Evaluating How You Choose to Practice is Key to Improving in Golf

At the conclusion of its 2022-‘23 season, the NCAA Division 3 men’s basketball team representing Swarthmore College ranked out as the fourth best program in the entire nation (-for D-3).

Better known for its Ivy-League level academics than any of its sports’ programs, Swarthmore tends to attract the most intelligent student-athletes; an advantage that typically plays out in academia as opposed to athletics. Recently, however, the Swarthmore Garnet’s basketball-program dispelled that notion by leveraging the institution’s innately superior critical-thinking skills to bolster its performance at the free-throw line; as evidenced thru the PA-school’s Division 3-leading mark of 76.64 (%) in free-throw (make-) percentage.

While this ranking happens to be based on (the most or-) a minimum of 500 free-throw attempts within the 2022-‘23 season, Swarthmore still ranks 15th in all of Division 3 from the charity-stripe (via percentage); and the team’s 535 free-throw attempts exceeds each of the top 14 schools’ FT-attempts by at least 39. Not to mention the fact that Swarthmore sunk at least 20 more free-throws (410 to 390) than any other top-15 team in free-throw percentage during the 2022-‘23 season.

Regardless of your specific conclusion, Swarthmore’s kids converted their free-throws at a higher clip than 9 of the NBA’s 30-teams last season; including the best team in the world, the Denver Nuggets (76.1 %). In other words, it’s safe to say that Swarthmore has a pretty good idea of how to handle the free-throw line. Moreover, the D-3 basketball-players’ approach to improving their free-throw shooting involves the kind of practice that readily applies to not just basketball but golf, too.

For those of you who don’t know, a basketball player typically arrives at the free-throw line in order to shoot two-shots (/free-throws); with one being the minimum and three being the maximum. Not unlike how an accomplished golfer practices his short-putts, basketball-players are known for hoisting-up 10, 25, 50, and/or even 100 free-throws in a row to sharpen their skills.

Before Tiger’s back became a recurring issue, the 15-time major champion employed a practice routine where he’d sink 100 three-footers in a row. On the hardwood, it’s not uncommon for excellent free-throw shooters like J.J. Redick and Steph Curry to drain 50 consecutive free-throws during practice. While stressing repetition in a practice environment probably won’t hurt you, there are times when it might not be the most effective/efficient option that’s available to you.

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On the greens, obviously our goal is to find the bottom of the cup in as few strokes as possible; and taking more than two-putts on any green is problematic. Once I two-putt for (my-) par on the first-hole during the typical 4-hour 18-hole round, there’s a good chance that I won’t hit my next-putt (on the second-green) for another ten-minutes or more. For this reason, striking five-or-six 3-footers from the same-spot on the practice-green hardly mimics the actual experience on the course.

Not only do we never strike the same-putt twice (or back-to-back) on the actual course, but we’re rarely hitting more than 3 putts in a few minutes’ time; and hopefully less than 3. In summary, opting in favor of practice-routines that resemble actual-golf can go a long way in helping you reach your potential on-the-course.

On Swarthmore’s journey to college basketball’s promised-land, known as “The Final Four”, the Philly-suburbanites executed from the free-throw line; a facet of the sport that can’t be emphasized enough during crunch-time. In order to beat the the best-teams, you must survive a lot of close-games by making your free-throws.

In the closing-stages of any good-game, players are often exhausted and forced to finish the job by converting their free-throws. With the pressure of do-or-die inevitability permeating the free-throw shooter’s body, he leans on his preparation to guide him through that massive moment. The same applies on the putting surface; in many respects.

Simulating in-game (or round/match) settings to the best of your ability is what practice should be all about. Swarthmore’s high-achievers in-the-classroom and on-the-hardwood did just that when they started varying their charity-stripe practice-methods. During team-practices, they began shooting free-throws only in pairs and when they were gassed (/tired).

Behind the scenes, these student-athletes watched hours of game-tape while keying in on their pre-shot routines before taking the practice-floor to implement the tweaks/changes that ultimately produced repeatable, comfortable, and reliable routines and, thusly, better results.

In the process of adding nuance to its practices, Swarthmore assumed a brand new identity; one which was heavily criticized by outsiders. Specifically, Swarthmore raised eyebrows in the fall of 2022 when its players were running an outside-the-box drill that; at least on-the-surface, seemed quite odd; if not counterproductive.

Strangely enough, the Division 3 ballers began to practice their free-throws by shooting them from various (different-) distances. In other words, they were practicing their free-throws by shooting non free-throws. For contextual purposes, you should know that free-throws are always shot from a (minimum-) distance of 15 feet; unless you happen to be a head-case or a very bad free-throw shooter like former-76ers’ centers, Dwight Howard and Andre Drummond, (both-) were.

While it’s true that Swarthmore willingly shot its “free-throws” from 14, 16, and 18 feet during practices, it’s also true that Swarthmore’s coaching-staff isn’t thick; and you better believe that they did their due-diligence before taking such action.

