We’ve all seen it. Heck, we’ve probably all done it.
You bought the big bucket of balls at the range, but don’t know where to start. You made time to practice, but have no plan. You want to work, but you have no idea how to work. Instead of approaching your range session with any purpose, you rifle through your bucket in minutes.
“The science tells us that you have to practice a lot, but how you practice will determine if you're learning or just exercising,” Trillium Rose, Rapsodo Advisor.
Here’s how you can improve your practice:
Keep Score
One of the most important factors to improve your practice is to keep track of your results and progress. Not only does keeping score heighten your focus on the task, it identifies opportunities for improvement. What gets measured gets managed.
Thankfully, an inherent benefit of MLM is that it takes care of this for you. Want to see your shot dispersion on 8-irons? Done. Wonder how far you hit your driver on average? It’s one click away. Are you tracking your improvement? Your MLM is.
Stop just hitting balls. Start keeping score.
Here are a few ideas from Rapsodo Advisors Trillium Rose.
Make Each Rep Matter
Deep practice isn’t measured in time, it’s measured in meaningful reps. 10,000 hours of practice doesn’t mean much if it’s 10,000 lazy hours.
"When you practice with real parameters and benchmarks, you give yourself a better chance to accelerate your learning," Trillium Rose, Rapsodo Advisor.
On the course you get one chance to execute your shot, so why do you give yourself 50 chances to hit the same 7 iron on the range? Instead of hitting the same shot dozens of times, set parameters for each swing. Be specific. Don’t just limit your parameters to distance, think trajectory, shot shape and proximity to a target. Evaluate your results.
The more your reps matter the more you’ll get out of your practice.
Don’t Be Afraid to Fail
The most effective practice occurs at the edge of our abilities. Be willing to look a little silly. If you’re not failing, you’re not reaching.
"If your practice is too easy, you're likely not learning from it," Trillium Rose, Rapsodo Advisor.
Embrace emotional frustration and discomfort – your best-self lies on the other side of it.
Create a practice environment that will challenge you. Create a practice environment that makes you work harder. It’s a lot easier to hit out into the middle of the range with no target than it is to have an imaginary out of bounds. If it’s easy to do, you’re likely not learning from it.
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There are a lot ways to improve your practice, but one of the easiest is to start incorporating a launch monitor in your practice. You’ll immediately start keeping score, elevating the importance of each ball and have the opportunity to make it more difficult.
