Whether it involves challenging a friend who always edges you out by a stroke or two, chasing a scratch handicap, or trying to beat your personal best, golf is inherently competitive. To win, golfers must be committed to improving.

Many make the mistake of adopting the “all it takes is consistency” approach. Sounds logical, doesn’t it? Keep working out, keep practicing, keep hitting the ball, and you’ll score,

But that’s only partially true. Consistency is crucial, but you need to understand the improvement process to see optimal results.

The barometer for improvement is the following: 

1.   your current skill level;

2.   a pragmatic plan that develops new body movements and skills;

3.   deliberate practice;

4.   understanding new motor movements; and

5.   knowing how to apply motor movements skillfully.

The hard truth is that consistency alone will not cut it if you’re serious about your game.

We’re here to teach you the right way to reach your goals by giving you an in-depth understanding of the improvement process.

Motor Learning

First, you need to understand motor learning—the science of how humans develop new motor movements that can be consistently (there’s that word again) performed through practice or experience.

For example, simple tasks like tying your shoes or more complex ones like hitting a consistent draw right down Broadway are motor movements.

When it comes to the golf swing, understanding how athletes learn new motor patterns can help guide your personal improvement process. However, it’s important to remember that skill development in golf is rarely linear, so be patient with your progress!

Skill Acquisition

Proprioception (often referred to as the mind-body connection) is essential when developing new motor movements. Still, the ability to perform improved patterns doesn’t always translate to lower scores on the golf course in the interim.

The driving range is a controlled environment where the lie is usually perfect and the targets are not always realistic, making it difficult to transfer the skills you learn there to the course.

Skill acquisition becomes important as golfers develop the skills for real-life, on-the-course play through practice that mirrors performance situations.

To improve our motor skills, we need to understand the three types of practice modalities:

1.   block practice is when you focus on one specific task or skill for a period of time, repeating it multiple times (similar to solving the same problem over and over again);

2.   random/variable practice involves practicing a variety of tasks or skills in no particular order; and

3.   consequential practice is when you practice a task or skill with different variables, such as different lie angles or targets.

Block Practice Technique—Mechanical Focus

Block practice is focused on patterning techniques or mechanical changes to your golf swing. It is crucial to identify the correct technical changes and the drills that can efficiently pattern them.

Feedback mechanisms, such as technological tools like launch monitors or videos or more analog methods like foot spray for impact location, can help make this process more efficient.

Many golfers utilize block practice when it comes to their short games, though it can be applied to any club in the bag. The goal for block practice is to make similar swings achieve similar results, effectively reducing variability. This practice is crucial when developing a new skill or evolving your pattern.

For example, block practice could be:

• trying to hit ten shots with a sand wedge that carry 80 yards with a slight draw;
• twenty reps of a drill with the same club; or
• five sets of five shots hitting a fade with a driver.

Mental fatigue can affect our practice routines, so take breaks and keep hydrated!

Randomized Practice—Skill and Adaptability Focus

Randomized practice aims to replicate a round of golf as closely as possible. This practice allows you to effectively connect the dots between what you’re doing on the range and what you’re doing on the course.

Many golfers struggle to transfer range skills to the golf course because they practice in unstructured ways, such as hitting many balls in a short period without taking the time to analyze their shots or identify problems.

While hitting small groups of balls consecutively with the same club can be helpful if done correctly, randomizing practice can better prepare you for on-course challenges.

Some ways to engage in random practice include hitting shots from different lies, changing clubs, performing a pre-shot routine before every shot, or playing out the front nine of your home course.

Another option is to “call your shot” and practice hitting different shot windows, trajectories, and shapes that you might need on the course. This helps train your body to create the desired outcome by matching your intention with the outcome.

Consequential Practice—Scoring Focus

Block practice and randomized practice are essential frameworks for golfers learning the body movements and adaptability needed to perform. Still, it’s important also to also consider how to translate these newfound abilities into improved performance (lower scores) under pressure.

One way to do this is to simulate conditions you might face on the course, but with an added pressure element—this is called “consequential practice.”

To create pressure in consequential practice, you can define implications or repercussions for skill-based drills; for example:

Eye of the Tiger

• Goal: sink 100 putts in a row from 5 feet
• Consequence: If you miss a putt, even if it’s #99, you must restart the drill.
• Modifier: if it’s too challenging, switch to 50 putts instead of 100 until you can do it successfully, then gradually increase by ten putts each practice session that you successfully complete the drill.

Up & Down

• Goal: get up and down five times in a row from 10–20 yards away. You must chip in or hole the putt to complete a successful attempt.
• Consequence: if you don’t get up and down, you must restart the drill.
• Modifier: if it’s too challenging, switch to getting up and down three out of five attempts. Add one up/down each time you successfully complete the drill. If it’s too easy, see how many times you can get up and down and try to beat your personal best.

21 (CTP competition with a friend):

• Goal: players alternate shots from short game or full swing, calling their target (which hole they’re going for) before swinging. The player closest to the hole gets one point for that hole; the other player gets zero. Players are awarded two points for a hole out.
• Consequence: play for a low stake of your choosing—$1 or $5 per game, a soda, a sleeve of balls, etc. The first player to 21 points wins.

No Shortcuts to Success

How much time should you spend on each of these practice frameworks?

Like many other aspects of golf, it depends on the current state of your game and your short-term and long-term goals (click here to see our article on periodization).

We believe if you properly go through the improvement process and see your progress over time, you will not only up your game, but also you will gain confidence as a player. We’d say that’s worth the investment!

Contact us today for an assessment and join the Performance Optimization Program at Integrity Gold Performance. Together, we will improve your skills till you reach the level of consistency you’ve been working towards.