I n the Winter edition of NCGA Golf Magazine, Anne Walker, the head coach of the No1 ranked Stanford women’s golf team, says that almost all of the practice drills the Cardinal perform are designed to stimulate competition.
According to Walker, practice at the elite level consists of trying to re-create what it feels like in the middle of the round – the ups and downs, highs and lows of trying to post a low number.
She states that for the Stanford women, it’s easy to head out to their state-of-the-art practice facility for 2-3 hours and brainlessly beat balls, but it’s not necessarily productive (and can be counterproductive).
Instead, Walker wants her squad to go out and learn to deal with frustration, excitement, opportunity and the weight of the consequence of each shot. To do so, they try to re-create situations that they are likely to face in tournament play.
As Walker explains, they’ve found this is the best way to move the needle and take what you learned in practice into tournament competition.
Apply Walker’s tips to your own game by reading the article and watching a video