Practice Sessions: A Guide To Improve Your Game

Practice sessions can be one of the most enjoyable parts of learning golf.  After many years of trial and error, I have come to love practicing, and cherish every opportunity I have to work on my game.  Practice sessions at Golfinity give players all of the tools they need to get better in smart and efficient ways. 

It Starts With Instruction

While working with a coach, the player is learning new concepts and skills.  These concepts are the foundation from which the entire motion and associated skills will be built.  It then becomes the golfer’s responsibility to identify a single concept and use the practice session to improve the skill.

Good Practice Sessions

Walking up and down a municipal range I see a lot of hitting but I rarely see good practicing.  The low level of effort placed into each shot and the lack of awareness are clues to me of the golfer’s mindset.  They may be hitting for fun, stress relief or just hoping to get better through experimentation.  These are all acceptable golf activities but they do NOT equate to good practice sessions.

Practice Is a State of Mind

 Practice is a state of mind where the player is actively participating in the improvement of his or her motion.  It is skill-building and golf concept affirming. If I enter into a practice session I choose a concept: “For a ball to fly to the target, the object propelling the ball must swing towards that target.” I now have the parameters from which I will monitor my success.

Choose The Right Technology

For my practice sessions, I choose a technology that can easily read this club data point (club path on Trackman) and I begin my session.  In the beginning, I am only taking small swings.  I make sure that I am performing the skill as close to my concept as I can.  My swings are slow and conscious as I pay close attention to the direction my club is swinging.  I then begin hitting shots keeping the swings small and my awareness only on club direction.  The ball may fly in different directions but I am unphased by those results because I have chosen to work on this one skill – club direction. 

30 Minutes at a Time

In a 30-minute practice session, I can greatly improve one of the most valuable skills in golf with great enjoyment.  With all of my successful practice sessions at Golfinity, I can increase my chances of executing these skills under performance pressure and keep my cool when I make a mistake.  I practice effectively, efficiently, and with a sense of joy because of my gratitude for the opportunity to play this great game. 

Written by Nicholas Trice, PGA, Golfinity Senior Instructor

Golfinity

Golfinity is a revolutionary indoor, social golf Performance Club located in Austin, Texas where you can discover and develop your game, sharpen your skills, and find community. Golfinity offers world-class golf lessons and personal instruction for golfers of all ages and skill levels, as well as professional-grade golf simulator technology. 

Through world-class golf instruction, professional-grade golf simulator technology, and Golfinity’s purpose-built, technology-driven performance and development center, members receive a one-of-a-kind golf experience that is changing the way the game is learned, practiced, and played. Through our world-class instruction and skill development experience (SDX), golfers of all ages embark on a journey to discover their passion for the game.