What is Random Practice? (Video) - by Dean Butler
What is Random Practice? (Video) - by Dean Butler

Okay. So the question is what is random practice? Random practice is basically guessing your brain to focus on – focusing on different club selections, different distances and just sort of hitting a book at 20 balls and just hitting a seven iron just going bang, bang, bang, bang, what I call ammunition fire, just hitting balls for the sake of it. We say to ourselves, “Right, let’s pull out a club and those are the 20 balls, that’s I’ve got here a six iron, I’ve got a nine iron, I’ve got a pitching wedge.” So from here, almost 20 balls, I’m now going to go for my pre-shot routine for each club. So for my pitching wedge, I’m going to stand behind the ball. I’m going to look at the distance, say a hundred yards and I’m going to put the clubface behind the ball aligned for my target. I’m going to set my self up with the ball position where it should be, getting my feet parallel. And from here, I’m going to think about what sort of length of swing I need to play that shot.

So if I’m just going to play that shot now, I lengthen the club back nice in control, nice control golf shots and first of all think right. Okay. I’ve really done some good work there. I played one shot. It wasn’t a driving range, the guy in the next bay might hit 20 balls in that time but I hit one and I’ve worked hard. I’m now going to change my club selection because I don’t want you to keep hitting it, bang, bang, bang, bang. So now, I’ve changed my club, so a nine iron. I’m going to set myself up and think right, nine iron for me goes on about say 150 yards. I’m now going to set myself up and go for my pre-shot routine. The ball position really is no different to the pitching wedge. Get myself set up with the ball position just in the middle of the stance here and from here now, I’m going focus on trying to reproduce a swing that’s going to get that ball there. But before I play the shots, I would be crazy to go to that ball and just hit it. Why? Because the last club I played was a pitching wedge and if you looked at the film, I only went and play the half swing to play a certain shot at a certain distance. So what I need to do is make sure that this muscle memory now knows what I’m going to do. So now, I’m now going to practice the swing that I actually need to actually produce this shot. So I go through my routine, I would then stand behind the ball, look at where I want to go, pick the mark and put the club down and go for the same routine as I did before for this club and now, I got the best chance in the world to reproduce that loss of memory. At this time, we’ve got the ball going the same direction but I’ve got that distance where I’m looking for. And of course, last but not the least, so now I’ve got a nice sort of mid long iron now. So I’ve got a six iron in my hand and again, don’t just go to hit anything right, six iron, where do I want to go? I’ll tell you what. I’m going to change the golf post. Instead of hitting on a certain line, I’m now going to go on a different line. So I’m going to have to think rather than getting myself comfortable in the same position yet again, I need to do some practice swings because the 6-iron is a longer club. It’s going to feel different. So I need to practice that swing, get the feel. I want some happy back to the ball. Let’s pick a different marker. So I’m looking down in a completely different direction now, putting the clubface behind the ball, setting myself up, and from here now because my pre-shot routine is good, I can now get the best chance to the world to take that club back, hit that golf shot. I’m happy of all those three golf shots that they’ve gone where I want them to go. And it might take you five minutes to hit those three balls but what a good practice session. It’s not random, just hitting it. We’re thinking about what we want to do. So next time you go out and you want to practice, remember, the guy in the driving bay who hits a basket of 50 balls and takes an hour, he’s much probably working on a good thing. The guy in the next bay who says, “Hey, I’ve just hit 500 balls in an hour,” it’s not really working anything over than hitting a quantity of balls. Remember, it’s all about quality, not quantity. 2014-05-13

Okay. So the question is what is random practice? Random practice is basically guessing your brain to focus on – focusing on different club selections, different distances and just sort of hitting a book at 20 balls and just hitting a seven iron just going bang, bang, bang, bang, what I call ammunition fire, just hitting balls for the sake of it. We say to ourselves, “Right, let’s pull out a club and those are the 20 balls, that’s I’ve got here a six iron, I’ve got a nine iron, I’ve got a pitching wedge.” So from here, almost 20 balls, I’m now going to go for my pre-shot routine for each club. So for my pitching wedge, I’m going to stand behind the ball. I’m going to look at the distance, say a hundred yards and I’m going to put the clubface behind the ball aligned for my target. I’m going to set my self up with the ball position where it should be, getting my feet parallel. And from here, I’m going to think about what sort of length of swing I need to play that shot.

So if I’m just going to play that shot now, I lengthen the club back nice in control, nice control golf shots and first of all think right. Okay. I’ve really done some good work there. I played one shot. It wasn’t a driving range, the guy in the next bay might hit 20 balls in that time but I hit one and I’ve worked hard. I’m now going to change my club selection because I don’t want you to keep hitting it, bang, bang, bang, bang.

So now, I’ve changed my club, so a nine iron. I’m going to set myself up and think right, nine iron for me goes on about say 150 yards. I’m now going to set myself up and go for my pre-shot routine. The ball position really is no different to the pitching wedge. Get myself set up with the ball position just in the middle of the stance here and from here now, I’m going focus on trying to reproduce a swing that’s going to get that ball there. But before I play the shots, I would be crazy to go to that ball and just hit it. Why? Because the last club I played was a pitching wedge and if you looked at the film, I only went and play the half swing to play a certain shot at a certain distance. So what I need to do is make sure that this muscle memory now knows what I’m going to do.

So now, I’m now going to practice the swing that I actually need to actually produce this shot. So I go through my routine, I would then stand behind the ball, look at where I want to go, pick the mark and put the club down and go for the same routine as I did before for this club and now, I got the best chance in the world to reproduce that loss of memory. At this time, we’ve got the ball going the same direction but I’ve got that distance where I’m looking for. And of course, last but not the least, so now I’ve got a nice sort of mid long iron now.

So I’ve got a six iron in my hand and again, don’t just go to hit anything right, six iron, where do I want to go? I’ll tell you what. I’m going to change the golf post. Instead of hitting on a certain line, I’m now going to go on a different line. So I’m going to have to think rather than getting myself comfortable in the same position yet again, I need to do some practice swings because the 6-iron is a longer club. It’s going to feel different. So I need to practice that swing, get the feel. I want some happy back to the ball. Let’s pick a different marker.

So I’m looking down in a completely different direction now, putting the clubface behind the ball, setting myself up, and from here now because my pre-shot routine is good, I can now get the best chance to the world to take that club back, hit that golf shot. I’m happy of all those three golf shots that they’ve gone where I want them to go. And it might take you five minutes to hit those three balls but what a good practice session. It’s not random, just hitting it. We’re thinking about what we want to do.

So next time you go out and you want to practice, remember, the guy in the driving bay who hits a basket of 50 balls and takes an hour, he’s much probably working on a good thing. The guy in the next bay who says, “Hey, I’ve just hit 500 balls in an hour,” it’s not really working anything over than hitting a quantity of balls. Remember, it’s all about quality, not quantity.