Over the many thousands of lessons we’ve given at MyGolfDNA, one thing that almost all of our students first come to us with is the lack of knowing how to practice properly. When we say practice, we don’t mean just going to the range, beating balls for a couple of hours, and telling yourself you’ve accomplished something. If practicing properly were that easy, then there would be millions of us on tour, and golf would be way easier than it is. Today, we will teach you what proper practice is and how to practice properly.
What is Improper Practice?
Unfortunately, there are many ways in which you can improperly practice (maybe even more ways than you can properly practice). It’s key to realize the common ways to practice improperly so that you can identify them and steer clear of them when you start to fall back into bad habits.
- Practicing without a goal – Simply hitting balls at the driving range, while enjoyable, doesn’t contribute significantly to improving your golf swing. It’s perfectly fine to unwind by hitting balls after a tough day, but if you want to make the most of your practice sessions, you need to have a clear goal in mind.
- Stringing reps together – Rep stringing, as we call it at MyGolfDNA, is detrimental to your practice when you might not even realize it. Although you may practice a movement in what you deem correct, it does not help transfer it to a real golf ball-hitting scenario. Unfortunately, if you’re whipping the golf club back and forth doing the same rep over and over again, your brain cannot properly process what it is you’re doing. It does not mirror the static starting position you would experience when hitting a real golf shot.
- Practicing too quickly – Rushing through your practice involves attempting to feel the movement you’re working on, but doing so without taking the necessary slow, controlled practice swings. The number of balls you hit in a practice session is irrelevant. What matters is executing the movements you’re trying to learn with 100% accuracy, giving your brain the best chance to learn and retain these new movements.
What is Proper Practice?
Practicing properly may be THE most underrated part of the golf swing. You may have a 100% understanding of what it is you should be practicing and how you’re going to practice it, but if it’s not being done correctly, then what’s the point?
- Practicing with intent – Not only do you need a goal when practicing, but you also need to know exactly what you’re trying to accomplish, why you’re practicing it, and what that practice will look like. For example, let’s say a student is working on a more upright backswing versus a backswing that is too horizontal. The student should have a complete understanding of why their backswing needs vertical movement, how they can introduce this vertical movement into their swing (via drills or slow concentrated reps), and how many reps or how long they need to practice this movement in a session.
- Practicing SLOWLY – A lot of people get mixed up in thinking the more balls they hit during a practice session will somehow help them get more out of it or learn faster. As a matter of fact, it doesn’t matter how many balls you hit in a session but how many times you do a movement that you’re trying to accomplish with 100% accuracy. If you are able to take a SLOW, CONCENTRATED practice swing before every ball hit and really internalize and feel what it is you’re trying to accomplish, then you have a much higher chance of getting that movement into your swing shape.
- PATIENCE IS KEY – This is going to be really disheartening, and I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but old movement patterns in the golf swing NEVER die. That’s right, as much as you would like to, your brain will always remember a movement that you have done or learned. But we can start to make a newer movement stronger and fresher in the brain to the point where it overrides and takes over an older, worse movement. The reason patience is needed is that this takes time. As much as we hear nowadays, there is no way to fix a golf swing in 15 minutes and expect permanent results. You NEED to work at a new movement until it becomes THE movement. This could take months to do, which is why you need to stay committed to the change that you’re making and trust the process that is taking place.
