30 MINUTES TO PRACTICE
STEP 2 BY STEP PRACTICE- GUIDES THAT ARE GUARANTEED TO IMPROVE YOUR GAME
By Sarah-Jane Shepherd PRACTICE MAKES PERMANENT
Need to sharpen your game but have limited time to practice? Want to know how to make your practice time as productive as possible?
“The more I practice, the luckier I seem to get” – Gary Player
“There’s always stuff to work on. You’re never there” – Tiger Woods
Too many golfers spend valuable practice time achieving very little because they don’t know how or what to practice. Since practice makes permanent, not perfect, it’s important to focus on quality, not quantity of your range time. I’m going to show you how you can sharpen your game in just 30 minutes, on the range or on the short game area, with some exercises, drills and challenges to get you ready to take the money off your playing partners.
By Sarah-Jane Shepherd 30 MINUTES ON THE RANGE
TARGET PRACTICE 30m
70m
50m
After you have stretched a little and made a few practice swings, start your practice session with a few wedge shots. Select 3 different targets all within range for you to use a wedge and hit 10-15 balls, changing the target with each shot. By hitting to different targets you will vary your alignment and swing length, which is much more realistic to being on the course than just hitting balls to the same target. This exercise will get your muscles warmed up ready for the longer shots and make you target focussed from the get go. REMEMBER! It is not MID IRONS about the quantity of balls you hit, its about the quality of your practice!
For the next 10 minutes, hit some longer shots with a mid iron. Select a target at the correct distance for your 7 or 6 iron. Check your fundamentals – grip, alignment, ball position and posture. Even the tour pros check their basics every time they practice - good swings stem from solid fundamentals. Use alignment sticks to ensure good aim and ball position and mirrors to check posture. If you are working with a golf coach on your swing technique, now is the time to practice the changes.
By Sarah-Jane Shepherd 30 MINUTES ON THE RANGE
SHOT SHAPING
Most people practice by trying hit a perfectly straight, high flying shot again and again. What if someone asked you to deliberately draw or fade the ball into a tight pin? Or hit one low into the wind? Practicing with different ball flights will prepare you for the reality of the golf course and give you better control and feel of the club head as it comes through impact. So for the next 10 minutes, grab a longer iron and select a different target to the one you were aiming at with your 7 iron. Grab 10 balls and alternate between hitting a fade and a draw. Grab another 10 balls and try to hit one lower than your normal flight followed by one that is higher.
Why is this a useful exercise? Being able to deliberately change the balls flight and curvature helps on the course when: • Keeping the ball low into the wind – the ‘punch’ shot • Keeping the ball low under tree branches • Shaping the ball into tight pin positions / away from hazards • Curving the ball around trees
By Sarah-Jane Shepherd 30 MINUTES ON THE RANGE
SIMULATE THE COURSE In the final 5 minutes, get yourself course ready!
• Imagine you are on the 1st tee of your home course, or wherever you are playing next. Tee up a ball and grab the club that you would normally use for that shot. • Stand behind the ball and visualise the hole; the fairway, hazards, flag in the distance. • Go through your pre shot routine, just as you would on the course, and hit your tee shot. • Now grab another ball and hit your second shot with the appropriate club. If your tee shot was good and hit the fairway, perhaps you only need to hit a 9 iron into the green. If it went left into the trees, your next shot might need to be a low punch. • Include pitch and chip shots if you ‘miss’ a green
‘Playing’ a few holes like this to finish your practice session:
• Prepares you for the golf course • Adds a little pressure to your practice • Helps you overcome any first tee nerves
By Sarah-Jane Shepherd 30 MINUTES ON THE SHORT GAME AREA
PRESSURE PUTTS Start your short game session with a couple of putting exercises. Putting to a small target, such as a tee instead of the hole, helps sharpen your aim and builds confidence in your stroke.
By focussing on the tee in practice, the hole will look much bigger on the course! Narrow Your Focus
• Place a tee about 1 foot behind the middle of the hole and position 5 balls in a line 3 feet apart from each other, with the closest ball being 3 feet from the hole. • Focus on the tee as your target rather than the hole. • Start with the closest ball and hit the putt. If it goes in, move on to the next ball. If the second ball is also holed, move on to the third. • If you miss a putt, start again with the shortest putt. The aim is to hole all 5 putts without missing. • As the tee is positioned 1 foot past the hole, it will also encourage you to be positive with your short putts
By Sarah-Jane Shepherd 30 MINUTES ON THE SHORT GAME AREA
NO PEEKING
Many players have the tendency to look up early to see where the ball is going, especially under pressure. Lifting the head early can cause the shoulders and putter head to move off line, resulting in missed putts. Keeping the head perfectly still will help the putter stay on line and teach you to trust your stroke.
