The panel I moderated was about practising, and specifically, how coaches are using new technologies to help golfers practise better. Along the way, Nick Chertock, who organises the forum, brought up an interesting point:<\/p>\n
That golf is one of the few sports where the players don\u2019t actually practise or warm up under the watchful eye of a coach. Play any other sport and most practices are team practices; organised events, with a coach running them, making sure everything looks right.<\/p>\n
Golfers for the most part go it alone, which is how bad habits form. It means we have to be extra-smart about how we approach it.<\/p>\n
So, I whipped up a little checklist.<\/p>\n
A few notes:<\/p>\n
Your goal here is to be able to answer \u201cyes\u201d to most of these questions.
\nYou don\u2019t need to answer \u201cyes\u201d to all of these questions.
\nThe more the better.
\nIf you don\u2019t answer \u201cyes\u201d to any of them, you\u2019re probably not practising well.<\/p>\n
Do you know how much of each area you\u2019re going to practice ahead of time? \u2705<\/p>\n
This is pretty basic, but it helps. If you\u2019re winging your practice, you\u2019re going to end up with imbalances in the game. You\u2019ll inevitably practise the things you\u2019re already good at more than you need to, and not the areas that are important. You don\u2019t need to be overly specific, but before each range session ask yourself, What is my goal today?<\/p>\n
If asked, could you explain why you\u2019re practising the things that you do? \u2705<\/p>\n
To the point above, imagine someone stopped you on the range and asked you, point blank, why you\u2019re hitting that 7-iron for the 15th time. You should be able to answer them, clearly and succinctly. The easiest way to improve your game in this regard is to simply be data-led. Keep any level of stats, see where your holes are, and dedicate 10 minutes to tackling that first.<\/p>\n
![\"2245188183\"\/](\"https:\/\/golfdigest.sports.sndimg.com\/content\/dam\/images\/golfdigest\/fullset\/2021\/251105-driving-range.jpg.rend.hgtvcom.966.644.suffix\/1762372703496.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
Photo: Orlando Ramirez<\/p>\n
Is there a way that you know you made a bad swing, after you made it? \u2705<\/p>\n
Every good practice session involves feedback. It could be a teacher giving it to you, an app, launch monitor, camera or a training aid. Whatever it is, it\u2019s essential. You need to know when you made a good \u2013 or bad \u2013 swing right after you made it.<\/p>\n
Do you hit the same club to different targets? \u2705<\/p>\n
This is a staple of random practice, as is the next one. It\u2019s fine and normal to hit the same club for a few balls in a row. But just make sure to mix up the target when you do \u2013 it keeps your mind sharp.<\/p>\n
Do you hit different clubs to the same target? \u2705<\/p>\n
This is a proven performance-booster. Mix up the clubs, mix up the targets. It\u2019s what happens when you\u2019re on the golf course.<\/p>\n
Do your first shots travel less than 80 yards? \u2705<\/p>\n
This was a little insight gleaned from the driving range data at the 2025 Masters. The average distance of pros\u2019 first shot was between 60 and 80 yards (55 to 73 metres), while 81 percent of Masters players hit their first shot in that range, and hit about five shots before moving up.<\/p>\n
Do you try to hit shots both left and right? \u2705<\/p>\n
This is called the fight fire-with-fire method, coined by Jon Sherman. If you\u2019re struggling with a slice, try to hit the biggest hook you can. Practising the opposite doesn\u2019t just help you solve problems though. Practising both sides of the extreme helps give your brain guardrails to operate between. It doesn\u2019t matter that you\u2019re a mid-handicapper. The simple act of trying will make you better.<\/p>\n
Did you play a game, or challenge yourself, at any point during your practice? \u2705<\/p>\n
At some point during your practice, you should get the blood pumping. You\u2019re not just practising your golf swing when you\u2019re practising. Ideally, you\u2019re practising navigating the nerves you feel on a golf course.<\/p>\n
Do you hit at least 7 different clubs when you practice? \u2705<\/p>\n
Another Masters range-driven insight. Amateurs don\u2019t tend to move through their bag as quickly as pros. A few shots with a lot of different clubs is better than a lot of shots with a few of them \u2013 especially when you\u2019re warming up. Again, it mirrors what\u2019s about to happen on the golf course.<\/p>\n
Do you have a \u2018rehearsal station\u2019? \u2705<\/p>\n
This is a station behind where you\u2019re hitting balls. You don\u2019t hit from your rehearsal station; it\u2019s a place to go and practise feels, moves and slow motion swings. It gives every shot you hit a sense of purpose and forces you to pace yourself \u2013 again, something pros do. A good rule? Aim to hit no more than three balls every 60 seconds.<\/p>\n
Did you segment your practice? \u2705<\/p>\n
Either by time or by number of golf balls, segment the time you spend practising by goal. Ten golf balls doing a drill; 10 more doing full swings feeling the movement you\u2019re trying to accomplish; 10 final shots putting all that stuff out of your mind, doing your full pre-shot routine for each shot.<\/p>\n
Did you practice your least favourite shot? \u2705<\/p>\n
Pretty self-explanatory. It\u2019s not fun, but you should do it.<\/p>\n
Again, you don\u2019t have to answer yes to all of these. But if you\u2019re not saying yes to any, that\u2019s a problem. But, also, an opportunity to improve in some ways that aren\u2019t all that difficult.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"At the PGA Show last week in Florida, I moderated a panel at Open Forum, which is an…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":445010,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[566],"tags":[4225,64,63,755,138747,36416,230889,83160,85],"class_list":["post-445009","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-golf","tag-article","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-golf","tag-golf-digest","tag-how-to","tag-nick-chertock","tag-practice","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/445009","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=445009"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/445009\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/445010"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=445009"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=445009"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=445009"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}