Article on Golf Practice Using' Random Practice Schedule'

[boogielicious]

From golfdigest.com

Interesting.  However, even if you practice randomly, if you are practicing the wrong technique, won't you still have problems?

You've been practicing golf all wrong, and there's science to prove it

By Sam Weinman

Have you been to the range recently? If so, you probably adhered to the typical range pattern, starting with some wedges, working your way through your irons, before moving on to hybrids, fairway woods, and then driver.

If you're like me, you probably hit a bunch of shots with a selected club and only agree to move on once you feel like you have that swing grooved. That's how a lot of golfers practice, and it's no different than musicians trying to master a difficult piece of music. Much like a golfer who will toil away at his 7-iron until he starts hitting it clean, a violinist, for instance, will repeat a certain passage of music until he or she feels they have it down pat.

That's called a "blocked practice schedule," and it's the way a lot of us have gone about learning a variety of tasks. It's also woefully ineffective.

Dr. Christine Carter is a clarinetist who wrote her dissertation on "contextual interference effect." It's a method that she champions for musicians, and which she expounds upon in a recent post on bulletproofmusicians.com. Golf is never mentioned, and yet the thinking directly applies to the way we work on our games.

As Carter writes, the problem with repetition is after a while our brains aren't as receptive, because what we really respond to more is change. We might feel like that 13th consecutive 7-iron felt pretty good, but we're still not learning it as effectively as we could. And unless you're playing a version of golf that requires you to hit 13 consecutive 7-irons, it's not applicable to a real golf situation.

"The fact is, repeated information does not receive the same amount of processing as new information," Carter said. "And on some level, we all know this. Constant repetition is boring and our boredom is telling us that our brains are not engaged."

Instead, what Carter advocates is called a "random practice schedule" where your brain has to constantly re-adapt. In music, it would mean bouncing around to different passages so you're constantly engaged. And in golf, it would mean different clubs: a driver, followed by a wedge, followed by a 7-iron. The goal is to still hit a bunch of one particular club, just not in a row -- which, of course, is how golf is played anyway.

For more see:

http://www.golfdigest.com/blogs/the-loop/2014/12/youve-been-practicing-golf-all.html

[Patch]

This random practice idea is how I was taught to practice way back when. Maybe 40+/- years ago. I still do it today, once I get warmed up. I even use my pre-shot routine in between those random practice shots. Sometimes I will use the course score card and play the 18 holes, if it includes the course's hole lay outs.

Yes, I have been told it's poor way to practice. I have also been told that practicing hard shots from bad lies is a bad way to practice. To each his own is all I have to say about those opinions.

[iacas]

Meh.

I think it's more important to focus properly ( ) like that rather than just telling people to "switch clubs frequently" or whatever.

If you want, switch clubs while doing the 5S method of practice. But don't just stand there and keep making full swings with random clubs. That may be better than grooving your 7-iron swing, but it's not the best way to practice.

If you don't get bored, or during the early stages where you're doing it at very low speeds, I don't even know that switching clubs will do much, as it's not at all about the club in your hands or the ball flight (I'm happy to change the picture even if I shank the ball, who cares, I'm not playing golf I'm practicing).

[Hammer 4]

Meh.

I think it's more important to focus properly ( ​ ) like that rather than just telling people to "switch clubs frequently" or whatever.

If you want, switch clubs while doing the 5S method of practice. But don't just stand there and keep making full swings with random clubs. That may be better than grooving your 7-iron swing, but it's not the best way to practice.

If you don't get bored, or during the early stages where you're doing it at very low speeds, I don't even know that switching clubs will do much, as it's not at all about the club in your hands or the ball flight (I'm happy to change the picture even if I shank the ball, who cares, I'm not playing golf I'm practicing).

I totally agree. At the range, I work on specific pieces, i.e. keys 1, 2, ect..Sure, I may smack a few balls to see if I'm improving, but to change clubs for the sake of hitting something "different" doesn't make much sense to me, anyway. Last night I worked on 2 things, my swing path, and my posture. I will say, I'm probably a slow learner, and do drills more than most people I see on the range, But, when I feel like I have the "feel" or the technique down pat, I'll hit some balls, maybe 10 to see that what I did, is now working for me.

Not to blow my own horn here, but last night, one of the regulars, actually came over and said how well my swing looks, compared to even a month ago, and the ball flight looks better. BTW, my range has full length mirrors, which I use a lot. That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.. Oh, I should add, that practice, and LSW's book, for sure is helping me play Much better golf..