Golf Practice

slingerz

What would people suggest is the best way to practice to improve your golfing handicap?

would an evening a week at the range hitting irons from the mat be a benefit, or an evening at the range working on wedge shots again from the mat?

how about an evening on the putting green and if so what drills would you do there

or is a few holes on an evening the best way to practice?

for bunker play is the best option to find a remote bunker on the course and practice from that?

and the greenside chips similarly find a remote green and practice them there?

thoughts? suggestions?

bustercherry

slingerz wrote: »

What would people suggest is the best way to practice to improve your golfing handicap?

would an evening a week at the range hitting irons from the mat be a benefit, or an evening at the range working on wedge shots again from the mat?

how about an evening on the putting green and if so what drills would you do there

or is a few holes on an evening the best way to practice?

for bunker play is the best option to find a remote bunker on the course and practice from that?

and the greenside chips similarly find a remote green and practice them there?

thoughts? suggestions?

All..... It depends on what you are working on

charlieIRL

Are you playing long? Did you ever get lessons to see if you may be doing something wrong?
There's no point in practising in a range etc if you are practising the wrong thing!!

parseeker

agree with charlie, do a few lessons, that will show you what you need to work on and then practice every day, even a few minutes working on your takeaway in the sitting room is helpfull ...

charlieIRL wrote: »

Are you playing long? Did you ever get lessons to see if you may be doing something wrong?
There's no point in practising in a range etc if you are practising the wrong thing!!

GreeBo

Start practicing the shots closest to the hole and work your way back
putting, chipping, bunkers, pitching, wedges, mid approach, long irons, woods, driver.

galwaylad14

It depends. If you've just recently had a lesson then I'd say the best way to practice would be with a 6 or 7 iron at the range to try perfect what you've learned.

Otherwise when at the range try to practice what you need most on the course. I'd say practice with the driver (or whatever club you use most off the tee) and then with the 2 or 3 clubs you'd be left with most often for your second shots.

Then if your out playing a few holes maybe try to play 2 balls if you can (but only if you're playing on your own and you're not holding anyone up) and then something I'd always do when I'm finished playing a few, is go to the practice green and spend 15 or 20 minutes just chipping and putting. Spend the majority of this time just working on basic chip and runs and holing out from 5 feet and in as these are the bread and butter of the short game.

That's what I'd recommend anyway

peepee

IMO hitting balls off a mat is a waste of time. Get out for a few holes as often as you can, and take Greebo's advice when you're not on the course

mike12

For the short game do it off grass when u can. Par 18 is a good game to play 3 easy, no so easy and hard green side chips get as close to 18 as possible good for pressure putting as well. Range is pretty much useless unless u are working on some thing from a lesson.

slingerz

I've been playing a while now and am comfortable enough with my swing, have had some lessons but mostly self taught. playing off 18 at the moment but keep being called a bandit so i guess i could be a little lower than that maybe 15/16.

have been approaching retirement from GAA now and i reckon this could be my last year playing that so i want to put some more focus on my golf to try and improve.

i have access to a range, putting green and live close to the course so all those practice options are open to me, was just wondering if there was an approach that anyone used themselves to it, either playing a few holes in an evening or finding a remote hole to practice specifics

GreeBo

slingerz wrote: »

I've been playing a while now and am comfortable enough with my swing, have had some lessons but mostly self taught. playing off 18 at the moment but keep being called a bandit so i guess i could be a little lower than that maybe 15/16.

have been approaching retirement from GAA now and i reckon this could be my last year playing that so i want to put some more focus on my golf to try and improve.

i have access to a range, putting green and live close to the course so all those practice options are open to me, was just wondering if there was an approach that anyone used themselves to it, either playing a few holes in an evening or finding a remote hole to practice specifics

- Practicing playing helps your course management (well, only if you focus on it and try things)
- Hitting the range makes your good shots better
- Practicing the scoring shots makes your scores better

