PGA Features

PGA Fellow Professional Neil Plimmer from Mid Sussex Golf Club tells PGA.info why a good practice regime can pay dividends with your golf where it matters most - out on the course.

• The number of people taking up golf in this country is on the up.
• There are many vacancies in golf clubs across the country.
• Over the last 10 years technology has improved equipment beyond belief.
• There are more resources available about the game to learn from than you have hours left in your life.
• Golf coaching has improved through understanding and technology.
• We have fantastic facilities to play and practice the game.

Yet, handicaps are no better than they were 25 years ago! WHY?

One aspect of the game that many golfers struggle with or even ignore to the detriment of their game is how to practice efficiently. All golfers possess a reasonable idea of what to practise but few seem to understand how to practise effectively and efficiently in order to lower their scores. I ask all my pupils a simple question - what is the ROI (Return On Investment) on your energy, time and resources from your practice time relative to the improvement on your game? If most golfers are anything like players that I have asked this question to, the answer is normally 0% return!

Over the years there have been a number of things that got me interested in how people practice:

Zen Golf - Dr Joseph Parent
Every Shot Must Have a Purpose - Pia Nilsson & Lynn Marriott
The Game Before The Game - Pia Nilsson & Lynn Marriott
The Psychology of Practice, PGA CPD seminar - Dr Karl Morris

The above books and Karl Morris' seminar sparked questions that left me pondering why so many golfers spend hours on the range/practice ground/practice putting green and yet get no better. Things have got to change! Gone are the Halcyon days of Ben Hogan where the best golfers were those that hit balls till their hands bled and the answer for improvement was lying in the dirt. I firmly believe that if golfers applied some simple thinking and put together a plan with the help of their coach specific to their own strengths and weaknesses, then handicaps might well start to lower across the nation. With the help of the above sources and lot of work with my own pupils, I am starting to understand how people could better spend their practice time and then show some return on that investment.

The most important thing is that you first of all have to decide and commit to a certain period of time per week to dedicate to your game. It doesn't matter if it is only 10 minutes per week - you can still come up with a personal plan that could help lower your scores.

You also need to decide what area of your game you are going to concentrate on. To do that you have got understand the facts of your game. Start taking some simple stats of where your game stands at the moment (score, fairways hit, greens hit in regulation, putts, plus also maybe positive and negative points about your game on that day). With the help of your coach you can then formulate the best plan of how to practise to improve your game.

Once you have gained an idea of your strengths and weaknesses plus the time available, you have to make sure that your practice time has four things:

Consequence
Every shot that you hit in practice must have a result. Never just drag and hit balls without aiming at a target. Decide where you want every shot to finish. Play each shot as if you were on the golf course.

Be as hard as or harder than the real game
Don't drag your ball onto a nice lie every practice shot that you hit. If you make your practice harder than the real thing you feel a certain relief when you play out on the course.

Tangible
You must record scores from your practice. Develop games/skills tests that you can play during your practice time that you can see when you are improving. As your scores improve in practice you will start to see that your scores on the golf course lower.

Emotion
I feel that this is vital to have in your practice. The time you spend practicing must parallel the emotions that we feel on every shot out on the course (e.g. the ohhhhh of a putt that slides by the edge of the hole or the Tiger Woods fist pump when a putt goes in on the 18th green) If you feel this it will also mean that you will enjoy your practice more.

To improve your score in this game you have to make a change. Change the way you approach your practice time, no matter how long or short that time may be and I believe that we could all start to see a lowering of the scores that have stayed static for many years.

For games and skills test for all parts of the game see openmindgolf.com or email neilplimmer@tiscali.co.uk for more details - he is also interested in feedback on personal practice experiences.