Golf forum

With it being the school holidays, i have alot of time to play and practice. I am serious about reducing my handicap and will be practicing alot.

What are the best ways of practicing:

• Putting
• Chipping/Pitching
• Iron play
• driving

I'm looking for methods of practice/games to help me improve. Thanks.

I'd recommend spending time on your short game, 50 yards and in, and alot of time on your putting. Thsi part of your game is invaluable. There's countless drills to do with putting, such as putting to the edge of the green or to a tee rather than a hole to improve distance and accuracy control. Monty always used to hole 100 putts from 2 feet before leaving the course after a university match in the USA, restarting it if he missed, and I think this is a gread drill but only for after a round. Clockface putting like Mickleson does is also a good drill from 2-3ft range.

Chipping to different targets from the same spot is good for distance control. Also, instead of playing the same shot to the same target time and time again, hit one shot to one target then one to another, and back to the first or to a 3rd target. This stops you getting too used to the same shot all the time, making you useless on shots of a different distance. Another is choose 3 targets, hit 3 shots to the 1st until you hole one, then change targets, finishing the drill when you've holed out on the 3rd. For bunker shots I used to hit about 12 shots to 2 different targets before moving on. Don't practice bunker shots too much if you have the technique sorted already.

For the rest of the irons, select a target that is in range and try to hit to it. Treat each shot like it's a shot on the course, so full address and grip setup for each one, to replicate what you are gonna do on the course. Works wonders compared to hitting balls willy-nilly on a range. 8 or 6 iron are good for this routine to groove your swing, probably more the 6. I personally didn't hit too many shots with liong irons and woods in practice, just a few of each at the end of a session to see how things are going. Practicing to fix a swing fault is never done with a driver in your hands!!

Alot of info there, which may or may not be helpful, but I found the routines to be very useful when I was younger and had more time on my hands. I'd still do them daily if I could.

Drive for show, Putt for dough was the mantra I was taught under.

Improving your short game and putting will bring down the handicap much quicker than whacking the ball down the fairway (although the latter will admittedly help)

Jon, thanks for the replie the drills will be very helpful. I totally agree the short game is very important as i am only hitting about 2 greens a round.

Any one got any practice ideas for driving?

Is there any specific thing you are doing wrong with your driving at the moment?

If there is, i suggest you go to the driving range and try different grips, etc.

A few weeks ago, i had a problem that i there was quite a big hook on the ball, so i went up to the driving range tried all different grips, etc, but the thing that helped me was to put the 1/2 the ball to the right of the middle of the driver. Now my driver is straighter than ever - not having to worry that i'm going to hook it - unless something goes drastically wrong with the swing :-).

I think Jon T has about covered everything regarding putting, chipping - i agree with him, putting and chipping (putting moreso) will get your handicap down more and this has helped me quite a bit getting mine down too.

I use the range at the Forest of Arden whenever I can as there is a very good practice area outside.  It is based around a standard sized green with half a dozen or so pins with about 30 yards of fairway approach leading into it at one end.  There's a large bunker at either side with varying lip heights and steepness and the rest is surrounded by three different cut lengths up to 20 yards out. 

When I'm there, I take 45 balls out.  I play 10 from various places in one of the bunkers, 20 from the fairway approach from three distances (short, medium and long) and the remaining 15 split between the three different cuts at differing distances.  All are to the same pin.  I then put the basket down on it's side about 4 or 5 feet from one of the most extreme balls and putt all of them to the basket, aiming to get them in.  If I was rubbish in one particular area, I'll do some extra work on it.  When I'm done, I take the 45 balls on the range and work my irons and driver. 

In my last 2 rounds i've hit 7 and 6 FIRs (/13) but also put 3 drives out-of-bounds. My course has OOb in play off the tee on 10 of the 13 so i need to be come more consistant with the driver.

What shape does the flight of the ball take when using your driver? Is it hooking, drawing, straight (obviously not (unless your aiming the wrong way when driving??),) fading or slicing?

john, i had a slice on my drives untill recently. basically if i'm not concentrating or focused then i tend to over swing in my back swing trying to get more power! this leaves the club face open at impact. so now i uswe a 3/4 backswing( parallel with my shoulders) and my accuracy off the tee is 10 times better.

well until i try and kill the ball again! might be worth a try for you!