Golfers are often encouraged to make their practice as varied as possible. Change clubs, change targets, vary distances and introduce different lies.
That sounds logical because hardly any situation on the golf course repeats itself exactly.
But it raises an important question:
Is more variation automatically better for learning?
Research does not provide such a simple answer. Learning can also take place under stable conditions. A golfer can improve a skill by practising it repeatedly under similar conditions. We see this every day in our lessons at Capdepera Golf.
A particular pitch shot, iron shot or technical change can become increasingly reliable through repetition. Variation is therefore not essential for learning or stabilisation to take place at all.
The more interesting question comes afterwards:
How well does that skill remain available when the situation changes?
This is where variation takes on a different role. Not as much variation as possible, but appropriate variation.
What the study shows
A motor learning study investigated different amounts of variation in a throwing task. All groups improved. However, the group with low variation showed the greater reduction in error.
The authors point out that the amount of variability already present in a golfer’s performance should also be considered before additional variation is introduced into the practice task. (PubMed)
That is interesting for golf because it relates directly to our daily work.
What this means for our golf coaching
A golfer whose strike, start line and distance already vary considerably brings a great deal of variability into the task.
If we then constantly change the club, target, distance and lie as well, the task does not automatically become more effective for learning. It may simply become more difficult.
For a player whose skill is already more reliable, however, expanding the range of situations can make sense.
We might then want to know, for example:
Does the shot also work with a different club?
From the semi-rough?
From a different distance?
With a lower ball flight?
Or in a real playing situation on the golf course?
Random practice is not automatically superior either
We should be equally cautious with the frequently heard claim that random practice is fundamentally better than blocked practice.
Research into the so-called Contextual Interference Effect does show advantages of more randomised practice under certain laboratory conditions. In real sports settings, however, these benefits are considerably smaller and in some cases barely detectable. (Nature)
For us, this does not mean that variable or random practice is unimportant.
It means something else:
The form of practice needs to match the golfer’s skill and current stage of learning.
What we repeatedly observe in our golf lessons
Over many years, particularly in our beginner courses leading to the German-speaking golf proficiency certificate, we have repeatedly made an interesting observation: as soon as a task becomes more meaningful, the way many golfers learn also seems to change.
A good example is the fourth day of the course. On this day, our participants play nine complete holes for the first time and count every shot. Suddenly, it is no longer about simply hitting the next ball on the driving range. Now every shot counts. Every shot belongs to a situation, decisions have consequences and the result becomes visible.
We often observe that concentration, attention and personal effort increase noticeably. Golfers try to perceive the situation more carefully, prepare more deliberately and use their existing skills more consciously.
At the same time, the golf course automatically creates a great deal of variation: different lies, distances, clubs, angles, targets, consequences and decisions.
This combination of genuine meaning and constantly changing demands seems to trigger a strong learning process in many golfers. During those first nine holes, we often see adaptations that had been difficult to create on the range beforehand.
We have had a simple phrase for this for a long time:
Pressure makes diamonds.
By this, we do not mean that more pressure automatically produces better learning. Too much pressure can have exactly the opposite effect.
Our experience is rather that a task sometimes only receives the necessary attention when it truly means something to the golfer. The golf course provides that meaning naturally.
Perhaps the important question is therefore not only how much variation we introduce, but also:
How much meaning, attention and challenge does a task need before the golfer really starts adapting to it?
What does this mean for our Practice Lab?
In the Practice Lab, we therefore do not try to introduce as many changes as possible as quickly as possible. First, we need to understand which skill is actually being developed. We can then gradually expand the way that skill is applied.
From a more stable starting point, we can introduce different distances, clubs, targets or lies. Later, first-ball situations and real demands on the golf course can be added. Variation is part of the golf universe.
It helps us investigate under which conditions a skill is already available and where further learning is still needed.
The key question is therefore not:
“How varied is my practice?”
But rather:
“Which variation helps this golfer develop this skill in the next step of the learning process?”
Variation can also be deliberately exaggerated or made more difficult. In another Golf Learning Insight, we use the example of a deliberately more difficult movement task in golf practice to show how this type of task can be used to develop coordination and control.
How this fits into our Golf Learning System
Within our Golf Learning System, variation is a tool within the learning process.
A skill can initially be developed and tested under relatively stable conditions. In the Practice Lab, we then change tasks and application situations to the extent that makes sense for the golfer’s current stage of learning.
On the golf course, we can then see whether the skill remains available under real conditions. Different lies, distances, clubs, wind, angles and strategic demands constantly create new situations anyway.
The experiences from these situations then feed back into practice. If a skill proves not to be sufficiently available under a particular demand, that can become the basis for a new Practice Lab task.
Variation therefore becomes part of an ongoing process of practising, applying, observing and adapting. It is not simply about making practice as varied or as difficult as possible.
Practical example: adapting variation to the player’s level
A simple example from our golf lessons is changing the ball position.
For a higher-handicap golfer, five balls can be placed in slightly different positions. The differences remain small so that the task varies while the basic movement remains reasonably easy to control.
For a more advanced golfer, we can make the differences considerably larger and also change the order.
Instead of simply playing the balls one after another from position 1 to position 5, the sequence could be:
Ball 3 → Ball 1 → Ball 5 → Ball 2 → Ball 4
This changes more than just the ball position. The player can rely less on a predictable sequence and has to reorganise before every shot.
For advanced players, we can add a second exercise: hitting several balls consecutively without completely stopping the movement flow and resetting before each ball.
This task does not simply increase variation. It also changes several other demands:
- Coordination demand: The player has to continuously adapt the movement to the next ball position.
- Timing: There is less time available for the adjustment.
- Preparation: The normal reset between two shots is reduced.
- Movement control: The player has to organise different contact points within a continuous movement rhythm.
The purpose of exercises like these is not to create a difficult test simply for the sake of making things harder.
We change the task to observe how much control is already present and under which additional demands the skill still remains functional.
Depending on the player’s level, the same basic idea can therefore be used with very different amounts and types of variation.
Good practice variation does not mean changing as much as possible. It means introducing the right change at the right time.
