Do you know of any professional athlete that became successful without practice?  Sure, athletes like Michael Jordan or Lance Armstrong no doubt have a lot of natural abilities, but without regular training and practice there’s no way they would be as successful as they’ve been.  So it is with your own golf game – without golf swing drills and regular practice you’ll probably never see much of an improvement in your game.

Unfortunately many amateurs and hobbyists actually practice golf swing drills that are ineffective and which may hurt their swing.  How do you know if this is what you’re doing and what can you do to make sure your golf swing drills are actually helping, not hurting your game?

First keep in mind that many encourage amateurs to have golf swing drills no matter where they are and what they’re aiming at.  They’re told to go out in the backyard and swing away, even if it means aiming at the dandelions growing in the yard.  Unfortunately these types of golf swing drills are often ineffective and even hurtful.  How so?  While quite a bit of your swing will mean improving your grip, stance, rotation, follow-through, and elements like this, a lot will also depend upon how you make contact with the ball.  If you’re cocking your wrists too early or dragging your club before striking the ball, this will affect your swing.  Typically you can’t tell that you’re doing this if you’re not using an actual ball for your golf swing drills.  Hitting a dandelion or just swinging in the air isn’t nearly as effective as actually striking the golf ball.  That contact is like a gauge for how effective so many other elements of your swing are going to be.

This doesn’t mean that all golf swing drills need to involve striking a ball.  You may have certain parts of your swing that need addressing and you can do this without a ball in front of you.  For example many are encouraged to pretend they’re swinging inside of a barrel so they can learn to properly curve their swing rather than pulling the club straight up and then coming straight back down on the ball.  Obviously you can practice these types of golf swing drills without an actual golf ball.  You may also need to work on how you align your elbows, how you keep the club from running into your body, and so on.  These individual elements of a swing may not involve a ball and so they can be done on their own.

The bottom line is that your golf swing drills can and should involve time at a driving range as much as possible or be done with Wiffle balls when you’re out in your backyard.  A balance should be struck for practicing swings on their own and with balls so that you’re getting the maximum amount of benefit from your golf swing drills and aren’t hurting your swing overall.