Golf Information

Practice

There is an old Chinese proverb that says "Learning is like rowing upstream, not to advance is to drop back." This is as apt a description of the game of golf as you will ever find. You must practice to improve and to maintain whatever level of proficiency you have achieved. If you do not practice, your skills will slowly erode.

I spent a lot of time in the manufacturing industry and one of the many sets of buzz words that came along during my tenure was the concept of zero defects, in other words, perfection. It sounded great, but just how is something like that to be achieved? We were working with machines capable of producing parts to tolerances measured in ten thousandths of an inch, measured by lasers, with repeatability that wasn't interrupted by sore or tiring muscles, controlled by unflinching computers not brain cells subject to thoughts of disaster around the corner, and yet we couldn't reach our goals of zero defects.

So what do we do with the human body? Errors are going to occur and we are going to have to deal with those errors. Our brains get filled with thoughts of disaster and we have to deal with them while our opponents are enjoying success. In business we spent our money and time in the areas where it would bring the most return. To me that also makes sense for the game of golf.

Practice the shots that will do you the most good. Take what limited time you have to practice and divide it among the clubs you play the most often on the golf course. If you play almost all your rounds at your home course then you know what clubs those will be. If you have time to round out your game, then practice with other clubs. Most golfers will focus on the driver, wedge, and putter. Don't just practice with the club you hit the best. To score you need to learn to get up and down around the green. The quickest way for most golfers to improve their scores is to devote about 60 to 70 percent of available time to the short game, and about 30 to 40 percent of the time to hitting the driver and iron shots.

Random Practice: If you are learning a new motor skill, studies have now shown that random practice is the best stimulator for the brain. Random practice is practice that constantly changes the practice situation; this requires the brain to reset itself each time the skill is used. You just don't hit the same shot over and over. So how do your get your groove? Well, you don't. What you do is learn in a situation similar to playing. You don't get do-overs on the course, and this learning method puts your brain through the entire process each time you hit a ball. Studies say that this resetting the brain process has more positive results in learning retention over the long term.

So if you are learning something new, use variety in practice. Change the distance and clubs frequently and don't make practice routine. Challenge yourself to create excitement during your practice by setting goals, making every practice a contest, and keeping score.

Block Practice: If you are working on a learned motor skill, block practice can be the best, but you will need to keep your mind challenged. Block practice is hitting the same shot repeatedly. Hitting balls over and over will not make your neuron bundle stronger unless there is some reason that creates excitement in the synapse, just as the brain is able to block out the sound of a highway or a train that passes by your house at night, it will also block out the repetitive action of your golf swing unless it is accompanied by some stimulus. You might as well be playing catch or lifting dumbbells. So if you are going to use the block practice method make sure that you get your brain actively involved by making each shot important. You can do this by going through your routine and putting emphasis on making each shot perfect. Get a partner and wager or have contests in order to make each shot important. Don't just hit shot after shot.