Practice? You Talkin' Bout Practice?!

Over the last several months, I have been thinking a lot about the the subject of practice. What is the most efficient and effective way to become a better golfer? This area of our great game has been explored by many experts in golf and sport. Golf is particularly challenging because we rarely practice where we compete. We spend our hours on a range or a short game area with zero consequence for a wayward shot or missed putt. Golfers make swings on a perfectly flat range with perfect lies, and stroke putts on a green where the contours have been memorized over time.

There must be a better way to spend our time AND become better players! From reading about sport and practice, game simulation is where the money is. But this type of practice is the kind golfers ignore. However, I am starting to believe that simulation is by far the most effective way to practice. Over the summer, I have come across some unique simulations in realms outside of golf that support this notion.

WILLIS TOWER AND THE FLOW STATE

As described in the book, The Rise of Superman, a crew of professional adrenaline junkies were hired for a wingsuit formation jump. This wouldn't be out of the ordinary, except it was for a movie set. If you don't know what wing suit jumping is, note this photo below:

Usually, these types of movie stunts are animated. And, for good reason. But, the producer of this blockbuster movie, Transformers: Dark Side of the Moon, wanted no part of a fake stunt. He wanted the real deal. So JT Holmes was charged to lead a group of RedBull Air Force members to jump off Willis Tower in downtown Chicago for this big budget film. At a height below regulation. With unpredictable winds (from the upflow of air movement between buildings, something wingsuit jumpers avoid at all costs). In formation. With an "S" curve (required to dodge other skyscrapers flying at the team at speeds over 100mph). Oh, and there will only be one take. Thank goodness. To a normal person, this is obviously frightening, certifiably insane, and absolutely impossible to practice or simulate.

However, JT isn't your average adrenaline junkie. He did something no other stunt man has ever requested; a month long training session prior to filming . He chose the Alps because these particular mountains provided near vertical cliffs to help simulate the jump off Willis Tower. Hopefully, the team would experience the wind upflow expected at the top of the Chicago skyline. The teams' survival was dependent on this training, and a brilliant move by JT. The team would literally needed ESP to fly the correct formation to avoid other skyscrapers on their flight, and more importantly, survive. Between team members, they had over 80,000 jumps recorded. The team didn't need more experience. They needed to become one supercharged flying unit. During the Swiss training, they studied each others' minute movements and built trust within the unit of thrill seekers. As described in the book, the team reached a flow state in the successful jump off Willis Tower; an emotional, physical and chemical response -- together as a unit. What a beautiful thing! I can only believe this flow state, and therefore successful jump, occurred because of the simulated practice the team did together in the Alps.

VIVA LAS VEGAS

Recently, I was listening to one of my favorite podcasts, This American Life. Ira Glass and his staffers did a two part series on how "Cops See Things Differently". One of the stories highlighted the Las Vegas police, which peaked my interest regarding simulation in practice.

From 2007-2011 the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department (LVMPD) had shot over 100 people. Eleven of them were unjustified, and 8 of those 11 were unarmed black men. Needless to say, these statistics make the LVMPD look pretty terrible. Something needed to change, so the Department of Justice conducted a year long review of the entire police force. In the end, over 75 recommendations were made to the LVMPD.

Listen to the podcast here:

What I found interesting was that 1/3 of the recommendations were training based. More importantly, recommendation #28 included a Reality Based Training program. In an empty parking lot, the LVMPD created simulations of actual confrontations the police have experienced on the streets of Las Vegas. Props helped create the most realistic situation possible (minus real bullets, thank goodness). The goal of these training sessions were to find alternative solutions to de-escalate the situation. The cops were forced to make real time decisions with unpredictable actions from the fake perpetrators.

Interestingly, the current police chief points to this Reality Based Training program as the number one reason the LVMPD has made such a rapid turnaround. Of all 75 recommendations, the Reality Based Training made the biggest difference. In 2014, the Las Vegas police department had zero, yes ZERO (!) unjustified shootings by the police. Practice makes perfect, even when it comes to criminals, racial profiling and real time decisions in the heat of an intense moment.

SIECKMANN & HIS SHORT GAME BOOK

On a more golf related note, James Sieckmann, who is a short game coach for 100's of PGA and LPGA Tour players separates his practice sessions into three distinct categories. This breakdown of sessions makes a lot of sense to me; 1/3 technical work, 1/3 random practice and 1/3 simulation. It's a great way to generally structure a practice, and the best concept I've read to date.

Technical work is exactly what it sounds like. Drills, mirror work and careful movements that are left brain focused.

Random work still has a technical flavor, but you are changing every shot you hit, and going through your entire physical routine. An example would be to hit one ball with a 7 iron to a target going through your entire routine. On the next ball, we chose a different club and target, starting our routine all over again. Again, some technical thought can still be within your routine and thought process.

Simulation practice requires us to achieve some type of goal. You can't leave your practice session until that goal is accomplished. We could take our 7 iron, and the goal would be to hit 3 shots in a row that land within 10 paces of a target, but only on the left side of the flag stick. The key is our routine (both physical and mental), is focused on being an athlete, and no technical thoughts are present.

Many players end up spending way too much time on technical work in their practice sessions. As golfers, we tend to get sucked into the technical perfection vacuum. We know we need to simulate, but our desire to hit the same shot over and over again pulls us. Perfecting our swings, chipping, or putting is like going undefeated in major league baseball. It's virtually impossible.

From the examples above, simulation practice is the most valuable time you can spend on your game. But that's only if you if you truly want to improve as quickly as you can. This is hard. This takes more time and therefore more discipline. You even FEEL like you aren't getting better. But, you are! Technical work is important, but will only take you so far. In REAL golf, you only get one chance to hit a decent shot, and you will never have that exact shot again. Ever. Golf is a beautiful game for so many reasons, and this pursuit of impossible perfection is what we love the most. It's what pulls us in....the desire to perfect a game that just won't let us. The best we can do is make sure our misses aren't so bad and capitalize on the good ones we are fortunate to strike.

So, get out there and simulate!!!