Menu
As you begin to read this article stop for a moment and think about where you are with your game. Things could be going very nicely, (you may have recently shot your best-ever round), or you could be mired in a dreadful slump, your handicap stranded on the “up” elevator. Most of us are probably somewhere in between, vacillating from good trend to bad. Whatever the case, we all have questions relating to the same subject- practice. How much should we be practicing? What should we be practicing? Where should we practice? How should we divide our practice time? How can we find time to practice at all?
While my present job is that of “teaching professional”, I have always based my quest for golfing knowledge on my interest in my own playing. Over the years I have tested every sort of practice regimen, from hitting 500 balls a day to hitting no balls at all, spending all my time on the course instead. I have concentrated on ball striking at some points, and on the short game at others. Early in my career I played golf full time, and thus had all day to do whatever I wanted, and I took advantage of that luxury. I built a solid foundation in stroke fundamentals. My technique for most of the required shots became good enough so that now, as a busy teacher and one with physical problems to boot, when I have far less time to spend practicing and far less tolerance to the physical pounding involved in lengthy practice sessions, (much like the vast majority of my students) I am still able to maintain a relatively high level of play in competition. The practice time I do have is devoted more toward performing under pressure than toward simply performing the basic movements. I thus have a large advantage over just about everyone who is at my level (club professional) or below. I can concentrate on finding a few swing keys that will get me through a round or a tournament, while you and most everyone else needs to focus on understanding what to do and then practicing so that they can do it correctly.
When I read golf instruction I have always been much more interested in what the great players have said about their own games than I have the utterances of what Bobby Jones termed “the non-golfing theorist”. I recently ran across a collection of newspaper columns written by Bobby Jones entitled “Secrets of the Master”, in which I found the following passage from a column entitled “Finding a Key”: (Incidentally, if you haven’t read any of Jones’ writings I strongly suggest you do so. It really is wonderful stuff).
“Playing on the National Golf Links not very long ago, I happened to be driving very well. Alec Girard, the club professional, asked if there was any one thing I thought about that enabled me to keep hitting the ball where I wanted it. I replied that when I was hitting the ball well, there were always one or two things that I made certain of doing, and the doing of them would assure success for a while. But they were not always the same things. One conception was good for only a limited time, and when the charm wore off, I would have to begin looking for something else…This is one of the things that our theorists and analysts overlook when they are not themselves reasonably capable players. It is of great value to have a clear understanding of the successive movements that make up a correct golf swing. This much is needed in order to enable one to recognize and correct faults as they appear. But no human is able to think through, and at the same time execute, the entire sequence of correct movements. The player himself must seek for a conception, or fix upon one or two movements on which to concentrate, that will enable him to hit the ball. And then, when this wears out, because, perhaps, he begins to exaggerate or overemphasize it to the detriment of something else, the search must begin anew for another idea that will work…If the expert player, possessing a swing that is sound in fundamentals, has to be continually jockeying about to find the means of making it produce fine golf shots, what of the average golfer who has never developed such a swing? Still groping for some sort of method that will give him some measure of reliability, it is only natural that he should try almost anything, If he ever wants to improve, he must strive in every way possible to build up a sound style.”
The way to this “sound style”, in the long game and the short game, is through practice, but practice with proper direction. Practicing with an idea in mind and with guidance that tells us whether or not we’re moving in the right direction allows us to eventually develop a swing which is, as Jones put it, “sound in fundamentals”. This in itself is a lifetime of work, for even the greatest constantly revisit the most basic of golf swing fundamentals. Over time, however, as the swing becomes more sound, the golfer is better able to devote his practice to finding and honing the few keys that will allow him to take his game successfully out onto the course. Unfortunately, most golfers can’t shoot great scores on the course simply because their technique is not good enough and their practice time needs to be spent on getting the details right. With four or five things to think about and work on, and a plethora of other mistakes that arise in any given stroke, the average player is at a loss as to how to simplify the action, make their thoughts more manageable, and take it out on the course without feeling paralyzed by swing thoughts. That is, in a nutshell, why most golfers aren’t very good. And there’s no shortcut to getting good. You simply have to put the time in, hope you’re on the right track, and hope again for slow progress.
