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Structuring a practice sessionis can be the difference between making progress on the course and having the dreaded scenario of not having your range game transfer to the course. In order to get your game to transfer you have to challenge your swing's motor program to different challenges.
Normally, a golf coach will help you design your practice session, but if you are coaching yourself then you have to do it. In order to plan a solid golf practice session, you need to vary through different kinds of practice. There are largely 3 types of practice you can do on the driving range. They are:
- Blocked Practice
- Random Practice
- Games
Each one has it's own strength and weakness. In this video, you will learn how to organize your practice session based on the benefits of each style of practice. Most golfers ONLY do blocked practice, and when they do this get into a "groove" of good shots. This feels good, but isn't helpful for your long term progress. Even though it can feel more challenging and frustrating, if you want to really own a game that works on the golf course then random and games need to be a large part of your practice. Do not try and perfect your swing in one practice session, this is why you have a roadmap. Get it as solid as you can in a single round of blocked practice, and then test it with random practice and games.
Playlists: Practice Strategies
Tags: Practice Strategies, Mental Game, Beginner
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In this concept video, we're going to talk about the specifics of how to practice or how to structure a practice session.
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So here I've got my small bucket of golf balls. Let's just say that there are 50 golf balls in here.
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I don't really know for sure, but 50 golf balls. How do I want to divide up those golf balls?
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Am I just going to hit and react and hit again and hit again and hit again?
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Not if I want to maximize my time. If you have tons of time, you can probably get away with having a lot of that.
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But if you're pressed for time like I am when I practice, you got to make sure that you're maximizing it.
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So let's say of these 50 golf balls, I'm going to divide it up. Let's say 15 golf balls or 20 golf balls for mechanics and then 30 golf balls for the second half.
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So here's the overall structure of what I like to see with a practice session.
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There are different types of practices. There's something called block training.
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There's something called random training. And then there's games or putting your skills to the test.
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You want to practice each of them regardless of what level you're at.
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Now, if you're a beginner, you're probably going to spend more of the time in the blocked practice.
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And I'll outline that a little bit easier, but you're going to spend more of the time in the block practice.
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And if you're more advanced, you should spend much less time in the block practice.
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If you're very advanced, maybe 90% is going to be random practice in skills acquisition or skill training.
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Okay. So what do I mean by these? Block practice is mechanics.
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So let's say for our human sake since I just have my station here, I'm working on my path.
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So I might have a station built here where I've got a visual of my target line and then I put two golf balls, so I'm working on the gate drill.
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All right. So I might take my swing, hit the golf ball, just kind of look at the gate, make sure that I stayed within it.
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This is mechanical practice. I'm working on physical technique.
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This is block practice, yeah, block practice mechanics.
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This should only be the first part. The purpose of mechanical practice is to serve as a cause and effect character.
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So if I hit a shot, my brain wants to know the cause and effect.
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Block practice is a great way for me to test it.
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So okay. I stayed within the gate. I hit the ball so I will be very good. Everything's confirmed.
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So let's say I did 15 balls of my 50 with block practice.
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What's random practice? Well random practice is processing the whole decision making that goes into hitting a golf ball when you're on the course.
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So now in random practice, I don't get any train aids, so alignment sticks going.
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I'm going to go through my normal decision making process. I'm going to visualize the shot. I'm going to interpret the situation.
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I'm going to take practice swings if I need to. I'm going to get in the right state of mind.
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And then I'm going to go into execute. Now my job in execution is to pay attention to staying in the moment.
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So my job is to look for distractions. Like I get over the wall and I'm like this is never going to work.
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Okay, I have to back over because I really have to work on my pre shot routine because those those thoughts have to be trained out of coming in.
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Coming into the scenario.
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Once I hit my shot, I hit my shot and now I'm going to do my post shot routine. Did I hit it solid?
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Kind of. Did I lose focus at any point?
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Yes, I did. You know, I kind of lost track here during this phase. I club didn't feel right.
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I just make a note of that. I don't try to correct it at this point.
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And then the last point is was there's something that I missed when I was going through my thought process was the lie different.
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I can use the ball flight to evaluate that.
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Any of that area will help me with my pre in my post shot routine.
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The last thing would be games. So now I want to hit shots with consequences.
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So or with pressure with a reward. So let's say I'm playing the nine shot ball or the nine shot drill.
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And I'm trying to get all nine shots. Low hook, low slice, low straight, medium, high of those three.
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As quickly as I can.
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All right. So my goal is to get through it in nine shots if I can.
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Or if it takes me 30 shots, my goal is to get through it as much as I or as quickly as I can.
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So now there's a consequence. If I if I start having trouble hitting the low hook,
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I'm going to feel a little bit of pressure because I know that I have to get through this.
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So the way that you want to structure a practice is just no more than a third unless you're a real beginner on mechanics.
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And then at least two thirds allocated to random practice, which is just hitting shots with different clubs, different targets, different distances, different trajectories.
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Everything changes every shot.
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And then third is games where I have a known outcome and I have a deliberate shot that I'm trying to hit.
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And if I don't do it right, I get penalized or if I do it right, I get rewarded.
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This helps get you in the right kind of player state of mind and helps you transfer your mechanical practice from the range to the course.
