It's not the quantity but the quality of your practice sessions that improves your game. Shooting as many balls out in as little time possible isn't the way to get better.
Always make sure to have a goal for your practice sessions. That being adjusting some specific technical aspect of your swing or aiming at something.
I'm sure you've heard the old story about Ben Hogan hitting balls until his hands were bleeding...But, like Fingersen pointed out, quality, not quantity is the important factor. Just hitting balls for the sake of hitting balls and doing so at a pace that makes improvement impossible, may be more detrimental to your game than helpful. Hitting balls poorly can ingrain a swing flaw that may be very hard to get rid of. Hit balls with a specific goal in mind, and make each shot count. Go through your preshot routine. Have a specific target in mind (as opposed to a general target) and work on the parts of your game that need it most. For most golfers, work on the short game should outweigh work on the long game by a factor of 2 to 1 at least.
i wouldnt go to the range and practice during the practice season, find a place with a great short game facility and go there as much as possible. It may be the most boring of the practice but it helps the most. Hit all types of shots (chip and runs, pitch and runs, flops, 40 yrd pitches and bunker shots) and then also practice 3-6 foot puts over, and over, and over, and over and hit some 30+ footers and try to get tehm in that area so that you can easily two putt on teh course and if you miss the green you have a shot that you can hit close to get up and down...
One drill that helps your putting is this:
You have to make 15 3 foot putts in a row
if you complete that you go to 2-putt 10 times from 15 foot putts.
Then you have to two-putt 5 times from 30 feet.
But the thing is if you miss once you have to start back from the beginning.
This drill helps a lot.
How often and how long should I be practicing? How many balls should I be hitting in a practice session?
As they say, it's not practice makes perfect but perfect practice which helps reduce those scores.
1. Play your local course on the range and add all your scores adding two putts.You must have however as pointed above clearly defined fairways and visualised greens.
2 Practice your chipping with only one ball holing out every time and keep track of your score. It's a good way to monitor your progress,
practise don't make perfect... practise makes permanent..
permanent mistakes also .... so practise wisely .
asides from hitting balls.. u might want to hit the gym too .. especially to work on core strength and flexibility .. i'm also working on that . without flexibility and stable lower body , we tend to overswing in a bid for further distance and mess up everything else...(i 'm suffering from poor tempo due to that now )
How often and how long should I be practicing? How many balls should I be hitting in a practice session?
Practice as much as you want for as long as you feel you are still making quality swings...as a beginner none of your swings may feel like a quality swing, but take your time and keep at it until you feel yourself tiring and losing the bit of form that you have...100 balls is more than enough, never hit more than 5 in a row without stepping back to refocus, and do a complete preshot routine before each shot...I keep the balls in the basket and take them out one by one to avoid machine gunning...
One drill that helps your putting is this:
You have to make 15 3 foot putts in a row
if you complete that you go to 2-putt 10 times from 15 foot putts.
Then you have to two-putt 5 times from 30 feet.
But the thing is if you miss once you have to start back from the beginning.
This drill helps a lot.
i think im gonna have to start doin that.. thanks!
Quality practice is important.
No point hitting 150 to 200 balls and at the end of the day, you know you achieve nothing but pains and aches everywhere.
To me 50 to a max of 100 balls is more than sufficient.
Take your time to address yourself and take aim like you will on the green.
practise don't make perfect... practise makes permanent..
permanent mistakes also .... so practise wisely .
Wise words which most people (even alot on here) would do well to heed. One really should practice huge amounts without a professional to check you are doing the right thing and one definitely shouldn't just practice large amounts with just feel as your guide.
I agree with all above and whilst i improve i,ve gotten great ideas from this thread,i practise lots of chipping and putting,and will need to go brush up again on my 130 to 100 yard shots,if you take a par 72 course,the par for putts is 36,thats how important putting is,half the shots on a course allotted to it,if you 3 putt 3 times,then its 39 putts,one putt 3 times and its 33 putts = 6 strokes off your game,if you practise approach shots you can try to get close for these one putt opportunities,if you miss the green then great chipping can get you up and down to save par,now heres the shocker,if a par 72 has 36 allotted to putts,ironically if there are 3 pars then there are only 15 drives,i,m not saying that hitting the ball straight and long is not important,but as said above the short game and approach game can bring them scores down rapid.If practising driving practise one aspect at a time,ie slow backswing is better,hit lots with this untill slow backswing becomes second nature,then if you are working on swingpath then work on that itself till second nature,don,t go up range thinking slow backswing,when to cock wrists,when to uncock,holding hips back,not swinging through too quickly,full follow through,etc,because the springs in your brain will burst with overload of information[keep it simple]
August 17th, 2006, 01:59 PM
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