By Tim Graves, PGA
Wanted to go over a few suggestions to help you practice more efficiently and effectively.
(Excerpts taken from the Talent Code by Dan Coyle)
- Take Off Your Watch
Practice (Deep Practice) should not be measured in minutes or hours, but in the number of high-quality repetitions you make.
Instead of counting minutes or hours, count the number of “perfect” repetitions you make (drills you perform).
Example – instead of planning on hitting golf balls for an hours, plan on making 25 quality swing with each club.
Ignore the clock and get to your sweet spot zone, even if it’s only for a few minutes, and measure your progress by what counts – number of times doing drill correct or number of correct repetitions.
2. Break Every Move (Golf Swing) Down Into Chunks
Every skill/habit is built out of smaller pieces – what scientists call chunks.
Chunks are to skill what letters of the alphabet are to language. Individually, don’t mean much, put together forms sentences, paragraphs, etc…
To begin “chunking”, first engrave the blueprint of the skill on your mind – then ask yourself:
1. What is the smallest single element of this skill I can master/or in the golf swing, what is the most important element I need to learn.
– The Grip
2. Practice one chunk by itself until you’ve mastered it, then connect more chunks, one by one. Second “chunk” of the golf swing –
– The Set Up
3. No matter what skill you set out to learn, the pattern is always the same. See the whole thing. Break it down to its simplest elements. Put it back together, repeat.
Next chunks:
– The Backswing
– Top of swing/Transition
– The Downswing
– Leverage
– Impact
– Release
Work on each “chunk” individually – one at a time. Working to master/perfect before going on or working on another. This will save you a lot of time and frustration in the “long run” …
Remember as stated many times – learning the golf swing/making changes is NOT a sprint, but rather a marathon. And if treated that way, your changes/new habits you create, will be there for the “long run”.
Watch upcoming newsletters for additional practice tips for improvement.
Questions or comments please email Tim at timg@gravesgolf.com
