Your practice routine?

Take this from someone who practices an hour at the range Monday thru Friday.My job is near a range and instead of eating on my lunch hour i go there to practice.This has been going on now for 15 months practically every day weather permitting.I spend 30 minutes with the short game(pitching/chipping/special shots).Then i spend 30 minutes hitting shots starting with wedge and going up thru driver.I only buy a small bucket of balls(about 22 of them)and they let me go out on the range and hit those back in to the tee boxes..then i go back to the tees and hit the long shots.The thing that has really changed my game is my improvement in the short game from 50 yards in.Im hitting pitch shots from about 30 yards-40 yards in that i couldnt make in the past and im scoring better.You'll notice i didnt mention putting as i run out of time before i get to it.But i dont play the same course regularly so i spend my time before a round getting used to that courses particular greens.Anyway thats my .02 worth-David

a few points

a) practice makes PERMANANT not PERFECT.

b) always practice with a purpose.

c) never practice when tired or fatigued

hope this helps.

I don't know if this makes any sense or not, but this is what I do when I go to the range. I'm playing to a +0.3 factor right now, so it's working for me. I always start by warming up with 20 or so wedge shots, just to get a feel for the swing. You'll always have better rythm with your short clubs, so try to start off with them. After this warmup, I usually simulate a round of golf on the range. Our home course, I start out with my 3 wood on the 1st hole, so I do the same on the range. A 3 wood leaves me with about and 80 yard shot to the green, so I'll play a 3/4 sand wedge for my next practice shot. Go the the 2nd hole (par 5) and hit driver, then I usually lay up with a 4 to 5 iron and again approach with a wedge. The 3rd hole par 3 I'll take a 6 iron and play it.....and on and on. I find this works very well in practicing, because it helps you to keep a good rythm going throughout your practice session, as you are not just sticking with one club, but eventually going through the whole bag.

Anytime that I'm practicing just driver, I'll do the same warmup, then hit 20 or so with the driver and go back to a wedge for a few, then back to the driver. This helps keep a good rythm also. Works for me, hope it helps you too.

I try to simulate course conditions as much as possible. My basic rountine is 60% short game (chips/pitches), 20% putting, and 20% long game (1* emphasis on driver since it is a specialty club). However, if I find that I am not progressing in one area, I'll adjust my routine to address that need, making sure that I do not shortchange the other areas. I make it a point, too, to practice various lies (uphill, downhill, rough, etc.) during each session. You can't possibly practice every specific shot you may face during a round, but you can practice enough different kinds of difficult shots that you won't feel intimidated or hopeless by a bad lie during competition.

I usually 'Play the Range' - as I would a course.

I bring a scorecard to the range - any scorecard will do, but I tend to go with the course I know I'll be playing next.

I then look at hole #1, and try to hit the shot I need.

So if, let's say, the first hole is a 400 yard par 4 dogleg left with OOB down the left and a bunker in the dogleg, I'll try to imagine that layout on the range, define the areas that are hazard or OOB, and try to hit the shot I need.

Then, if say, I hit a 225yd slight draw over the dogleg, leaving me with a 160yd approach shot, then the next shot at the range will be just that 160yd approach to a target on the range.

Let's then assume that I - a high handicapper - misses the 'green' by some 20 yards to the left, then the next shot will be a 20-something yd chip, pitch or lob.

It's very effective because you don't get stuck in the danges of repetition. It's a lot easier to hit a solid shot similar to the solid shot you just hit when you can stand still and just get a ball.
But if you have to move away from your setup, get another club, get another ball, pick another target and setup all over again, that's a very different story.

Try it - it works!

Plus - it's a LOT more fun than mindlessly hitting 6-irons until your hands go numb!

Add penalty strokes for dropping out of hazards and always assume 2-putts when 'on green', and you even have a training method that can track your improvement in the very same way as you do it on the course.

__________________
//Mox
2008 bag:
Mizuno MX-500 460cc 10.5* Fujikura Tour Platform 26.3 stiff. (about to be replaced by MP-600 10,5* UST Proforce V2 stiff)
Mizuno F-50 3w 15* Fujikura Tour Platform 26.3 stiff.
Wilson Deep Red 5w 18* Graphalloy Fatshaft stiff
Cleveland HALO 3i hybrid 22* graphite regular
Mizuno MP-60e forged 5i-PW True Temper Dynamic gold R300 steel
Mizuno MP Black OX raw haze 50/6 GW, 54/9 SW, 58/10 LW
Heavy Putter B3-M
Titleist NXT Extreme

Good idea...

Greetings,

My routine normally starts with one club and ends with the same club although I can use a different club at times to change the rhythm somewhat.

I normally hit about 500 balls in one session because I made a deal with the course manager to get unlimited range priviledges for a fixed price for the season and I intend to get as much from it as I can. I don't hit more than that because at some point I start to get blisters and those are very bad for golf.

I have few drills I do, either full swing shots or half swing focus shots. I always aim at a target because that's what the game demands: That I aim at a target on every shot. Full swing shots probably help me to practice sending a ball to a target while half swing focus shots help me make proper contact with the ball. The half swing focus shot, that's what I call it now but whatever, I normally focus on making proper contact with the ball using only a half swing so that's why I call it that. I think that I don't need any more drills other than those two. Anyway, between my full swing and my half swing, there isn't much of a difference because I don't bring the club up to parallel on the backswing either way.

Another drill I do sometimes. I hit full swing focus shots whereby I try really hard to maintain focus on the ball as I hit it and maintain that focus on the spot where the ball was even as it leaves the clubface and longer afterwards. I hardly ever look up for quite a few balls when I do that drill.

Sometimes I will hit all 500 balls with full swing shots to the same target and that would be it for the session.

I hit each ball as I would if I were to play and I play as I would if I were to practice. That means, I take no practice swing unless I have a funky lie on the course or unless I'm trying something at the range. I aim for a target and try to send the ball to it.

I take a break whenever I want or whenever I need to change my mind or my perspective about something or when I get frustrated about something I'm trying to do or about the pain in my left knuckles. One practice session for me runs for about 5-6 hours although I can just go hit a bucket or two before a round and that takes me about 30-45 minutes.

That's about it.

Forgot to add that I practice putting but less often than full swing shots and I only have one drill, I call it The Gimme, you can find it here in the "Short Game Instruction" forum. I also practice chipping but only when I have doubts about my ability with that and that's rare.


Martin Levac