How to Correctly Practice Swing Drills Golf Experts Use to Improve Their Confidence on the Course

The most effective practice drills golf tour player's and leading amateur golfers use are the drills that are designed specifically to help them to make the transition from the practice tee to the golf course as easily and quickly as possible.

In this golf instruction article I'll explain how performing a golf practice drill correctly will significantly improve your chances of taking it to the golf course without the usual prolonged distress usually associated with golf swing changes using what I call the "5 D Success Formula."

The less complicated a change to your golf swing is, the faster you can adapt to the changes on the golf course. The biggest challenge facing any golfer is the fear that the change to your golf technique will leave you in a kind of "golf swing limbo" where you can't go back to your old golf swing, and you haven't got enough trust in your new golf swing.

So the more elements of a golf swing you have to focus on to improve your technique the more destructive it is to your golf confidence. Quite simply, if you're thinking about more than one swing thought as you swing the golf club you will more-than-likely fail to execute your golf shots with a high degree of precision and consistency.

A helpful way to understand this is to recognize two important factors in changing your golf swing with golf practice drills. One is the actual drill itself and the second is its level of complexity. When you focus on performing one simple training drill like cocking your wrists before you swing your arms back is a relatively easy exercise to accomplish.

However when you attempt to combine two practice routines at the same time, the complexity level jumps up significantly. Basically the complexity of the drill sky rockets for every additional component you add to your training drill. The simplest example I can share with you is the golfer who performs a particular technical drill on the driving range and at the same time attempts to hit his golf shot accurately to a target.

It might seem harmful-even easy to do and yet it is arguably the single biggest reason why amateur golfers struggle to make the transition from driving range to golf course. The whole idea behind performing golf practice drills is to facilitate a change in your golf technique faster and more effectively than just hitting golf shots and attempting to change your technique through repetition alone.

Golf practice drills help you to change a portion of your technique and integrate the change smoothly into your overall technique. The key is to reduce complexity, increase competency which ultimately leads to increased golf confidence on the golf course.

So how do tour pro's practice their drills? Very carefully, and by concentrating on one piece of the puzzle at a time. Tour pro's have discovered through countless hours of practice on the driving range that attempting to focus on performing a drill and trying to hit a perfect shot at the same time is the equivalent of speaking on your mobile phone whilst driving in traffic.

It's difficult to do, dangerous, and the outcome is not likely to be helpful in the long run.

The best type of practice drill is the one that helps you to hit your golf shot straighter and more solidly time and time again. This seems logical enough and yet it's surprising how many golfers practice drills that are not compatible with their particular problem.

For instance a golfer might be practicing a split hands drill where you hold each end of the grip with a gap in the middle to help facilitate the rotation of the club-face through the impact zone to straighten a persistent slice shot.

The problem in this example is that often this drill is used to try and fix an over-the-top downswing, whereas this type of drill is actually designed for the bottom of the swing, as opposed to the top of the swing which is where an over-the-top down swing problem originates.

You can waste a lot of hours toiling away at golf practice drills that are incompatible with your particular swing needs.

Here is the "Five D Success Formula" which is a practice drill framework you can follow that will make certain that you're on the right track as you go through the golf swing change process.

1. Decide specifically on what aspect of your golf stroke needs to be improved e.g. is it a top of the swing change or a bottom of the swing change?

2. Design your golf practice drill to get to the root cause of your swing problem by identifying its cause-effect relationship and its influence on your golf shots.

3. Dedicate the time needed to the change process by ensuring that you schedule a specific amount of time each week to focus on your practice drill repetition.

4. Detach yourself from the results of your drill. The idea is to perfect the drill not the ball-flight, so it's likely that your golf ball in the early stages of the change process won't be behaving like you want it to.

5. Delay the urge to use your new swing change on the golf course until you have complete confidence in it. Too often golfers hastily employ their new technique to the detriment of their performance on the golf course.

By following this practice drill framework you will keep your focus on habituating the most relevant part of your golf swing technique. You will need to repeat the practice drill you've chosen at least one thousand five hundred times before you start to reach the stage of development called "unconscious competence."

This is high trust stage of golf swing performance where you can hit golf shots without thinking about how you hit golf shots. Don't be put off by the amount of repetition required; you cannot achieve this superior level of performance without at least this amount of repetition so just give yourself the time to do the drill work.

Twenty five correctly performed drills per day for sixty days in front of a mirror at home and you'll have incorporated a new part into your golf swing technique. If you want to achieve it faster than that you can perform fifty repetitions three times per week for ten days and you'll create the same effect.

Either way, you should memorise this simple mantra; "repeat regularly to re-train and retain."

The positive side of performing your golf practice drills regularly is that they will lead you directly towards a great deal more golf confidence and ultimately much improved performances on the golf course which will translate into lower golf scores and far more enjoyment.

Lawrence Montague has been one of Australia's leading golf teaching professionals for more than twenty years and owns one of Australia's top golf schools at http://www.goldcoastgolfschool.com.au based on the Gold Coast in Queensland. He also co-owns Pro Tour Golf College, the only pro tour prep college for aspiring male and female golfers who want to play golf on tour based in Perth, Western Australia.

