May 2021 | Page 4

ON THE RANGE / ON THE COURSE

Thoughts & Tips on Practicing & Playing

ON THE RANGE ( FULL SWING ): “ ORGANIZE YOUR PRACTICE / PRACTICE WITH A PURPOSE ”
Each day as I drive up and down the drive range cart path to and from the Learning Center , I see so many golfers on the public tee hitting buckets of balls . A big problem I notice is most of these golfers clearly do not have real plan or purpose to the way they are practicing . The time you spend on the range can be very beneficial if you organize your practice time with specific concepts or goals . To do this , let ’ s look at the three kinds of practice a golfer can do on the range . These 3 types of practice can be referred to as , Block Practice , Random Practice and On- Course Simulation Practice .
BLOCK PRACTICE :
Although this type of practice can be beneficial , most golfers spend too much time in this type . Block practice should be utilized to establish and calibrate a golfer ’ s set-up , swing and technical changes you ’ re trying to make . This would be a time when the golfer might utilize a “ drill station ” to help give feedback to the golfer as they work through and calibrate each concept . A common item used in a drill station would be alignment rods . The rods can be used to verify ball position , alignment and swing plane just to name a few ( see building a drill station in this month ’ s video tip ). Often this type of Block practice is done with repetitive reps with the same club . In my opinion , make sure not to spend too much time in this type of practice . My suggestion would be to only spend 25 % of your practice time using the block practice mode .
4 | May Newsletter