It does not matter if you play baseball, hockey, soccer, tennis, you get a great deal of satisfaction when strike the ball solidly. Making solid contact with the ball is even more important in golf, where the slightest mishit can cause the ball to go anywhere but where you want it to go.
As with anything that you want to be good at, consistent ball striking in golf requires practice, practice and more practice.
Although you may not believe it, right after you finish a round is the best time to practice. All of the mistakes that you made during your time on the golf course are fresh in your mind and your body is still warm and ready to go. If you do not take the time to work on the shots that give you the most trouble means that your game will continue to suffer.
One of the keys to getting the most out of your practice is to create 'real' situations. Ideally, you want to mirror what happened during your round.
Work on hitting golf balls from every type of bad lie you can recreate. If you spend an extra 20 or 30 minutes after a round practicing one or two of those errant shots, you will be able to make adjustments that will translate to better play the next time you are out on the course.
Another method you can use to prepare for your next round is to visualize a round of golf during lunch break, on your way to or home from work.
Picture yourself on your home course stepping up to the first tee and striking the ball down the center of the fairway. Get into the flow of your round in your mind and see yourself hitting each shot perfectly. Visualize your body flowing tension through each shot.
If you know anything about Olympic athletes, then you know that much of their practice is visualization. Do not get me wrong, they spend many hours practicing the physically, but before they start an event, they spend time seeing themselves perform flawlessly.
When you are practicing, do not just hit golf balls, take the time to visualize what you want the ball to do. Take a break between swings and picture your next swing as if you were hitting a shot on the golf course.
This will help you avoid mental and physical exhaustion. Use the time to process what you've learned or accomplished. Remember, you're not out there to hit a hundred of shots. Instead you are trying to hit 20-30 solid shots. Rather than shagging a large bucket of balls and just pounding shots, get a small bucket and focus on hitting the sweet spot with each swing.
Here is a great golf swing practice tip:
Place two tees a couple of inches apart in the ground.
Use your favorite iron, I like to use a shooter iron for this.
Start with partial swings and work your way up to full swings as you get better at avoiding the tees. Spend some time doing this and you will soon be hitting the ball more solidly. The best part is, you can do this in your backyard.
When you hit that perfect shot, do not forget how it feels. Burn that feeling into your head and internalize it. I know from experience that the feeling is effortless and there is nothing like it.