I've spent years playing practice rounds and not noticing much difference, other than the quality of my good shots improved. 2 years ago I spent my practice time practicing from 70m and in and I dropped to 8. I wasnt doing anything magically different, not suddenly stitching a 3 iron from 200m, but I was scoring better, not throwing away a shot every couple of holes...on your good days this gives you a great score, on a bad day it gets you into your buffer.

slingerz

Cheers GreeBo i think I agree with you there. Only towards the end of last year did I consider not taking the driver on almost every hole previously it would have been out on 13 of the 18 and now its down to 8 of the 18 so i hope that should save me some shots from OOB balls at the very least.

I need to get better with the shots from 120M in really and improve my putting especially. reckon that should be the focus when practising midweek.

I do think that the range is the most likely place to place a share of these shots as practisicing on the course and leaving a number of divots isnt really on

the shot chip shots from the fringe could be practised on course alright tho

burnhardlanger

Practice Green.

Putts from 10 feet and under.

They are the putts you should practice to score better.
If you improve your holing out from that range you will improve with the addition of the range work below.

At the Range. Instead of mindlessly hitting balls, play holes in your mind.

Pick targets for your tee shots, approach shots etc.

Miss the 'green' to the right for example, play a pitch shot from the mat. You get the idea.

levitronix

Practice for me is mainly driver/3wood and wedges, will only hit a few mid irons. I spend 3 nights a week in the range and play once a week playing two balls for 9 nine holes accumulative score.

Come spring time it will change and i ll spend a lot of time chipping and putting and lots of wedges.

But best short term results will be chipping and putting get that nailed down and scores will drop.

dan_ep82

I'd love to practice more bunker and wedge approach shots, unfortunately none of the three courses I play have any practice area for it, although I hear Rathcore is planning on putting one in.

I need to get my new swing in but I'm anxious to practice my driver/tee off shots. As it is its costing me some drop shots.

dazza161989

Its quite simple really, the easiest way to lower your scores(along with your handicap) is to practise your short game.......putting ,chipping, pitching, flop shots, bunker play, and approach play from 100 yards and in.

Dossy

Im trying to get to the range every day or every 2nd day,
Only problem is that after getting few lessons im trying to drill in what i learned (not locking up right knee) and only way to do that is to hit balls...Right??

This is what ive done myself this week,

Wednesday - Hit 240 Balls
Warm up is around 40 balls (wedge shot) short first and so on,
Then working on technique with most of the rest 7i 8i 5i
I take a break every now and then and go back to wedge shots

Thursday - Hit 160 Balls
Warm up as normal then 52* wedge distances using clock system
Back to 7i to work on Tech

Friday - Hit 160 Balls
Warm up,
Wedges
5i normal and stingers (really happy to have this option) still needs practice
7i and 8i again for Tech

Saturday - Hit 160 Balls
Same as Friday

Sunday - Hit 200 Balls
Mostly wedge shots as irons were ****e so kept going back to wedges,
Bad day for the irons until the last 40 Balls,

To sum up, im mad to hit 2014 hard and get to my goal of 18 from 22.8,
Feel as if im after tiring myself out, i know people will say not to hit as many balls but really want to drill in what i learned, i think from now on if im going everyday im gonna do the putting green for the day practing chipping and putting. (Weather been bad as people know which is why i havnt been there)

Maybe you might learn from one or two mistakes ive made above or sort out your own plan for the range

Danny dyers double

You dont mind me asking you but how much did that week on the range cost you ?

spacecoyote

I'd say lay off hitting so many balls, you should be looking at quality not quantity.

Fairly good chance you'll do yourself an injury hitting that many balls

Dossy

Danny dyers double wrote: »

You dont mind me asking you but how much did that week on the range cost you ?

When i joined the range i got around 1000 balls with it, they work off cards, each card has 5 credits at 40 balls a credit

Ill worry about the money when they run out, probably just sell gear to the balls haha

Dossy

spacecoyote wrote: »

I'd say lay off hitting so many balls, you should be looking at quality not quantity.

