The way you practice golf goes a long way in determining the outcome during a round. So if you’re the mid-to-high-handicapper who loves trying to bomb drives at the range, great — but you may just need some help on the other parts of your game.
So how can you organize your golf practice in order to focus on all aspects? By understanding how to control the environment.
In the video above — which comes from Peter Kostis and Gary McCord on their “Kostis & McCord: Off Their Rockers” podcast, a GOLF Production — Kostis shares how organizing a practice station can help improve your golf swing and ensure better ball contact. Whether that’s using training aids or simply trying drills that create feels to produce great results, it’s on you as a golfer to grind out the improvement.
How to organize your golf practice
“If you want to improve the quality and technique of your golf swing, you have to practice from a controlled environment,” Kostis says. “That means you have to know that your ball position, posture, and aim [are all correct and consistent before you even take the club back].”
So how can an amateur player like you or me accomplish that? Kostis says it requires some sort of practice station, one that isn’t just beating ball after ball on the driving range.
“A practice station can take many different forms,” he adds.
Next, he shows one practice station that uses alignment rods to help with both aim and ball position — although he prefers using a rope to help with those elements instead.
“When I put my clubface down, I can see it’s squared to the rope and I’m aimed where I want to go,” he says.
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But just because Kostis doesn’t like using alignment rods on the ground doesn’t mean he never uses them. So he demonstrates how these training aids can be used in other ways.
“I often take [alignment rods and put them into the ground in front of my ball], so I can see the trajectory that my golf ball’s going to take off on,” Kostis says. “I can also take the stick and put it out even farther to learn to hit cuts and draws.”
Even if you don’t have a rope or alignment rods, Kostis says the simplest way to practice your ball-striking is to use a few golf balls, putting them in a line, and working on your swing path and attack angle.
“Put one golf ball about 2- to 3-feet behind, and another one 2- to 3-feet in front of the ball you’re going to hit, which will form a line,” he says.
By working on varying your practice stations and use the resources at your disposal, you’ll be able to make better contact by improving your swing.
“It’s easy, but you’ve to to make the effort,” Kostis adds. “So find yourself a practice station and organize yourself before starting your swing. You’ll find that your in-swing motions are going to get better.”
You can listen to the entire episode from Kostis & McCord below.
