Perfect Practice

[MountainGoat]

I’ve read from the wise voices on this forum that only “perfect practice” makes perfect. So, I’d be interested to hear from those of you who regularly practice – what’s your routine? 

First of all, let’s be honest with each other. Do you actually practice, or is it something you say you do but never actually get around to? I’m not talking about warm-up before a round; I’m talking about actual, regularly scheduled practice...the sort of thing Allen Iverson derided. Do you have regularly scheduled times and days, or is it something you only do when you need it?  Is it something you do once in a while with 600 balls, or something you do daily with 60 or 90 or 200?

Do you have a particular way of running thru your bag and touching on all your shots? Are you grinding a particular mechanical improvement into muscle memory with 10,000 repetitions? Do you have particular drills or series of drills that you do every session? Do you aim at calibrated targets, or do you have some kind of range finder that tells you the results of your shots?

If you’re an instructor, what do you want your students to do? Describe an idealized session or series of sessions. 

Player or teacher, what exactly is your definition of “perfect practice”?

[vman]

Perfect practise doesn't exist. There is however, individual performance practise which is based on lowering golf scores. This obviously will vary for each individual as everybody is either at a different point or has different needs pertaining to their golf game.

As a player most of my practise revolves around all aspects of 120yds and in. My full swing practise tends to be brief and more about maintenance. I do like to play 18 holes on the range alternating clubs as per an imaginary course(means approx 30-32 full swings). Off course involves swing speed sticks, indoor putting, whole range of stretches, resistance bands, slow motion mirror work, bosu and core ball stability exercises and speed walking.

[Hawkeye77]

In fairness, some of it has been and off and on sore elbow the last two seasons, but whether forced upon me or "discovery" I've found less is more. I have a couple specific things I work on that are little drills and otherwise hit 100 yard 8 irons and for a range session, that's about it. I might be out there an hour, but not hit a lot of balls. Same with short game, may set 30 - 40 balls out and hit little shots from just off the green to about 40 yards out, if I'm hitting it really well I may just call it good after 15 balls, who knows. Maybe a couple times a week each, maybe the same day, maybe not. Often, it's practice, but also just a nice warm up before playing - if I'm playing early morning I like a nice pitching session before I play.

[RichieHunt]

At one point I was doing almost exclusively slow motion practice and it was working wonders. In fact, when it really got good I could almost do a pre-shot routine and it was sort of like an out-of-body experience where I could see myself stepping up to the ball and hitting the shot as I stood behind the ball in my pre-shot routine.

 

Problem is that with work I've gotten much busier over the years and tend to take longer periods of time off, so I don't get to practice or play as much. And as much as I like practicing, my game is at its best when I can get equal amounts of practice and play in.

 

Now, when I practice it's mostly block practice or as Dr. Fran Pirrozolo calls it 'massing.' I'll then go into what Dr. Pirrozolo calls 'interleaving' by randomizing the practice.

 

I'll get a little warmup of the muscles, but only a little as I have less time to hit balls. One day I will use the even number irons (4, 6, 8, PW) the next day I will use the odd number irons (5,7, 9 and 52*). Given that I have to use my 2-hybrid at my home club and it's such an important club to execute well with at my home club, I will practice with that. I'll try to get some 3-woods in, but always make sure to get some drivers in.

 

Most of my work is 'massing' (hitting one shot after another at the same target). I so have some drills that I utilize like George Gankas' shadow drill because it really exposes issues I have in my swing.

 

So, I'll start off hitting say a 9-iron. I'll hit a bunch at the same target. Then I'll try to feel what I think is going on...then do the shadow drill (takes about 10-15 seconds). Then I'll hit some more 9-irons trying to incorporate what I learned from the shadow drill into the swing. Eventually I'll start to randomize the targets and perhaps try to hit some high and some low.

 

I'll keep doing that as I work my way thru the bag. If I take 3 bad swings in a row...I'll get back to the drill and really slow things down. The thing I keep in mind is the main issues with my golf swing. Right now they are making a 'fake turn' in my backswing, getting the shaft too laid off in the backswing, not getting enough left knee flex in the downswing, not rotating the chest enough in the downswing and leaving my right lower body behind in the downswing. Many times those things go hand-in-hand. But when I'm really struggling it's usually been one of those things that has caused the biggest issues with my swing.

