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Practice – Become A Better Golfer By Ignoring The Professionals!
By Foursome | November 10, 2008
One of the biggest mistakes that golf players make when wanting to improve their game is by trying to imitate the styles and techniques of professional golfers that are seen on TV and in magazines. Every day there are hours and hours of tips that you can get from the golf station, the latest magazines, and even videos of the pros.
Sure it would be great to become a better golf player by copying Annika Sorenstam or Tiger Woods, but it is counterproductive to play your game like the pros do. You have to understand that the men and women who live from playing competitive golf is a very tiny percentage.
Professional golfers do not play golf after they got off of work, the golf course is their job. They work at it, full time, as you do at your career. Eight to ten hours of their day is spent on the practice range, golf course, the practice green, anywhere they can swing and practice! You and I do not have the same luxury of being able to practice our golf game for a living. How great that would be, but you lets be practical.
Professional golfers can work hard and learn to make shots that literally loft the ball into the air and have it stop short just 2 feet away from the hole, without even an inch of roll. Us regular players should not spend six months trying to repeat the same maneuver. We must practice the basics and take our time with learning our individual style and technique.Understanding How Important Practice Is
What type of practice is best for the average golfer? This question is usually answered by looking at the amount of people you will find at the driving range, hitting long distance balls, over and over again. Most golfers spend over 95% of their time hitting these long distance shots, but never taking the time for practicing the hist that count: their short game.
Most people do not enjoy practicing their short game, but the value received from investing in the effort is the same benefit professional golfers reap as a reward for their game. These men and women spend 80% or more of their time by practicing short game shots from all angles and variables. While you should not imitate the way professional golfers plays their game, you can certainly learn how to dedicate practice to the right areas as they do.
Focus On Your Short Game
Most people get a huge thrill out of banging their driver for hours on end, hitting the ball at great distances, making long drives all day long. However, during a real game when they look down and see their scorecard reaching 100 once each round is finished, their excitement dwindles to a standstill.
Improving your score means you have to spend less time using your driver, and more time learning how to effectively shoot your short game shots. You must make the best use of your practice time while you have it.
After work, instead of spending an hour at the driving range hitting long-distance balls, devote specific time to putting shots, chipping, pitching, bunker shots, and shots made from 45 – 75 yards.
50% of your score will come from the strokes that are taken at 75 yards from the ball or less. So does it make sense to spend at least 50% of your practice time on those exact same shots? Of course it does!
It may take some discipline to not spend all day knocking balls out of the driving range, but I guarantee you that your golf game will improve ten-fold by upping your short game shots and decreasing your distance practice shots.
Topics: General, Tips & Practice |
November 17th, 2008 at 5:10 pm
I agree…it is a lot easier to improve your short game than to improve your full swing. Plus if you practice hitting 50 yard shots, I`ll bet your full swing will improve also!