Improving Your Game: Practice Or Play?

Two students taking my golf lessons have similar games. Both hit the ball fairly straight. Both are good at avoiding trouble when they can. And both have good short games. Their golf handicaps are also similar—one has a 15 the other a 1r. You could almost call them two peas in a pod.

But they differ on one issue. They have different approaches to improving their game. One works hard at the practice range perfecting his technique. He visits the range more than he plays and works on different shots. The other prefers to improve by playing. She plays every chance she gets. She seldom practices. So what's better for your game: playing or practicing?

Both approaches have merit. Let's examine the advantages and disadvantages of each and then I'll tell you what I tell players who attend my golf instruction sessions.

Playing Argument
One problem with practicing, in addition to being boring, is that it's one-dimensional. It's like reading a golf tip. Golf is an art, not a science. It's more than hitting a fantastic drive, a great chip that leaves you close, or a beautiful approach shot that stops dead on the green. You can't learn those things on the practice tee.

Another problem with practicing is that it's limited. You can't emulate all the different types of shots you might face or the different types of lies you might get on a course. Also, in practice you can hit the same shot over and over again. Playing requires you to hit different types of shots. And you'll never know what type of shot you'll end up with on the course.

A third problem is that it creates a "mulligan" mentality. If you hit a bad shot on the practice range, you can adjust and hit the shot again. Do that enough times and it becomes all too easy to shrug off the shot and hit another ball. On the course you only have one crack at a shot. You either make it or you don't. That means you have to bear down on every shot.

Practice Argument
It's true golf is an art. The object is to get the ball in the hole. And the best way of doing it is by building a correct, repeatable swing that produces good shots. You want a swing that fits your game and that you can control. The only place you can learn that is on the practice range. That's the place to build and groove your swing.

Also, practice is what you make of it. You don't have to hit everything from the practice tee. You can hit balls off side hills, play games with yourself that force you to bear down, or do practice drills in your house or your apartment. You can create almost any situation you want. What's more, practice is the ideal place to work on something new without increasing your score or golf handicap.

More importantly, you don't have to develop a mulligan mentality from practicing. If you try your best on every shot, pick out a target each time, and take a practice swing on every shot, you can come close to emulating game conditions, so you can learn to bear down under pressure. If you remember that it's quality, not quantity that counts, you'll get the most out of practice.

Conclusion
Both arguments are forceful. My opinion as a professional golf teacher who has given hundreds of golf lessons to players with different abilities is that you need to do both to improve your game. Of course, you have to build a repeatable swing and learn to execute different shots to achieve a low golf handicap. You also have to experiment with new things from time to time. The best place to do those things is on the practice tee.

But forced to choose, I'd select playing over practicing. In addition to being more fun, playing requires creating and executing different strategies. Playing also expands your imagination. What separates great players, like Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods, from average players, isn't just their golf handicaps but their imaginations and how they use them on the course. Keep that in mind when playing or practicing.


Copyright (c) 2008 Jack Moorehouse