Do You Practice Golf The Wrong Way?
Saturday, October 24th, 2009There is a right way and a wrong way to practice golf. And some people believe the correct way is to copy the swing of their favorite professionals. Certainly you have heard that it is good to emulate success. Complicating things even further is the fact that you are being barraged by tips and tricks on TV and in your favorite magazine.
Now let’s return to this planet for a second. Unless you were born with an astounding amount of talent, odds are you won’t be on the tour in the near future. There is a very small chance you or anyone else will attain that level. Bettering your scores should be your very realistic goal. Yea it would be good to play like Tiger, but to emulate his game, or that of any other professional, is clearly a mistake.
Professional golfers don’t do their practicing after they finish their job for the day. Practicing and playing is their business. And certainly their commitment to their profession matches yours. The hours they spend practicing are tremendous. You simply cannot do that since you still have to earn a living. It would be terrific if you did, but let’s work within the realm of the time and energy you have accessible.
You without a doubt marvel as you see on television when a shot lofts high, then lightly lands on the green and comes to rest just feet from the cup. And you probably get a bit jealous when a shot backspins its way to the hole. We could spend months working on this, but as a weekend golfer, there are more productive ways to spend our time that will result in lower scores. But we are better served to work within our style and stick to the fundamentals.
So let’s study how we do our golf practice. You were probably teeing it up, and utilizing your driver on the range. A good driver is important there’s no doubt, but what share of your shots during a round are hit off the tee with a driver? What you really should be working on the majority of the time is your short game.
It’s not exciting and not exactly that much fun either, but the gains of this practice are immense. Short game practice is where the pros spend 80% of their time. They’ll work on different shots from different angles, different lies and in different conditions. And it’s probably a great idea to practice what the professionals practice most, even if it’s not a good idea to copy their swing.
You may be able to hammer the ball 275 to 300 yards off the tee, but why are you still shooting in the 90′s? Spend some time practicing your short game since that’s apparently where the problem is. Improve here, and see your scores go down dramatically.
It’s time to make a change. Don’t travel straight to the driving range when you leave work. Work on any shot you can think of that you’ll hit on or around the green. Putts, chips and trap shots should be your focal point.
Here’s something to think about that should make this very clear. Shots from 75 yards or less make up more than half of your shots in a normal round of golf. This includes putts, chips, etc. Logic prescribes that you should therefore spend at least 50% of your practice time working on them. If you’re still shooting in the 90′s, less than twenty percent of your strokes are with a driver off the tee. Your practice time needs to be primarily spent on the shots you hit most.
We realize that it’s not as much fun as banging away off the tee, but it will be a lot more fun when you start to whack at least 10 shots off your game.
The best way to practice at home is by purchasing a golf practice net. You can get additional golf tips like this, as well as read golf course and equipment reviews and information by going to http://www.AllThingsGolfBlog.com.