 

I am committed to video taping my swing 1x per week in 2020. I used to video tape my swing almost every day. Then over the past couple of years I may video tape once a month. I was surprised to see the results improve with less video taping, but the issue that remained was that my swing would eventually get out-of-whack due to the lack of video tape to keep it in tact.

 

The problem for me is that video taping can hurt my confidence more than not videotaping and watching bad shots. Call it vanity, if you will.

 

Anyway, I think 1x per week should work. I'm going to try and video tape on Thursdays since we are hitting off mats on those days and it's easier for me to videotape when we are off mats.

 

The only problem is that I play in a cash game on Saturdays and I'm afraid that taping on Thursday and working on stuff may not give me enough time.

 

Anyway...my feeling is that a golfer's best combination would be to periodically video tape their swing, get into full blown slow motion practice and gradually pick up the speed and get out and play golf.

 

Although I have been reading a lot on Michael Jordan lately and the one thing that was said about him across the board was that he made practices far more difficult than the actual game and by the time they got to play the game, it was a cakewalk compared to their practices.

 

Just my .02

 

 

 

 

RH

 

 

[seth514]

Try to "practice" 3-4 times a week on the range (4-5 in better weather). Typical session looks like this, but can vary due to what I did the previous session, don't always do the 9 Hole Game:

10-15 shot Warmup, partial wedge shots, these are usually at a designated target about 55-80 yards.20-25 shot 8,9 iron 3/4 to Full swing, typically working on a exact drill/mechanics of previous instructor session15-20 shot 7,8 iron Full swings to specific targets, trying to vary types of flight (draw/fade, low/high), doesn't always go as planned."9 Hole Practice", full pre-shot routine on all shots, play 9 holes in your head.Driver: incentive to hit a tee shot well, as this dictates next club hitWell-struck, "in play" (between designated markers for fairway), then hit 3/4 - Full Wedge or maybe 9 iron to designated target.OK but not great strike, "in play", hit 6-7 iron to designated target.Bad strike, hit 3-5 iron to designated target.Terrible strike, re-tee and hit Driver again, repeat process. Long Iron/Utility iron tee shot 1-2 times, using above process. Short iron "par 3" tee shot thrown in to mix it up, usually just 1 of these, random iron. If not bored with all of this, 8-10 more partial wedge shots to random targets.Go putt for a while (45mins-1hr)

[tanker44]

During season I have 30-40 min practice seasons a few times a week. I follow this exact order. However, if I pick up a hitch in my swing or putting stroke I will spend a little extra time simply working through the basics. I don't hit a massive amount of balls because each shot is like it happens on the course. I've been a scratch and tournament golfer my whole life so i'm just trying to keep the game operational. Only other thing is my stat tracking, on the course I carry a yardage book and keep very detailed notes about yardages and stats. This is also a form of preparation some people don't practice.

1) Putting - take one ball out and work my way around the green - putting everything out

2) Pitching - we have short game area so I hit probably 25 balls between 40-80 yards from different areas and different lies

3) Range - work my way up from some 3/4 wedges to full 8 irons, 6 irons and a couple 4 irons followed by a 4-5 drivers/fairway woods

[BB28403]

Pick 3-4 clubs I’m working on and go hit a bucket with those clubs. Imagine real shots. Try to hit the “greens”.

Write down the distances the clubs carry.

[MadGolfer76]

I practice my strengths and completely ignore my weaknesses.

[MountainGoat]

Thanks, everyone. @vman I don't know what "perfect practice" is, either. I don't even know the general outlines. I was just interested in everyone's take on the subject. If there's a definitive book on the subject, I'd like to hear about it.

Personally, I practice every day the weather allows. Over the winter, I walk to the course and back (a 4 mile round trip), so conditioning is a huge part of my daily routine. While I'm at the course, I have a 60 ball routine I follow. I set up a station where all of the various targets on the range line up to form an alley. I hit down the alley more than at specific targets. That's probably a mistake, but my particular range is slightly uphill, so I often can't easily see where the ball lands. I can see direction better than distance. I'd like to get a Mevo to calibrate distance, but I'm not sure how useful it would be with range balls.

