Pia and Lynn from Vision54 are leaders in developing the entire athlete, not just the technical skills of an athlete. They talk about developing the Technical Skills, and the "Human Skills" at the same time.
To quickly assess if you are training your "Human Skills" ask yourself:
- Do I commit to the plan I made before executing the swing fully on all shots during my round of golf?
- Or did I change my alignment once I was over the ball?
- Or did I flip my wrists just before impact because I did not trust the ball would go high enough with the club and technique I decided on ahead of time?
- Do I worry about a hazard during my golf swing?
Golfers do this all the time on the golf course, but rarely work on the "Human Skill" of committing in practice.
So let us ask you a few questions about your practice habits.
- How many balls do you typically hit before switching clubs?
- Do you go through your full routine on every shot during practice? Or do you stay on the mat until you switch clubs?
- Do you have an exact target on each ball you hit?
- Do you have an exact idea of what a good or bad shot would be for you?
During play we switch clubs almost every shot, we assess the distance - wind - lie - etc, we pick an exact target, and we know where not to go before we hit the ball. You are most likely not doing this during practice though.
If you are not coming up with a clear plan in practice, your environment from practice to play will be so different. This can cause you to feel uncomfortable, and your performance will suffer for it.
So ask yourself this question. Do you treat every golf ball you hit during practice like you are on the golf course? If not, adjusting your practice habits may be the key to playing better golf this summer.