Practice: what the research says about getting better.

Where to put your attention

External and internal focus

Gabriele Wulf (University of Nevada, Las Vegas) and Jiang Su (Beijing Sport University) tested this directly with golfers (Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport, 2007). They define an external focus as attention on the effect of a movement, such as the motion of the club, and an internal focus as attention on the body's own movements, such as the arms.

Their work built on an earlier study by Wulf, Lauterbach and Toole (1999), in which beginners practising pitch shots were considerably more accurate when they focused on the pendulum-like motion of the club than when they focused on their arm swing.

Wulf and Su's two experiments

The authors are careful about Experiment 2: it measured immediate effects with each golfer trying every condition, so it cannot show long-term learning. They suggest experts might benefit even more from a focus further away still, such as the ball's flight or the target.

Their explanation is the "constrained action hypothesis": focusing on body movements makes control more conscious and disrupts automatic processes, while an external focus lets the movement run automatically. They also cite studies showing reduced muscle activity, measured by EMG, under an external focus.

A disagreement about skill level

Perkins-Ceccato, Passmore and Lee (Journal of Sports Sciences, 2003) compared ten skilled golfers (mean handicap 4) and ten low-skilled golfers (mean handicap 26) pitching to targets 10 to 25 metres away. As summarised from the abstract, the skilled golfers did better with an external focus on the target, while the low-skilled golfers did better with an internal focus on swing form. Wulf and Su argue that this result was confounded, because the two sets of instructions differed in how much information they gave as well as in where they pointed attention.

Keogh and Hume's 2012 review in Sports Biomechanics came down on the external side overall: golfers improved more when they focused on the outcome of the swing or the movement of the clubhead than on specific body movements.

How to structure practice

Blocked or varied?

Keogh and Hume (2012) suggest that different golfers may need different structures:

• frequent, short sessions of blocked, error-free practice may suit novice putters;
• varied practice may suit skilled golfers;
• video, verbal or combined feedback can improve mid to short iron distances for novice to mid-handicap golfers.

The Challenge Point Framework

Mark Guadagnoli and Chris Bertram (International Journal of Golf Science, 2014) applied the Challenge Point Framework, first set out by Guadagnoli and Lee in 2004, to golf. Their focus is contextual interference: varying the practice task from shot to shot, rather than repeating one shot, as a way to build learning that holds up under stress. Success rates often quoted from Guadagnoli in golf media could not be confirmed from the original source, so they are not given here.

Deliberate practice and development

Rick Hayman and colleagues (Talent Development and Excellence, 2011) interviewed eight male adolescent amateurs with handicaps of plus 2 to plus 4 in English Golf Union international squads. These golfers had not specialised early or done long-term golf-specific deliberate practice. They played many sports in a playful environment, and deliberate practice appeared only after they were selected for international teams in late adolescence.

A follow-up by Hayman, Polman, Borkoles and Taylor (2013) ran a 13-week deliberate-practice putting programme with aspiring elite adolescent golfers. Putting improved for all participants, who were still practising that way at a five-month follow-up. The authors suggest deliberate practice may be introduced in late adolescence. The abstract does not state the sample size. There is more on young golfers on the juniors and seniors page.

Drills from named coaches

The other pages in this section include drills you can take to the range or the living room:

• Eric Alpenfels's halfway-back checkpoint and Martin Chuck's two takeaway checkpoints (the full swing).
• Dana Dahlquist's hold-the-finish balance drill (the full swing).
• Kevin Sprecher's mirror and impact-bag drills for shaft lean (iron play).
• Matt McLean's buried-tee splash drill (bunker play).
• Colin Sinclair's mirror drill for posture (grip and setup).
• The quiet-eye training studied by Vine, Moore and Wilson (2011), whose trained elite golfers took 1.92 fewer putts per round afterwards (putting).

Practice and the Rules

Under the 2023 Rules of Golf, in effect from 1 January 2023, Rule 5.2b says that in stroke play you must not practise on the course before a round on the day of the competition, except putting or chipping near the first teeing area and on practice areas. Rule 5.5a bans practice strokes while playing a hole, though a practice swing with no intent to hit a ball is not a practice stroke. The R&A says the next edition is due on 1 January 2028.