The drill: Hit 10 putts from 6 feet without moving your head at all. Do not SEE the ball drop, HEAR the ball drop. In the words of Tiger Woods
“Keep your head down and roll the rock”
Repeat this exercise with your eyes closed – this will build confidence in your stroke when you hear a few putts hitting the bottom of the cup.
By Sarah-Jane Shepherd 30 MINUTES ON THE SHORT GAME AREA
CHIP IT CLOSE! Next, grab two clubs that you usually chip with (a gap wedge and 9 iron for instance) and head to the chipping green!
Flight vs Roll Knowing where to land the ball and how much the ball will roll is vital to chip well. The loft of the club will determine the flight to roll ratio. For example, a chip with your sand wedge may be 60% carry vs 40% roll, whereas your 9 iron might be 40% carry vs 60% roll. The best players in the world are able to visualize where to land the ball and how it will roll – this drill will help you to do the same.
“The key to controlled chipping is having the ability to get a clear picture of your landing distance and to understand the reaction you are likely to get” – David Leadbetter
The Drill • Choose a target on the chipping green that is fairly flat and between 10-20 yards in distance • Start with your gap wedge and position a towel on the green, somewhere between you and the hole, where you believe the ball should land. This is your LANDING ZONE. • Hit 10 balls – how many can you land on the towel? • If at any point you find that the towel is in the wrong position, adjust it so that when you land the ball on it, it rolls out to the hole. • Change to your 9 iron and move the landing zone closer to you, as less loft = more roll. Hit 10 more shots to the same target. How many can you land on the towel now? • Avoid the landing zone being on the fringe or a slope as this could cause the ball to jump off line.
By Sarah-Jane Shepherd 30 MINUTES ON THE SHORT GAME AREA
CHIPPING CIRCLES Obviously the closer you are able to chip the ball, the more chance you have of holing the putt. So TEST YOURSELF!
6ft circle
Chip from
3ft circle
• Select a target and create two circles around the hole with tees – one at 3 feet and the other at 6 feet from the hole. • Chip 10 balls from 10-20 yards distance. Balls finishing in the 6ft circle score 1 point. Balls in the 3ft circle score 3 points and in the hole scores 5 points. • Repeat again from other positions around the green, including slopes and different lies. • Make it even tougher by scoring -1 point for any ball that finishes outside the 6ft circle.
By Sarah-Jane Shepherd 30 MINUTES ON THE SHORT GAME AREA
THE FINAL TEST With 10 minutes of your practice session left, let’s add some pressure and see how sharp your short game really is!
Every golfer misses greens during a round – even the best players in the world. However, when the top players miss a green this very rarely leads to dropped shots. In fact, very often they see it as an opportunity.
Par 18 FACTS! • Choose a target and place 9 balls around the green in different • In 2019, Graeme McDowell was positions. The shots should vary in the best at scrambling from 10-20 distance, with different lies and yards on the PGA Tour. He got up slopes. Include a bunker shot if and down 122 out of 157 times possible too. (78%) • Select your club and go through • The PGA Tour average for this your pre shot routine as you would distance was 64% on the golf course. • From 10 yards or less the tour • Chip ball number 1, then grab your average was to 84% putter and try to hole out. Do this with all 9 balls. Imagine how many shots you • The objective is to get each ball up would save during a round, and down in 2, hence the name tournament or even the entire Par 18 season if your stats looked like this!
5 6 4
7 3 8 2 9 1
By Sarah-Jane Shepherd SEE YOU SOON!
Thank you for taking the time to read my short article, I hope you found it interesting!
Sarah-Jane is a qualified British PGA Golf Professional from Leicestershire, England. She passed her PGA qualification in 2011, finishing top student in her year and winning the 'Titleist Trainee of the Year' award, beating over 300 other trainee professionals. She was the first ever female to finish as top trainee in all 3 years of the PGA qualification.
She has worked as a golf coach in some of the worlds most prestigious golf clubs in many different countries, including The Belfry in England, Quinta do Lago in Portugal and The Montgomerie Dubai. Sarah-Jane coaches at Royal Golf and Golf i Lunden, and in the Winter season at Indoor Golf Nordsjælland. She is the head golf coach for the Dansk Kvinde Golf Akademi.
Enjoyed this article and want to improve your game? Contact me at [email protected] or visit our Facebook page and website www.dkga.dk.
By Sarah-Jane Shepherd