Blocked vs Random Practicing

Early season practicing. Bucket after bucket, swing after swing, you think. “If I just practice enough I’ll get it!”

Blocked practicing is when you repeatedly rehearse the same task. In golf this would mean hitting the same club to the same target for many swings, similar to the way many of us have practiced for years.

Random practicing is when you perform a number of different tasks in no particular order, thus avoiding or minimizing consecutive repetitions of any single task. In golf that means changing targets and clubs, ideally, every shot.

Research shows specifically block practicing results in a false sense of accomplishment and an artificially high level of performance during practicing and proves to be ineffective as it relates to playing the game of golf. Random forms of practice will have poorer practice results but lead to better on course performance. Golfers who practice under random conditions demonstrate superior retention compared to those who block practice.

During block practicing, golfers fail to practice as close to game like conditions as possible. When we play, golfers are called upon to produce a single repetition of a particular movement in any number of different situations (different targets, clubs, lies, distances) – quiet different from producing numerous repetitions of the movement in the same situation over and over.

Take the whole set of clubs out of the car at the range and happy practicing!
Glenn Cundari
CPGA National Facilitator - TCCP Program
Cundari School of Golf
www.cundarischoolofgolf.com