I’ve had a very mixed few weeks in September with some really nice rounds, unfortunately mixed in with some disappointing ones where I didn’t play my best golf, or the putts just didn’t drop. However, the fundamentals of my game still feel strong and I put a lot of this down to my practice routines so I thought I’d share some of these with you this month.
My practice is always broken down into technical, skill based, and competitive practice. Technical is technique aspects, mostly done away from tournament, but I have some check-ins to monitor to ensure that I don’t get off track. Skill based is like shot variety, experimenting a bit; different flights, heights, shapes etc. Competitive is one ball only and varies depending on the area of the game, but there’s always a score and a consequence attached to try and get you more ‘game ready’. I play lots of golf too – the best form of ‘competitive practice’ really is being out there.
For practice rounds, I tend to break them down in to groups of 3 – just ‘play the hole’, where I just get used to the course, hit the tee shot I think I need, approach shot, hit some putts and chips around the green. The next hole I would do an up and down (around the green drop a ball and try and chip it close and hole the putt). Then I would play the third hole to keep a score, as if I was in tournament mode. I would just do this three hole rotation either 3 times (9 holes) or 6 times, but usually 3 and then the back 9 I might have a game against the boys for a few ££…
On the day of a tournament, my pre round warm-up is usually between 1 hour and 15mins and 1 hour and 30 mins – depending on tee time. I like to do a little bit of everything, so spend some time on putting, short game, and full shots, before finishing off by holing out some shorter putts just before teeing off.
Finally, post round it’s about warming down, maybe reviewing what’s happened out there and trying to make a tweak if it’s needed. However, I usually try not to do a huge deal after the round as after a 1 hour and 30 mins warm up and often over 5 hours on the course, I normally need to go and sit down! Thanks to everyone for their support – I’m looking for a strong end to the season