Trying to steer clear of complacency’s wrath (even) as the wins kept coming during its 2022-‘23 season, Swarthmore was keen on staying fully engaged-&-focused at all costs; and injecting creativity into its practice-plans allowed the team to maintain the proper frame-of-mind. By constantly varying practice-sessions in substance, pace, and style, it’s widely believed that the technique’s inherent newness provides the athletes/shooters with a unique mental-&-physical challenge.

Ultimately, suggestions have been made that (introducing-) this randomized/varied- practice is extremely beneficial as it triggers an overwhelmingly positive response from its participants. Said another way, shooting “non foul-shots” while still practicing foul-shots mitigates the athlete’s overall-exposure to mental, physical, and emotional fatigue.

The heat of competition naturally piques our senses and drives our adrenaline through the roof. As a competitive round unfolds, we’re fully immersed in the task at-hand and the environment itself feels, at some level, louder than we’re used to during practice. Straight-drives feel that much straighter, birdies feel even better, bogeys feel even worse, and clutch par-saves feel bigger.

There’s a certain intensity to tournament golf that’s extremely difficult to capture once you’re removed from it, and impossible to replicate. Unlike the game of golf, basketball happens to be a fast-paced game that’s played on a team-oriented basis. But, succeeding at the free-throw line is a strictly individual-effort within an environment that’s been slowed down considerably. In that sense, the hardwood is a lot like the golf course.

Before falling to Christopher-Newport University, 69-66, in D-3’s Final-Four, the Swarthmore Garnet snuck past Nichols College at the Elite-Eight, 78-77, and its superior free-throw shooting played a pivotal role. Although the Garnet made just five free-throws in the elite-eight, they had only five-attempts for the entire game; while Nichols missed three of its fourteen foul-shots in the round-of-8 matchup.

A couple days later, Swarthmore was hoping against all odds that it could pull off a magnificent upset over the eventual national-champs in Christopher-Newport; and almost did just that in spite of their formidable opponent’s athleticism-&-overall skill/ability. During the Garnet’s second-half comeback against the Captains of CNU, Swarthmore showed incredible poise and guts (and-) at the free-throw line while the favorite nobly defended its higher seeding by staving off the underdog’s runs time and time again.

With that being said, CNU found itself in a bit of a pinch once the team’s mediocre free-throw shooting came to light; allowing for minimal breathing-room. In holding-on till time-expired, Christopher-Newport certainly punched its ticket to the natty ‘ship; but it also added undue stress to that cause by sinking just fifty percent of its second-half free-throws (8 of 16) and 15 of its 24 free-throws for the entire game.

By comparison, Swarthmore attempted 17 free-throws and sunk all 17, with 15 of them coming in the second-half. Had Swarthmore only converted 13 of its 17 attempts and CNU dropped 18 of its 24; which would’ve also meant that both schools made at-least 75 percent of its free-throws, Christopher-Newport would’ve won the game handily; instead of clipping the Garnet by one three-ball.

Before the Golden Bear even lettered in golf at Ohio State or captured his pair of U.S. Amateur titles, Jack was an All-State basketball player at Upper Arlington high school and dropped 18 points per-game his senior year. Since then, Jack’s spoken to the similarities between shooting free-throws and putting on numerous occasions. In fact, one of Nicklaus’ former playing-partners currently spends his days casually playing-&-working at Spring Ford Country Club in Royersford, Pennsylvania, and has memories of Nicklaus shooting free-throws in between rounds of golf.

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Another man of Nicklaus’ era and one of the greatest free-throw shooters in history, Hall-of-Famer Rick Barry, is best remembered for shooting his free throws underhand. Although today’s players would probably be mocked for shooting free-throws like Barry did, this doesn’t mean that the Ben Simmons’ of the world shouldn’t be willing to take action to improve their free-throw shooting.

The same principle applies to putting. It doesn’t matter what your stroke looks like when your ball is finding the bottom of the cup; as is the case when the ball has different plans (to a degree). In other words, do what works for you and trust that your stroke is good enough to get the job done.

Lastly, in golf and in life, don’t be a duck. Just because the other players on the practice-green (w/ you) each have three-balls and are hitting the same putts from the same spots over and over again doesn’t mean you should join them. In golf, we never hit the same shot from the same spot twice in a row; unless we pump one OB. On the greens, we’re never hitting the same putt twice in a row. I simply don’t understand why so many players choose to practice their putting in this fashion.

Practice your putting like Swarthmore practices their free-throws; which entails simulating a real game (or round/match) to the best of your ability and honing in on your routine. Don’t be afraid to do something that you think might work; no matter how it looks. As long as the ball finds the cup (or hoop), you’re in a good spot.

If you want to be in a so-so spot, hit the same club to the same-flag dozens of times in a row at the range. If you want to be in a better one, hit a half-dozen consecutive-shots playing the first three-holes in your head.

Whatever you do, don’t do what “everyone else is (/seems to be) doing”. Chances are, they don’t have the slightest clue.

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