The Correct Way To Practice Golf For The Greatest Results

August 31, 2009 by Ned Dagostino  
Filed under Golf

It seems logical on the surface; if you want to practice golf and get better you should follow and emulate the pros. Certainly you’ve heard that it’s good to emulate success. Then naturally you can switch on the golf TV station and get countless points and direction from pros of all levels.

Now let’s return to earth for a second. Unless you were born with an unbelievable amount of talent, odds are you won’t be on the tour in the immediate future. Very few ever realize that level and odds are you won’t either. Your goal should merely be to get better. And the worst thing you can do to hit your practical goals is to try to imitate the best.

If you are similar to the majority of people, you perform your practice on the weekends and after you get off work. Golf is their 9 to 5 occupation. They wake up and hit the course. putting in a tremendous amount of hours working to become better at their trade. You on the other hand don’t have that luxury. You might want practice golf 24/7, but let’s be practical and make the best use of the time you do have.

It truly is a thing of beauty to watch a pro drop a shot softly on the green, stopping it just a couple of feet from the cup. We could spend months working on this, but as a weekend golfer, there are more productive ways to spend our time that will lead to lower scores. What we need to do is improve the basics first, and that’s where our focus should be.

Think for a minute about how you spend your practice time. You were likely teeing it up, and using your driver on the range. A good driver might take a few strokes off your score, but think about 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 exhilarating and not exactly that much fun either, but the gains of this practice are tremendous. Short game practice is where the pros spend 80% of their time. They’ll work on different shots from different angles, different lies and in different conditions. And while we don’t want you to copy their swing, it’s likely a good idea to concentrate your practice in the same areas as they do.

You may be able to hammer the ball 275 to 300 yards off the tee, but why are you still scoring in the 90’s? Spend some time practicing your short game since that’s obviously where the problem is. Improve around the green and your scores will fall.

So the next time you get off your job and want to head to the driving range to blast a few drives, alter your plan. Instead work on any shot that’s under 75 yards. That means putting, pitching, chipping and short shots from the sand trap.

Here’s something to think about that should make this crystal clear. Did you know that during a typical round, more than 50% of your shots are from under 75 yards. This includes putts, chips, etc. If these shots are 50% of your score, then you should be spending at least half of your practice time working on them. Now consider that in all likelihood less than 20% of your shots are with a driver. If you are honest with yourself, you will recognize that this is where you need to practice most.

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 start to knock at least 10 shots off your game.

The best way to practice without going to the range is by acquiring a golf practice net. You can learn more golf tips like this, and also find course and golf club reviews and advice by going to AllThingsGolfBlog.com.

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