Have you ever heard people argue about the best way to practice golf?
Some will tell you to never hit the same club twice in a row. Others will say you need a launch monitor, a camera, a alignment stick station or a perfectly structured plan before pulling a bat from the bag.
I have been playing golf for over 30 years and I don’t believe there is a perfect way to practice.
The goal is not to find some kind of best practice. The goal is to know what your practice is doing, if it’s helping you, and what you need to change to get the result you’re looking for.
Quick Guide: What Kind of Practice Do You Need?
| If your goal is… | Use this type of practice | What do you do? |
|---|---|---|
| Fix a swing bug | Technical Practice | It helps you build or change a movement |
| Build comfort in one fell swoop | The Practice of Repetition | It gives you enough repetitions to build consistency |
| Know if your change is working | Feedback practice | It shows whether the feeling matches the reality |
| Perform better under stress | The practice of pressure | Adds consequences, points and accountability |
| Bring it to the course | Transfer practice | Makes practice look more like real golf |
1. Technical practice
Technical practice is when you are working on a specific part of your swing.
This could be the grip, wrist position, transition, low point, foot face, kick position, or anything else that needs a real mechanical change. The key to having a good technical practice session is to make sure you are focusing on one specific thing. Trying to fix the whole swing at once is a mistake.
This type of practice can involve exaggerated movements because the feel you need in the range is often much greater than the actual movement that occurs in the swing. If you’ve ever seen Justin Rose before hitting a golf ballthis is what i mean by an exaggerated movement.
Technical practice is not always about the perfect shot. Sometimes ball flight gets worse before it gets better because your body is learning something new.
When to use it:
Use technique practice after a lesson, after you’ve identified an obvious swing flaw or when you know exactly what motion you’re trying to change. Technical practice gives your practice a clear purpose and can work towards long-term improvement. The downside of technical practice is that it may not transfer immediately to the course, and it’s easy to get too complicated if you’re working too much at once.
How to do it:
- Select a swing priority.
- Use slower swings or shorter swings if necessary.
- Zoom in on the feeling.
- Don’t judge every shot just by the flight of the ball.
- Give yourself enough repetitions to understand the movement
2. The practice of repetition
Repetition practice is the traditional range session.
You pick a club, aim a target and repeat.
This type of practice is criticized because golf is not played this way on the course. You don’t hit 20 8-irons in a row on the same flag during a round. However, this does not mean that the practice of repetition is useless.
There are times when you need repetition. Whether you’re learning a new wedge distance, building confidence with a fairway, or trying to get comfortable with a setup change, repetition helps.
The mistake is when each interval session becomes nothing but repetition. You start hitting the ball quickly, stop going through a routine, and judge the session based on whether you’ve found a temporary rhythm. This rhythm can disappear the second you reach the first tee.
When to use it:
Use repetition practice when you need comfort, rhythm, or familiarity with a specific club, shot, or move. The downside is that if you only use repetition practice, you’ll be good at the range instead of good at golf.
How to do it:
- Choose a club and a target.
- Hit a small number of balls with the same general goal.
- Rest between shots.
- Track contact, starting line or distance control.
- Stop it before it turns to mindlessly beating the ball.
3. Feedback practice
Feedback practice is when you use something outside of feeling to tell you what happened.
This can be a release monitor, video, Divot Board, impact tapefoot spray, stretching sticksor initial line gateway or even a simple notebook where you trace patterns.
Golfers aren’t always good at knowing what they’ve done. You may feel as if the club face is square or that you are turned more. But feelings can be deceiving.
Measuring gives you a way to control your practice instead of just relying on ball flight or guesswork.
Practicing feedback doesn’t mean you have to obsess over numbers. It just means you need a way to know if the thing you’re practicing is showing up.
When to use it:
Use feedback practice when you’re making a change and need to know if it’s working. Commentary practice gives more structure to your session, but make sure you don’t start chasing numbers instead of better golf shots.
How to do it:
- Choose one thing to measure.
- Use a tool that gives clear feedback.
- Compare the feeling with what happened.
- Keep notes if you’re tracking long-term change.
- Do not follow every number immediately.
4. Practice with pressure
Pressure practice is where you add an outcome, consequence, or challenge.
Practicing pressure doesn’t have to be complicated. You can give yourself 10 balls and see how many finish within the target area, or you can create a ladder where each shot must finish in a different distance window.
When to use it:
Use pressure practice when you hit it well during occasional sessions but struggle to get it on the course. Practicing pressure takes discipline, but it’s worth it.
How to do it:
- Create a game.
- Set a goal and a point system.
- Use a limited number of balls.
- Record your score.
- Try to beat that score next time.
5. Transfer practice
Transfer practice is where your range session starts to look more like golf.
You change clubs and targets and go through your normal routine. You hit a shot and then continue as you would on the course.
This is the practice golfers need when they say, “I hit it well in the distance, but not on the fairway.”
On the course, you rarely hit the same shot twice. You hit the driver and then maybe a wedge. You hit an iron, then a pitch. You aim for different targets, deal with different clubs and make decisions before every move.
Transfer practice is less about honing a swing and more about playing golf.
When to use it:
Use transfer practice when your range swing doesn’t show up on the course. You’ll feel more like you’re playing real golf on the range. Sometimes it’s hard to practice like this if you’re working on a technical change.
How to do it:
- Play an imaginary hole in the string.
- Change clubs after each shot.
- Choose a new target each time.
- Use your full pre-shot routine.
- Hit different trajectories or shoot shapes if that suits your skill level.
How these types of practices work together
The best players don’t use one type of practice all the time.
They know when to switch.
Here’s a simple way to think about it.
| scenes | Type of practice |
|---|---|
| I have to change something | Technical Practice |
| I need to know if I’m doing it | Feedback practice |
| I need more reps | The Practice of Repetition |
| I have to test it | The practice of pressure |
| I have to take him to the course | Transfer practice |
Final thoughts
I can’t tell you which type of golf practice is best.
The golfers who get the most out of their practice aren’t always the ones who hit the most balls or have the best technique.
Don’t ask, “Am I practicing enough?”
Ask, “Am I doing the right kind of practice for what my game needs today?”
