Practice makes perfect

Practice can make perfectbody, in turn, responds. When throwing a ball or
When you practice, do you just hit and hope, thinkinghitting a baseball, the body and arms move as a
that eventually, after you have hit many, manyresponse to your intention to throw or hit. You do
practice shots, the “Golfingnot think about your legs and body; you focus solely
Godsâ€￾ will bestow uponon the outcome.
you the mythicalIn golf, the body does and must move, but not to
ve got it now!â€￾ secret?fling the hands/arms/club into the swinging motion
Or are you like Jack Nicklaus, who said he neverback and down. The benefits of hitting the ball this
practiced without a firm plan. He always practicedway is that the body does not wrench itself to
with a certain goal in mind for each session.create the motion of the swing, thereby causing
At The Martin Green Golf Academy, students arestrain and injury to itself.
taught that the body responds to the motion of theThe body should be passive and respond to the
swing and that practicing is more than just bangingswing created by the hands and arms. You
ball after ball into the vast space of the driving range.don’t hold the body still,
Here are some basic practice guidelines:but instead let it comfortably respond. That is why a
1. When working on your technique, do it without acorrect setup is vital.
ball and do it slowly so you can feel and see (use aHere’s an example of the
mirror if possible) the exactness of the motion.ideal hitting action: Imagine taking a driver with zero
2. When working on different kinds of shots, such asloft and, in one blow, completely drive a six-inch nail
fades and draws, try to work your shots aroundinto the base of a tree. Throughout the swing, you
targets (i.e. a flag, a tree or a marker). It really helpskeep your view of the nail head constant (i.e. a stable
your eye and feel for the shots.head) and make the swing without flinging your body
If there are no target objects where you practice,about to generate force (no control).
then try to hit your fades from the right side of theInstead, you allow your body to comfortably respond
practice tee and your draws from the left side. Thisto the swing/hitting motion of the hands/arms/club.
will help you see the actual amount of movementThis is very close to the ideal hitting action.
you are getting on your shots.How you would need to do this should be very
Here are some unique ideas and swing thoughts.similar to your golf swing: a constant, unchanging
There seems to be aview of the nail or tee; hands controlling the club;
¾ away from lots of body motion during thearms swinging, body motion stable and responsive.
downswing. Tiger Woods had worked hard since hisIt’s an easy drill. Take
early days on the PGA Tour to slow his hips and legsyour driver and swing it back and forth from address
during the downswing.to the top and back to address with out stopping.
David Ledbetter believes amateurs tend to use theirDo this several times.
bodies too much during the downswing. This fault isWhile doing this, notice how your body stabilizes,
hardly surprising when virtually everything you readyour hands take charge, your arms awing, your eyes
tells you to start your downswing with the hips andmaintain and unchanging view and your body follows
or legs sliding and/or turning and miraculously yournaturally and athletically.
arms and hands and club will follow down in thePractice this technique a few times to stimulate your
correct path.thought processes and help train your body to create
If this were true, hitting good shots would be asa more stable base and you will see some real
easy as falling off the proverbial log.improvement in your golf swing
Your hands control the club and cause its motion. The