Practice to improve

[white_feather]

I want to start an improvement cycle in my practice routine.

I'm committing myself to one or two hours every evening to work on my putting, short game, iron play etc...

However does anyone know of the best way of maxmising your time to get the best results?

I want to put down a timetable for the week with practice during the week and then play a round or two at the weekend.

So I'm researching the best drills for each aspect of the game.

Any help would be most appreciated.

 

[bladeplayer]

I think you may be better getting a lesson 1st then spending the time practicing what the pro teaches you .. you can spend hours hitting balls & learn nothing , spend 30 mins practicing what is correct & you will improve loads .. if you can afford lessons , start there & structure a traning routine with your pro's advice ..

 

[HomerJSimpson]

I think you may be better getting a lesson 1st then spending the time practicing what the pro teaches you .. you can spend hours hitting balls & learn nothing , spend 30 mins practicing what is correct & you will improve loads .. if you can afford lessons , start there & structure a traning routine with your pro's advice ..

Totally agree. I wouldn't necessarily have a rigid timetable as it becomes a chore. I prefer to work on differentparts of my game for a few days then play and see how its working. I spent the whole summer on the practice field in 2008 working on getting a solid swing and short game. The result. I got jaded bored and I went up as I was just reinforcing bad habits

 

[G1BB0]

Totally agree with bp and HJS -

I was struggling yesterday, 14 points front 9, then 2 points, a blob (on a par3!), 2 points (both 2 points were down to holing lengthy putts) and thought what the hell is wrong. On the next tee I used the drill my pro gave me and blam, straight up the middle, hit a sweet 4 wood 220 yds for the 2nd, rolled the 15ft putt to a foot and holed for a par. ended up with 19 points back 9 so 15 points for 6 holes off my crappy never played to 21 h/c.

The moral is I couldnt hit a barn door for 12 holes then went back to basic drills/alignment from my lessons and played some bloody good stuff!

 

[SoapbarSE]

If I can't get out on the course to practice I like to play imaginary holes on the driving range. Usually I just imagine the front 9 of my local course, so I just start off with the first ball with my driver, imagine the fairway, where the hazards are, what my target is, the shot shape etc. then I execute my preshot routine as normal and hit the shot. Say I slice it, I'd then aim my next shot left, if I hook aim right or whatever. If I think I'm in the rough I'll try and give myself an awkward lie on the range mat... and I end each imaginary hole with a wedge. So I'd usually do 25 or 50 balls of that drill, deliberately taking my time so that it feels like I'm actually playing a round of golf. I read in a book that you can take this further if you want and rate each shot out of 4 then total up at the end and see how you get on.

Short game at the minute I force myself to practice putting with just 1 ball - toss it the rough distance I want to practice, walk and mark ball, pick it up, take flag out and place back down, execute routine and imagine it's to save par or to win the open or whatever. Then I just play the up and down game round each of 6 practice putting holes (wedge and putter, chuck ball off the practice green and see how many up and downs can get in a row - again all up and downs to save par on the 18th at augusta or whatever floats your boat)

Bob Rotella talks a lot about this in his book 'The Golf of your Dreams' which I'd definitely recommend. Hank Johnson's 'How to win the three games of golf' also has loads of really interesting things to say about how to really improve your golf

 

[Phil2511]

Up and downs are always a good practice routine. Especially if you can give yourself some real nasty lies. Also I would suggest perhaps get an on course playing lesson and get the pro to just see which aspects of the game you need to work on the most. He will also be able to make suggestions on course management.
A 6 hole playing lesson will let him see drives, fairways, all irons, wedges and your bunker and short game.

 

[Foxholer]

I want to start an improvement cycle in my practice routine.

I'm committing myself to one or two hours every evening to work on my putting, short game, iron play etc...

However does anyone know of the best way of maxmising your time to get the best results?

I want to put down a timetable for the week with practice during the week and then play a round or two at the weekend.

So I'm researching the best drills for each aspect of the game.

Any help would be most appreciated.

Short Game, short game, short game!

Rottella has a few good putting drills in any/ll of his books. Chipping into targets is also good. For a while, I did 50mins practice before work - and only losit 10mins in arrival time - and dropped 3-4 shots in 6 months. Mix it up though, boredom is worse than no practice! Ratio of short to long game practice should be about 3:1.

Peltz's Short Game Bible (and Putting one) are also worth checking out, but the approach is not for everyone.

Good luck.