How to Practice Properly

This one is an absolute killer if not done correctly. I see so many golfers every at driving ranges, putting greens and pitching greens, with seemingly no method whatsoever to what they are doing. Or if they do have a method, it isn’t even relatively close to situations they may be faced with on the course.

Practice is obviously where your game is going to improve considerably, not on the course. For this reason, you definitely need to be sure you are doing things correctly, in ways that are going to benefit you on the course. I mean, you practice to lower your scores, so your practice habits need to reflect this.

You are already practicing, but odds are you are not doing it very efficiently. By simply changing the way you practice, you can make considerable improvements to your game. Practice is extremely important to lowering your scores. You must do it properly to gain every advantage possible.

Practice does no good unless you apply it to your game somehow. Many players just blindly bang away at balls on the range, stroke putts until sundown, or toss pitches at the green until it's white. This is all well and good, but if you don’t apply it to your game, you’re not making any improvements. You’re just ingraining more bad habits.

To truly make progress when you practice, there are a few things you need to do. One, you need to pick something you are going to improve upon. Commit to improving on something every time you practice and you’ll make more progress than you have ever before.

Two, you need to practice as you would hit shots on the course. Go through your routine. Think the same as you do on the course. Pick out a target and hit it there. Imagine you’re home course and play shots just as you would there.

Almost every golfer goes to the range and just hits full shot after full shot. The fact is, to get the ball close to the flag you almost never hit a full shot. You’re always going to need to be playing some type of shot that is going to get the ball an exact distance. Maybe a ¾ wedge, a juiced 8 iron, a knockdown 7 iron, or maybe a punch escape from the trees.

Putting yourself in real life situations during practice will better prepare you for when you are faced with these situations on the course.

Implement these strategies in your practice sessions and you will be a much better player on the course.