Mental Game of Golf: Thoughts from Kenny G

Tyler reporting to you from gloomy San Diego. Yes, gloomy. In May and June they have this cloud they call the “marine layer” that in from the ocean every morning and then goes back out to see as the day warms up. So don’t worry, the sun will be back later. Enough meteorology.  Let’s get on to the post.

Last time I talked to you about Kenny G and that basketball player who’s name I won’t be mentioning for a while out of respect. In doing my research for that post I came across an interesting interview with Kenny G before the Honda Classic this year. If you want to read the whole article, Here it is, but I’m going to comment on the one comment that I found most interesting.

Kenny G is part of a select group. There are probably only a small group of people who have been able to experience immense pressure in more than one venue. Kenny has played concerts for tens-of-thousands of people and played in golf pro ams for tens-of-thousands of golfers. When asked about this, he responded.

Q. How do the nerves of playing in a Pro-Am, whether it’s people lining in the fairway, compare to a packed arena?
KENNY G: The golf is a lot tougher, way tougher. I mean, on the saxophone, you know, if you practice — here is the thing about golf. You can practice and not get better. (Laughter) You really can. If you practice a musical instrument, you’re going to get better. It almost doesn’t matter how you practice, but just practice. But golf, if you practice golf incorrectly, you can make yourself worse.

So when I step up on a stage in front of a crowd, and I grab my saxophone, I kind of know that if I put my fingers like this, I’m going to hit an E. It’s going to happen. If I hold a golf club and try to hit I draw starting on the right side of the fairway and bring it to the middle, I don’t know if it’s really going to happen.

. But that’s the difference. So you’re a little more nervous playing golf. I am, anyway.

Ok, it’s no news that Kenny G could get nervous playing in a pro-am. He is supposed to, he is the am. But he has a great insight about practicing and not getting better. I see players all the time who tell me that they practice 4 hours a week and play twice a week and it doesn’t always carry over. My next comment is always the same, “how are you practicing?”  I usually get a less than idea answer.

Kenny G is right, you can practice and practice and practice and get worse at this game if you are not careful.  But how can we avoid that?  Well, Pia and Lynn have a great book called, “The Game Before the Game” that talks about some practice strategies, but here are some general guidelines to make sure what you are doing sticks.

There are 2 ways worth practicing: Block and Random.  Both are valuable but both must be included to have success.  Think of it this way, block is practicing your jump shot, while random is playing in a scrimmage.  Let’s apply it to golf.

Block Practice

Block practice is good for working on swing mechanics, shot shaping, and pre-shot routines. If you are practicing the mechanics of your swing, make sure you have a VERY specific goal with a way of measuring success. If that is a shaft in the way to keep you on plane, then success is not hitting it. If you hit for an hour and I come over and ask you how your practice session went and you respond with something like, “I got it, if I just relax my index finger on my right hand I hit it great” then consider this practice session a waste. What you did was find a rhythm to help make your mechanics work today. Those rarely carry over day to day, and usually result in solidifying your swing faults.

Random Practice

This is where your money is made on Sunday. When a golfer is learning to compete, not just play, the recommended breakdown is 30 percent block practice and 70 percent random. Do the math really quickly. Let’s say you go to the course for an hour. That means if you are training to score 18 minutes of that hour would be spent hitting the same club in succession, at the same target. This applies to the whole practice session and includes putting, chipping, pitching, bunker etc. I see far too many golfers virtually skip this part of practice and then wonder why their swings get better but the scores don’t drop. If you want your scores to drop, make random practice a priority.

A quick way to make random practice part of your routine is to play holes on the driving range. Here is how you play. Let’s say the first hole at the course you are playing this weekend is a par 4, that means the first shot you will hit will be your driver. If you hit a good drive, then guess how much you will have left into the green, pull that club and pick a new target. If you miss hit that iron shot, then hit a pitch shot. Consider the wasted ball to the driving range a penalty for miss hitting your shot. Go through your preshot routine on every ball and give yourself 2 putts for every green hit and 1 putt for a well struck chip/pitch. I would do this for weeks before important tournaments and found great success in the comfort it provided me.

To quote my mentor, Greg Rose, “Try it at home for a better golf game.”