The Top 2 Practice Stroke Mistakes
Mistakes are not necessarily a bad thing, because we learn so much from them, and they inform everything we do today. So when it comes to golf mistakes, they should be renamed golf lessons, and instead of being afraid or embarrassed by them, we should be thankful for the knowledge and advancement they bring.
While there are numerous lessons that I’ve learned by playing, coaching, and watching golfers from amatuers to PGA Tour winners, I’d like to get particular about the two most common mistakes when it comes to making your practice strokes.
I’ve seen these mistakes made a countless number of times, and because of this, I know these are golf tips that will help so many of you out there when you take your practice strokes. These are subtle details you may not think about when you go to make putts, but they result in a weak putt or a stroke that takes speed/energy away from the ball.
The reason behind teaching you these mistakes is so that when you practice, you can work towards consistency and productivity because if your practice is not producing results, what is the point, right?
When I see a player make a weak putt, usually what has preceded it is a player taking practice strokes that are too hard for the actual putt they want to hit. If you make your practice strokes too hard (either too long or with too much energy/pace), your brain (with the help of your vision) knows this and in an effort to protect you from looking like an idiot (by hitting it really far past the hole like your practice strokes would do), it makes you decelerate and hit a weak putt instead, which ultimately falls short of the target.
Again the reason your putt was weak is that your practice strokes were way too hard. Instead, practice taking realistic strokes to help you make an actual stroke with the correct amount of energy.
The Second Practice Stroke Mistake
The second common mistake is that players don’t pay attention to the height of their practice strokes. As you make your strokes, you raise yourself up a little bit, and the putter swings by the top of the ball. The problem is when you get used to this motion, your putter is habitually hitting above the center line of the ball, and you’re losing speed. Instead, you want to keep your practice strokes low to the ground so you can make solid contact with the ball on a consistent basis.
If your practice strokes are realistic and low to the ground, your putting has a chance to produce better results that help your scoring improve.
These are subtle details you may not have thought about when you take your practice strokes, but when you implement them repeatedly, you change the motor patterns your body is making and your putting improves as a result.
What you may notice about these details is really they are about how you think. In the first instance, your brain tries to protect you from looking like an idiot, because it knows what you are actually trying to accomplish. In the second instance, your attention isn’t focused on the height of the practice stroke, and as a result, your putter is striking the ball in the wrong place. That’s why working on your mental game through a program like The Score Better Video Program is so vital to helping you fix these mistakes.
In golf, there are many mistakes made, and thus lessons to be learned, that require paying attention to the details and the thinking behind them. You may not have spent the hours I have observing them, but you can spend time watching the lessons in The Score Better Video Program to avoid making these mistakes. The program is ready for you to watch at your pace and continue to work on your mental practice to score better and play at your best.
