Chapter 3
Finding Creative Ways to Practice Golf
In This Chapter
Drilling on the driving range
Building your own sand-play trainer
Putting with aids for the practice green and carpet
Working at home
Making a game of practice
In the 1984 film The Karate Kid, Mr. Miyagi teaches his pupil Daniel the fundamental secrets of martial arts by putting the boy through his paces. Miyagi has him do chores, such as sanding the deck, painting the fence, and waxing the car, which frustrates Daniel until he finds out how the chores apply to karate; they actually strengthen his techniques for fighting! You don’t have to get so menial in your training, but you can utilize some simple devices that help you train on and off the golf course.
You can find a plethora of practice gadgets and trinkets in retail golf shops, magazines, or on television infomercials, but before you do that, check out our recommendations in this chapter. You may end up buying some devices, but you can make many of them yourself. One trip to a hardware store to buy a rubber band, a chalk line, two 2-x-4s, and a dowel, and you can build yourself five training devices for less than $20.
Another step to take before you shell out your hard-earned cash for the latest gadget is to pay a visit to a PGA professional at your club or your course. See what he or she uses to teach. The devices golf professionals use to teach likely are time honored and tested and focus on the key, fundamental points.
In this chapter, we give you some easy tricks to try to improve your golf game, particularly the short game (everything within 75 to 80 yards of the hole). The treat is the fun you have on the golf course when you begin to notice the results!
Understanding the Importance of Practice
It’s amazing, but nearly half of golfers who score poorly don’t practice. Are you one of them? You can’t expect to improve if you don’t put some time in. Now, we can already hear you griping, “I don’t have time!” Well, stop whining, because this section features a sample practice schedule that you can easily work into your weekly routine.
Practice can be fun. If you don’t want to take strokes off your game, skip this part, but if you’re a weekend warrior who wants to improve, here’s a shortcut to success:
Practice your swing whenever possible. You can practice most of your swings in your basement, living room, or backyard. Place old clubs in various locations around your house so you’re prepared to swing when the spirit (or schedule) moves you.
Make imaginary swings in front of a mirror or window with your arms and hands in the proper position (see Chapter 1 of Book III). If you don’t have a club handy, that’s okay. Visualize and feel the correct position.
Grip a club when you watch television. You’re not doing anything else! Try swinging a club during commercials.
Build a practice area in your house or office where you can work on your short game. Use those plastic practice balls. Set up a small obstacle course in your yard. (Your kids can help you with this part.)
Where and when possible, hit a bucket of balls during lunch. If it’s a hot day in July, you may want to hit the showers before you head back to the office.
Fitting your life into your busy practice schedule
Here’s a sample practice schedule. You may want to tone it down at the office (you look bad if your boss walks in while you’re practicing your putting), although you may be able to multitask during those long conference calls.
Monday: Health-club workout (1 hour); putt on rug (15 minutes).
Tuesday: Swing a club in front of a mirror or window (30 minutes).
Wednesday: Health-club workout (1 hour); read a golf magazine or golf book or watch a golf DVD (30 minutes). Chapter 2 of Book I gives you some good options for study materials.
Thursday: Swing a club or chip (1 hour).
Friday: Health-club workout (1 hour); practice range, including golf drills (1 hour).
Saturday: Practice range (1 hour); play 18 holes.
Sunday: Watch golf on TV; practice range (30 minutes); play 9 holes.
Practicing like you play
No one outside of Vijay Singh likes to practice. The very word conjures up images of drudgery. Some golfers even refer to the practice range as “the rock pile.”
For improvement, however, practice is unavoidable. When you can’t get to the golf course, and the practice tee is your only option, try to make the best of the situation. And the way to really make the best of it is to practice like you play — that is, make your practice session as important and varied as an experience on the golf course can be.
You won’t improve your game if you stomp out there and pound away ball after ball with a driver. Golf practice isn’t a purely quantitative endeavor. Quantity doesn’t equal quality. Vijay Singh may hit hundreds of balls a day, but he hits every ball like he’s standing on the 18th hole with a chance to win a tournament.
Think of a football coach. He may have his team hit blocking sleds or run drills from time to time, but the most vital part of any football practice is the scrimmage in which the team tries its plays out against a mock opposing team. The scrimmage is designed to simulate the real game situation as closely as possible. You can do the same in golf.
You should conduct goal-oriented, organized practice sessions. Before you begin your session, break down your practice time so that your routine mimics an actual round — instead of falling into the grip-it-and-rip-it pattern — so you can practice the specific aspects of your game that need work. Say you have one hour to practice. That means you spend the first five minutes stretching out (as we cover in Chapter 2 of Book V). After you stretch out, you can start hitting short shots and putts for 30 minutes. Spend the final 25 minutes hitting range balls with your longer irons and drivers. Set the schedule in your head and stick to it!
