Elevate Your Golf Skills: The Power of Perfect Practice Sessions
By Dr. T. J. Tomasi, Keiser University College of Golf Senior Faculty and Director of Research
According to success guru Anders Ericsson, becoming an expert takes 10,000 hours of what he calls dedicated practice. Of course, most golfers will not become pros, but no matter what level you aspire to, the evidence is clear – practice is still the key to improving your game. And, I would add a most important modification to Dr. Ericsson’s platform – it’s Perfect Practice you must immerse yourself in, so the rule is – It’s Perfect Practice that makes Perfection.
A decent swing is within your grasp if you can do two things:
- Set aside 30 minutes or more each week for practice and
- Have a definite goal in mind about what you will do with your range time.
It does you little good to simply dump a bucket of balls on the ground and fire away without a goal. Ericsson’s research shows that when you’re not fully engaged in a goal-directed practice activity, your mind wanders, making it likely that you’ll waste your practice time.
So let’s be clear about practice: There are four primary goals for a practice session, and you can use them in any combination depending on how much time you have or what type of mood you’re in. Just make sure to specify at least one goal per session.
Here are the four goals:
1. Warming up:
Never swing full throttle unless you’ve done some stretching and hit a few balls at half-speed.
2. Task Practice:
If you are working on a certain aspect of your swing, such as the takeaway or weight shift, then ball flight is secondary to the correct performance of the task. For example, a grip change initially may cause the ball to fly every which way, so to learn the new grip, you must ignore ball flight.
To help my players when they are working on Task Practice, I invented an eye shield that blocks the players’ view of ball flight but allows focus on the feel of a new move.
3. Target Practice
The third goal focuses exclusively on hitting a specific target. Before striking any ball in this type of practice, you should work through your entire pre-shot routine, including the very powerful element of visualization. This type of practice is the vital link that helps you take your game from the range to the course. Here ball flight is most important.
I’m visualizing the ball at the top of its flight, not as it sits on the ground before I hit it. I want to see it reach its peak and then snuggle up to the cup for a sure gimme. Visualization is a powerful tool to get the ball from here to there without it even moving!
4. Practice Playing
You play a round of golf right there on the practice range, using your imagination to lay out the course, going through your pre-shot routine, and hitting the shots required, given the situations you create in your mind. More than a few tour players do this before teeing it up in a competitive round.
The Takeaway:
When you’re practicing mechanics, no target; when you’re practicing target, no mechanics. When aiming at a target, think about where you want the ball to go, not how you will get it there. It’s perfect practice that makes perfection.
Learn more!
Want more tips? If you want to take your game to the next level, contact our team at Keiser University’s College of Golf & Sport Management today. With our dedication and experience, together, we can elevate your game to new heights. Give us a call today at 888-355-4465.