Over the winter, I'm working on two mechanical adjustments, so literally every swing incorporates awareness of those two things. It's usually a matter of finding a setup that allows those things to manifest themselves rather than my having to force them.

I work from the middle of the bag outwards. So, I'll start with a 7-iron and go 6,8,5,9,4,W etc. after that. The idea is to get mechanical uniformity throughout the bag. The only things that change from club to club are spine angle and ball position. Ideally, the swing remains more or less the same. I've often got the Tempo Trainer app going on the cell phone in my pocket to optimize that aspect.

I have a pattern of hitting face angle draws and fades and alternate between the two. The idea is to have a swing that is neutral enough to allow me to work the ball both ways equally by adjusting the face angle at setup. While that works with irons, it doesn't work so well with woods. For those, I employ outside-in and inside-out releases to work the ball. In both cases, I'm really just trying to titrate toward a neutral spot in the middle where to ball goes straight. I'll also hit knock downs and 3/4s with each club. I don't employ "massing" and hardly ever hit two shots in a row that are exactly the same unless I've completely hit a clinker.

Prior to my 60-ball full swing drill, I've got a series of pitching stations I use around the practice "chipping" green, and there's a bunker there, too. It's not great, but it's better than nothing. I'm mostly just reinforcing technique, not optimizing performance.

Putting over the winter involves a considerable amount of indoor work on a practice mat. Outdoors, I take the indoor techniques I've worked on and go around the green putting out from hole to hole. A lot of effort over recent months has centered on just getting the ball to roll end over end with a particular pre-shot routine that optimizes setup. That has improved to a point that I now need to start focusing more on distance control.

Like Ritchie Hunt, I used to do a lot of video work. But, I do less and less these days. Increasingly, my swing is what it is, and my efforts are more focused on getting it to perform better. Doing that mostly centers on target awareness, balance and tempo. Those are things I attend to with every swing, be it a full swing, putt, chip or pitch.

Finally, I have to say that in spite of all this effort, I don't find range practice all that useful. Time on the course is 100 times more beneficial for me than banging balls on the range, but it's getting harder to get out there alone.

[Itsjustagame]

I hate to practice and my back can't take more than about 15 minutes of hitting balls- or putting for that matter.

I do go the course when it isn't busy and play multiple balls however.

[vman]

Yes, I do believe course time is more beneficial to better players in terms of improving score but the range work provides the necessary tools and confidence to take to the course. As my dad would say, "son, in all things it's all about the PREPARATION."

For instance, in terms of confidence when playing, I practise yardages a lot. I'm lucky in that we have a long, flat range where you can hit your own balls. I take my bag of Z-Stars and I hit 5-7 balls with each club. I then walk out and laser back to the bag. I'll do this, probably, once every 2 weeks throughout the season and it just reinforces my self assurance and belief. I'm a bit old school, I prefer to use a laser and my ball of choice...otherwise there's no point.

[MountainGoat]

I just wanted to clarify something I said in my post. When I was talking about the relative value of course time vs range time, I was referring to on-course practice, not playing for score. I've got a whole practice routine I do on the course when I can get out there by myself, and I find that routine much more useful than my range time. Both are "preparation".

The one thing that has never, ever worked over my 50+ year playing career is practicing a mechanical technique on the range and then taking it out on the course. When faced with actual targets, all the idealized mechanical changes I worked so on have tended to evaporate in three holes. Hence, I turn the problem around and attempt to make my range time as game-like as possible. To that end, any mechanical change I might be working on has to be mentally tied to the act of hitting a ball to a well-defined target. Absent that, the mechanical change, however otherwise ideally valuable, is worthless to me because I can't put it into play.

[enormous13]

Eric Cogorno actually just did a video related to this, called “How to take your range swing to the course”, or something similar. Him and another pro focus on improving the learning process during block practice by moving your range balls further away, increasing time between swings, and a few other things that anyone could do. In theory, you could apply some of these ideas to randomized practice as well, such as increasing time between shots.

