Welcome to Shaving Strokes, a GOLF.com series where the game’s brightest minds share their tips to help you, well, shave strokes! Today, GOLF Top 100 Teacher Joey Wuertemberger explains four ways pros practice smarter than weekend warriors.
Tour pros aren’t just better at playing golf than the rest of us, they’re better at practicing, too.
Go to any practice round for a PGA Tour event and you’ll quickly see what I mean. There isn’t anyone on the practice tee mindlessly bashing balls. Everything is done with a purpose.
It might sound redundant, but the way these pros got so efficient in their practice routines is through, well, practice. They’ve been honing their swings every day for years, and they’ve become experts at how best to do so through hours and hours of time spent on the practice tee.
Want to know a few of their secrets? Below is a rundown from GOLF Top 100 Teacher Joey Weurtemberger on four ways pros practice smarter than average joes.
4 ways pros practice better than amateurs
Have you ever wondered what a Tour player does differently than you in practice? I can tell you: they use a very structured routine to hone their skills — and you can borrow from their sessions to start shaving strokes like the pros.
Before grabbing a club, Tour players have a clear plan of attack tailored to their game. They know what they need to work on and have specific drills and training aids that will attack those faults. Keeping notes after rounds is vital to identify where to focus your time.
Below, I’ve put together a few ways their practice differs from yours.
1. Build in a proper warmup
Athletes need to prime their bodies before workouts. This doesn’t just mean stretching, but also includes corrective exercises, foam rolling and even some quick cardio to get the blood flowing! On the range, Tour players start with short pitch shots — concentrating on smooth tempo and clean contact with their favorite wedge. They take their time, stay relaxed and don’t rush. It’s key that they don’t start really practicing until their body is good and loose.
2. Get real-time feedback
After they are warm, Tour players create a ball-striking station. They place alignment rods on the ground and have defined targets they are hitting to, starting with short irons and work their way through the bag. You will also see them using training aids to help them achieve a certain feel. This is something I rarely see amateurs doing. But if you really want to get the most out of your practice, you need to be getting real-time feedback.
3. Try block practice
As a general rule, Tour players are looking for shot patterns they can trust on the course. Tour players move onto what is called block practice to develop the skill required to achieve these repeatable swings, completing the same drill over and over until they know they have locked in a particular feel without the help of the training aids. It may be tedious, but it’s essential for ingraining the proper swing feels that will carry over to the course.
4. Simulate on-course situations
Finally, Tour players simulate on course situations with a variety of targets. This is a great time to work on visualization, imagination and fine tune pre-shot the routine. They will often hit shots they know they will need to execute during the upcoming round. This division between developing muscle memory for the skills to hit specific shots and testing your swing under pressure can only lead to one thing: lower scores!
