The benefits of random practice

There are two types of practice you can do when practising golf: block and random.

Block is the type we see every day around the practice facility — the monotonous ball bashing, the aimless putting from hole to hole, or my favourite, the shag bag full of balls dropped and hit from the same spot to the same pin.

These types of tactics are great when practising a specific technique as it falls into the block practice category, but we need to understand when it’s time to bounce in and out of different forms of random and block practice.

In everyone’s defence, it’s really just a lack of knowledge on how to practise properly. For me as a golf coach, it’s about finding the balance of helping people deal with their technical issues as well as their practical ones.

Playing games and creating quantifiable challenges where you can repeat and beat previous goals is the best way to hold yourself accountable during practice and be specifically goal orientated.

Let’s assume you are practising for the goal of being able to execute your short game in highpressure situations on the golf course. Shouldn’t we try to simulate our practice time to mimic real on-course situations?

We see huge benefits while practising randomly, as we are forced to read and plan every single rep in this type of practice. You don’t get 50 attempts to get it correct on the golf course from the greenside rough during a real round, so why are we practising like that?

Next time you’re practising, try this pressure packed and competitive drill: • Take 10 golf balls and pick a hole. • Drop a ball every two paces leading away from the hole until you have five stations of two balls each.

• Hit the balls from each station, starting with the closest, while trying to achieve a proximity goal (five feet). You can also hit from back to front to mix it up.

• Give yourself one point for every ball that meets your goal.

• Challenge yourself or a friend to beat your score.

This will work wonders for your on-course golf game next time you encounter a pressurized situation. Simple bouts of random practice just like this will help keep your brain from going into autopilot during these minutes of deliberate practice.

I have countless deliberate practice challenges and encourage you to give me a call so I can help you practise in engaging, unique and pressurized situations like the best touring pros in the world do every day. It’s not just for them; this is for everyone! Casey Johnson is the head pro at Two Eagles Golf Course & Academy. Contact him at caseyj@twoeaglesgolf.com.