In this weeks golf coaching video. Australian PGA Professional Brian Fitzgerald The Golf Doctor shows you how you can practice better by making you practice like you play.
How to practice like you play improves your golf without changing your skill set.
Today I’m going to talk to you about how to make better use of your practice time using your driver.So as I have said recently. This year is about really improving your score. And it is really trying to get you practising like you play golf.
So I want you to take a few minutes and think “How many drivers do you hit in a round of golf”?So let’s assume there are 4 par 3’s. The maximum amount of drives you are going to hit during a round of golf is 14.If it takes you 4 hours to play golf. You are hitting your driver approximately every 17 minutes. So how does hitting 10 drivers in 10 minutes help you prepare for what you are going to experience on the golf course?That’s right. It doesn’t.
It may try and get you thinking and repeating a certain action over and over. But that skill of hitting 10 drivers in a row isn’t something you can take out on to the golf course with you.
On the golf course you get 1 shot.So I think a much better way of practising your driver and everything else for that matter but particularly foe the driver today. Is to actually think about the course you are going to play. And if you think the first hole is a par 4. I really want to hit it down the left side. To give me the best chance of hitting the ball into the green.
Why don’t we practice trying to hit your driver down the left side.
Don’t just stand here thinking I have to hit the ball straight. Because that’s not really going to work. You have got to picture the hole.So I would play every single hole on your practice range as if you are teeing off on the course.
So out here you might say there are bunkers down the right where these flag sticks are on the right hand side there.
And there is a yellow flag down the left and that is the left edge of my fairway.So as I am standing here picturing it I am picturing the first hole and I can see the bunkers that are down the right there that I want to avoid.And I go through my pre shot routine. Stand behind. Picture the shot. take my set up and then i execute it.
And then I will do the same thing for the second hole. And the 3rd and the 4th. So you are not doing bunch practice. Where you are just going bang, bang, bang. You are actually trying to hit the ball in the right spot.Now if you hit a bad shot. It’s a bad shot. Don’t give yourself a second chance to try and fix it. Play the next hole. It is a much more efficient way of practising. Now I was on my bike yesterday. Doing some training for a ride I have got coming up in a few weeks called the Tour Down Under in Adelaide.
And I was actually thinking. In this ride there is some flat, there is some down hill. There is a fair bit of up hill. I have really got to tailor my training in the last week to 2 weeks before this ride of doing some hill climbing. So it’s really important that I do get out on the bike and practice in the hills. If I don’t I am not going to be ready for the day of this ride.
Do we do that when we play golf?
We tend to think I am playing at this course next week. It should be a nice round.We don’t actually prepare for it.
You might think about the course and think. Gee there is a lot of bunkers down the right hand side. So maybe you should get out on the range and try and practice keeping the ball down the left.
So what I have set up here is have got a blue swimming noodle on an alignment stick. So that’s something I want to hit left of.
So I am going to go through my pre shot routine. I am think i want to hit the ball left of the blue stick. And if I can do that I am going to avoid those bunkers. So i have got the picture in my mind. I take my alignment. Left of the blue stick.And I am thinking I want to hit it left of the blue stick.And I hit it down the left side of the fairway. Left of the blue stick. That’s good.You might also think gee I want to hit it, practice hitting it right of the blue stick. I really don’t want to go left.So we do the same thing. We stand back here. We picture the shot. Right of the blue stick. I don’t want it going left of the blue stick. Aiming it out to the right.
The ball started to the right of the blue stick and just drew back so it’s in prime position. If we don’t practice like we want to play golf. it’s a bit of a lottery that we are going to do the right thing.
That’s the thing. Practice like we play golf.
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