You can visit his popular golf instruction channel at http://www.youtube.com/user/golfconfidencepro where he has produced more than thirty free high quality golf video lessons to improve you golf game.

How to Correctly Weight Train for Golf Like Tiger, Vijay, and Phil

I often hear from amateur golfers about how training with weights makes them feel "tight" and it ruin's their golf swing. Traveling on the PGA Tour I disagree with this point of view completely. It is well known that the top players on the PGA Tour; Tiger, Vijay, and Phil workout regularly. They praise the benefits of their workouts in the development of their golf swing. I am a first hand observer of what they do in the gym on the days they play.

As a result, I see the reasons why amateurs do not workout as excuses rather than legitimate reasons. I would guess that the difficulty amateurs have with weight training or working out in relation to the game of golf is how to do it correctly. This article will discuss how to properly workout to improve your golf game.

Weight training is not bad for the golfer if done correctly.

Weight training done incorrectly is bad for the golfer.

This is where the amateur gets sidetracked, frustrated, and ends up thinking weight training is bad for golf. A typical weight training program found at many health clubs can be detrimental to the golf swing. These types of programs can make you feel "tight", adversely affect your golf game, and leave you frustrated.

The reason why these "generic" training programs are counter productive to golf is their inability take into account what is required of the body in relation to the golf swing.

Golfers need to be very aware of a few important concepts when weight training in relation to the golf swing. First and foremost, any training program for golf needs to be cross-specific. A cross-specific training program develops the body to the positions, movements, and requirements of the sport you participate in.

Granted everyone's swing is slightly different but the base components are the same. All golfers rotate around a fixed spine angle, transfer weight forward and back during the swing, generate clubhead speed, attempt to square the club at impact, and complete the swing in a balanced finish position.

The main goal of a cross-specific training program is develop your body physically around the golf swing. This induces what is termed a transfer of training effect onto the golf course. Simplified this states that the training you do in the gym pays off on the course in a positive manner.

Designing a weight training program for golf is a simple process if done correctly. The best place to start is with flexibility. Golfers need to be flexible. The golf swing requires you to move the club through a long range of motion, thus requiring your body to be very flexible. Areas of the body that typically require large amounts of flexibility for golf are; the hamstrings, lower back, hips, and shoulders. Oftentimes the amateur's swing can improve from just adding flexibility exercises to their training program.

Another aspect of a cross-specific training program for golf is balance training. Balance is the ability of the body to control its' center of gravity and body parts efficiently. Balance exercises address both the nervous and muscular systems of the body creating greater efficiency in its ability to control body movements and center of gravity.

After you have looked at the flexibility and balance components of a training program for golf, it is time to shift gears to the "weight training" side of the equation. The golf swing requires the development of strength within the muscles of the body. You need muscular strength to maintain a fixed spine angle, create an efficient weight transfer, and develop clubhead speed.

The development of strength in the muscular system is where the amateur commonly makes mistakes. Remember all the exercises in a cross-specific training program for golf must revolve around the movements of the swing, and create a benefit to your play on the course.

Typically, strength training is thought of as a group of exercises that create "bulk" and build the "beach muscles". Bench pressing 300 and developing biceps like Arnold does not mean you'll drive the golf ball 300 yards.

Developing strength for the golf swing is very different from "football" or "bodybuilding" strength exercises. The golf swing uses the whole the body, from feet to fingertips. As a result, golfers need to strengthen the entire body cross-specifically to the movements of the golf swing. A key to strength training exercises for golf is to integrate the entire body into the exercise patterns, rather than isolating a specific muscle (a.k.a. bicep curls and bench press).

For example, bicep curls may make you look great for the beach or fill out your golf shirt, but you do not swing the golf club with your biceps only. You use your entire body, and as a result the strength training part of your program, must incorporate the entire body. Exercises such as ball crunches, Russian twists, single leg squats are beneficial strength training exercises for golf.

Completing the template of a golf specific training program is endurance training. The golf swing is a repetitive movement. In a single round of golf the swing is repeated numerous times. A week on Tour might find players swinging the golf club well over 1000's times. As a result, it is necessary to develop the endurance capacities of your muscular system.

Developing endurance in your muscular system allows you to repeat a movement over and over again without getting tired, a key component of the golf swing. Once the body becomes tired, the ability to swing the golf club properly becomes impeded resulting in miss hits, lost distance, and poor shots. Bottom line, you need to make the same swing consistently to score consistently. Endurance training assists in this process.

To summarize; weight training and working out is beneficial to the golfer, if and only if it is done correctly. The wrong choice in the type of training program, exercise selection, or even exercise sequence can hinder your golf game. Choosing a training program that is cross-specific to the golf swing and induces a transfer of training effect onto the golf course is best. This type of program incorporates; flexibility, balance, strength, endurance, and power exercises relative to the golf swing providing benefits to your body and golf game.

About the Author

Sean Cochran is one of the most recognized golf fitness instructors in the world today. He travels the PGA Tour regularly with 2005 PGA & 2004 Masters Champion Phil Mickelson. To learn more about Sean and his golf fitness programs go to http://www.seancochran.com