Practice Ideas

swededmonkey

Following on from a post in another thread, I thought this might be a good place to share practice ideas and drills for the season ahead.

To kick it off...at the range, I visualise playing my home course and play each shot as I would on the course. This means you are constantly changing club and shot type (putting excluded obviously) depending where your previous ball finishes. It also allows you to shoot for different targets across the range rather than banging balls down the middle aimlessly. I do this for the full round and don't allow any mulligans to keep it as realistic as possible.

redzerdrog

Few different things I try depending on where I am at.

Strike with face - mark the ball/club and see where predominantly striking from.
A times can try adapt this to just trying to to strike out of heel or toe

Strike with ground - line up balls between two tee and see where divot starts can help see if the ball too far forward/back in the stance

Target - say target is 150 yards away I will try not hit the same shot twice to it. Trying to change between fades/draws/stright/punches

Target - say 75 yards away I will try vary between my wedge, 52, 56 and 60 with each club requiring a different shot to get to the target

Putting at practice area - play par 18 game where 2 putts is a par but if I don't putt the first one to within 3 feet of the hole I need to pull it back the length of the putter for my second putt. Then keep the score if I do it for 9/18 holes on the putting green

Putting at home on mat - start from 2 feet and need to roll ball into the cup at 3 different paces (back of cup, centre of cup and just in the front) then move to 4 and 6 feet. If I miss one I start at the start

Now having said that I need to get my finger out and gets some more practice in

dan_ep82

Once a Week
Range -100 balls

20-30 Balls on chipping,pitching and full wedge shots at targets to warm up.

40-50 Balls Hit 3-5 Shots with each iron (fade,draw punch,high) PW-8i-6i-4i/ 9i-7i-5i-3i

15-20 Balls Driver. Until I get a lesson to put into practice on this club I use the shots to find a pattern I can use on the course.

Normally have a few left over and I go back to the problem clubs/shots and work on them mixed with some chipping pitching.

When not solely working on a specific feel/swing thought I try to visualize a hole from one of the courses I play and play it through.

Home-Putting
Putt on carpet into a little putting machine that spits the ball back.
Try to use different lengths and small "gates" to work on hitting target

Chipping - When weather gets better
A cut piece of grass ( 50ydsx50yds) beside the home place.
Put down a target at 40 and try to hit target with different clubs/shots.

I'll be robbing the Par18 idea from redzerdrog and add it to chipping once I can get to a pratice green ( within 2ft is par)

Constants I work on
Strike
Aim ( new irons require a straigher aim)
Basics so they don't slip ( posture,ball position,grip)

Easy :pac:

Jawgap

I generally avoid the range and hit balls in the practice area of the club.

some of the things I do:

• Longer distances - pick a 'gate' (two features) and try and hot the ball so it flies straight through it, or I try and draw or fade the ball through it.
• Bunker practice - mark a line in the sand of the bunker then work my way along it hitting practice strokes with no ball so I can see the size of the 'divot' I'm taking
• Bunker practice #2 - ball in the bunker and draw a circle around it, the try hit it and the sand as marked out of the bunker
• Short game - wedges to the different flags on the practice green from different distances, from the rough and from the bunkers
• Putting - stick a tee in the green and aim for it
• Putting #2 - place the ball and place a 2 euro coin (or flat ball marker behind it) then try and putt the ball without catching the coin.
• Putting #3 - place a ball, read the putt, put down a ball marker where I think I should be aiming for then see what happens!

A lot of the time I also go back and set up scenarios that have caused me problems on the course - for example, getting (and stopping) the ball on to a raised, cambered green when the flag is close - getting from the rough at various distances - working out when to putt off the green/chip/ bump & run etc - then trying different things to see how they work.

frink

A good one I learned recently for putting and making sure you are putting from the centre of the club. Wrap two elastic bands around the putter head about 3-4 cms apart. Makes you hit the put out of the middle everytime. If you are offcentre it hits the elastic band.

Seve OB

I'm going to make a conscious effort to visit the range once a week, something I've never done before, usually i just go the odd time. new floodlit range open in luttrelstown (accross the road from my house) so now i've no excuse. I've been twice already so on track!!

As I joined their accademy I would also like to follow that up by spending an hour once a week once the light kicks in on their short practice area which includes 3 short par 3 holes, a bunker area, chipping green and putting green.

I'll probably look at getting a couple of lessons in the next few weeks to give me something to work on.

ShriekingSheet

frink wrote: »

A good one I learned recently for putting and making sure you are putting from the centre of the club. Wrap two elastic bands around the putter head about 3-4 cms apart. Makes you hit the put out of the middle everytime. If you are offcentre it hits the elastic band.

Amazing idea. Never heard that before - cheers!

spacecoyote

ShriekingSheet wrote: »

Amazing idea. Never heard that before - cheers!

I actually had a proper training aid like this before. I think I got it at a putting lesson years ago, but have lost it.

Worked identical to the idea outlined above, stuck to your putter face & had two rubber pieces that stuck out just outside the width of the size a ball. Anything outside a centre hit flew off miles offline.

The rubber band idea is a great cheap alternative that would have basically the same effect, good idea!

ShriekingSheet

spacecoyote wrote: »

I actually had a proper training aid like this before. I think I got it at a putting lesson years ago, but have lost it.

Worked identical to the idea outlined above, stuck to your putter face & had two rubber pieces that stuck out just outside the width of the size a ball. Anything outside a centre hit flew off miles offline.

The rubber band idea is a great cheap alternative that would have basically the same effect, good idea!

Yeah, I've used the bracket type thing you're describing over the years. Like alot of things, it's easy to lose or break over time. Like how practice the rubber band idea is.

frink

ShriekingSheet wrote: »

Yeah, I've used the bracket type thing you're describing over the years. Like alot of things, it's easy to lose or break over time. Like how practice the rubber band idea is.

In the absence of a rubber band I used sellotape and two 5 cent coins!

Another one I've been using is having an alignment rod running parallel to the putt, if you line up the tip of your better with the rod, you can get a good view of how you are taking it back.

ShriekingSheet

Here's a really simple one I work on. I find that the #1 factor that determines whether I putt well or not is length of stroke - particularly the follow through. When I putt well, it's compact and crisp with a held finish. When I putt poorly, a phone video usually shows a flowy, long through-stroke with a less definite finish.

From watching great putters like Snedecker, Stricker and Spieth, it really struck me how short and low the putter head stayed through the ball. That's who I try to copy.

The drill is as simple as picking a putt around 6 to 10 foot long, and putting down 3 coins or 3 tees. One at the ball - just outside the toe of the putter, and one approx 8 inches back, and one the same distance through. Make sure they are aligned to the hole!

Essentially, it's just a visual aid so you can see/feel what a stroke the same length back and through is. Usually, the same length through feels very short to me, but I know that's where I need to get to to putt well.

Disclaimer: there's a million ways to putt. This may not be suitable for some people who putt with a very different style. It just works well for me.

RoadRunner

For practice alternate between:

1) whack the ball with all of my might as hard as I can.
2) then try lash it even harder, call in every last bit of juice on this one.

1 in about 20 goes pretty well. Goal is to try make it so that your last ball is a savage one - If you can do that you'll have a savage round of golf next time. If im not injured afterwards then swing by offie on the way home.

WHIP IT!

RoadRunner wrote: »

For practice alternate between:

1) whack the ball with all of my might as hard as I can.
2) then try lash it even harder, call in every last bit of juice on this one.

1 in about 20 goes pretty well. Goal is to try make it so that your last ball is a savage one - If you can do that you'll have a savage round of golf next time. If im not injured afterwards then swing by offie on the way home.

:D:D