Beginner Golf Practice: How To Practice Golf Properly (Video) - by Pete Styles
Beginner Golf Practice: How To Practice Golf Properly (Video) - by Pete Styles

The only way that you are really going to get better at golf is by practicing and everyone just says, oh well, practice makes perfect. Well, in a way yes, but proper practice makes perfect and proper practice will make permanently perfect as well because if you practice incorrectly, you could be wasting your time and worse than that you could actually be doing damage to your golf game or your golf swing. So this is really important, that you practice the right things properly to get those things to become permanent.

So when you come down to the driving range and the driving range of the practice ground is clearly the best place to be to improve your technique. Take 50 to a 100 golf balls and try and take half an hour to hit 50 and an hour to hit a 100. So the first thing is don’t rush your practice session. Go to the practice ground or the driving range with a clear plan of what you want to work on. You don’t necessarily need to take all of your golf clubs to the driving range with you. You can just take one or two, the key clubs that you want to practice with.

Once you develop your skills of chipping, pitching and full swings, I would actually start by practicing with your chipping. So chipping is a swing that is only quite a short swing and we just hit the golf ball gently and that would be a good warm up exercise. Pitching is a little bit a longer swing and we’d do a few more of those, next, before we get into the full swing. So try and hit about 20 to 25 balls chipping or pitching before you actually start making your full swings.

Developing and warming up your technique before you actually start putting a lot of effort in. And when you start making those full swings, try and diagnose each golf ball carefully, look at the shot, work out what you did right and what you did wrong and then don’t be afraid to take practice swings. I often see golfers after they’ve hit a bad shoot, their natural reaction is to grab another golf ball and try and do it again really quickly.

I’d encourage you just knock the golf ball to one side, take a couple of practice swings where you just clip the top of the tee peg and just feel whether you are getting your swing right. Work on one particular aspect of your technique, maybe something that you’ve watched in this video series, maybe something that the PGA golf professional you are taking your lessons with is encouraging you to do.

Take your practice swing, clipping the top of the tee peg and then go ahead and hit the next ball and hopefully that next ball would then improve because you’ve just told yourself exactly how you should be doing it, to help you get better.

In the middle of the your practice session, just take a little five minute break, go and get yourself a drink, take your glove off, have a little sit down, stay nicely refreshed. The last thing you want to do in your practice session is start getting a bit wary and a bit tired and a bit hot and bothered or frustrated with what you are doing.

And if you can practice properly, you not only save yourself time and energy but you will get better, far faster.

 2012-08-01

The only way that you are really going to get better at golf is by practicing and everyone just says, oh well, practice makes perfect. Well, in a way yes, but proper practice makes perfect and proper practice will make permanently perfect as well because if you practice incorrectly, you could be wasting your time and worse than that you could actually be doing damage to your golf game or your golf swing. So this is really important, that you practice the right things properly to get those things to become permanent.

So when you come down to the driving range and the driving range of the practice ground is clearly the best place to be to improve your technique. Take 50 to a 100 golf balls and try and take half an hour to hit 50 and an hour to hit a 100. So the first thing is don’t rush your practice session. Go to the practice ground or the driving range with a clear plan of what you want to work on. You don’t necessarily need to take all of your golf clubs to the driving range with you. You can just take one or two, the key clubs that you want to practice with.

Once you develop your skills of chipping, pitching and full swings, I would actually start by practicing with your chipping. So chipping is a swing that is only quite a short swing and we just hit the golf ball gently and that would be a good warm up exercise. Pitching is a little bit a longer swing and we’d do a few more of those, next, before we get into the full swing. So try and hit about 20 to 25 balls chipping or pitching before you actually start making your full swings.

Developing and warming up your technique before you actually start putting a lot of effort in. And when you start making those full swings, try and diagnose each golf ball carefully, look at the shot, work out what you did right and what you did wrong and then don’t be afraid to take practice swings. I often see golfers after they’ve hit a bad shoot, their natural reaction is to grab another golf ball and try and do it again really quickly.

I’d encourage you just knock the golf ball to one side, take a couple of practice swings where you just clip the top of the tee peg and just feel whether you are getting your swing right. Work on one particular aspect of your technique, maybe something that you’ve watched in this video series, maybe something that the PGA golf professional you are taking your lessons with is encouraging you to do.

Take your practice swing, clipping the top of the tee peg and then go ahead and hit the next ball and hopefully that next ball would then improve because you’ve just told yourself exactly how you should be doing it, to help you get better.

In the middle of the your practice session, just take a little five minute break, go and get yourself a drink, take your glove off, have a little sit down, stay nicely refreshed. The last thing you want to do in your practice session is start getting a bit wary and a bit tired and a bit hot and bothered or frustrated with what you are doing.

And if you can practice properly, you not only save yourself time and energy but you will get better, far faster.