The secret to breaking 80 may not be found only in the range
can’t be found either only in golf tips, golf books or golf lessons.
The secret to getting over 80 can also be found in recent performance research.
This research doesn’t tell you how to drive a ball, sink a putt, or hit an iron. It also doesn’t tell you how to play a course.
Instead it tells you What to learn a motor skill. Knowing how you learn a motor skill can help you get the most out of your practice. More importantly, it speeds up learning.
And accelerating learning can propel your game to the next level fast.
Below are 7 actionable tips based on performance research. Build them into your practice routines and take your game to new heights.
Tip 1: Set Specific Goals
Setting specific goals, such as beating or winning the club championship, speeds up learning. Also increases skill retention.
For best results, choose long-term, moderately challenging goals. Combining them with even low levels of practice can boost learning by up to 400 percent.
Tip 2 – Choose the right swing thoughts
Oscillating thoughts are valuable tools. But you need to use the right thoughts. The key is to use external oscillating thoughts, no internal one is.
Experienced golfers, use swing thoughts that refer to the club, not the body, thoughts like “Lean the shaft forward at impact” rather than “Place my hands in front of the club at impact.”
Tip 3: Learn from a pro
When you learn from a professional, you play like one. So take golf lessons from a professional whenever you can. Highly effective, it is the best way to learn and the best way to achieve consistency.
A professional can see your mistakes. You may. A professional will also not allow you to instill mistakes. She will correct them and teach you how to do things right, accelerating learning.
Tip 4: Practice how you play
If you leave your best shots in practice, it’s because you’re not practicing to transfer skills from course to course. Transfer practice fosters specificity of learning. The process is called practicing as if you were playing.
In other words, instead of hitting 25 drivers in a row, hit driver, then 7-iron, then PW, just like you would during a round.
Or hit wedges from a grassy area, not a mat. Try to create real game conditions when you practice.
Tip 5: Work on a change
When you practice working on multiple gears at the same time, you literally short-circuit your brain. Repeating a movement changes your brain, increasing its efficiency in processing information and controlling movement.
But that’s only if you’re working on one change at a time.
Also, use training aids. Why? Because the brain can’t tell when you’re doing something right or wrong. Training aids teach you to perform the skill correctly, instilling the fundamentals the right way.
Tip 6: Practice, practice, practice
There is no escape. You have to practice to improve. Research shows that it takes 10,000 hours of work to ingrain a motor skill. It also shows that you need to do something for 10 years to master it.
So if you really want to lower your golf handicap, practice. No one has learned to play golf well without practice.
Tip 7: Buy videos
Forget verbal training aids. Instead, use a video or photo. We learn faster using our eyes, not our ears. So find a golfer who’s good at a skill, like chipping, and watch him do it.
This process is called “shaping.” Modeling gives you a “blueprint” to guide your movements. So if you want to improve, buy videos.