Practice Like You Play

By Chris Foley

Over the course of the golf season, each month in this column we will be sharing ideas to help improve your golf game without changing your golf swing. By implementing our advice each month, you will see improvement in your game and lower scores.

Golf is one of the few games, that is not practiced on the actual field of play. The majority of our practice occurs at a driving range. Most of the time the driving range has no resemblance to the golf course and this environment typically doesn’t lead to great performance on the golf course.

The golf course is a one-shot environment. On the golf course we have time between shots. Every shot we hit requires a different club to a different yardage from a different lie.

One the driving range we are typically hitting multiple shots with the same club, off of a flat surface and perfect lie. In this situation, regardless of the efficiency of our swing, at some point in the practice session we start hitting good shot after good shot. We develop a false sense of accomplishment by the finding timing and rhythm of the swing. In the one-shot environment of the golf course, it is much harder find that rhythm and timing.

With this in mind, if we really want to play better golf, we need to practice more like we play. Part of our practice time needs to be focused on swing changes or maintenance, but we need to spend the majority of our practice time doing things to improve our performance on the golf course.

To practicing more like we play, we need to practice with the following things in mind.

  1. The drill, game, or exercise needs we are doing needs to create awareness and be engaging. Things like changing targets frequently, creating different sensations or feels, and pushing you out of your comfort zone
  2. The practice needs to be measurable. When we measure our practice, it gives us a true gage of how we are doing.       From day to day we can track improvement or regression.
  3. There needs to be consequence in practice. We need to compete while we practice. This is what truly bridges the gap between the range and the golf course. The practice experience needs to be closer to the actual golf course experience.

To take your game from the range to the golf course, keep the above elements in mind as you practice. The returns on your time in practice will be enhanced and your scores will improve!