What is the main purpose of practice?
Well, let me start by telling you what it’s not. It’s not to improve your strokes (not directly anyway). It’s not to work on footwork or even concentration. These are all indirect benefits of what you are aiming to do – which is to build habits.
Tennis practice is about developing the habits that you would like to happen during a match without any conscious thought. The way in which you practice serves to either build these habits or destroy them and create habits that detract from your performance during match conditions.
One of my favorite parts of the game of Golf is the short shot around the green. These can make or break your scoring and need just as much practice as your drives, long irons and putts. Let’s imagine the scenario that you have had a sweet drive which whistle-sailed from the tee and landed square in the middle of the fairway. You then extract a mid-range iron from your bag and drop the ball just short of the green. Upon reaching the ball you realize that it’s one of those hairy short shots that can be very hard to decide which route to take. You have landed a few inches from the edge of the green in grass that is a little too long to allow the use of a putter. It’s time to make a crucial decision.
