Practice Tip  

Perfect practice

Have you ever tried to make a drastic swing and/or setup correction that felt very uncomfortable because of the extreme nature of the change? Examples such as, repositioning your center of gravity, changing your setup posture, or steepening your swing plane during the backswing, are a few of the difficult and uncomfortable changes to make for any golfer. As a matter of fact, I feel almost all changes, major or minor, are hard to make and produce some initial discomfort while in the learning process.

Extreme bouts of discomfort can be especially true after receiving a lesson from your local PGA Professional. After the lesson you go to the range and hit a bucket of driver's and 5 irons only to become so frustrated that you want to give up on changing your technique and so you revert back to your old bad habits. You then leave the range frustrated, tired, and less the money you spent for the lesson.

I have found that the best way to make a swing or setup correction is to start by using the pitching or sand wedge and making small swings. The pitch shot or three quarter wedge shot are mini versions of the full swing and the short irons can be swung slower to better accomodate your feeling of the changes you're trying to achieve. The high lofts on these clubs will make the outcome of your shots more forgiving and thus increase your confidence and motivation to stick with the new technique as well as better conserve your physical energy so you can extend your practice sessions.

You'll find that if can make a crisp pitch shot or wedge shot you can also hit a crisp 5 iron and plus you are gaining valuable short game feel that is necessary for scoring inside 100 yards. Good luck.

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