Creating a Smart Practice Routine – Don’t Get Caught in Lee’s Trap

Remember Lee Westwood, he held the hot potato that was the number 1 spot in the official world rankings after Tiger lost it back in 2010. Even though he held the number 1 spot, he did so with his exceptional ball striking and not with his short game which many on tour considered to be average. Like many amateur golfers, he started to work on one element of his game with more intensity then the rest of his game. Working on his weak short game, he failed to spend enough time on his full swing and his exceptional ball striking suffered.

Lee Westwood’s unfortunate fall from the number 1 spot stresses the importance of practicing your whole game. Photo courtesy of Flickr.

Strokes gained, is an accurate way to compare one golfer to the next due to the way that it is calculated. If we take a look at a few key stats we will start to shed light on how Lee’s mistake can help your own game.

In 2010 looking at total shots gained, Lee gained an average of 1.6 shots on the person standing next to him. What this stat means is that from any given point, Lee would be 1.6 shots better than his competitor from the same point. Now why was this? Back then he was averaging almost 300 yards per drive and was keeping the ball in play more times than not. In addition he was also hitting about 70% of the greens in regulation.

As with most golfers, the farther that you hit the ball and the closer to the pin that you are, the lower you will probably shoot. Trying to become better (especially in the Majors), he moved to south east Florida and worked on his short game so he could be more competitive on the PGA TOUR. As I said earlier, his short game has gotten minimally better but unfortunately, he has neglected his full swing to an extent that he has lost an entire shot from where he was in 2010. On top of that he is also hitting the ball almost 7 yards shorter of the tee and is only hitting 63% of his greens.

How his unfortunate fall from the number 1 spot helps your game is that it stresses the importance of practicing your whole game. This is never more important than when you make a change in your golf swing because it is easy to focus only on your golf swing and forget the whole game. To make sure you don’t fall into this trap, be smart about the way that you spend your time on the practice tee and divide your time in a way that mimics the way that you play golf.

Think about it, how often are you not within 50 yards of a par 3 in 1 shot, par 4 in 2 shots, and par 5 in 3 shots. What this means is that an average of 65-70% of the shots that you will take are not going to be full swings. Does it make sense that most people spend 90% of their practice time work on only 30-35% of their game (full swing)? Not really.

A practice routine that really works is to split whatever time that you have to practice up into 3rds. If you have 60 minutes to practice, spend the first 20 minutes working on your putting only. This allows you to mentally get into golf mode and loosen up your golf muscles.

The second 20 minutes, pick a couple of short game shots like hitting chips and pitches one day and bunker shots and short wedges another. The beauty of this is now you’re actually getting double the value of the bucket of balls you just bought because you’re hitting them twice and practicing your full swing fundamentals in a small swing.

In the last 20 minutes, hit 5 irons and drivers until your heart is content, but do so with a goal or plan so you’re not just swinging the club. The real value in this prescription is that you will be spending 2/3rds of your time practicing shots you are most likely to hit.

Long story short; don’t fall into Lee’s trap of only working on one aspect of your game. Split your practice up into thirds so all elements of your game get better not just one. Do this and you will start to play better golf.

Stats courtesy of PGATOUR.com