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.
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.
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:
This is also called Effective Practice.
How to identify what you need to improve most and set SMART short and long-term goals. This will help you stay focused, motivated and build confidence from achieving goals.
During each practice session, no matter what area of your game you are practicing, I recommend dividing the session into the 3 following types of practice (your current skill level will determine the ratio):
· Block practice (technical)
· Random practice (skills)
· Competitive skills practice (pressure)
Develop and test your skills with my practice drills that are designed to provide you with a variety of challenges and create pressure, so you can test your "process" in preparation for the demands of the golf course.
