Why most practice is a complete waste of time.

Now, don’t get me wrong, practice is extremely important.

No one ever became skilled at anything by sitting on the couch, guzzling down a six-pack, and hoping for the best. It also doesn’t take a genius to realize that if you truly want to reach an elite level, then you need to practice. A lot.

So then, what do I mean when I say ‘most practice is a waste of time’?

Well, what I’m actually referring to is more about the type of practice and how golfers practice. In my opinion, this is a hugely common problem and leaves many a club golfer scratching their head and wondering why, after dedicating so much time to practice, he or she isn’t seeing the fruits of their labor…

The reason is pretty straightforward: they are practicing incorrectly, and as frustrating as it may be to hear, a lot of golfers are actually making themselves worse the MORE they practice.

Don’t believe me?

Consider this.

Where most golfers come undone is thinking that practice means just going to the driving range and bashing hundreds of balls until they ‘find their swing’.

Without clear intent or purpose, this type of practice is about as effective as swinging an axe in the dark.

This is widely accepted as the chosen method for improvement. But in my experience, it can be the most detrimental method, not to mention that it’s an incredibly long and frustrating process.

Let me paint the picture for you:

I’d like you to meet Joe. Joe is a keen middle-aged 15-handicapper from the local club who really loves his golf and will try almost anything to get better. He immerses himself in online instruction videos, reads every ‘tip of the week’ and regularly watches the PGA tour broadcast in the hope of finding a gold nugget of good information to help his game.

When Joe goes to practice, he heads straight to the driving range. With a large bucket of balls, he lays down a club for his feet alignment and with no clear objective or purpose, starts whacking balls at a breakneck rate. Joe is utterly convinced that he is one good swing away from his ‘a-ha’ moment, in which he suddenly transforms into this mythical golfing god and can hit his 20-year-old ill-fitted Titleist blades as sweet as Rory McIlroy does his own.

Needless to say, more often than not, Joe goes home more confused and irritated then he was when he arrived.

Sound familiar? If it doesn’t, I’m sure you know at least one person that this applies to.

You see, golf is an incredibly technical game, and whilst range work is highly beneficial under the guidance of a professional instructor, the majority of the golfing public doesn’t seek personalized qualified help, nor do they know how to practice in an effective manner that will improve their golf.

They are essentially wasting their time and only frustrating themselves while engraining more bad habits.

Sounds exhausting, doesn’t it?!

So how do we fix this problem?

Well, there are two ways. The first is obvious: get professional help. Neglecting to get a proper diagnosis of the errors in your golf swing is a sure-fire way to get frustrated, annoyed and end up spinning your wheels for months on end without seeing any real improvement. Ignorance never got anyone very far. The help of a qualified PGA coach can boost your improvement rate tenfold, reduce on-course stress, and increase general happiness by 6000% (real figure).

Okay, so now I’ve got your attention….

The second way to improve, which EVERY golfer should be incorporating into their practice, is to play like you would on course. Or, better yet, completely scrap the range and head straight for the first tee.

You see, the problem with most driving range practice is that every shot is hit in a controlled environment: the lie is always perfect, there’s no bunkers to avoid, and more often than not you’re hitting to a wide landing area with no specific target in mind. In all reality, you’re not even really sure if you hit a good shot or not.

So please, enlighten me, how often does this happen on course?

Absolutely never.

At no stage does this simulate real golf. In real golf you have a plethora of elements to deal with: wind, bunkers, uphill lies, side hill lies, rough, divots, trees, water hazards, slopes…  not to mention the mental side of the game such as pressure, negative thoughts and the all-too-common act of preparing your winner’s speech after only three holes of decent golf.

Oh, and that’s all before you have to deal with the hardest part: chipping and putting!

Golf is hard, I’ll be the first to admit that. But one thing I have learned in my 16 years playing and teaching this game is that you can easily improve and make golf a far more enjoyable experience by employing some simple tactics into your practice.

Go out on course every chance you get. If that is not an option, be smart about how you practice.  When you’re on the range, alternate clubs regularly, play out of bad lies, shape the ball, play punch shots, but most importantly, place internal pressure on yourself to pick a target and commit to every shot you hit.

Learning how to play golf and how to improve your skills requires time and patience. And this is better done on course or simulating it as closely as possible, not just by beating balls mindlessly into the abyss.

Give it a try, your scores will thank you for it.