Practice to me is one of the most intriguing parts of the game to me as it sometimes feels like the recipe behind the meal you are about to cook. The most difficult part is that everyone has a different recipe, and everyone also has a different opinion on what the dish should be!
For students I think that finding their practice recipe is key to creating successful practice sessions, but students should be aware that this recipe can often change depending on time of year, what events are coming up and sometimes even just how they are feeling. However there is a process that I like to follow in order to help students figure out what they need to do in each session, and also how to improve future sessions as a result.
First..... The ingredients!
Our first step is to look at what we have to work with, what are the ingredients? This is simple, we have three basic ones to start with and they are Technique, Skill and Performance. These three items will make up the corner stones of our practice session.
For most golfers generally practice tends to involve a heavy amount of technical practice, looking at the swing, perfecting a feel and simply trying to master a shot. This type of practice will tend to be high repetition, heavy analysis but very little context or outcome. This type of practice is also the furthest away from what we will do on the golf course as we are normally trying to repeat a swing or a shot perfectly over and over again in the same direction. That said, it certainly does have its place!
Next is skill, or some even regard it as play. When you look at children practicing we often see high amounts of this as they look to flop a ball over a fence or curve it around a tree, yet as adults we often try to look far too logically at problems which is where we tend to move more towards technical practice. Think of skill as exploration, you want to be free to try various different shots that will help you on the golf course, but with no repercussion at the end of it. You are free to try things with no negative outcome.
Our final ingredient is performance, and probably the least practiced aspect away from the golf course. Effectively with performance we are looking to complete a task in a certain score, while also having an outcome at the end. That outcome can be a reward if you do well, or a forfeit if you do badly. This type of practice begins to create pressure, similar to what we may feel on the golf course. In addition to this ideally we will utilize performance practice with 1 ball where possible, simply to replicate our actions on the course.
Starting your recipe.... Create a Plan
As with trying all recipes expect the first few to ..... well potentially need improvement! But the key is to start! My recommendation is to get a small notepad or journal and track these sessions. As you work through these you will find games, challenges and feelings that you love which means that in future you can make better and better recipes.
Start your first plan by simply asking these simple questions:
- How far away from my next tournament am I?
- How am I feeling about my game, what areas are currently strong and what areas need work?
- How much time have I got today?
- What am I looking to achieve today from this practice session?
- What attitude should I carry throughout this session?
These questions should give you a great starting point before you get into the details of what the session will look like. My recommendation is the closer you are to a tournament the more the focus should be on skill and performance, while when you are post tournament or even a string of tournaments, you can do a week or two heavier on the technical side of things. Ideally as we get closer to events we will be in full playing mode with very little focus on the technical aspects of the swing.
Once we have an idea of these questions we can start to look at the different areas of the game as our secondary ingredients. We can put these into 4 categories which are Driving, Iron Play / Approach Play, Short Game and putting. Our goal is choose which areas of the game we want to focus on and secondly how we wish to work on them.
An basic example
- 2 Weeks away from a tournament
- Game is feeling great overall, however distance wedges need work
- 3 Hours practice available
- Improve my wedge game technique & distance control. Test my short game & putting
- A patient and calm attitude is required, focusing on my routine is key.
0 - 30min Review fundamentals of pitching at set distances (50 yards & 75 yards)
30 - 90min Check my clock system using trackman. Make sure they match up with what I think they are
90 - 180min Completion task - Drive 3 in a row onto a fairway. Hit a ball onto the 40 yard target green and 60 yard target green. Up and down 1 x pitch, 1 x chip, 1 x bunker shot. Finish by holing a 15ft putt. If at any point I miss I will return to the start.
Perfect the recipe.... Reflect & Review
As you can see the above is a well rounded 3 hour session that focuses on the main points which I wanted to achieve. The session begins with some technical checks and improvements, develops into some skill to help my weakness and finishes with a really challenging game that incorporates a number of aspects of the game.
The final step is key to perfecting your recipe, that is simply "Reflect and Review". The reason this so important it means we can highlight parts of the plan that we liked, while also look at what areas we can improve in future to make the next practice session even better.
My reflection process is a very simple one and it is as easy as answering 3 questions:
1) What did I enjoy about this practice session?
2) What could have made this practice session better?
3) How could I make similar sessions better in future
If you can work through this process every time you practice you will change not only how effective your practice sessions are, but most likely even how much you enjoy these sessions.
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