Practice Strategy Examples

Range Plan

In 1999 Roger Maltbie (CBS Golf announcer, former PGA Tour player) wrote a book that includes great practice strategy examples. Range Rats, How to get your swing from the practice range to the golf course, is coauthored by Ron Salsig. I highly recommend it! Maltbie's book is full of great tips on how and what to practice. The book is written just like Roger Maltbie talks -- if you know him from television -- it's written in a smooth, conversational tone as if he and the reader were side-by-side on the range hitting balls. Lots of good stories and good practice strategy tips.

For example, Roger credits Jack Nicklaus with showing modern golfers how to practice. In the book he states:

"I never knew Nicklaus to practice for any great periods of time. The duration of his practice session may have been shorter than those for most of us, but that didn't seem to matter. I always had the sense that Nicklaus accomplished exactly what he wanted to accomplish every time he went out to the range.

Nicklaus was always very orderly and disciplined, legendary Nicklaus traits, and that carried over to his practice sessions. Jack would always come to the driving range with a specific idea of what he wanted to accomplish in that practice session. He had a specific idea of where he thought his golf swing might be deficient -- or where a bad habit had somehow been created -- and a specific idea of what to do about it. He would use that swing thought, and nothing else.

After a few swings, if it became apparent to Jack that he was wrong, he left. He left mind you!

.....The lesson we all learned from Nicklaus is not to go to the range before thinking it out first. That way the mind is clear. Look specifically at what you're trying to address, with the specific way you will go about accomplishing it, and practice becomes much easier. My suggestion to anyone is to look at the part of your swing that is failing and come up with a workable solution before machine-gunning balls into oblivion. Set a plan. Chart a plan for yourself before you go to the range. Stick with your objectives."

This is the main thesis of Maltbie's book. Practice perfect leads to better golf. Practice doesn't make perfect but persistent, disciplined practice does. Perfect practice will lead to perfect eventually. As Maltbie later says:

"I dare you to follow a concrete plan and not improve. It should be a plan you've developed in conjunction with a professional, with some professional advice. Devising a plan, implementing the plan, and sticking to the plan will work. Anything else is, yes, guesswork."

I could not agree more. That is the perfect quote for what Golf Practice Examples and this entire website is about. Thank you, Roger!

Perfect Practice Defined

To summarize the concept of Perfect Practice here, the major points include:

• It is the Quality of your practice, not how many balls you hit
• Have a Plan for the range before you go to practice.
• If you are working on new swing mechanics, allow 21 days for the new swing position to become a habit
• When learning a new swing position, ignore the ball flight
• Before playing, focus on the target, not swing mechanics
• Never EVER mix practicing golf with practicing swing mechanics
• Know your hitting distances for each of your clubs
• Avoid guesswork (see Nicklaus example above)
• Think fundamentals First
• When hitting balls, always pick a target.
• Know your stats (that is, know your strengths and weaknesses)

For a concrete example of a practice plan, have a look at a day in the life for Tiger Woods. The table on a Tiger Day of Practice pretty much says it all about commitment to getting better.

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