Take Baby Steps
The key to becoming good at practicing is to be firstly consistent at turning up. Pick the same days of the week after your golfer has finished school or another activity. Every time you finish school on a Wednesday you relate that to going to the driving range. Once you get into the car to head to the driving range it is very unlikely you will drive back out again, you have taken the first step.
Make it Easy
Make it as easy as possible to practice by having a few clubs in the car, golf shoes, a glove and then it helps reduce any friction of having to stop off on the way to get them. If you are a parent who is very busy, practice doesn't always need to be at the range. It could be 10 minutes in the evening some repetitions of what your golfer is working on, or chipping into a wheel barrow or putting on the carpet, but make sure you have a club in the kitchen or living room to help make it happen.
Start small and consistently by getting it done once a week, even just aim to start with for 2 minutes. Let it unfold from there.
Trust the process
Whether it’s starting a new practice game / idea, or making improvements to your golf swing it's so easy to get caught up in the big prize but it's so important to get invested into the smaller ones to help it all come together. The big goal is important as that what creates our drive, but we need to ensure we put the little steps in place to help us get there.
If you are starting something new and feel motivated to practice then don`t make the mistake of going too often in the first couple of weeks, instead put a practice process in place where you go a sustainable number of times and become consistent at turning up. Secondly when you are at your practice session quantity is not the answer, start with a small basket and take your time with some quality practice.
Create some space
We are all guilty of the scrape and hit method by leaving the basket tipped over with easy access to just keep hitting without any learning taking place.
Start by leaving the basket out of reach so you need to physically walk to get another ball. This break in time is allowing you to forget what you were doing and then having to re find or remember what you were focused on is much more powerful in improving a learning process. Finding a rhythm of shot after shot is great when it happens, but it’s not realistic and doesn’t relate close enough to the game on the course. The same would apply to hitting the same club and target all session, its fine when you are in a technical phase but there needs to be some variability so it’s easier to transfer to the course. Practice like you play, different clubs different targets, different obstacles!
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