Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Effective Range Practice

Driving to work this morning I was thinking about my students in Taiwan and China. I enjoyed my time over there and the kids I coached were all nice kids and generally worked hard on their games. This got me thinking about practice and practice routines. What is the best way to practice? Do we need to hit thousands of balls to improve our swings and our games? What is effective practice?

One student I had in China (pictured above) was notorious for not practicing effectively. He would hit balls on the range without choosing a target, using his pre-shot routine or even taking enough time to set up to the ball correctly. Sometimes he would hit balls without even looking down the practice fairway! I think his record for consecutive shots without looking at a target was five! Now this student was an extreme example but I think all golfers can benefit from an understanding of different types of practice and when to use the different types of practice.

Most golfers I know tend to go to the range and just hit ball after ball after ball with little thought. This can be called "rake and hit" practice and it not very helpful for improving your golf. I tend to call this exercise rather then practice. I would suggest there are three main types of practice and they should be used at different times to ensure you get the most out of your practice and make the most improvement.

The first type of practice could be called block practice and technical practice. This type of practice involves hitting a number of shots with a club only working on the technical aspects of your swing you are working on with your coach. There is no need to worry about where the ball is going during these types of sessions as the emphasis is on making the swing changes you are trying to make with your coach. This type of practice should be used during time when there are not many important competitions for you to play in and you are working on correcting your swing faults.

The second type of practice could be called random practice or transfer practice. This type of practice is designed to more closely simulate on course play and make it more difficult to get in the "groove" of hitting 20 shots with the same club. Basically, you would change clubs often and change targets more often. An easy formula may be to change targets every two shots and change clubs every six shots. You should also use your pre-shot routine before every second shot. This type of practice should be used to help you take your swing changes onto the course with you.

The third type of practice is called competitive practice and this type of practice needs to be used in the weeks leading up to an important competition. As the name suggests, this kind of practice involves competitions with yourself or a training partner. Closest to the pin competitions and Aussie rules goal type challenges are only a couple of the games you could use during these sessions. You are only limited by your imagination when it comes to inventing competitive practice sessions. Send me an email if you need some ideas. When using this type of practice you should use your full pre-shot routine and make every shot as close to an on course shot as possible. Obviously, doing these practice sessions you won't hit as many balls but the intensity levels will be closer to what they would be during a competition. This will help you take your new and improved swing into a competition with confidence.

Until next time,

Brent

Monday, May 24, 2010

My New Website

Well I have finally joined the 21st century and have my own website. I have just finished putting the final touches on my site and it is now up and running and ready to view. You will find the site here and there is also a link to the site on the right hand side of this blog. On the site you will find information about the coaching services I offer, information about my new coaching venue, Golf Science Centre, in Melbourne as well as links to websites explaining the coaching tools we utilise at the Golf Science Centre. You will also find an easy to use Contact Us page and a link to subscribe to my new e-newsletter that will be published shortly. There are links to my facebook page and also links back to this blog. Keep your eye on the site as it will continue to grow.

I will be posting some coaching advice and tips on my blog soon so please come back soon and check out my coaching advice. Also, please feel free to come down to the Golf Science Centre anytime and say hello. I also want to hear from you so don't be afraid to drop me an email, post a comment here or contact me through my new website.

Until Next Time,

Brent

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Australian Amateur 2010

In March this year, four players in the Taiwan National Squad (two boys, two girls) that I used to coach travelled to Perth for the Australian Amateur Championship. This event is held over four rounds of stroke play on Cottesloe Golf Club for the girls and Lake Karrinyup and Mount Lawley Golf Club for the boys. The top 32 players from the stroke play championship qualify to play knockout matchplay to determine the Australian Amateur Champion. Last year, Tsai Pei Ying was runner up in this event so I was hoping that one of these four could go one better this year.

Let me talk about the girls championship first. The two players playing were Yi Chen Liu and Hsuan Yu Yao and both of these girls worked very hard when I was in Taiwan and improved a lot so I was hopeful that they would play well. They both played solidly in the stroke play section with Yi Chen Liu shooting rounds of 71, 72, 72 and 73 to finish equal second and Hsuan Yu Yao scoring 74, 73, 73 and 74 to finish in equal sixth place. I was proud of their good scores as they both qualified easily but was also disappointed to realise that they were both in the same quarter of the match play draw. This meant that they would play each other in the quarter final if they both won their early matches.

As I feared would happen, both of the girls won their first two matches and faced each other in the quarter final. This was good, in a way, for Taiwan golf as at least one player would be in the semi-final but it would have been nicer to see them playing off against each other in the final. In a close fought match Hsuan Yu Yao prevailed in the match 2 up and progressed to the semi final. In this match she met the eventual champion, Stacey Keating, and was unfortunately beaten. I am extremely proud of both girls and I know they will use the experience to further improve and progress their golf.

In the boys championship the two boys from Taiwan competing were Chien Yao Hung and Chi Hsien Hsieh. Unfortunately, with stroke play scores of 69, 78, 71 and 80 Chi Hsien Hsieh missed out on qualifying for the matchplay by two strokes. With a disapointing last round of 80 I hope he will learn from the experience and be a better player. Chien Yao Hung played solidly during the strokeplay and qualified in 20th place for the matchplay by shooting scores of 71, 71, 77 and 72.

After a tight first round where he won on the 21st hole he won his next two matches by the comfortable margins of 5 & 4 and 5 & 3. These results placed him in the semi-final against Matt Jager. After a tough and tight match Chien Yao Hung was beaten on the last hole. It was close all day and I was proud that Chien Yao Hung played so well and was only just beaten by the eventual champion.

Overall, the trip to Perth was beneficial to all players and I am sure they learnt a lot during the tournament.

Until next time,

Brent