In 2020, I’m definitely going to add these concepts to my range time, as well as use the Mirror Vision app for real-time video feedback during block practice.

[alfriday]

Game Like Training has the following book that is a very good introduction on how to structure practice to make it effective, whether working to improve mechanics or practicing to perform.

Golf Practice - How to Practice Golf & Take Your Range Game to The Golf Course

The book"s subtitle sums up the approach: spacing, variability and challenge. It is good at showing how to stack drills and games to get the most out of range time and how those skills that are developed transfer to the course.

 

GLT has a Youtube channel that covers many of the same topics. Check it out to get the gist of what they are saying. I like having the book--it orders things and explains them in a bit more depth than the videos.

 

The approach is solid, and can be easily adapted to specific needs of each golfer.

[SNIPERBBB]

Perfect practice isnt some mythical series of drills or routines. It's just doing things correctly time after time. If you practice using bad habits, you will engrain those habits.... practice makes permanent, not perfect.

[MountainGoat]

Thanks for this recommendation. I just watched the first video with Dr. Timothy Lee on the "Myth of Muscle Memory", and it is very consistent with my own experience.

You'd think there'd be a whole literature on what constitutes good good golf practice, but if there is, I'm not aware of it. There are books of drills, of course. But, I'm not aware of a body of learning theory applied to golf on the best overall practice structure. What we're left with are empty aphorisms about "perfect practice" without much in the way of actual procedure.

The general feeling in my lifetime is that you're supposed to repeat some idealized move on the range and then magically transfer it to the course. The idea is that you build muscle memory. Nothing in my experience indicates that this generalized procedure actually works, but it's the basis for nearly all golf teaching. What we tend to get are redefinitions every half dozen years or so of what the ideal golf swing is supposed to be. But, what we don't get are practice systems that actually put any particular technique into play.

[update -- I've now listened to more of the GLT material. According to Dr. Lee, the method I described above is an implementation of "motor program theory", which is based on the concepts of "top down" motor control and the building of "muscle memory". Dr. Lee feels that these concepts have largely been discredited. What interests me is that golf teaching continues to follow these precepts and has not made more use of modern learning theory.]

 

[Warrior42111]

Just some thoughts as an avid golfer, and a football coach. As always every person is different so results will vary.

Perfect practice is different for every person. For me in both scenarios I come in with a plan, and not made up 1 hour before but days before. Now what goes into to the plan is looking at yourself in a honest way. What are the biggest items you need to work on? I'll give two examples and the practice that goes with them.

You're a mid HC working with a coach on a new move. In this case myself I will take 50-75 swings in my house (thank god for high ceilings) really trying to emphasize and even exaggerate the move. The reason is I notice when in a round we tend to not naturally not exaggerate a move as much. Then I'll take it to the range. I will also know what the "good miss" is for the move I am working on. By good miss I mean what will happen if you overdo the new move. I will then go to the range with the goal of hitting 70% of my shots with good ball flight or the miss ball flight. If you get 7 out of 10 change clubs and see if you can keep it going. You're a low HC working on fighting down your low irons and wedges. Now here is just taking you current swing and just changing set up, and taking a 3/4 swing. Here I would probably work on changing clubs every 3 or 4 shots and changing targets every 1 or 2 shots. This is because the change is more in the set up than the swing it self so you want to emphasize that so you concentrate more on that so it becomes natural on the course.The reason why I made two examples is to show that there's two methods, building up (1), and full speed (2).

To sum up everything the real key is being able to look at yourself and know what you need to work on. Every person is different some people just do better learning on the fly or at full speed. Other people do better starting very slow and ramping up. If you can figure out the way that is best for you, you can go from there with good success.

[thebogeyputt]

Depends if I am undergoing a big swing change or not. While making a big change, the ideal practice is me exaggerating moves with low effort swings with short irons to "change the picture" as some coaches would say. Requires discipline.

