How To Practice to Improve

I’m sure you want to play better fast.   Well, to do that you need to practice. But if you practice the wrong way you’ll not get better and in fact you may get worse. So in this post I’m going to outline 5 ways to practice that you should use to get better this year.

The first is called Block Practice. This is where you hit one type of shot over and over again from one spot. You might be working on something when doing this but you’re using one club and one target and just hit and repeating.

Pro’s practice this a lot and you should too. But when you do it you need to be focused. Don’t just get on auto-pilot and hit balls over and over again.  I suggest you hit say 5 to 10 balls and then take a break for a minute and then  repeat.

This type of practice is good if you’re making swing changes.

The next type of practice you should look at doing is random practice. This is where you change your targets and clubs often. And this is where you can try different shots. Try and hit high 9 irons. Then try and hit low 9 irons. Try and curve a 6 iron as though you’re hitting around a tree. Do this to a target of course.

The third type of practice is competition practice. This practice is trying to replicate what it’s like when you’re in a tournament. To do this I suggest you do some exercise in between shots to get your heart rate up. For example, push ups, short runs, jumping jacks etc.

Another way to simulate the pressure of competition is to set a target challenge. For example…. with putting, you can’t leave the putting green until you’ve made five 4 footers in a row.

If you’re hitting drivers, you can set a goal to hit between two objects in the distance And let’s say you set a goal to do that 3 out of 6 balls. If you don’t achieve that then you hit another 6 balls until you do it and you can’t leave until you do.

The fourth type of practice you need to work on is pre-shot routine practice.

For every shot you should go through your entire pre-shot routine e.g. picking a target, working out what club you’re going to hit, having a practice swing, taking a set amount of time each shot, having a post routine etc.

Doing that practice will help you take your range game to the golf course for sure.

The final type of practice you should do is practice on the golf course. This can be difficult for some of you. But playing nine holes either late or early in the day is generally, a good option. Work on the shots you struggle with and

Ok, let’s say you’ve got 30 balls to practice. What should you do.

1. Do some block practice to warmup – say 15 balls.
2. Do some random practice for 5 balls just to have fun.
3. For the last 10 balls set a target/goal and try and post the best score you can and go through your full pre-shot and post-shot routine for these shots.

If you practice like this consistently, you’ll improve fast.