Do you need to practice your golf swing in order to improve? How much should you practice? What should you be practicing? Of the Golfers that stay inconsistent, regardless of what they do to improve … we have found that they fall into one of the below three categories:
#1 You don’t practice enough
I’d like to use an analogy to make a point about improving your golf swing. Does a Professional Football Player need go to practice each week before a game?
Silly question … but also it applies to your golf game. Because even though that Football Player is one of the top athletes in the world and one of the top skilled athletes … he still needs to practice just to maintain his/her skill level. I’m not even talking about improving … they need to practice just to maintain.
Now let’s take this analogy to the Professional Golfer … do they need to practice? Oh sorry – that probably is another silly question – as the answer is “of course they do!”
Yet, if the best Golfers in the world need to practice at least 2 times a week just to maintain their skill level … and their skill level is already high … how much do you need to practice just to maintain what you have?
The question isn’t whether you should or should not practice to improve your golf swing. The question should be – how much do you need to practice just to maintain your current level?
#2 You practice too much
How much is too much practice? Too much is when you go out to the driving range with 3 or more things to work on in your golf swing. This often leads to Golfers drifting from golf tip to golf tip – trying new things each swing until they find something that works.
Once they find something that works … they usually stick with it until it stops working. Yet, once it’s not working anymore … it’s on to finding something else that helps you to hit the golf ball better.
That is until that next golf tip stops working and the whole process of “Fiddling” with your golf swing starts over again.
As there’s no doubt that it’s better to practice 1 time a week and play 1 time a week versus playing and not practicing. The former (play once and practice once) is probably better for you than practicing 4 times a week and not playing at all.
However, you need to find what your perfect ratio of practice to play is. Each person is going to have a different ratio of how much to practice and how much to play. I can’t tell you what that is in this newsletter … yet I can make you conscious of it so that you start coming up with a PLAN to do so.
And although some Golfers will have a ratio that’s perfect for them – we often see many Golfers that practice too much. So when you do see the Golfer that practices much more than they play … you usually see a Golfer that struggles taking their golf swing to the golf course.
Why?
Because if a Golfer practices their swing too much – they often carry that practice mentality onto the golf course where they aren’t in the right frame of mind to play golf. They become too focused on working on all the things they worked on while on the driving range – and their golf swing and their scores suffer.
Try to find your optimum ratio of practice to play. Yes, you need to practice … however, just as importantly – you need to be able to play without thinking about your practice.
#3 You don’t know what to practice
Perhaps the worst of all is ‘not knowing what to practice’. Many Golfers hit the practice range – just for the simple fact of … hitting golf balls. Or because they just read about a new tip and they want to see if it works.
However, when a Golfer goes to the driving range just to hit golf balls without a PLAN – they’re setting themselves up for disaster. Do you think a 1 handicap or a PGA/LPGA Tour Player goes to the driving range just to hit golf balls? Of course not. They have something specific they’re going to work on.
Do you know any Golfers that say – “I don’t practice anymore because whenever I practice … I get worse.”
I hear that everyday in emails and phone calls from Golfers that are looking to come see us. They have stopped practicing because practice doesn’t help them.
Not knowing what to practice turns your golf game into a rollercoaster of highs and lows – that ends just like all rollercoasters end … in the same place it began. Golfers that go to hit golf balls without knowing what to practice stay inconsistent Golfers for the rest of their lives.
The Solution
Learn how to practice. Learn how to develop a Practice PLAN. Discover what your ratio of practice to play should be. If you do these things – you’ll see improvement on the golf course. If not, you’ll continue to do what you’re doing – you’ll continue to see what you’re seeing.
The Monkey either doesn’t practice enough, practices too much or doesn’t know what to practice
The Player has a Practice PLAN that leads to success and happiness on the golf course
Are you a Monkey or a Player?
Go ahead … be a Player!
Regards,Marc Solomon – Your Instructor For Life