How To Practice Golf And Be Your Best
Most golfers think that they should practice golf to swing identical to their favorite pros. And on the surface that makes sense. Surely you have heard that it is good to emulate success. Then of course you can switch on the golf television station and get countless hints and direction from professionals of all degrees.
Now let’s hurl in a bit of realism. It would be fantastic if you could turn into the next Tiger Woods, but honestly, the odds are stacked against you. There is a very slim chance you or anyone else will reach that level. You simply need to get better. Yea it would be fantastic to play like Tiger, but to emulate his game, or that of any other professional, is clearly a mistake.
Remember these guys don’t simply hit the course after they get off work. Their business is golf, and it is more than 40 hours a week. And much like you and your business, they wake up every morning and travel to work, spending countless hours on the range, the practice green and the course. But since most people don’t play golf for a living, they don’t have the amount of time free that the pros do. It would be fantastic if you did, but let’s work within the realm of the time and energy you have available.
You no doubt marvel as you witness on TV when a shot lofts high, then lightly hits the green and stops just feet from the cup. And you probably get a bit envious when a shot backspins its way to the hole. We all wish we could do this consistently, but if we wish to get better it’s counterproductive to spend months trying to achieve this ourselves. But we are better served to practice within our style and stick to the fundamentals.
Consider for a minute about how you spend your practice time. If you’re like many golfers, you proceed to the driving range and spend the vast majority of your time blasting away drives. A good driver might take a couple of strokes off your score, but consider how many drives you hit during a round. See where we’re going with this? You need to spend much more time working on your short game.
It’s not glamorous and not exactly that much fun either, but the gains of this practice are immense. Ask any touring professional how much time they spend on this facet of their game and they’ll in all likelihood say roughly 80% of their practice time is dedicated to this. They’ll practice different shots from different angles, different lies and in different conditions. We already stated it’s best not to replicate their swing, but their practice habits are something we all can learn from.
You may be able to pound the ball 275 to 300 yards off the tee, but why are you still shooting in the 90’s? Spend some time working on your short game since that’s evidently where the problem is. Improve on and around the green and your scores will fall.
So the next time you get off work and want to travel to the driving range to blast a few drives, alter your plan. Practice your putting. Put some extra effort into your pitches, chips, shots from the sand trap and your wedge shots up to 75 yards.
Still not a believer? Think about this. Did you know that during a typical round, more than half of your shots are from under 75 yards. This includes putts, chips, etc. If these shots are half of your score, then you should be spending at least half of your practice time working on them. Now consider that probably less than 20% of your strokes are with a driver. So it’s pretty clear where you should be focusing your practice attention.
We understand that it’s not as much fun as banging away off the tee, but it will be a lot more fun when you begin to whack at least 10 strokes off your game.
The best way to practice at home is by having a golf practice net. You can read additional golf tips like this, as well as read golf course and equipment reviews and information by visiting http://www.AllThingsGolfBlog.com.
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