Do you practice well, or do you get bored after hitting a bucket of balls? I have mentioned before that at least half your practice should be short game. And half of that should be putting.

What about practicing how to play? Let’s say you are playing in a tournament next weekend, and you have played the course many times. I would like you to do the following. When you are out practicing on the driving range prior to the tournament, you loosen up. Then you will get ready to play the tournament course even though you are standing on the driving range at your home course. You know the holes of the golf course you will be playing.

Visualize you are standing on the first tee. Picture the shot you want to hit. Keep in mind the bunkers, trees and water. Hit the ball to finish where you want it to go in the tournament. The first hole is a par 5, and you would probably hit a 5-wood for your second shot. So you take a 5-wood, and hit it. If you hit a good shot, it has left you 50 yards from the lake...a pitch shot. Hit your 60 yard shot to the flag imagining the flag is on the green at the course you are going to play. If you feel you didn’t hit the shot the way you wanted, hit another one. Leave all the putting until you have finished your round.

In your mind, go to the second hole and as the last hole was a par 5, the second hole happens to be a short hole. It’s a 5-iron for you, so hit your 5-iron. If you don’t hit it as you wanted, hit another shot. Go on doing this until you have completed the round. You haven’ t left the driving range.

Now go over to the putting green and put a ball down where you feel you could have hit the third shot of the tournament course. Go over to where you might find your single putt to the hole would be, and putt out. Play out all the holes this way. Visualize a realistic situation each time. This should help you have a practice round on the course you will be playing on the weekend.

Practicing with visualization is the way that many athletes prepare for the winter Olympics, which are noteably coming up shortly in Canada. You may come across a segment on television where a quartet of bobsleders are sitting inside a building in their sled going through the course they will compete on without ever leaving the building. Skiers also practice in the summer this way. You are in good company using these techniques to improve your scores at your next tournament.

Good Golfing,
David Clay