What tour pros actually do before a major—and why it's the opposite of what most amateurs do

It also means their rounds mirror elements of practice. They'll drop multiple balls to practice different shots, or experiment with different clubs off tees.

The key takeaway

The idea, Morgan says, is that the more these two things blend together, the better you'll be at both growing your skills, and transferring them to the golf course.

"Don't try and treat the practice range and the golf course as these separate entities. Don't think of it like, 'oh, I train on the practice facility, and then I play on the golf course,'" Morgan says. "Golf is a complex system … we have different lies, we have different winds, we have different flag locations, we have different visual elements from the tee. We have to learn to adapt to that. And if that's not present in our practice, we have a reduction in transfer."

2. Get specific as the tournament approaches

As the tournament gets closer, there's a subtle evolution which happens in players' approach. Morgan says that the overall volume of playing and practice stays high, but things get more specific.

Mainly:

• Players clip into perfecting specific shots they'll have for the week.
• They stop introducing new swing drills; they use old ones to confirm the feels they have, but it's more confirmation than revelation.
• They avoid wholesale changes. Instead of trying to go from a fader into a drawer, a better goal is going from a fader to less of a fader.

The takeaway

As the tournament approaches, players are perfecting specific skills they already have, not trying to acquire new ones. Orient around the task at hand, Morgan says. Use the tools you have right now to do it.

"When a player gets really close to a tournament, they want to be executing shots that they have. I don't want any real interference of trying to change this; going over new stuff," Morgan says. "Golfers need to break that cycle of chasing quick fixes that fail. You need to tackle the whole system."