Learn How to Practice with a Purpose

There are three major forms of practice

            1. Random – hitting a difference shot every time

            2. Blocked – hitting the same shot over and over again

            3. Competitive – practicing against someone else

Random practice is best used for gaining skills like touch, tempo or balance. An example of random practice would be to take one ball and drop it anywhere around the green and to then proceed to chip the ball onto the green and then putt the ball into the hole.

Blocked practice is best used when needing to gain skills like mechanical improvement or to ingrain any habit on a subconscious level. An example of blocked practice would be working on keeping your left wrist flat at impact when hitting a chip shot.

Competitive practice is best used when the new skill that has been worked on in random and blocked practice seems to be easier to apply than it was when it was first being learned. An example of competitive practice would be challenging someone else to a game of HORSE on the putting green.

In addition to the forms of practice…

            1. Always have a goal for the practice session. Have at least one goal if not three or four specific goals that you are working toward. Some general goal examples might be to have a mechanical goal, a results goal, a ball flight goal, a tempo goal, or a confidence goal. Any goal that you have, make sure it is the right one – work with a coach that knows. (soon to come in another post – picking a qualified instructor) Only a live coach can really tell you what your goal should be.

            2. Consider how much time there is to practice. Will it be five minutes, five hours, or one hour? Whatever that amount of time is, break down the time that  you have to practice and make mini goals within each time “chunk.” For example, the first 10 minutes you will work on putting and executing your full green reading routine and mental routine, followed by making twenty three foot putts in a row in the next 30 minutes.

            3. Always ask yourself before the practice session what mental state will you be in and for how long will you be in the trusting or training state (for more on trusting or training, reference the post entitled “How to Take Your Range Game to the Course”). Will you be training for 10 minutes or 30 minutes? Will you be         trusting for half of the amount of time or the whole time?

Have a plan. Ask yourself these major questions and write it down if you have to so you can have a reference to come back to and keep your focus on Practicing with a Purpose.

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