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What's in your practice session ?

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D.Witt

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When at the range, how do you ensure you are practicing to become a better golfer and not a better practicer ?

Whats your routine? if you don't mind sharing.. please see mine below and critique it. I would like to learn to practice to become better on the course and not be happy about being a good practice mat hitter ..

- 60 balls
- Warm-up / Stretch
- Hit 10 balls with a easy half swing with a wedge, usually targeting something in the 50yard range.
- Hit 20 balls full swing, I usually start with Pitching Wedge and I change clubs every 2 shots. I usually do odds going up (P, 9 , 7, 5, 3, 1) and then evens back down ( 4, 6, 8, SW ). I use the same 50yd target and try to keep the longer clubs on the same line with the target but obviously further down the range to practice accuracy. I also ensure I step away from the mat prior to each shot to reset myself.
- Hit 20 balls half-swing using the same method as above with club selection and target.
- Hit 10 balls with about a quater swing and I exxagerate the position of my hands in the transition of my back-swing, to contact, to finish .. sort of working on rotating my hands through ball contact..((if that makes sense))

Sometimes I'll putt, sometimes I don't ... not really sure how to practice putting besides randomly placing my ball on the practice green and picking a hole. I have no rhyme or reason to how long I practice putting. I guess I just stop when I feel like it.

I would appreciate hearing from fellow hackers of any ideas, thoughts, or time-wasters you see in my practice routine as I am eager to improve my game...
 
Sorry, Just realized there was a:

The THP Range/Practice Thread

I will go through the post and see what info I can find.
 
Depends totally on what I'm practicing full swing, release, short game, check points in the swing.

A lot depends on what my instructor has me working on but I have a few drills I do regardless because I know they put me where I need to be with the basics of the swing.

Short game depends on the facility I'm at but I try to not practice from perfect lies and try to throw in some nasty ones. I also vary my shots high release, high n stop, bump n run, low checker.
 
D.Witt said:
Sorry, Just realized there was a:

The THP Range/Practice Thread

I will go through the post and see what info I can find.
Click to expand...

No worries. That can be a daily update thread and this is still a good topic.
 
I go thru my same 6 clubs to get warmed up and to gauge where my swing is. If any of these six need work, I spend extra time. But my goal is not just hit balls at flags. My goal is to work on one or two shots that I can't pull off everytime. I try to visualize a **** that may come about in the course of play and work on that. I don't spend a great deal of time at the range. I like to get in and get out.
 
Depends:
- training
- practicing
- warming up before a round

Training is mostly getting my distances in check, trying to get as much consistency as possible. Full shots, 80% shots and the "three clubs down" shots. Could be 40/60/80/100 balls, I just stop when I feel the work is done.

Practice is doing my drills, working on what my teacher told me to work on. Don't use many different clubs, often don't even pull the driver from the bag. Mostly the 7iron, wedges and 4iron.

Warming up is a set routine, should be the same every time too. Need to shorten this though.
Start with the 56°, then driver. Gapwedge, then 4 wood. Pitching wedge, then hybrid, 9iron, then 4iron.. Etc. Hit two balls with every club. Hit one or two more with the club I have to use for the first shot.
Put about 10-12 holes with two balls, do a couple 15 yard chips. Then I'm set.
 
When I practice I'm practicing to build a strength or fix a flaw.

When I hit the range for a session I could be there all day depending on what it is I'm working on, I usually get 2 buckets to start and find a nice quiet spot n the range and pull the PW first, I'll hit a dozen or so shots to get the body turning. Once I get loose I go to work.

I'll start with even number clubs first and go to the 4 working on grip, alignment, posture, and my natural shot shape the cut, I want to hit multiple shots with each club after that, knockdowns, draws, high shots, I'll imagine I'm in the trees and hit pretend shots 140, 180, 100, out of the pretend trees and then I'll do the same thing with the odd number clubs starting with the 9 iron.

Then I'll grab a bucket and hit nothing but 3, 4, and 5 irons, I love practicing the long game and at one time I hated it because I couldn't hit a long iron to save my life, I made it my strength.

I'll hit some wedges different lengths to different targets, I'll pick off colored grass spots or bare spots to hit to besides flags and really work on carry distances more than anything because it's near impossible to measure roll out on the long grass.

If there's a practice bunker near the range I'll grab a 5 and 7 iron and hit long bunker shots, generally 15 or 20 with each club, I do that to work on ball contact more than anything, it gives great feedback when you don't hit it well lol.

I'll finish up on the putting green and chipping green, I just try to relax and hit the shots that are my common misses or faults.

I practice because I have too, I' don't have the natural talent a lot of folks have and that has made me want to work harder.
 
Now that my instructor has me at a spot that he wants me, my practice has turned into the "9 shots"

1 low fade 1 low straight 1 low draw
1 normal fade 1 normal straight 1 normal draw
1 high fade 1 high straight 1 high draw

Once I can do it properly I'll move to the next club. Generally skipping a club and work up through the bag. From there I'll practice carry distances with my wedges. After that finish up with short game and putting. Generally when I go to the range to practice I'm looking at least 2 large buckets if not more. I love practicing I almost enjoy it as much as playing to be honest.

