Every Friday I post a new golf tip on this blog. Please comment and share my tips if you wish!
Practicing your golf game this time of year has many challenges. The weather is clearly the biggest challenge because the amount of time you get to spend on the course or even the driving range is extremely limited. This reduces your opportunities to watch your ball flight which is the most common form of feedback when you practice.
Feedback can come in many forms, not just from watching where your ball goes. Besides, if the majority of your practice time is spent hitting into a net indoors, you would be left with no feedback.
To make practice effective, regardless of the time of year, you need to have adequate feedback. Too many times we rely on feel and what the ball does to determine if we’re doing the right thing or not.
Incorporate some tools you likely already have at your disposal to make sure you’re getting the correct feedback when you practice.
A mirror is probably my favorite tool when being forced to practice indoors. Subtle changes in your posture at address can happen so easily resulting in dramatic changes to your swing. By simply spending 5 minutes in front of a mirror before you start each practice session you can guarantee that your posture is fundamentally sound before you start swinging.
Video can be another great tool to help you make practice effective. With the use of smartphones and apps that are designed for swing analysis, videoing your swing is as easy as ever. The only problem is that you need to know what you’re looking for before you start picking yourself apart on video. If you enjoy using video on your own, it would be a good idea to set a time with me so that I can guide you in some best practices for video, but also make sure that you’re effectively using your time to analyze important aspects in your swing.
Another great form of feedback when hitting balls indoors is to check where the ball is hitting the clubface. Winter months are a great time to learn to hit the ball more consistently in the center of the clubface. Applying tools to the club face like impact tape, a dry erase marker, or Dr. Scholl’s foot powder are great ways to visually see if the ball is indeed hitting the center of the club.
Make sure you are getting the most from your practice time by incorporating the proper feedback. Schedule a session with me to learn more on this critical aspect of your training.
