It always amazes me to see people come to the range and immediately start to TRY and hit full swing shots.
This totally goes against the grain of WARMING UP!
Top amateurs and Pro’s always begin with short shots to warm up. While they may indeed take a full swing range of motion, they never apply full force to the shot and all they are doing is, getting a feel for how tight their muscles and body are.
We are looking for how our body is responding to the moment. We like everyone else out there want to know how everything feels for us a that time.
This is where middle and higher handicaps miss the mark on their practice routines. I have one client right now who is actually perfect in his routines for practice and it works very effectively for almost everyone I know of. Let me give the detailed description of what he does.
He gets to the range and he sets his stall up placing his clubs in the stand and dumping the balls into the holder.
From there he goes through about a six or seven minute stretching and he talks to the people around him being jovial and affable. He lives in the moment.
His first thing he does once he gets into position is to to take 10 balls out of the ball holder and place them at the end of the mat.
From there he grabs his wedge and hit some 50 – 60 yard shots of varying length. And he varies the length of his swing as well. He might go into making full swing motions but he NEVER EVER changes his routine and he never tries to hit a full shot to it’s maximum distance.
After he is done with his 10 balls he relaxes for a couple minutes chatting with who ever is around. And the he grabs a different club and repeats the process and he ALWAYS does this in 10 Ball increments. it never fails, I have watched him do this for months. He does this same routine in his lessons too. And he almost always has very significant results.
I have seen him take up to 2 hours to hit one bucket of balls (Large bucket of 100 balls), he is always evaluating, he is doing things in a LOGICAL SENSIBLE MODE. He is methodical and he always takes notes.
Make no mistake, I am not saying that you or anyone else is practicing badly. More what I am asking is are you practicing effectively or could you make your practice better and make better use of the time you do practice. All of these tips, and the ones that are coming are all part of YOU figuring out your own personal Golf Equation. And in making your game better for you.
Think about this then next time you practice and have some fun out there. In my next post, I will give you different fun things to do while you are practicing to make it more interesting.
Until the next time, hit em long, straight, and as few times as possible when oh the golf course and Happy Golfing and Have a Great Day.
Oh yeah almost forgot, make sure you click here Lanky’s Pro Shop, or on the link above. There are new goodies in there and you never know, you might find that hidden gem you have been looking for. If I remember correctly, There is an R11 somewhere in there for a really good price. And the Medicus Power Meter is at an excellent price too. So go take a look and have fun.
Robb Nunn
PGA Teaching Professional