Fairly good chance you'll do yourself an injury hitting that many balls

I understand what your saying, the only thing is i rarely just hit aimlessly, i try use every ball and work on not locking the right knee and posture, so even tho im hitting balls its more about right knee and posture rather then accuracy at the moment, working on it so it feels normal and i automatically do it, i was also told by the Pro that it will get worse before it gets better,

I do plan to lay off how many i hit as my back is bit sore so you are defo right about doing an injury!!

I also think 3-4 different range plans would be a good idea so not doing same thing, eg wedges long n short

Rippeditup

I try to practice with a goal in mind.. Something I have been working on of late is (well re-gaining my swing) but putting a alignment stick 4/5 yards ahead of me and it is trying to start it slightly left of it with a touch of fade. This is helping me keep my hands on line as my fault is I pull them inside.
Also working on balance so doing basic swings on a balance board and then trying to keep the weight on the inside of each foot rather than letting my right foot roll over on the backswing

Mr. Larson

Does anyone else find hitting irons off hard range mats is bad for their game in the current conditions under foot?

I've been to the range once or twice lately and hit plenty of irons from hard mats and struck them "apparently" very well... but in soft conditions underfoot I have not been striking my irons well at all, particularly from tighter lies and fairway. I'm hitting a lot of shots fat.

I'm going to stop hitting irons at the range if that's the end result...

charlieIRL

Mr. Larson wrote: »

Does anyone else find hitting irons off hard range mats is bad for their game in the current conditions under foot?

I've been to the range once or twice lately and hit plenty of irons from hard mats and struck them "apparently" very well... but in soft conditions underfoot I have not been striking my irons well at all, particularly from tighter lies and fairway. I'm hitting a lot of shots fat.

I'm going to stop hitting irons at the range if that's the end result...

I'm the exact same, lovely crisp shot off the mat and then on the course I'm digging trenches!!

PARlance

charlieIRL wrote: »

I'm the exact same, lovely crisp shot off the mat and then on the course I'm digging trenches!!

Same here to a certain extent, had to make a real effort to adjust to the course over the last few rounds.
Coupled with that and maybe more importantly, I've gotten harder/realistic with myself at the range now concerning what would & wouldn't be a good shot on the course.

I was going to give up the range for a bit recently but I've just decided that it's better than doing nothing/very little as long as it's good range work (which is quite hard to maintain)

I never really took divots before and I think that's mainly due to primarily learning the game (and getting away with poor contact) up at the range, as most my work was done there.

The two are completely different but I'm taking the approach that a real good shot will be a good shot at both.

It is a struggle to stop falling into the safety zone though

GreeBo

Mr. Larson wrote: »

Does anyone else find hitting irons off hard range mats is bad for their game in the current conditions under foot?

I've been to the range once or twice lately and hit plenty of irons from hard mats and struck them "apparently" very well... but in soft conditions underfoot I have not been striking my irons well at all, particularly from tighter lies and fairway. I'm hitting a lot of shots fat.

I'm going to stop hitting irons at the range if that's the end result...

You need to get used to the sound of the club hitting the ball first then the mat at the range, you can hit lovely drop kicks in the range..not so good out on the course.

@Dossy
How long does it take you to hit 200 balls...it should be taking about 2 hours I reckon...otherwise you are in robot mode imo.

alxmorgan

Mr. Larson wrote: »

Does anyone else find hitting irons off hard range mats is bad for their game in the current conditions under foot?

I've been to the range once or twice lately and hit plenty of irons from hard mats and struck them "apparently" very well... but in soft conditions underfoot I have not been striking my irons well at all, particularly from tighter lies and fairway. I'm hitting a lot of shots fat.

I'm going to stop hitting irons at the range if that's the end result...