 

If I am cruising and am currently content with my ball flight, nothing more special than getting out there and hitting at different targets and greasing the wheels

[MountainGoat]

Intersting that you mentioned that you were a football coach. I never played organized football, but I played organized basketball on a team and for a coach with championship history. Our practices were always very regular and highly structured. Every day the first third of the time involved cycling thru various skill stations (rebounding, free throws, etc.). The second third involved a bunch of group or partner drills. The last third consisted of game preparation by running thru the offensive plays and defensive sets we were going to use in the upcoming game. Interestingly, we almost never actually played the game of basketball during practice. Seems odd in retrospect.

I guess the part of this experience that has rubbed off on my contemporary golf practice is that my sessions are very regular and always highly structured. I'm constantly looking for ways to optimize that structure, but I never just hit balls just to hit balls. I also never focus on just one thing. My practices are broken up into thirds with a different focus for each part.

[jgallant415]

One thing I think is critically important to more effective practice is to have an explicit goal going into each session. For years, I would crush bucket after bucket at the range and not see much improvement and it largely came down to me trying to do a little bit of everything each time I went to “practice.”

I work with an instructor a couple times a month now, and for in between lessons he will prescribe anywhere from 1 to 3 drills for me to focus on to work on whatever changes we are trying to make. When practicing solo, my typical approach is:

5 reps of drill 1, one full swing. If I achieve the desired result on the full swing, move on to 5 reps of drill 1, two full swings. If I make a bad full swing, I go back to 5 and 1. Two good swings, move on to 5 reps drill 1, three full swings, and so on until I get to five good full swings. Time permitting, I aim to complete that for each prescribed drill.

There’s obviously no magic to the structure, but it keeps me focused on a few specific things and I also find the added pressure component in the later rounds to some extent recreates a little of the on course pressure when you only get to take a shot once.

[Warrior42111]

Very similar concept for me golfing as well, at least to me. I played in college and the practice structure just made so much sense that it would work on any other sport, or even skill set one might work on.

We started the week on Tuesday and it was almost all drills and half 3/4 'looks' which was the time to get your moves and feels down so they come second nature. As the week progressed we went faster and fast doing more 7 v 7 then 11 v 11 once the technique and plan was implemented.

Translating it to golf is easy. Have your goal and work only towards that goal that day. Then as it becomes more natural implement it to your regular game i.e full swings.

[crapula]

Deliberate practice. There is extensive material out there about this theory. To name a couple- Talent is Overrated and Outliers. It goes hand in hand with the 10,000 hour theory.

The idea is whatever you practice becomes permanent. I can only practice deliberately for about 5-10 minutes at a time, then I need to take a break for a few minutes to regain focus and undo fatigue. Fatigue comes in two forms, mental and physical. Knowing your limits is probably the hardest part of deliberate practice. Some days I can go for maybe 30 minutes before a break.

Practice is a skill. You have to practice how to practice.

[ferrispgm]

I have focused a lot on my typical practice this year and it's paid off big time. Previously I would make a few half swings working on whatever change I'm making and then hit a dozen or so balls full and alternate. Sometimes I wouldn't be well disciplined and just make a bunch of full swings working on the change. As a result it took a long time for me to see any results.

This year I have almost taken the opposite approach. 95% of my range time is spent hitting nothing more than 110 yard 9 irons and just trying to feel the correct motion on every one. Once I have hit 3 or 4 in a row that feel great then I'll make a couple full swings. I rarely hit driver on the range anymore...maybe 5 balls in the middle of the session and 5 towards the end but that's it. If i'm topping everything or chunking I don't care anymore because i know the pay off will be worth it. When I go play, I start off with the 110 yard 9 irons and do that mostly. My last 25 swings or so are all full and then work the progression with a wedge, 9 iron, 5 iron, 3 wood, driver.

As a result of the new practice I have dropped 2-3 shots off the handicap from a 1.5-2 to a +1-+.5 and hitting the ball better than ever. What I have learned is to not get frustrated no matter how poorly you hit it on the range while working on something and just stick to it. Only focus on yourself and to coin Tiger's phrase..."focus on the process".

 

[alfriday]

There has been quite a bit published on effective practice as applied to golf.

