Some Practice Tips

I know, I know. The pros may be playing in California and the Bahamas, where the weather is gorgeous, but the rest of us aren't so lucky. (When I took the dog out for a walk Friday, I looked like a refugee from the Charlie Brown Christmas special... and North Carolina isn't even getting the worst of it!) So why do a post on practice?



Eventually the weather is going to cooperate and let us get in a little practice. And we'll need it -- with all this cold weather, we're going to have a bit more rust than usual and have a little less time to get ready for the start of the season. Rick Sessinghaus of the PGA did this 4-page article at golftipsmag.com about practicing like a professional, and some of the ideas can be adapted to your living room.

I'm not going to summarize the article because it's basically a summary to begin with! However, I'll note a couple of his tips that you can use indoors, right now.

You can do some stretching. I don't have the ceiling height or floor space to make swings, but I can still make the "shoulder twists" Rick demonstrates in the article.

You can also check your alignment. You don't have to swing clubs to get comfortable with a correct address position. Best of all, you can watch TV while you stand in the proper position for short stretches!

As for the rest of the tips, you can begin thinking about them. Decide which areas of your game need the most work, perhaps start thinking about the best way (and maybe best times) to work on them. There are ways to do some of the work in your backyard, and that will allow you to get in 5- and 10-minute practice sessions once the weather improves. And once we reach that point, I'll try to include a few posts with ideas that won't require a special trip to the range.

In the meantime, we can at least dream about playing well...