Warming up is a completely different animal for me. I'll stretch, grab a small bucket and hit some balls and get a general idea of what my natural shot shape will be for that day and bring that to the course. I'll try working the ball both ways warming up, but if one doesn't come as easy as the other I'll play whatever the shape my game is giving me for that day.
 
Six4three5 said:
Now that my instructor has me at a spot that he wants me, my practice has turned into the "9 shots"

1 low fade 1 low straight 1 low draw
1 normal fade 1 normal straight 1 normal draw
1 high fade 1 high straight 1 high draw

Once I can do it properly I'll move to the next club. Generally skipping a club and work up through the bag. From there I'll practice carry distances with my wedges. After that finish up with short game and putting. Generally when I go to the range to practice I'm looking at least 2 large buckets if not more. I love practicing I almost enjoy it as much as playing to be honest.

Warming up is a completely different animal for me. I'll stretch, grab a small bucket and hit some balls and get a general idea of what my natural shot shape will be for that day and bring that to the course. I'll try working the ball both ways warming up, but if one doesn't come as easy as the other I'll play whatever the shape my game is giving me for that day.
Click to expand...
Wow dude, that's impressive that you're even attempting this. 9 shots is the holy grail of practice and a pipe dream for a guy like me.

For me I warm up with a 60* wedge just hitting some high and low to 50/75/100.
After that I go Driver - Iron - Wedge - FW - Long iron - wedge - Driver etc etc.

Once I'm in a good place I play my way around a course in my head. Lately it's been TB and Caledonia.
 
ArmyGolf said:
Wow dude, that's impressive that you're even attempting this. 9 shots is the holy grail of practice and a pipe dream for a guy like me.

For me I warm up with a 60* wedge just hitting some high and low to 50/75/100.
After that I go Driver - Iron - Wedge - FW - Long iron - wedge - Driver etc etc.

Once I'm in a good place I play my way around a course in my head. Lately it's been TB and Caledonia.
Click to expand...
Haha thanks dude! It's been a grinding 5 months from where I started. It's a process that my instructor basically broke me down with out making me feel like we've completely changed everything. My biggest issue is the face at impact. Once I can get it square a majority of the time it's easy to shape the ball with your swing path.
 
ArmyGolf said:
Wow dude, that's impressive that you're even attempting this. 9 shots is the holy grail of practice and a pipe dream for a guy like me.

For me I warm up with a 60* wedge just hitting some high and low to 50/75/100.
After that I go Driver - Iron - Wedge - FW - Long iron - wedge - Driver etc etc.

Once I'm in a good place I play my way around a course in my head. Lately it's been TB and Caledonia.
Click to expand...
And to be honest with myself there isn't a whole hell of a lot of difference between the normal trajectory and the high trajectory for me lol.
 
I usually start with partial shots to intermediate targets, such as 30 yard pins. This serves multiple purposes - warm up the body, re-enforce tempo/rhythm, and make sure I practice pitch shots.

If I'm at the range to work on a specific problem (eg, a miss, a trouble club, set up, take away) then I do it.

If not, I tend to focus most on scoring clubs through maybe 7i, playing games to targets. I will hit some shots (but not very many) with clubs from the top end of the bag.
 
Practicing to me is about improving timing and feel around sand traps and short irons. Sometimes 20 or 30 balls.
 
Depends what I am trying to work on. No two range sessions are the same.
 
Stretch/warm up. Hit a few to get loosened up. Work on something - I never go to the range just to hit balls. I will always work on something, and getting accurate enough to hit flags and poles is something. That will work for half the bucket. The other half goes to the short game area. Low shots, high shots, stop it, make it run, sand, flops, everything I can think of.
The last third is spent on the practice green. Two balls and work my way around. Work on judging slope, speed, and getting the ball below the hole when I miss.
 
I love the practice range - everything about it.

I "practice" short game - bunker shots, 10 yd chips to elevated green, 20 yd pitch shots, then back in the bunker. Or something like that.
Practice on the range is shooting at flags with different clubs. Driver to a particular tree or hill at the back of the range. Try to hit draws, fades, and straight with driver and all irons (the ones I choose to work on). Wedges - hit to a particular bunker or green, using all four wedges (PW, gap, sand, lob).
Putting practice - I now do the clock drill until I accomplish it, then hit 10 ft, then 20 ft, then 40 ft putts from different spots around the hole and at different holes on the practice green. I change position when I get two of three within 3 feet (or so) of the hole, hopefully behind the hole.

When I am warming up, I start putting, then chipping, then the range session, begin with a wedge (10 balls or so), then a high iron, then a low iron, then 3w, then driver.
 
On the range I stretch for 5 minutes, warm up with a couple wedges for about 25 balls, move to the mid/long irons and then my fairway woods. More than have my full shots are short irons and wedges as that is what most of my approaches are. I rarely hit more than 3 or 4 drivers on the range even with some of the long 300 balls sessions I've been doing recently. The last 50 balls I hit shots under 35 yards of different trajectory. Putting I try to practice for at least and hour 3 or more days a week.
 
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