Getting older — and better
We all age, and our games change as we do so. If you’ve recently become a senior golfer, you need to know some things to keep your game young. As you may know already (or will find out soon enough), you just don’t hit the ball as far as you used to. Four basic problems cause this discrepancy:
Poor posture: Bad posture can stop you from turning properly. Be careful how you hold your head; keep it off your chest. Maintain good posture by standing in front of a full-length mirror and holding a club out in front of you. Keep looking in the mirror as you lower the club into the hitting position. Don’t let your head tilt or move forward. When you master this technique, you can make that turn and swing your arms.
Lack of rotation on your backswing: You probably aren’t turning your hips and shoulders enough on the backswing. You can increase your range of motion by increasing your flexibility. See Chapter 2 of Book II for stretching exercises. They can be a huge help! Then review the elements of the swing in Chapters 1 and 2 of Book III, get out to the driving range, and work out those kinks.
Lost strength: As you grow older, you lose strength in your hands and forearms, which makes keeping your wrists in the proper position on the downswing harder. This weakness reduces clubhead speed, so the ball doesn’t go as far. Simple drills to combat loss of strength include squeezing a tennis ball, doing forearm curls with light barbells, and Harvey Penick’s drill: Swing a club back and forth like a scythe 20 or 30 times a day. Just don’t do this drill anywhere near your new flat screen TV.
Lack of rotation in the follow-through: You may be so intent on hitting the ball that you’re not finishing your swing. This short shot causes the club to stop 3 or 4 feet beyond the ball and your arms to stop somewhere around your chest, with your belt buckle pointing to the right of your target. As you can imagine, this swing results in an unsightly shot. The ball flies to the right and is, well, weak.
To correct such a problem, repeat the following drill each day until it feels natural: While looking in a full-length mirror, go to the top of your backswing (see Chapter 1 of Book III) and then mirror-image that position on the follow-through, with your belt buckle facing to the left of your target. To make this happen, you must transfer 90 percent of your weight from your right foot to your left foot.
Finally, we can’t stress this point enough: If you don’t exercise, start (see Book II). Consult your local golf pro for suggestions, too. A good program coupled with a stretching routine improves your flexibility and strength, your golf game, and your life in general.
When you plan to practice, set a method for yourself, but try varying it every time. Don’t get stale because practice gets boring.
Shoring Up Your Short Game
When you arrive at the course, the putting green, or the edge of your backyard to practice, you should remember that 50 percent of your score comes from 50 yards and in; therefore, you should devote 50 percent of your practice time to improving your short game. If you do that without fail, you can become a better player.
The best players in the world don’t go into their “office” for an eight- or nine-hour day for nothing. They want to practice all aspects of their game, but they need to spend a lot of time on the aspects that make up 50 percent of their score. That work ethic and dedication is what makes them what they are — stars! You, however, can’t devote an eight-hour block to practice. But you can divvy up your practice time in the same manner. And if you do, you get better and your scores start to drop.
Having a game plan for your short-game practice
Variety rules the range, even when you’re focusing on your short game. Use the entire practice range — and your entire range of shots. Check out the following list to organize your time:
Start with the short irons and work your way up. If you haven’t been driving the ball well lately or you’ve been watching John Daly play, your first thought upon hitting the range may be to reach for your driver. But don’t spend all your allotted time on the range on your driver. You may hit the driver something like 14 times in a round (not all drives actually call for that club), so your skill with the club is important. But you have to prepare to hit all your irons, too.
Work your way up to the driver by practicing your technique with short irons. Working through the clubs gives your short game the attention it deserves. Plus, nothing says that you can’t take a break from the big stick after you have it going. Hit a few 9-irons. Find a specific target. Hit a few fades and a few draws, and then go back to the driver.
Vary your targets. It doesn’t matter where you position yourself on the range or in the hitting bays because you don’t have to smack every practice shot straight out into the field from your spot on the range. Although the tee markers, mats, and sidewalls tend to point players straight out, you should avoid mechanical, rote ball striking.
Sure, go ahead and hit some shots straight out, especially at the beginning of the session when you want to get a feel for the ball and find your alignment. But after you get comfortable, hit three shots to the right. Aim 40 yards to the left and hit some balls. Pick out a target — a tree, flag, or green — on the left and then pick out some aiming points on the right.
Vary your shot selection. You don’t need to swing for the fences all the time. Take your practice time to work on your bump and runs to improve your scores around the greens; your punch shots for windy weather; or shots between your club distances. (Head to Chapter 8 of Book III for more on punch shots and bump and runs.)
