Two Types of Practice Needed to Play Consistent Golf
Coaching golf for over 25 years has proven to me that the average player practices very poorly and with little regard to how to apply their practice to on-course situations.
That may be a hard thing to read for some golfers, but if you ask yourself honestly about your own practice would you say you could use some improvement to your approach? Of course golfers have less time to practice these days since our world moves so fast and each day seems to just fly by. So I am here to suggest two ways to practice more efficiently and better yet, coach you how to practice which will empower you to play better the next time you are on the course.
These two areas are called Process Oriented Practice and Outcome Oriented Practice.
Process Oriented Practice is the art of practicing your golf swing or technique in a focused fashion and not some random shot after shot raking in of balls from a basket of 120 golf balls. In fact, in Process Oriented Practice you should not hit more than 50 balls after you have warmed up.
That may be a hard thing to read for some golfers, but if you ask yourself honestly about your own practice would you say you could use some improvement to your approach? Of course golfers have less time to practice these days since our world moves so fast and each day seems to just fly by. So I am here to suggest two ways to practice more efficiently and better yet, coach you how to practice which will empower you to play better the next time you are on the course.
These two areas are called Process Oriented Practice and Outcome Oriented Practice.
Process Oriented Practice is the art of practicing your golf swing or technique in a focused fashion and not some random shot after shot raking in of balls from a basket of 120 golf balls. In fact, in Process Oriented Practice you should not hit more than 50 balls after you have warmed up.
Process Oriented Practice
For the purpose of this demonstration let's say you are working on a new swing thought or mechanic (one you have read about or your golf coach has suggested to you). For example you are trying to make better contact with your pitch shots to a green. The tip or lesson you were given is to place more weight on your lead leg (left leg for right handed golfers) at address to insure you hit down on the ball at impact.
As I coach all of my students to know there are 4 phases to creating an efficient swing motion change and the first would be can I create this new pitch shot to the green with more weight on my lead leg at impact WITHOUT the ball while making a swing?
Simply put, in phase training the first phase is to see if you can make the new motion while striking down on the ground so you take a divot during your shot.
Process oriented practice is about the art of implementing the swing change while solely focused on the swing change. When hitting the ball your focus is on making a good strike on the ball (the action of the motion) and getting the technique correct. This process can be done with multiple clubs near the green to pitch the ball on to the green with, such as SW, PW or 9iron. However the practice is on the strike of the ball, not the outcome of the shot. Too many golfers try to combine technique with outcome BEFORE they have mastered or at least improved the technique or the mechanic of the swing.
Once your technique is improved then you can hit shots to targets to the green and try to blend the two. But still this simple practice skill does not prepare you or empower you to 'take it to the course'. This is where Outcome Oriented Practice comes in.
As I coach all of my students to know there are 4 phases to creating an efficient swing motion change and the first would be can I create this new pitch shot to the green with more weight on my lead leg at impact WITHOUT the ball while making a swing?
Simply put, in phase training the first phase is to see if you can make the new motion while striking down on the ground so you take a divot during your shot.
Process oriented practice is about the art of implementing the swing change while solely focused on the swing change. When hitting the ball your focus is on making a good strike on the ball (the action of the motion) and getting the technique correct. This process can be done with multiple clubs near the green to pitch the ball on to the green with, such as SW, PW or 9iron. However the practice is on the strike of the ball, not the outcome of the shot. Too many golfers try to combine technique with outcome BEFORE they have mastered or at least improved the technique or the mechanic of the swing.
Once your technique is improved then you can hit shots to targets to the green and try to blend the two. But still this simple practice skill does not prepare you or empower you to 'take it to the course'. This is where Outcome Oriented Practice comes in.
Outcome Oriented Practice
Outcome oriented practice is simply that.......you are focused on the outcome of the shot, not the mechanic of the swing.
In this example you would be near the green 20-40 yards away hitting pitch shots to the green and striking down on the ball, taking a divot as you just worked on the Process oriented practice. But now your only focus is the outcome of the shot.
This means that as you practice this new technique it cannot be the focus in the shot, the OUTCOME must be the focus. If the shot called for a a 30 yard pitch shot to a green and the ball had to land 10 feet short of the pin to end up near the pin then the focus of the shot should be where the ball lands. This means you are not thinking about the swing, you are only focused on the outcome of the shot.
The great thing about this Outcome Oriented Practice is that it gets you mentally ready to play on the course at any time with shots like this.
Plus as you get the hang of it here, you then can do it with other shots you need on the course. This means that the next time you have a 30 yard pitch shot that you have to pull off, you will stand over it and think 'I do this all the time in practice'. Literally the more you do this, then each time you face shots that you have practiced in this framework, the more confident you will be when you stand on the course.
Process Oriented Practice and Outcome Oriented Practice are two huge areas any golfer needs to use and get good at in order to even think about playing more consistently.
In this example you would be near the green 20-40 yards away hitting pitch shots to the green and striking down on the ball, taking a divot as you just worked on the Process oriented practice. But now your only focus is the outcome of the shot.
This means that as you practice this new technique it cannot be the focus in the shot, the OUTCOME must be the focus. If the shot called for a a 30 yard pitch shot to a green and the ball had to land 10 feet short of the pin to end up near the pin then the focus of the shot should be where the ball lands. This means you are not thinking about the swing, you are only focused on the outcome of the shot.
The great thing about this Outcome Oriented Practice is that it gets you mentally ready to play on the course at any time with shots like this.
Plus as you get the hang of it here, you then can do it with other shots you need on the course. This means that the next time you have a 30 yard pitch shot that you have to pull off, you will stand over it and think 'I do this all the time in practice'. Literally the more you do this, then each time you face shots that you have practiced in this framework, the more confident you will be when you stand on the course.
Process Oriented Practice and Outcome Oriented Practice are two huge areas any golfer needs to use and get good at in order to even think about playing more consistently.
