Practice doesn’t make perfect. Perfect practice makes perfect. Vince Lombardi
To play more like the pros, amateurs need to practice more like the pros. Too many times “practice” is getting a small bucket of balls from the Pro Shop and taking thirty whacks with the driver to try and gain ten yards from the previous week. Hitting impressive drives can be very enjoyable but more often players with this preparation do more searching for their balls in the woods than reach the fairway while playing on the course. In my instruction, my players start their sessions near the bottom of the bag. This is designed to build confidence and comfort when the club is shorter and lighter, to be able to help improve overall control. The goal of all golfers should be the building of confidence with the repetition of “swinging” the club rather than “hitting” at the ball.
Once gaining comfort near the bottom of the bag with a pitching wedge or nine iron, we then move to more of the middle of the bag. If starting out with a pitching wedge then move to an eight iron. If starting out the session with a nine iron move up to a seven iron. Golf is a game of distance control. Even though we change the club because the target is farther away, we need to have belief that the clubface and its natural loft will change the distance for us, NOT a change in tempo. While taking swings with our eight iron these swings should be made with the SAME control and tempo as with the pitching wedge. Distance comes from maximizing flexibility and athleticism, while also consistently controlling a return of the clubface to center impact. An analogy I make frequently in my instruction compares the golf swing to a boxing punch. What produces the most powerful hit on a punching bag is a motion that creates consistent strikes to the center of the bag. Throwing your fist viciously and out of control with only a glancing blow does not have a better result than a motion that lands a controlled strike to the middle of the hitting bag.
This is easier said than done, but with more focus on discipline and control rather than power you will notice both improved accuracy as well as more greens in regulation. After gaining comfort and confidence with the mid irons, we then continue to move up in the bag to the long irons. For amateurs this is usually the most feared part of their bag. Due to the clubs being longer and heavier, players are required to have additional discipline and control when maintaining tempo. Players sometimes swing out of their socks because they lack the needed assurance that with the same tempo that was used with the pitching wedge can also be used with a five iron to reach their desired distance. This assurance comes from swinging with complete balance and double checking our finish to have or torso aimed at our target and as right handers, have our right hand laying on our left shoulder. This again better referred to as “photo finish”.
I call this my “photo finish” because the finish position is a snap shot of what positions happened earlier at impact. Now that we have progressed through the short irons, mid irons and long irons, now it is time to wrap up the session with some hybrids and the driver. Our key to these clubs are high quality swings with a repetitive tempo, not "crushing swings" that are different just because a tee was used. When adjusting to the hybrids, the only thing that changes from a pitching wedge strike is our ball position. My general rule of thumb is “the bigger the club head, the farther forward in our stance the ball goes”. With irons the ball position is near the middle of our stance and as the club head gets larger from hybrids, fairway woods, to driver the closer to our front toe the ball becomes. Due to the driver being the club that players try to max out for distance they are gambling the potential accuracy. So next time you go out for some mid week practice for that weekend round, Use this range session format in adding more comfort, confidence, and improved results to take down the rest of your foursome. With improved balance and control the game of golf will produce more pars, more enjoyment as well as players to become more consistent from week to week.