One routine you need to avoid during your practice session is grabbing ball after ball and whacking them without a target. Many players just hit ball after ball. They hit a bad shot and, sometimes while that ball is still in the air, they grab another. These firing squad players don’t have a routine to focus on. They go to the golf course to play with no plans for practice or improvement. If you get into a routine of practicing the way you play, you become a far better player.
Go at each ball as if you’re standing on the tee or in the fairway in the middle of a round and you need to come up with an accurate shot. Pick your alignment and your target and know what you want to do with every shot. Get your mind set before every swing like you do before a shot on the golf course and turn off your conscious mind. Hit each shot and watch it finish before dragging another ball over and preparing for the next swipe.
Spending time on the green
Variety is also the keyword when working around the greens. If you putt first to start practice one day, try chipping first in your next session. Vary the types of shots you hit during a practice session and the locations you hit them from.
Chip some balls in one direction, and then walk over and chip a few from another spot in another direction (see Chapter 4 of Book III for chipping instruction). Don’t make the same putt over and over; save that drill for a putting-specific practice session (we cover putting mechanics in Chapter 6 of Book III and drills later in this chapter). Move around the hole and vary the lengths. Hit some bunker shots in the middle to spice things up (see Chapter 7 of Book III for instructional info). Choose a different target, flag, or hole to hit pitches to.
You can try to make every one of your practice shots, and we could tell you to grind over every one as if you’re facing your final shot to win the U.S. Open, but you can’t realistically expect that from yourself. Try to remain focused and result oriented, but don’t be afraid to experiment with your swing and stance until you’re comfortable and confident. Try hitting shots lower, higher, longer, and shorter. Play while you practice. For some drills to help you remain focused, turn to this chapter’s “Tuning your swing with music.”
On the golf course, you get a different look on every hole and on every shot, so you should practice with that in mind. You never get the same shot. It never happens. So don’t keep hitting the same chip over and over. After you successfully master a chip shot from a specific lie, move on to another lie or distance from the hole and go about practicing that one until you feel comfortable with it.
Riding the Range
Going to the practice range doesn’t have to be like a punishment. You can make the experience useful and fun by experimenting with different ways to practice. Use some of the following tricks to make practice more like play.
Standing up for balance
Good balance aids your golf game because it helps you swing smoothly and evenly — you have a better chance of taking the club back along the target line and through the ball with good tempo and rhythm. Rather than a choppy or forced feeling, you want an even, fluid swing, and good balance helps you do just that. Hitting shots or taking swings with your feet placed together improves your balance and gives you a good sense of the physics involved in the golf swing (see Figure 3-1).
Figure 3-1: Hit some balls with your feet together to get a feel for balance and the physics of the golf swing.
It may feel a bit awkward at first, but you can discover a lot about the turn of your body and the release of your hands by swinging with your feet together. Hitting shots with a condensed base gives you a good sense for the weight and power of the clubhead and how it shoots the ball virtually on its own without the aid of your body.
When you have time on the practice range, hit 10 or 15 balls with your feet squarely together. Try using a pitching wedge and position the ball back in your stance, off your back foot (see Figure 3-1). Swing along the target line, keeping your hands ahead of the ball at all times. Stand closer to your line than on most other shots. You’re not looking for distance here; you just want to make good contact without falling over.
Becoming a one-armed bandit
A brilliant way to develop your sense for the swing and for ball striking is to hit golf shots with one hand. Here’s how:
1. Stand over the ball at the practice range and take your normal stance with a wedge or a 9-iron.
2. Remove your dominant hand from the club and leave it to dangle at your side.
You don’t need it for this drill.
3. Start by hitting some one-handed chip shots.
Hitting these little chips helps you develop a feel for getting the club on the ball and lets you see how the ball comes off the clubface.
4. Work your way up to three-quarter-swing pitch shots, using only your nondominant hand.
Your confidence with one arm begins to improve, and your shots become stronger and fly farther.
If you find that your dangling arm gets in the way of your swing, try stuffing your hand into your pocket before you make the swing.
It may seem difficult to hit one-handed shots, but hitting them without your dominant hand guiding the swing helps your short game in a number of ways:
It proves to you that, in the short game and in the full golf swing, the non-dominant hand truly is the leader, and the dominant hand serves only as a guide. You discover after a few swings that you can hit the ball a long way and in an effective fashion with your nondominant hand. This psychologically frees up your mind and your sense of the swing, helping you rely on the nondominant hand and arm. (See Chapter 3 of Book III for the importance of letting your nondominant hand lead the way.)
You’re forced to practice pulling your nondominant hand and arm through the shot and letting that arm truly captain the swing because it has no first mate to help.
You develop a greater awareness of the face of the club. Using only one hand heightens the sensation of feel with that one hand.
