BETTER GOLF STARTS WITH BETTER PRACTICE…

 

Throughout the 10 years I’ve been a performance coach, one of the most noticeable mistakes I see golfers make is how they go about spending their practice time.

Why change how you practice?

Time is precious. It needs to be used as productively as possible, and that includes the time that you spend practicing. If you’re like most golfers, you have limited time, but your practice time consists of no real plan other than to “search for something.” You spend your valuable time and hard-earned cash on buckets of balls, but do you see any real improvement in your scores?

I’d like to help you to change that. My goal for this book is first to establish what it is that you want to achieve, and then to show you actionable steps to make it happen as quickly as possible.

The Japanese have a term for continuous or gradual improvement, called kaizen. Every day, your goal should be to get a little bit better, and that’s what will happen if you follow the steps in this book.

It’s time for a smarter approach

Sure, improving technique is important, but it’s important not to lose sight of the big picture. When you’re hitting one ball after another, unless you are really focusing on what you want to change, it quickly becomes a pointless exercise. It might feel good to crush the ball and see it flying to the target, but the reality is that it’s probably not taking you closer to better play on the course. You’ve only created the illusion of competence. So, if your goal is lower scores, it’s time to get smarter about your practice.

The driving range doesn’t resemble the golf course at all. It has similarities with the 18 tee shots that you hit each round. The golf course requires you to adapt to subtly changing terrain and conditions with each shot, and you only get one attempt at each shot.

Quality practice is not about mindless repetitions. Rather, it’s organized and focused to enable you to acquire the skills that are going to help you to SCORE BETTER on the course. By doing that, you’ll teach your brain to recall the right movement patterns in any situation.   

Smart practice:

  • Is focused on the things that will help your game, specifically.
  • Is challenging and interesting, to keep you motivated and help you to learn.
  • Simulates the scenarios and pressure that you’ll be faced with on the course.
  • Gives you constant feedback on your progress.
  • Is about developing playing skills as much as it is about improving technical skills.

 

This is also called Effective Practice

 

 

 

What’s in the Practice System?

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Goal Setting:

 

How to identify what you need to improve most and set appropriate short and long-term goals. This will help you stay focused, motivated and build confidence from achieving goals

 

 

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Types of Practice:

 

During each practice session, no matter what area of your game you are practicing, I recommend dividing the session equally into the 3 following types of practice:

 

·      Block practice (technical).

·      Random practice (skills).

·      Competitive skills practice (pressure).

 

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Over 80 Random and Competitive Skills Drills:

Develop and test your skills with my practice drills that are designed to provide you with a variety of challenges and create pressure.

The Narrowing Fairway Driving Drill

Aim of the game: Put pressure on your driver and make the fairways on the course seem bigger.

1.   Start off with an imaginary fairway that’s 50 yards wide.

2.  Try to get at least 3 out of 5 drives down this fairway.  

3.  The next level of this game (after completing level 1) is to hit 3 out of 5 drives down a 30 yard wide fairway.

4.  The next level (after completing level 2) is to hit 3 out of 5 drives down a 10 yard fairway.

 

If youre consistently driving 3 out of 5 balls down a 10 yard wide fairway, tee shots on the course will be a breeze!

 

Short Game Ladder Drill

Aim of the game: Improve trajectory and landing spot control. 

1.   Pick a spot about 10 yards off the green, but with about 30 yards of green to work with.

2.  Place a ball every 6 yards between the fringe and the hole (so that you have 5 zones or 5 rungs on a ladder.

3.  Your goal is to play 5 shots, each landing in each zone and the ball finishing within 6 ft of the hole.

4.  Hit as many balls as it takes to complete the challenge and total up the number of balls needed – ideally, no more than 2 per landing zone.