Want to Play Better? Practice Better!
By Tony Ruggiero, Instructor Santa Rosa Golf and Beach Club
Host of the Dewsweepers Golf Show on XM 146
and Sirius 209 the PGA Tour Channel

          Unlike football or basketball in golf you only get to practice in front of your coach maybe once a week or once a month. Whereas is those other team sports every practice is supervised by the coach to insure that the players remain on task and committed to working on the right game plan. One of the reasons that the majority of golfers do not get better is that they do not know how to practice. Golfers may go hit balls but they seldom go practice. If you can learn to practice more effectively you will help insure that your game will improve.
          Know what kind of practice you are doing. You can’t practice both ball flight and mechanics at the same time. So you need to be working on one or the other. Here is what I mean by this. If you are working with your teacher on something specific in your golf swing whether it be the backswing or forward swing go the practice range and spend your efforts only on those tasks and drills designed to help you correct your golf swing. When working on your golf swing makes sure that you are not concerned with the ball flight.
          If you are working on ball flight or where the ball is going it is important to change clubs and targets frequently when on the practice tee. You don’t get the opportunity to hit the same club over and over at the same target on the course. Changing clubs and targets with each shot will help you practice more like what you will encounter on the course and help prepare you for play.
Try playing your own golf course in your mind on the practice tee. Start with hole 1 and with what you would hit. Play the next shot based on your memory and what you would have left after your previous tee ball. Play either 9 or 18 in this manner and see if you don’t improve your on course performance.
          Spend your time appropriately. The game of golf is about 68% from 50 yards and in. In other words don’t spend all of your time hitting 5 irons and 7 irons because they are a small percentage of the game. Make sure you spend at least half of your practice time on the short game. Learn to practice pitches, chips and putting. Practice your diving at specific defined targets with boundaries that represent the fairway. Practice driving the ball in the fairway. Driving is roughly 18% of the game and it is imperative to put the ball in play off of each tee. Most big numbers start with a poor tee shot.
          The real secret is to make sure that you go to each practice session and make it a practice session. Choose to either work on your swing mechanics and your golf swing or choose to work on your ball flight. If you go with either one of these goals and stay committed to improving them you will become successful in improving your game.