How do you get the most out of your practice sessions, and maximise transfer to the course? There's nothing worse than jumping in the car after an hour of beating balls to realise you have nothing to take from it.

I could write pages on this topic, and what works varies from golfer to golfer, but I’ve condensed some techniques I’ve found effective over the years. It’s essential to understand what works for you though, rather than just bashing balls with no plan.

Firstly it’s important to understand when and why you would want to practice indoors, this can include needing:

1) A controlled environment makes it easier to work on swing awareness and changes your coach is helping you implement.
2) Tangible ball and club data at your fingertips to understand feel versus real (coaches can further help you understand the data)
3) Premium golf balls to get accurate results, as opposed to range balls.

Next, developing a process orientated mindset is a key step in making your practice sessions effective. This involves:

1) Planning your practice session. Be specific what you want to work on, it’s about quality not quantity.
2) Warming up properly, like you would pre-round.
3) Be aware and stick to a consistent routine - build a solid foundation including setup, posture, grip, ball position and alignment (even indoors!) these fundamentals are too often overlooked.
4) Visualise each shot as you would do outdoor on course.

Here is an example 1hr practice session for an intermediate to advanced golfer (sessions can obviously vary depending on your experience and level). Before arriving for your session identify a goal and a focus point for it, such as:
Goal: improve my distance control / ball flight / develop new skills with short to mid irons / shot shaping
Focus: focus on the process, visualise the shot I want and accept each shot and move on, regardless of the result.  

Once you arrive here's a suggestion for breaking up the hour: 

1) Warm-up – 5min
Complete specific stretching and body activation warm up routine.

2) Good contact - 15min
Start by hitting ¾ shots with each of your wedges - focus on setup, rhythm, balance and getting a feel and awareness of solid contact. This starts the session in a positive way and helps set the tone of the session.

3) Blocked practice & full shots – 20min
Hit approximately 15 shots with each GW, 9i & 7i getting an idea of your carry distance, path and face control. Continue to focus on setup and routine. At this point (if required) you may put some attention on any swing feels that you are working on with your coach.

4) Random practice & skills – 20min
Focus on hitting to a specific distance with PW, 9, 8 and 7irons. Vary the club as much as possible to help replicate the changeable environment of playing on course. Also, practice hitting some 9, 8 and 7 irons at 70-80% of full distance. You may notice a couple of things from this; (i) you will hit further than you anticipate as the timing improves and (ii) you will develop the skill of flighting your scoring shots which will greatly help when playing in wind outdoors. Golf is a variable game and requires variable ball flights to control your ball in tougher conditions.

Its always importat to ask yourself; what’s my goal? And what specifically do I need to do the achieve it more often? For me its to focus on my routine and trust my good habits when I get to the course this allows me to play fearlessly without concern about the result.

For more info or lessons please get in touch with our PGA Pros at Smash Factor via the Learn tab.

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