This Tour Pro's Practice Routine Will Surprise You!

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Major Championships · Sep 1, 2026 · 8.7K views · 111 likes

In this episode Mike Granato & Shaun Webb from Athletic Motion Golf are joined by European Tour winner and former Ryder Cup player Rafa Cabrera-Bello. Rafa explains how, after years of relying purely on feel, he found AMG's videos while searching for a way to shallow his golf club, one of the most common swing struggles on tour, and booked an online lesson that turned into a multi-year working relationship. Rafa opens up about dropping from a top 50 world ranking to outside the top 100 over two years, even as people around him kept telling him his swing looked the same as when he was playing well. He explains why he trusts measured data over opinion (95% of the best players in the world share certain movements, and you can choose to be on that side or the 5% that doesn't), why it takes roughly 5,000 reps before a new movement starts to feel like yours and 20,000 before you truly own it, and why real swing changes take close to a full year to trust under competitive pressure. He also walks through his mirror-based practice routine, the difference between ball-oriented amateurs and target-oriented pros, and his honest, still-ongoing battle to shallow the club even at the highest level of the game. FREE Training Here: Unlock Tour-like Compression For Free Here 👇https://athleticmotiongolf.com/compression Chapters: 00:00 Do tour pros actually watch golf YouTube? 00:35 How Rafa found AMG 01:34 Why data beats opinions ("95% of the best in the world") 01:57 Debunking myths with 3D 02:28 His third trip to AMG 02:49 Life on tour: no time to waste, no real off-season 03:35 Growing up in the Canary Islands without a TrackMan 04:14 The 6-iron drill his first coach forced on him 04:34 Becoming friends with David Leadbetter's son, Andy 04:54 His best years working with David Leadbetter 05:27 Dropping from top 50 to outside the top 100 05:46 "There's nothing wrong with your swing," they said 06:14 Finding a new, measurable way to define a good swing 06:42 A year and a half before the changes started paying off 07:23 The 5,000 rep and 20,000 rep rule 07:46 Why every pro doubts a change at first 08:20 Why a real change takes about a year to fully own 09:10 Why he needs to see the ball fly to trust a change 10:18 Why office workers may need even more time to change 10:40 New neural connections take real time 11:01 Great hand-eye vs. great mechanics (and the rare players with both) 12:08 His mirror-based practice routine, explained 13:29 What the mirror actually checks (alignment, path, face) 14:21 Why a good setup matters even on a bad swing day 14:48 Why amateurs skip alignment sticks and pros don't 15:08 Ball-oriented amateurs vs. target-oriented pros 16:27 The hardest thing he's still working on: shallowing the club 16:51 Why pulling down on the club is the natural (wrong) move 17:46 His in-season practice mentality 18:08 Should you keep playing while making a swing change? 19:37 Why nobody expects to get fit overnight, but expects instant swing results 20:22 The hardest habit to change: your "gas pedal" 20:53 His advice by skill level: high handicaps vs. scratch players 22:00 A better swing doesn't guarantee lower scores 22:26 Why a single round isn't enough data on ball-striking 23:18 Two and a half years working together 23:36 Why "selling hope" only works once you trust the plan 24:18 Why 20% better still beats 0% better #golf #golfswing #athleticmotiongolf #golfpodcast