How to practice golf like an expert

Any PGA teaching pro will tell you that regular and focused golf practice is vital to develop a consistent golf game. But most golfers do not have a strong idea how to approach golf practice in a focused and efficient way.聽 Most golfers simply purchase and hit a bucket of balls and randomly engage in golf practice.聽 However, they do not really understand what elements of their game they are working on, nor have a strong approach to working on the fundamentals of the game to ensure a consistent and repeatable swing.

Here are a few golf tips and a suggested golf practice plan for a highly effective golf practice session that will also carry over to your play on the course (which of course is what truly matters!)

To get the most out of your golf practice sessions, you need to identify what to work on during your next golf practice routine. To do this, you should track key golf shot statistics to monitor your progress and identify developmental needs as you play the game.聽 Key golf stats to track as you play include number of fairways hit, greens in regulation, 鈥渦p and down鈥?percentage and putts per round.聽 It is important to refrain from analyzing your statistics as you play, but do so after your golf round to help set the basis for your practice plan.

Once you have identified your golf developmental areas, you should put together your golf practice plan.聽 Here is a tried and true sample:

1. Conduct pre-swing warm up including stretching and light tempo drills
2. Spend a few minutes to perform and ingrain the key positions of both your backswing and downswing in slow motion including takeaway, halfway in backswing, top of backswing, downswing transition, impact, release and finish positions.聽 Perform these golf swing positions at increasing speed until you have a nice fluid swing.
3. Set up a golf shot alignment station.
4. Loosen up by performing short chip and pitch shots.
5. Practice your full swing mechanics with select golf practice drills (for example, takeway golf practice drill or impact golf practice drill) for 4 shots to help ingrain golf swing fundamentals.
6. For the next 4 shots, perform your normal golf swing emphasizing a fluid swing motion.
7. Continue alternating between 4 practice shots (with focus on drills and mechanics) and your fluid swing.
8. Work on your short game for half of your practice session.

If you can establish a regular golf practice plan into your golf practice routine, you will quickly accelerate your understanding of your golf strengths and areas for development, focus on the right practice areas and lower your scores.

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