Develop Your Imagination With 4 Great Practice Techniques

On the course, you only get one chance to hit each shot. Once you pick a club and a plan for a shot, that’s it – you play the shot once, and you move on. It can be hard to develop your creativity on the course simply because you only get one attempt from each position. Of course, the story is different in practice. You can try the same practice shot over and over again if you wish, which makes practice the perfect time to develop your imagination.

To work on improving your creativity around the greens, try the following drill during your next short game practice session.

Find a good lie somewhere around the chipping green to use for this drill. Set five golf balls down on the ground, and pick out a hole on the green to use as a target.

To get started, you are going to play the first ball using the easiest, most-straightforward path to the hole. For example, if there is nothing in your way, you can play a simple bump-and-run shot up to the cup. Take your time when playing this shot to give it the best possible chance of success.

With the first shot out of the way, you are going to have four golf balls remaining. With those four shots, you need to come up with new ways to reach the same target. You can change clubs, you can alter the height of your shot, or you can use a slope near the hole to try a new angle. The only rule is that you need to use a different plan for each of the remaining shots. In the end, you will have played five golf balls to the same target, yet you will have used a unique shot for each attempt.

With the first set of five complete, feel free to pick out a new hole and start over. This is a great drill to use when you want to keep your short game practice sessions interesting, as it is hard to get bored when you are working hard to be creative. Also, this drill works well when practicing with a friend, as you can challenge each other to keep coming up with new ways to get the job done.

It is important to be creative in golf. You should always feel like you are using your imagination as you make your way around the course, looking for opportunities and watching out for trouble. Golf would be a boring game if everyone played exactly the same way. It is the individuality of this game that makes it so much fun over the long run. Feel free to play your own game, and figure out your own way to get the ball in the hole as quickly as possible. Some of your shots will probably be pretty standard, and others will be rather unorthodox. That’s okay. As long as you remain within the rules of golf, and as long as you can repeat your unique shots time after time, you can be sure you’re on the right track. Good luck!