Practicing to a target

Very often when I watch players practicing, they will be on a driving range with a square mat or on the grass with a club on the ground. They will take their address position, squaring themselves to the mat or the club and hit the shot without actually looking at the target.  They will then drag another ball in and go head and repeat the process; drag hit, drag hit. These players might be training their swing, but they are not training their target awareness.

When I watch the better players practicing, even if they are working on their technique, they will always be walking into the ball looking at their target, creating an awareness of where the target is and then practicing sending the ball towards that target.  A good way for you to realize if you have target awareness is the next time you are on the range, or even the golf course, take your address position and close your eyes; once closed, point your finger to exactly where you think the target is.  If you point at the target, that means your awareness is good. If not, you do not have awareness of where you are trying to strike the ball to.

Weather it is a putt, a chip, or a full shot, what you are doing in your routine is creating an image. Storing that image in the mind and then striking the ball towards that image, this is what great players do.  So when you are practicing, do not ignore practicing your target awareness.

Transcript

Hi, this is Robin Symes. I would like to talk to you today about alignment for target awareness. Very often, when I watch players practicing, be on a driving range with a square mat or a club in the groins. They will walk into their dress positions squaring themselves to the club in the groin or the mat. Go ahead and strike the ball without actually looking up at the target. Dragging another ball in and repeating the process. They might be training their swing, but they are not training their target awareness. When I watch the better players practicing, even if they are working on their technique, they will always be walking into the ball. Looking at their target. Creating an awareness of where the target is and then practicing sending the ball towards that target.

A good way for you to realize if you have target awareness or not, next time your on the range or even the golf course, take your dress position, close your eyes, and then point your finger exactly to where you think the target is. If you have pointed accurately towards your target, your awareness is good. But you might find that you’re ten or twenty meters away and that means that you really don’t have any awareness of where you’re trying to strike the ball to. You see whether it was a putt, chip, or a full shot, what you’re doing in your routine is you’re looking at the target, you’re creating an image, you’re storing that image in your mind, and then you’re striking the ball towards that image. So don’t ignore when you’re practicing improving your target awareness.