Good Golf Habits

The Australian Amateur Championships were held recently on the sandbelt in Melbourne. The men's and women's event was held at the same time and the competitors played on some great courses. The women's event was played at Huntingdale Golf Club and Victoria Golf Club while the men played their event on Woodlands Golf Club and Victoria Golf Club. Great golf courses that were in great condition for the Australian Championships.

The best part of the event being held in Melbourne was the fact that I could get out on the course and have a look at the players and see how they played. Six of my students (4 boys & 2 girls) from Taiwan travelled to Melbourne to play in the event and it was great to catch up with them and see how they are progressing. I spent some time watching them prepare and play the event and I tried to help them out with some of the quirks that you find on the sandbelt in Melbourne. They played good in the stroke play section, especially the girls, but struggled in the matchplay and were all knocked out by the end of the first round.

As I watched the Taiwan players compete it struck me that a lot of the preparation, practice and competition strategies I worked on with them while I was coaching them were not as evident as they could have been. It seemed to me like they had fallen back into old habits very easily. This got me thinking about what I think are common bad golf habits that people tend to have and that I see on an everyday basis on the coaching tee. I have listed below what I think are the most common problems and I have also suggested some simple strategies to help overcome these problems. Let me know your thoughts in the comments section if you have any others.

1. Rake and Hit: This is probably the most common thing I see when players are practicing. The golfer races from work/school to the driving range, buys some golf balls and then proceeds to see how fast they can finish the bucket of balls! An old quote about this type of training is that it is exercise rather than practice! Golfers who do this type of practice tend to be reaching for another ball before the last one has landed (especially if it was a bad shot) and they also seem to be constantly berating themselves. An easy way to correct this problem is to have two, quality, practice swings between each ball. Use these practice swings to complete any drills your coach has given you and really focus on making a quality practice swing. You won't hit as many balls during your practice session but the balls you do hit will be good quality practice which will help you improve your golf.

2. Too Much Block Practice: Another training problem that I see, and it is related to the first problem, is too much block practice. I discussed block practice in a previous post and you can refresh your memory here. When I see golfers hitting 30, 4o or even 50 golf balls with the same club I know that their practice time is being wasted. Block practice is an important part of developing quality swing mechanics but most golfers spend too much time doing this type of practice. I don't care how bad your swing may be, by the time you have hit 50 balls with the same club you are going to be getting some decent results. These results are not a true reflection of where your golf game is at as, on the course, you only get one chance to hit the shot. You need to mix block practice with drill work and random practice as this will make it easier for you to perform well on the course.

3. Only Practice Favourite Clubs/Shots: The third training fault I see a lot of is players only practicing their favourite shots or shots that they are already good at. Practicing your strengths is a nice way to build a false sense of confidence, however, if you are serious about improving your game you need to target your practice towards the weak areas of your game. Use your statistics to identify the weakest areas of your golf game and structure your practice time to spend enough time on these specific areas. If you hit 80% of fairways but only get up and down out of a bunker 15% of the time you need to be in the practice bunker, not on the range smashing driver!

4. No Target on the Range: A lot of golfers will get on the range and hit a bucket of balls with no clearly defined target to aim for. They will walk away from the session without any idea if there shots where going in the right direction or not. Whenever you are practicing you need to have a clearly defined target that identifies both accuracy and distance. This is important as your shots not only need to be straight, they also need to be hit the correct distance.

5. No Plan on the Course: This bad habit is an on course problem rather than a driving range problem. The amount of players I play with that can't tell me what their plan is to attack a golf hole astounds me! Most players play most of their golf on the same few courses so there is no excuse not to have a plan for each hole on those courses. You need to identify what holes you can attack and which holes you should play safe. You should have a clearly defined target for each tee shot and you should know which pin positions you can attack and which ones you can't. It doesn't take long to design a simple plan for each hole you play and it will be time well spent. All you need to do is write down the holes strengths and weaknesses and identify how they stack up against your own strengths and weaknesses as a golfer. If your strengths match up against the holes weakness you can attack and vice versa if your weaknesses match the holes strengths. Your course plan is also a great anchor to use to refocus yourself after a bad shot or hole. As soon as you hit a bad shot you can focus hard on your plan which will help you forget about the loose shot and get back on track.

These are a few of the common bad golf habits I see on the range and course and the strategies I have outlined are a good start to getting rid of these habits. If you have any others you can think of, or you want to discuss anything with me, feel free to post a comment or email me via the link in my profile.

Until Next Time,

Brent