How to Practice Golf the Right Way

By Bill Bicknell

Most people focus only on their full swing when they practice. Not only do most average golfers skip short game practice completely, but they usually spend most of their time practicing with the driver, which hurts their game more than anything. You must divide your practice time between short game and full swing practice. Actually, you should spend two thirds of your time on short game for maximum improvement, because two-thirds of the strokes you take in a round of golf will be either putts, chips, or pitches.

There are two modes of golf practice: Golf Swing mode, and Target Golf mode. These two modes are on absolute opposite sides of the golf spectrum, and you must discipline yourself to work in only one mode at a time. A good practice session, however, will include both modes of practice.

When you are in Golf Swing mode, you will work on and evaluate mechanics only. While working on mechanics, ignore both contact and ball flight. As you've already heard, if you really want to learn fast, slow everything down and use some sort of feedback mechanism so that you know you are practicing correctly. Do your drills. Do your late speed drill until you graduate to full speed. Practice with full attention and intention: Know exactly what you are working on and practice precisely. Constantly remind yourself of what your intentions are, and attend to your intentions.

When you swing the club, don't just swing it around. Feel the club in your hands. Concentrate on increasing your awareness of the club head. Turn your head and watch the club move. Try to bridge the gap between what you see the club doing and what you feel it is doing.

In the beginning of your golf education, spend seventy-five percent of your time on drills to learn your mechanics. As your mechanics improve, gradually lower that percentage until you spend only about twenty-five percent of your practice time drilling. After you've put in your time drilling, go on to ball flight control practice, which I have included under Golf Swing practice, although it is the link between the two modes.

In ball flight control practice, I want you to work on your club path and face angle to create a draw. Educate your hands. You can teach yourself to create any kind of shot you want. You will eventually need to be able to make the ball curve in both directions, so go ahead and play around. See what you can make the ball do and have fun. It's really neat to be able to control the ball, and when you can control the ball a little, you are ready for Target Golf.

When you practice, you must be certain that your alignment is correct. Alignment is critical. You must know where you are lined up to evaluate your ball flight.

Help yourself align to the target by laying down a club parallel to the target line. You don't have to stand so that your feet touch the club, but you should be within three or four inches of it. Imagine train tracks running to the target: your feet go on one track and the ball goes on the other. Always practice with alignment clubs. Alignment is one of the easiest fundamentals to get right, and the easiest to get wrong. Misalignment is the single greatest cause of poor shots once you get your swing down.

OK, good alignment is now a given, and you can now work on getting the ball to the target by going through your pre-shot routine every time you try to hit a ball to a target, for the rest of your life!

When in Target Golf mode, use your pre-shot routine, and concentrate only on the target. It is pretty simple, folks. Practice picking out a target and concentrating solely on the target while you swing, just as you will need to do on the golf course. Target Golf requires that you trust your swing, whatever state of repair it is in, regardless of whether you still have things to work on. Trusting your swing takes practice, too, so make sure that you spend ample practice time just focusing on the target and trusting your swing.

Target Golf practice is just like playing a round of golf on the range. Practicing in this way will greatly help you bring your best golf to the golf course. I'm sure you know many people who are what I call "Range Pros." They look great on the range, but fall apart on the course. These folks just need to change the way they practice to greatly improve their game. The Pre-Shot routine is the key to getting your mind focused on the task at hand, so that you give yourself the opportunity to play your best golf. That's all you can ask of yourself.

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