The new golf season has begun and for many of us, our clubs have been stored away for the winter months. If it has been a while since you last hit a golf ball, I suggest a few trips to the range to get those clubs swinging again! But for these first practice sessions, your focus should be very specific.
I suggest you only bring your pitching wedge. Yes, that’s right, leave the other clubs at home! Why? Because your goal is to focus on two main objectives. First, get your body used to swinging the club again, and second, to focus on getting good ball contact.
Why just the pitching wedge? The reason is that the shorter clubs are easier to hit and since this session is more about getting back the feel for the golf swing, we do not need to worry about hitting different or longer clubs.
For these initial sessions, here are the guidelines to follow:
- Before you start, make sure you warm up your body with some light calisthenics and stretching.
- Take your time. Do not rapidly hit balls. Before every shot, go through your pre-shot routine. Visualize the shot you want to hit and to where.
- Take extra practice swings before hitting each ball so that your body can start to get used to the feel of the golf swing again.
- Throughout the session, build up toward your full swing. Start out with short quarter swings, build to half swings and ultimately full swings.
- Focus on getting good ball contact. After a long time not playing it might take a while for that good ball contact to become more consistent.
- These sessions should be relatively short, maybe only 30 to 40 minutes. The goal here is quality, not quantity.
The above guidelines will allow you to get the most out of your initial sessions, and can be continued for two or three range visits until your swing starts feeling good and the ball contact has improved. For subsequent sessions, start introducing the longer clubs.
Additionally, many of the above guidelines can always be followed so that your practice sessions remain focused and purposeful, ensuring you are working toward true improvement.