Blocked vs Random Practising If you struggle to take your range game to the course then there's a good chance you are practising the wrong way! Learning new skills is best by using blocked practise whereas learning to play better on the course you should be using random practise. Blocked practising 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 practised for years. Random practising is when you perform a number of different tasks in no particular order, thus avoiding or minimising consecutive repetitions of any single task. In golf that means changing targets and clubs, ideally, every shot. Research shows specifically block practising results in a false sense of accomplishment and an artificially high level of performance during practising and proves to be ineffective as it relates poorly to playing the game of golf. Random forms of practise will have poorer practise results but lead to better on course performance. Golfers who practise under random conditions demonstrate superior retention compared to those who block practise. 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) – quite different from producing numerous repetitions of the movement in the same situation over and over. I would suggest using blocked practise after your lessons to reinforce the method then before your next game use random practise to help prepare you for the course. A good drill is to play a mock round of the course you are next playing on the range. i.e switching clubs after each shot as this is what you'll be doing when you play!

Try random practise before your next game and I’m sure you’ll notice the difference.

Shane