In these many years as a teaching professional, I have constantly come across regular golfers who get on the practice range and whack hundreds of balls with what I call a 'hit and hope' attitude. I feel they believe that after hitting enough balls, the Golfing Gods will magically bestow upon them the ability to hit straight and long. There seems to be no end to the supply of this breed of aspiring players.

Jack Nicklaus, one of golf's greatest players, said, "I NEVER practiced without a firm plan and ALWAYS practiced with a certain goal in mind for each practice session." Most weekend golfers manage to sneak in time to visit a practice range during the week to improve their game. They put in quite a few hours to get the ball airborne in a straight line and often manage to achieve reasonable success. Come weekend and back on the course, they just can't seem to repeat what they were doing in practice. Confused and aggravated, they wonder why. My answer is simply that their practice sessions are often executed without a goal or target.

Here are some guidelines for your forthcoming practice sessions:

1 When working on your technique, do it without a ball and do it slowly so you can feel and see (better if used with a mirror or camera) the exactness of the motion.
2 Always aim at something and practice.
3 Periodically check your alignment to ensure you are correctly lined up all the time. Also recheck your posture after each 20 shots or so.
4 Take a few seconds between each swing; hitting balls continuously one after the other usually results in more fundamental errors creeping into the swing and getting ingrained.
5 While working on your shots, if possible hit your fades and draws around a target object like a tree or a flag. It really helps you to get the feel for the shots. If there are no target objects to use, try to hit your fades from the right side of the practice tee and your draws from the left side. This will help you see the actual amount of movement you are getting.
6 Always watch the ball flight. See how it starts and how it finishes. You can actually identify faults on your swing plane, if any, from the ball flight. If your ball starts left and finishes right that means you are hitting the ball with an 'out to in' swing path with an open club face. Conversely, if the ball starts on the right of the target line and finishes left, you are hitting the ball with an 'in to out' swing path and a closed club face.
7 Rhythm is very important for consistent shot making. When practicing be conscious of the speed of the swing. Be aware that after hitting about 100 balls, the swing speed accelerates automatically.

In 2002, I had the opportunity to watch top golfers from around the globe at a European Tour event. Believe me, when practicing they were taking approximately 30 seconds to hit a single ball. So it is really not how many you hit, it is how you hit.

Next time you practice, keep the above points in mind. Practice is both about training the mind and the body. It creates a more stable base to play from. You can be assured that this will soon lead to an improvement in your game.