Practice Smarter, Not Harder

All too often, we go to the range with the right intentions, some notes, and loose practice guidelines to get us started. Throughout the session, the initial focus and intention are rarely sustained and our ability to improve efficiently can suffer. We may not even be aware of this because whatever our reason is for going to the range, we certainly expect that by simply going to hit balls we have to be getting better.

Practice is more than just ripping balls with no intention. We can start to ask and see that there are more efficient ways to utilize our range time. Setting clear goals for you to stay on task during your practice can make a large impact on your golf development.

The Reactionary Range Session

It’s Friday afternoon, the meeting is out early and you’ve got an hour to kill. Perfect. The driving range is on the way home and you’ll be able to work on that hook before dinner time. You drop a large bucket down and pick your spot on the left side of the range away from any distraction so you can focus. You pull the notes off your phone from the last practice session to remember that great feeling you had.

“Relaxed grip, focus a few inches in front of the ball.”

You grab your 7 iron and swing a few times in the air to get moving and jump into it. You hit a few to get the hands and body loose. Your third thin shot in a row stings the hands a little bit, but you keep hitting— chasing that solid feel you know is in there. Still thinking about those simple notes and about 15 shots in, you finally find it. The ball melts off the face like butter and soars into the night sky past the yellow flag. You look down the range curiously if anyone caught a glimpse of that perfect shot only to see that everyone else down the range is facing the other way. It’s fine because it doesn’t matter what anyone else thinks. It’s about recreating that same feeling.

After a few solid shots with great rhythm, you jump up to the 5 iron knowing you’re short for time. Twenty-five minutes left! You try to imagine you’re on that 200 yard par 3 from last Saturday. Set up, same feeling...same feeling take a swing and it skims low left. Two, three, four in a row. You step back It’s gotta come back you tell yourself. Ahh, the notes! “Relaxed grip, focus a few inches in front of the ball.” The next one strikes the top half of the ball. It’s thin and it stings the hands a bit, but it goes right over the flag you were aiming for. Hey, thin will work on the course you tell yourself. The next swing is perfect, right at the flag with the feeling you wrote down. Only you got it on your 6th shot.

You check your phone to realize you only have 5 minutes left. Fifteen balls left, so it’s plenty of time. You jump to the driver. You tee the ball up and swing away, First few sail high and right. The next couple zip low and left.

“How could you forget!, relax the grip! You always grip the driver way too tight!”

Let’s find it before we leave, make these last ones count. Big swing! It’s a little low, but it’s a solid strike and a fairway finder with a lot of roll. That’ll work, you think to yourself. The next few fly in the air a little higher and disappear into the night sky. Best swings of the day! That one made it past the tree. You’ve got your rhythm! Alright, there’s 5 balls left. You start to rush just a little, and all of a sudden, the rhythm you just had is gone. The ball sputters low and left and you hate that miss. The next one does the same, and so does the one after. You step off and take a deep breath as you think to yourself, just get these last two in the air. They both sail high and out to the right. Anything but that low hook you tell yourself, to justify their direction. Somewhat frustrated and rushed, you scurry back to the car and hop on the road before it’s too late. Your last thought as you pull up to your house is,

“Well at least I got the bad shots out of the way, I’m more ready for this weekend than if I didn’t hit balls.”

On Course Reflection

With a little confidence from the range and after a perfect drive on a par 5, you grab your 3 wood before even reaching your ball. With a perfect yardage to have this roll up and plenty of room to do it with the fade you have been hitting all day, you take your swing. Opposite of what you envisioned, you hook the shot so far left that it finds its way into a water hazard on the other side of the adjacent fairway.

Golf has a wonderful way of reminding us that we are imperfect. Even on our best days, some shots don’t end up exactly as we would like. Without another practice swing, you drop another ball and land this shot just in front of the green and watch it roll towards the center of the green. Why can’t you just hit that shot the first time?

You pick a target and hit balls at it. Some of those balls go towards the target and you consider those good. The ones that don’t are used as the benchmark for what you need to do to hit the ball to the target. If you do not base your expectations around what the last ball did, then what should you base it on? It would be more effective and more conducive to focus on your adherence to your plan.

Reaction vs Reflection

UGP Coach Chris Dunn shares his reflections and experiences through the journey that all golfers have struggled with.

Majority of unguided golfers hit balls without intention, then change the next shot based on previous results. I call it, “in-swing changes based on uneducated guessing.” I’ve watched golfers hit thousands of balls and think they're getting somewhere, fixing shots after every swing. Unfortunately, this isn’t learning. It’s just subtle performance changes. If you miss a 6 ft putt and make the 2nd attempt, does that make you a better putter? The missing link is working with purpose, having a structured plan, and the understanding of transfer. The golfer that makes the fastest improvements understands the meaning of a solid practice program. Following a guided program will give you a better understanding on how to play the game rather than simply trying to change the outcome. It’s not going to happen quickly, but it will happen with enough effort and repetition.

So how do you practice more efficiently?

Creating a Practice Program

We have created an example of a practice program you can follow. Take this along with you to your next coaching session, and build a practice plan with your coach that works best for you. Keep in mind that this is a template, not a blueprint.

Warm-up

You should ALWAYS warm-up before your practice sessions and golf rounds. Warming up helps prevent injuries and activate bigger muscle groups. Take a look at football and basketball players. They go through an extensive warm-up routine before each session. Golfing may not be a high-impact sport, but big muscles are still being utilized throughout the golf swing. There is also scientific evidence that a proper warm-up can lead to increased yardage. Try the warm-up below before your next round!

Drill Segment

When working on drills, focus on one specific intention and NOT THE RESULT. This helps to minimize reaction to the result and be much more effective in completing the task at hand. Spend about 15-20 minutes to work on the given drill.

For instance, if you’re working on your club path, your intention could be to “miss the towel”. In this drill, your focus is completely on missing the object and not the result of where the ball is going. Set a goal, such as missing the towel 10 consecutive shots. Continue to challenge yourself as you continue to improve. During this segment, you can truly work to create a movement change, focus, and attention from one specific feeling or motion. The challenge lies in the ability to stay on course and truly make the repetitions count.

Performance Segment

Test with a result or task-oriented focus. This doesn’t always have to be the result of the shot, but rather the execution of a routine or thought process. Simplify the intention or focus to no more than one or two things. Start to create a routine by finding a target and creating a plan for each shot. From there, test it and reflect on the results.

Give this example challenge a try: With 5 different clubs and 2 shots per club, hit a total of 10 shots to different targets. After you’ve completed all 10 shots, rate yourself on a scale of 1-10. Anything between a 4-6 means that this is a great challenge for you to keep working on. Anything higher than 7 means that you’re ready for a harder challenge!

Reflection/Adaptation

Ask yourself deeper questions. Instead of asking yourself, “was that a good or bad shot?”

Ask yourself, “How was I successful in approaching the correct target?” “What cues worked to engrain this feeling?”

This is a creative phase. Use the foundation built during the drilling phase to create a feeling you can trust. Continue to test it. Do you need more drilling of this feeling or can you build off of this test? Asking yourself questions after each segment and reflecting on the effectiveness of your session is the best way to modify a simple practice template into a more personalized blueprint for success.

Written By: Vanessa Bognot, Curtis Alvarez, Chris Dunn, Drew Dufresne