 

Adam Young, The Practice Manual. This is a comprehensive look at learning theory as applied to golf. I hesitate to recommend as it goes into a lot of depth. If you are just mildly interested, this may be overkill. He also has a golf blog. Take a look at it. I recommend you start reading from the last page (earliest posts) and work your way forward.

Golf Blog

Pia Nilsson and Lynn Marriot have four books that deal with improving one's golf, and how to practice on and off the course to improve performance. The books build upon the previous ones and I recommend you read them in the order published. The second book, The Game before the Game specifically covers practice.

 

Philip Chesters has several e-books on the subject, including The High Performance Golfer, Using Smart Practice to Lower Scores.

 

Golf Science Labs has a number of blog posts dealing with golf learning and practice.

Motor Learning Archives | Golf Science Lab

Likewise, Practical Golf.

Practical Golf - Golf Articles Archive

My two favorite golf books are "The Lost Art of Playing Golf" by Gary Nicol and Karl Morris and "Extraordinary Golf" by Fred Shoemaker. These books directly address the third paragraph of your posts, where you state, "Nothing in my experience indicates that this generalized procedure actually works." I think you would find these two books enlightening.

[mikpga]

First and foremost, eliminate the word "perfect"...

Second, the opportunity to learn from mistakes/bad shots is a huge area which most golfers neglect...

Always be in the mindset of observing while practicing...

Good or Bad, always observe and learn.

[Nard_S]

"Always be in the mindset of observing while practicing..."

This matters a bunch.A duality of performing and observing at the same time takes practice too. Translates well onto course. Anything less your pushing on a string.

 

 

[Zitlow]

No such thing as perfect practice if you're practicing imperfections unless you're perfecting your imperfections.

[MountainGoat]

Thanks. I just started Adam Young's "The Practice Manual". It's looks like a full meal. I've also got the Iain Highfield book you recommended coming, but it'll be a couple of weeks before it gets here.

With all that study awaiting me, it'll be a while before I can tackle "The Lost Art of Playing Golf" by Gary Nicol and Karl Morris and "Extraordinary Golf" by Fred Shoemaker. Can you briefly outline how these books address motor program theory (top-down motor control; muscle memory; 10,000 repetitions)? Do they support that theory, or do they (like me) question its validity?

 

[MountainGoat]

The word "perfect" isn't mine. It's one that has been cited to me many times by contributors to this forum. I just figured that if someone tells me that "only perfect practice makes perfect", then they must know what perfect practice is. I'm just trying to learn.

I've always been stuck by the seeming contradiction between learning from your mistakes and forgetting your last shot. I keep hearing that a good golfer is one who has a short memory, which is a medical condition that actually restricts your ability to learn from your mistakes.

 

[alfriday]

The Lost Art and Extraordinary Golf are not practice books per se. They provide an overall approach to golf, on the course and the range, but they cover effective practice and how best to learn to play. Both reject the predominant paradigm of golf instruction--the idea that a golfer can learn the perfect move/swing from and instructor and that will transfer to the course.

 

The books deal quite bit with the golfer's attention--where is it directed, how to focus attention for beneficial results. How to use it in practice and on the course. Between the two, I think "Extraordinary Golf" is more in line with what you are talking about.

Fed Shoemaker lays out what he calls the two cultures of golf: 1. The fix it culture. "There is something wrong with my swing and I must fix it." But, he points out, "You cannot fix your golf swing unless you know what your golf swing is. Awareness is the only thing that allows for development." 2. Learning approach. "Consider another approach based on becoming aware of what you are doing without judging it--simply developing a feel for what actions produce what results and letting the body's natural learning processes assist you. "

 

Fred basically says a golfer can discover their optimal swing--the one for their body, their conditioning and their flexibility. He has a number of exercises for the golfer to do to become aware of what they are doing and to feel the difference between what is effective and what is not. By feeling the difference, real learning takes place.

This all fits in with what Adam Young says regarding self organization, randomized practice, and intentionally doing it "wrong" to learn. They just approach it a bit differently.

Personally, I would read either of the books recommended before delving into the Adam Young book. They provide an overall framework, which will make applying the information in Adam's book more effective.