Your November newsletter is here, and this month we are discussing the importance of scattering your practice shots for your short game.* Practice doesn't always make perfect in golf, but for any level of player, from beginner, to intermediate, to advanced, practicing effectively will have a huge impact on your play. This is especially true in the area of the short game. Developing your off-green putting, chipping and pitching skills so that they will transfer to on-course situations should be the goal of short game practice sessions.
When practicing the short game, we often place our practice balls in one spot and pull each ball over one at a time (giving ourselves the best lie possible), and repetitively hit shot after shot at the same target. This is called block practice and is fine as a skill development drill, helping us to learn or practice a motion.
However, this type of repetitive drill often creates an unrealistic expectation for the player, as it has only a slight resemblance to the actual on-course shots they will face in competitive situations.
Alternatively, a player who distributes the golf balls at various locations around the target green - allowing for different lies, stances, distances and angles of approach - is creating a scattered practice routine. This routine will better help prepare them for the actual on-course situations they will face, and is effective in developing skills in both shot planning (club selection, choosing the landing area, etc.) and execution. Try the following for a fun way to add a scoring element to your short game practice sessions:
- Hit eleven shots to the same target from scattered positions.
- Find the ball that is sixth in distance from the target. This is your approximate average distance.
- Putt this ball and see if you left yourself a makeable putt
- Set distance goals for yourself to see if you can get the average ball consistently closer to the pin.
The results we get with the scattered practice routine will likely be much closer to true on-course results, and therefore will have a greater impact on the scores you shoot.
Now go out and play better golf!
Thank you,
K & D Online, Inc.
"There are no points for style when it comes to putting. It's getting the ball in the cup that counts." -Brian Swarbrick
*Rick Martino, PGA Director of Instruction
