WATCH any top ath- lete — any top sports team — at practice and one thing becomes evident. The best in their respective games practice ara very digh fével Practice hard, play hard. Practice well, play well. alk eur toa public driving range and take a look around. Its almost a guarantee that more than 60 per cent of the plavers hitting balls will be holding a driver Yes. der the bag stick wail away for more than Aalf the bails in your practice bucket, even though you'll only pull it outa maximum of [+4 times in ao regular rouad of 75-106 shots. “AIL evers body wants to do is hit it 280 (yards) to impress their friends,” said Irv Ta teaching pro at Relowna’s Tee To Gre “Bur nothing reduces scores quicker than a good shart game.” In that vein, players have got to Jearn to practice better. Shere’s no one wav to do it bur certainly unleashing al! of Big Bertha’s fury with every swing isn’t the way to go. A lot of us don’t have the tine, particularly when we're sweating our on the range in our suit and tie during lunch hour, bur at least some minor stretching should be done fore taking your first swing. And start slow. Some pros like the approach of beginning their practice session with some half wedges and slowly working their way up to a full swing. Another technique is taking vour favorite iron = for most it will fall between the six and eight, but if you're one of those Greek Mythological-like figures who can’t wait te pull one iron out of the bag, isn’t for you - and von- centrating on getting 10 or 12 good solid shots out there to build up the confidence. And wt vou: move to another tron = hither or lower fey to swing it the same was yeu saing vour fivorite club. There's probably a reason its vour favorite stick - | don’t know, a wild guess might be that vou hit it well - if vou have to visualize that the three iron in your hand is actually a seven, then do it. You don’t have to change vour swing - that’s why ever club in vour bag has a diffe cnt laft. The sticks do that part of the work As (Tavlor pointed) out above, the short game as what separates the top plavers from the also-rans And you can bert we top + qa ° . nt play didn’t come by their f t a eas | i PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT | oe » y the price of 1 Buy one bucket of balls and get the 2nd 925-6102 Park Royal South © 8am to Vpn? 7 days a week De ee eee mee eee eres fo ts wi cw ate naturally. They worked on them, by setiing aside time ino their slipping and putting skills practie regin shots. pitches: am Of COUTse, PUTT The best wav to make these Come see why the Chateau Whistler Golf Club has been called fhe Best “Best Sew Canadian Golf Course” 7993 Golf Digest Magazine A Star “1/2 Stars — A must play rating” LOGG199" Galf Hive Mas “Gold Medal Winner" 1997 éralf Magacine Carted fram the nountains, the Chateau Whistler Golf Club Whistler's Mountain Golf Experience Opening Thursday May 7, 19 4612 Blackcomb Whistler, BC VON 1B4 Phone: 604 938-2092 Fax: 6044 938-9368 dris fess tedtaits is te setup ind or compenten with jond ar pliving: parmer or - Roornet - by yaursell! Here’s one idea (some may howl wri laughter but others may sce the uscfuluess in it}. Fake three or tour balls to the edge of the areen apa pull out your seven or eight iron. Seta target hele on the practice green and designate each of the balls as that of a touring pro. res, gust fike we imagine we're Mbiczacl Jordan in’ the backvard when shooting hoops. meke one ball Jack Nicklaus, anether Tom Waison and so on, and set up a little tournament by contin- ailly secing which ball vou chip closest to the hole, The winner gets a point and you kee i to the g chipping again (ur the : target. or another further away untif one pl has won othe tournament by achieving 10 points. Of course, this is all done in your head. so nobody will ever know what vou're doing and it will make it.a little more interesting, Before you Know it, vou've hit 30 chips. A not i nind game’, if voe will, was passed Mong by a fairly successful Canadian touring pro, who shall remain nameless because he doesn’t want Jack Nicklaus to know he once pretended he was the Golden Bear.