By Brandon Guile
Recently one of my students asked me, "What is the best way to practice?". We were discussing why this particular student was very good at executing shots on the practice facility but was unable to take it to the course. Perceived inability to transfer skills to the course is a common phenomenon. There are a number of reasons why it can be difficult to take your grooved practice facility swing onto the golf course. Changing conditions, your mental state at the time, the importance of the shot at hand are all factors in a long list. My advice to the golfer is to spend more time practicing "randomly" as opposed to a "blocked" style. Here is a description of both styles and how they work:
- Blocked Practice is a practice sequence in which the player repeatedly rehearses the same task. Example: Hitting a large number of balls with the same club to the same target with little to no pre-shot routine.
- Random Practice is a practice sequence in which the player performs a number of different tasks in no particular order, thus avoiding or minimizing consecutive repetitions of any single task. Example: Taking one ball to the putting green and practicing different length putts to different targets each putt and going through your pre-shot routine each time.
Blocked practice is very effective in a lesson setting, when your golf instructor is introducing you to a new technique. However, it is not the best way to practice on your own! Most research has shown that when individuals randomly practice a variety of movements, their performance during practice is less successful than that of individuals practicing movements in a blocked fashion. However, when players resume performance at a later time, those who originally practiced under random conditions demonstrate superior retention in comparison to those who originally practiced under blocked conditions!
On the golf course, a golfer rarely hits the same shot twice in a row, and a walk precedes most shots. The target skills required involve decisions about where to hit the ball, which club to use, the lie among other conditions. The target context requires a solution to a particular movement problem for each new shot, not minor changes in the shot that was just executed. Furthermore, golfers get only one chance to make each shot, with no opportunity to modify that shot on the next attempt. This leads us to the conclusion that blocked practice at the practice facility does not simulate the target skills and develop the fluency required to make the transition to the course!
The key to successful practice is allowing yourself to experience the conditions you can expect to see in the target context - even when this means more frequent errors and slower performance improvements. You need to know that it is okay to make mistakes, and to examine the reasons why these mistakes are happening. More importantly, you must be assured that, though your performance during random practice may not be as good as you would like it to be, you will benefit from the fluency enhanced with this style of practice when it is time to take it onto the golf course.
The Brent Morrison Golf Academy is located at Pheasant Glen Golf Resort, 1025 Qualicum Road, Qualicum Beach, B.C. V9K 1M5. (250) 752-8786. For more information on instruction programs for adults and juniors, contact the Academy office.
