To become a player with a purpose you must start by regimenting your practice time to reflect your strategies on the course. The difference between practicing and playing is wide, but you can narrow the gap by using your practice time to exercise the processes you use on the course.
Most players have a limited amount of time to practice on a daily and weekly basis due to the many obligations and responsibilities in their lives. Even a tour player has family commitments, sponsor obligations and workouts, to name a few, that take away from their time on the practice tee. To maximize your practice time, you must carve out time and have specific goals for your practice.
It was widely known that Jack Nicklaus could stare down anything in his way to achieve his goals. Jack came on tour in the early 1960s when getting to each week’s tournament was more challenging than booking private travel each week like it is today. Jack and his wife Barbara had five children that often traveled with them during the tournament season, and he had many obligations both on and off the course so there was little time to waste.
The consensus was that Jack Nicklaus was less distracted in his practice time than any other competitor.
Concentration is vital to execution. Concentrate and focus on your practice plan. If you have a hard time focusing during a one-hour practice session, break up your time into 3 areas of focus.
- Spend one third of your time executing the specific technique of your golf swing that you and your swing coach are improving. Spend this time on drills and hone in on the part of your mechanics you are trying to improve.
- Use your next allotted time to recreate shots you anticipate having in your next round of golf. Treat each shot individually, go through your pre-shot routine and make it count. The goal is quality over quantity of shots rehearsed during this exercise.
- Lastly, get competitive. Create a contest or competition with others to put you in a competitive environment and simulate on-course pressure.
Use your time wisely and efficiently when you practice. Put your phone away and limit conversations with others so you can dedicate your time to improve. If you can improve your focus during practice, you will find that your competitive rounds become more comfortable and rewarding because you rehearsed for these moments time and time again during your practice sessions.