Almost every one of my students complains of not being able to find time to practice. I try not to be overly harsh in my response, but I do suggest that a) you can find time if you really want to (even swinging for 10 minutes in front of a mirror at night is a great help), and b) you have absolutely no chance to affect any significant change and improve if you don’t practice. The players who get the most out of the effort they put in are the ones who actually enjoy the work. So many act as though being on the range or out on the practice green is drudgery, like they’re being forced to do it. I know that that particular person will never last in the game unless or until they find, or perhaps are found by, the spirit of the game. Said the man who some say invented practice, Ben Hogan, “I loved working at it. I loved to hit balls and practice and key in on something, narrow the focus. That’s a pleasure.”
Beyond having the desire and finding the time to practice there is the question of proper practice and the benefit, if there is any, to improper practice. According to the legendary golfing scribe Henry Longhurst, “They say, ‘practice makes perfect’. Of course, it doesn’t. For the vast majority of golfers it merely consolidates imperfection.” I hear this all the time on the lesson tee. “I don’t want to practice the wrong thing”, or “ I don’t want to ingrain bad habits”.
If everyone followed such beliefs every range on the planet would be completely empty. We must distinguish here between practicing poor technique and practicing because one’s technique is poor. 99 % of all the people who are afraid that practicing will be harmful to their game already have basically horrendous technique. If you have a terrible swing, you can count on the fact that most of the swings you make when you practice will be terrible as well. If you are practicing with no idea in mind as to how you are going to improve your technique, then you are simply “consolidating imperfection”. But if you have done something to give yourself a greater understanding of just what your problems are, (such as taking a lesson from a pro who knows something about the game), and you have a game plan and a specific idea of what you need to do to improve, then any practicing you do, even if you never hit a good shot, will be beneficial.
And how do you know if you’re actually doing what the instructor suggested? Well, how about going back for another lesson? I never could understand people who would take one lesson then hit balls for months without coming back for even half an hour to make sure they were on the right track. This game is hard, very hard. It’s also complicated, as much as we all would like it to be simple. If it were simple, or if anyone had ever found a way to simplify it, then why do the vast majority of golfers basically suck? You might as well face the fact that even if you think you know what you’re doing you really don’t, and that if you think you can take one lesson and get everything straight in your mind, you can’t. Trust me. You are going to screw it up and get it wrong. I see it over and over, every day. Students are constantly astounded by how different the video shows them to be when compared to what they thought they looked like. I may need to correct someone’s grip 50 times before they get it almost right. In other words, the way to avoid wasting practice time is to get checked out on a consistent basis. It could be once a week, once a month, or something in between. But you need to get on the video to see if what you think you are doing is what you are in fact doing. The greatest golfer of all time, Jack Nicklaus, said it best: “Don’t be too proud to take lessons. I’m not.”
Just about everyone who reads this article is right about now saying the same thing: “Who has the time for that?” The answer is, probably no one except the lucky ones who don’t have to work for a living. But too many of us use the difficulty in creating practice time as an excuse not to practice at all for extended periods of time. The more you can practice, the better. Hogan put it best when he said, “Every day you miss playing or practicing is one day longer it takes to be good”… “To me, there’s not enough daylight in a day to practice all the shots you ought to be practicing every day…I’m talking about practicing chip shots, sand shots, all kinds of shots. I’d start with the wedge up against the green and I’d hit I don’t know how many balls till I was shooting at that green with a driver…It takes just about eight hours a day…seven days a week.” If your time is limited, make sure you document just how much time you allot to each facet, and make sure that you don’t go too long without at least touching on each part. Hogan also says that if you find one thing that’s not working “you’ve got to go out and work about three days harder on that one thing.” If you don’t have the time, make time. Get up earlier. Set up a mirror at home to swing in front of. Set up a net so that you can work on your technique over the winter. Pitch and chip balls into a bucket. Putt at home on a rug. If you have all shag carpet, buy a runner that has some speed. The number of practice aids now available to anyone is staggering. Many of them are junk, but many can help you to practice the right things. Above all, get help. With proper guidance and direction your desire and persistence will be rewarded instead of wasted.
Join the forum discussion on this post