Golf Flow

top of the backswing, which means you would not be focused on either impact or target. Therefore, you need to designate the purpose of your practice.
    If you have a lot of time before you have to play another competitive round of golf, then it is fine to focus your attention on particular aspects of your golf swing. This approach is helpful in crafting the habit that you need.
    If, however, you need to ingrain habits while also playing competitively, then your practice sessions should look very different. Many of my players use the three–four rule. They hit three balls while putting their focus on the technical skill that they are trying to habituate. They then hit four balls simply thinking about their target. They rest for a few moments and again hit three balls focusing on the technical skill and hit four balls simply thinking about their target.
    Regardless of whether you are practicing exclusively to ingrain a skill or trying to develop a skill while still trying to play, you may want to end every practice session with the six-shot drill. The six-shot drill consists of trying to hit the following shots while visualizing nothing but the shape of the shot:
Low draw
High draw
Low straight
High straight
Low fade
High fade
    The six-shot drill is effective because it habituates all the skills required not only for technical excellence but also for effective playing. It remains the most effective drill I have ever come across for helping golfers play better. (At the highest level of excellence, this becomes a nine-shot drill by adding a midlevel shot of each kind to the repertoire.)
    Practicing in rhythm is important. Indeed, developing the habit of rhythm in practice is the best way to ensure that you will keep your rhythm on the golf course, which, in essence, increases your probability for engaging the mechanisms that lead to flow.
    The implications of what we know about practice require that you
have a clear purpose for your practice session,
make sure that you are motivated enough to pay attention to what you are doing,
break your practice sessions into short segments by taking a break at least every 45 minutes, and
make sure that you practice with the right rhythm, tempo, and grip pressure because those skills will group together with the other skills that you are habituating.
    Practice sessions that are competitive or have measureable outcomes are always a good idea because they heighten the habit of concentration. One of the key challenges for golfers who move from college golf to professional golf is loneliness. College golfers have teammates to practice with, coaches to structure their schedules, and competitive qualifying rounds to play against one another. Pros, on the other hand, tend to spend countless hours traveling and practicing alone. This routine often translates to purposeless, sloppy practices. For that reason you should find a place where you can practice and play at a club where it is relatively easy to find a game with other players so that you can continue to sharpen your habit of competitive focus.
    Besides playing competitive matches on the golf course, drills with measurable outcomes help heighten your focus during practice. I suggest a drill to all my golfers, particularly my junior golfers, to help them be purposeful during their short-game sessions. The drill is called the Tucker Short Game Test (TSGT). Developed by master teacher Jerry Tucker, the TSGT helps students quantify their skills, measure their progress, compare their skills against professionals, and track their improvement. I have included it at the end of this chapter (with Jerry’s permission) so that you can see how it works. I have seen this tool improve the short game of many players. Most important, it gets them practicing with a purpose and myelinates the skills that translate to the golf course.
    Included in the version of the TSGT presented here are the results from a highly successful PGA golfer’s test at Jerry’s top-notch short game facility in Stuart, Florida.

Figure 18.1 Tucker Short Game Test results.

    Courtesy of Jerry Tucker.
    Your initial step toward practicing with purpose will focus on the part of the game that really matters: the short game. Specifically, visit www.jerrytuckergolf.com and download the test. Run through the exercises and drills and begin keeping a log of your progress. Make sure that you carve out time to record your scores and identify where you fall relative to other golfers who