Practice

When you practice golf, what exactly are you trying to achieve? Perhaps you are just warming up before a round. Or maybe you are working on trying to change some things about your swing? The distinction is important to recognize because they are two very different activities. 

When you are “warming up” before a round, you are doing just that; getting loose, stretching muscles, getting used to handling the golf club. You also need to pay attention to the ball flight just to get some idea what the ball is doing that day! Is it fading, drawing, going low, going high etc.? This is important because it is not likely to change in the next few minutes when you head to the first tee. Sam Snead, in his iconic West Virginia style, once said “Ya dance with the lady ya brung to the ball.” Meaning of course, that whatever ball flight you have that day, you learned to play with it-not change it!

It's a whole different matter when you are actually practicing golf, or “working” on your game. Here you are practicing swing changes, new motions, different tempos, perhaps a new grip or stance. The important thing here is just that - the swing - with little to no concern about ball flight. This is where many golfers lose the benefit of real practice. 

It is important to disregard new or different ball flight when working on your game. I call this NATO golf, an acronym for “not attached to outcome.” When a golfer gets overly concerned about trying to produce a better result or where the golf ball is going, he/she may lose all focus on the process. The minute a golfer gets into a mindset of trying to hit the ball high or low or fade it or draw it or even straight, he/she will immediately resort back to the swing they are trying to change, and they lose the whole value of that practice session. It is not unlike the reason most players struggle on the golf course after hitting the golf ball so well on the practice tee. It becomes a struggle to produce a certain, exacting result…hit the fairway, hit green, get it close to the hole and on and on. By now the changes the player is trying to incorporate have long been forgotten. The mind went from process-oriented to results-oriented! And that can negate any effort you are putting in to make swing changes. Take my many, many years of experience advice - DO NOT get overly concerned about results when working on swing changes!

I could offer many examples but here is the most instructive: If you are fighting a slice and you start to hook, that is no reason to do anything differently. The minute you say, “oh great, now I’m hooking,” you are likely headed down the wrong path and you will get less from your practice session than you should. 

Practice is great so take advantage of it and get what you can out of it. One final word: take your time hitting the ball; it’s not how many balls you hit, it’s how many balls you hit with a better, new and improved swing.