If you go and stand at any driving range or golf practice area you are going to be witnessing something very strange, even if you’ve never realized it before. You will see hundreds, and if you keep going back, thousands of golfers practicing to “improve my golf” in ways that bear no resemblance to play on the actual golf course.

If it was a cooking class you were watching, they would be practicing to bake a cake without following the recipe and using the wrong ingredients. What’s the use of practicing something that bears no resemblance of what it is you are trying to achieve?

There are many aspects of the average golf practice which are very poorly done and we will not be discussing them all but here is a generalized overview of some good effective practice. You should develop a “whole game” practice system with your local professional and many good things have been written about effective practice if you browse the top golf books.

Firstly, have a specific plan. If you need to work on your short game, take only those clubs you need to practice so you are not tempted to get the big dog out and beat the cover off the ball in a meaningless and destructive manner. And by the way, you should spend 80% of your time practicing the short game if you want to play your best on any given day.

Spend most of your time practicing areas you know you need to practice. Don’t get sucked into hitting most of your practice balls with your favourite club. This happens all too often, but remember that it is not your favourite club that costs you the most shots on the golf course. Decide which shot is troublesome, develop an effective practice plan – with the help of a professional preferably – and then be disciplined and stick to the practice.

If you need to practice your driver pick specific targets left and right that would be the fairway edges and then practice hitting your drives down your imaginary fairway, while following your entire pre Shot routine on every shot.

Always target each shot to a very specific spot. NEVER hit balls generally “down the range” one after another, which I call “play and spray” golf. Pick a spot you want the ball to finish and focus all your attention on sending the ball there. You should as a general rule never hit the same shot twice in a row, as you would not do this on the course. Hit to different targets and if you are practicing a range of clubs, keep swapping them for each shot.

It is very important to make sure you take your time and give each shot your full attention and follow your Pre shot Routine religiously for every swing. This will ensure that you are practicing like you intend to play so that when you get on the golf course, it feels familiar and becomes comforting mentally. Your brain will begin associating your calm practice (I hope you remain calm in practice?) with calm play on the course.

If you practice ball beating remember that you are not practicing golf the way you play it so when you get on the course you are going to have little or no calming effect resulting from effective practice. By playing one shot at a time in the practice environment, giving it your fully focused Pre-shot Routine every time, you will very quickly start feeling calmer on the golf course. This is because your system (unconscious golf mind) will start to associate the calmer, less pressurizer situation in practice with what you are doing on the course. But if you don’t practice as if you are on the course, don’t expect to get very much from your hours and dollars spent.

You must practice like you want to play. If you want to play focused and calm, playing one shot at a time and remaining in the present for each shot, then this is exactly what you need to do in your practice, other-wise it will not happen on the course.

I hope that some of this general practice advice has been useful to you and in finishing off let me just say that if you work on practicing properly and effectively, you will see far greater results than you can possibly imagine. Effective practice is a discipline and an art that should be intrinsically linked to play on the course. Please seek more professional help and advice about your own practice routines that you as a unique golfing individual want to develop for maximum effectiveness in your game of golf.

Remember you mind is a powerful tool and with effective practice you will trigger it into doing some pretty amazing things for you which you may not even be aware of right now. Especially important if you want to stay in the present on every shot on the course, then you must use your mental game effectively during your practice sessions.

If this article has been of interest to you, you can find out more on the mental side of golf and how it can dramatically improve your game when you apply some easy techniques then please feel free to visit my website at http://www.golfmindshop.com. I would be happy to advise you more closely on your own physical and golf mental game practice routines. Please feel confident to contact me via my website.

Wishing you FIR’s, GIR’s & Blue Skies.

Mark – The Golfers Mind

PS – Remember to get your FREE copy of “Bring your golf scores to life” by clicking on The Golf Mind Shop Links here. Discover What’s HOT & What’s ROT. Reviews of Golf Training Programs are now available online so you can read up on a system before deciding if it’s right for you. I highly recommend using NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming) to Improve Your Golf Game at http://www.golfmindshop.com

Mark Wright is a Master Coach and Sport Psychologist, NLP Sports Coach, Hypnosis Expert and Master Club Maker with nearly 25 years of Sports Coaching Experience. He can be contacted via his website where you can get free advice on your golf swing or mental game or Equipment just for the asking with no strings attached today.