Try this drill but use a towel instead to do as Greebo suggests

http://www.andrewricegolf.com/2010/07/impact-drill-how-to-stop-scooping/

bustercherry

Dossy wrote: »

Im trying to get to the range every day or every 2nd day,
Only problem is that after getting few lessons im trying to drill in what i learned (not locking up right knee) and only way to do that is to hit balls...Right??

This is what ive done myself this week,

Wednesday - Hit 240 Balls
Warm up is around 40 balls (wedge shot) short first and so on,
Then working on technique with most of the rest 7i 8i 5i
I take a break every now and then and go back to wedge shots

Thursday - Hit 160 Balls
Warm up as normal then 52* wedge distances using clock system
Back to 7i to work on Tech

Friday - Hit 160 Balls
Warm up,
Wedges
5i normal and stingers (really happy to have this option) still needs practice
7i and 8i again for Tech

Saturday - Hit 160 Balls
Same as Friday

Sunday - Hit 200 Balls
Mostly wedge shots as irons were ****e so kept going back to wedges,
Bad day for the irons until the last 40 Balls,

To sum up, im mad to hit 2014 hard and get to my goal of 18 from 22.8,
Feel as if im after tiring myself out, i know people will say not to hit as many balls but really want to drill in what i learned, i think from now on if im going everyday im gonna do the putting green for the day practing chipping and putting. (Weather been bad as people know which is why i havnt been there)

Maybe you might learn from one or two mistakes ive made above or sort out your own plan for the range

I would say you could practice this at home on front of a mirror. All drills you are doing should focus on this and not the outcome of a shot.

PARlance

GreeBo wrote: »

You need to get used to the sound of the club hitting the ball first then the mat at the range, you can hit lovely drop kicks in the range..not so good out on the course.

Harsh.....but fair

Mr. Larson

GreeBo wrote: »

You need to get used to the sound of the club hitting the ball first then the mat at the range, you can hit lovely drop kicks in the range..not so good out on the course.

Just to be clear, I'm not talking about drop-kicks. Aside from the obvious lag you can feel between the club impact with mat and subsequent ball strike, the flight of a drop-kick is noticeably worse.

I am talking about apparently good strikes from a mat that appear to be caught clean and have an expected ball flight.

Having said that, I think the point you're making is still valid, in that I should be focussing more on striking the ball first when at the range. I don't have a steep swing, don't really take much in the way of a divot or trap the ball with mid irons so could be just something I need to get checked out.

Rippeditup

GreeBo wrote: »

You need to get used to the sound of the club hitting the ball first then the mat at the range, you can hit lovely drop kicks in the range..not so good out on the course.

@Dossy
How long does it take you to hit 200 balls...it should be taking about 2 hours I reckon...otherwise you are in robot mode imo.

So so true, With the matt the club bounces back into a hitting position as you are a mm behind the ball while on soft grass this will cause a fat shot. You need to feel the click of the strike so the club descending on the ball. It has a different sound and sounds so so much more solid..

Also agree about whacking balls like a robot.. Having a specific goal/target/shot in mind focuses you on each shot. 10 shots taken in a active mindset is allot better than 100's in a mindless state.

Dossy

charlieIRL wrote: »

I'm the exact same, lovely crisp shot off the mat and then on the course I'm digging trenches!!

Im in the same boat!! Yet to play a round for 2014 to see if its still the same, should know diring the week

dan_ep82

The mats in the range I go to have a small patch of artificial kind of grass to hit off, theres no bounce as such from it. I thought most were like this.

PARlance

dan_ep82 wrote: »

The mats in the range I go to have a small patch of artificial kind of grass to hit off, theres no bounce as such from it. I thought most were like this.

Until they put artificial muck under it.....

I do find then better than the basic ones but you can still cheat it with them imo.

dan_ep82

PARlance wrote: »

Until they put artificial muck under it.....

I do find then better than the basic ones but you can still cheat it with them imo.

Yeah it doesn't really hold the club up on a fat strike but you can still feel it was no good I think