session at 15 minutes, which will almost guarantee 100% focus on the task at hand.

(3) Basic Practice Session for On-Course Performance (10 minutes). This session is designed to bring out your on-course demons. It is very target focused and always has both a meaning and consequence. If your range shots do not have both meaning / consequence, you will most certainly have a difficult time understanding your emotions on the course.

(4) Create a "warm up for round" session. Instead of trying to find some magical technique 10-15 minutes before a round, we got him thinking about the two "T"s: TEMPO / TARGET. Practice on the range HOW you will warm up before a round, and you may surprise yourself with positive results and more confidence. Don't forget to practice the first tee shot with routine and all its emotions.

Becoming a better player doesn't mean huge leaps all at once. The idea is to become a little better everyday, by challenging yourself and making the practice more difficult than the actual play.


Thanks for reading! Steven