One of the hardest parts of my job as a teaching professional is seeing players make progress, only to let it slip through their hands because they don’t practice. Practice is understandably difficult for the average golfer—there are so many other things competing for your time. When you do get the chance to come to the course, it’s rare to choose practice over playing a round.
But after years of coaching, I’ve found two ways to get players to invest time in practice. One is to set a goal so meaningful or desirable that it drives them to dedicate time to improvement. This approach works great with Type A personalities and former athletes.
The other—and the one I use more often—is to make golf practice fun enough to be a worthwhile experience on its own, not just a means to an end.
Why Making Golf Practice Fun Is Key
For practice to be something you actually look forward to, it has to provide similar enjoyment and value as playing a full round. In simple terms: practice must be entertaining. That’s the tricky part.
Because if your practice feels easy, it’s probably not making you better.
So how do you make something that requires struggle and challenge actually enjoyable? We can turn to philosopher Bernard Suits, who once wrote that games are “a voluntary attempt to overcome unnecessary obstacles.” That one definition perfectly captures why golf practice games are such a powerful tool.
Games create fun out of challenge. That’s exactly what productive golf drills should do.
Gamify Your Practice to Build Skills That Stick
The great thing about using practice games in golf is that once you find a few you enjoy, you can use them forever. As your skill level grows, you can tweak the challenge level to match. That’s where the magic happens: you create a library of games that are both fun and productive, and suddenly, practice becomes something you want to do.
For example, one of the core principles behind Legends of the Links is this idea—building a practice routine that’s fun, competitive, and scalable for all skill levels. Whether you’re working on putting, full swing, or short game, games allow you to keep score, track progress, and enjoy the process.
The Takeaway
Once you switch the focus of practice from “a grind to improve” to “a game you love to play,” it finally fits into your life—and your schedule. That’s how you turn fleeting progress into lasting performance.