Tuning your swing with music
More often these days, players, especially the young ones, show up on the practice range wearing headphones. They hit practice balls while they listen to music. And the youngsters aren’t the only ones. PGA Tour player Vijay Singh has admitted that he has a little ditty he sings in his head when he swings a golf club. No rule prohibits this extra piece of equipment, but is playing to music a good idea? We think so. The following sections tell you why.
Playing in the subconscious
If you listen to music while you hit golf shots, you play in the subconscious. The activity trains you to play the game from a mentally suspended state. Think about it. When you’re driving a car down the road and listening to music on the radio, do you consciously think about every move you make while you drive? Keep my foot on the gas pedal . . . check the rear view mirror . . . turn on my right turn signal . . . check the right lane . . . turn the steering wheel to the right . . . merge to the right to change lanes . . . move my foot to the brake to decrease my speed.
No, you probably don’t drive that way. Although driving demands concentration and attention to ensure safety, more often than not, the actual motions just kind of happen without much thought. You use your instincts and force of habit to drive mile after mile.
If you listen to the music, you don’t think about the literal components of your swing: Is my face square . . . take the club back slowly . . . gotta keep my elbow tucked . . . okay, pause at the top and shift my weight to the left side . . . don’t decelerate. These types of thoughts can paralyze you.
It may seem like a mystical phrase, but playing in the subconscious improves your game. You want to get to the point where you can grab the club and just swing it naturally, instead of stepping over the ball with a series of running thoughts. (See Chapter 3 of Book III for more on the power of the subconscious.)
Talking about tempo
Music can also help one of the most important characteristics of the golf swing: your tempo. Your ideal tempo as you swing isn’t a fundamental set in stone; it’s really a matter of preference. Some may think of tempo as smooth and rhythmic, conjuring up images of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. Good tempo to others may be more like the jitterbug.
Choosing music to accentuate your tempo is a “what’s right for you” part of the golf game. Hard rock is terrible for a slow, rhythmic swing, but another guy may benefit from hard rock because it makes him feel like his fast swing has rhythm and balance. Probably the best choice for music, if you have no preference, is a waltz. In Chapter 2 of Book V, we cover tips for regaining your tempo.
Surf and Turf: Practicing in the Sand and on the Green
Not all practice takes place on the driving range. Really. Anytime you’re at a facility that has a practice bunker, short-game area, or practice green, take advantage of the situation to try some of the following tricks. You can even use some of them in your own living room.
If you plan to try some of these DIY devices, read through each section to figure out what materials you need for your desired exercises. That way, you make only one trip to the hardware store.
Bunker board
Hitting sand shots is dry and dirty work. Who wants to spend time in a bunker? Well, you do if you want to lower your golf scores by improving your bunker game. But another, less obvious advantage to swinging a mean sand wedge is confidence. If you’re confident about how you play a bunker shot, that confidence spills over to shots outside of the bunker, like flop shots over bunkers and short shots out of high rough. Confidence breeds success, which equals lower scores and a lower handicap.
But instead of just dropping practice balls into a bunker and thrashing about, approach bunker practice with a plan. One way to teach yourself to handle bunker shots is to practice with a bunker board.
The goal of the bunker board exercise is to train yourself to hit through the sand positioned under the ball and splash it out at the right depth. The setup is simple: Buy a wooden 2-x-4 board at the lumberyard or hardware store and take it to the course with you. Place the board in a practice bunker along your target line and perpendicular to your feet. Put 2 to 3 inches of sand on top of the board, and carefully leave the ends of the board uncovered so you don’t hit the end when you swing. Put a golf ball on the middle of the board.
Set up for a bunker shot with your sand wedge and hit the ball from its position on the sand above the board, trying not to hit down on the board. As we explain in Chapter 7 of Book III, if you take more than 2 inches of sand on your bunker shots, you hit too many heavy, short shots. If you splash the club through the inch or two of sand you put on the board, you shouldn’t hit it. A proper shot may skim the board with the wedge, but that’s about it.
The board prevents you from digging in any farther than the 2 inches of sand. The club should glide through the sand and reveal the board lying underneath (see Figure 3-2). If you do hit the board, you feel it. If you hit the board, you’re digging too low. The presence of the board helps you, consciously at first and then subconsciously, not to dig the club too deep and leave your shots in the bunker or short of the green.
Figure 3-2: Pick the ball cleanly out of the few inches of sand to sweep the board dry.
Conversely, if you bring the clubface in too high, you hit the shot thin — you hit the top of the ball and send a line drive — and the ball may stay in the bunker or bound across the green, possibly into another bunker!
Chalk talk
After you line up a putt and determine the target line that can sink the putt or get it near the hole, your task is to swing the putter back and bring it forward along the target line.
When the ball doesn’t go where you expect it to, you’re left to wonder what went wrong. Did it leave the target line? Did your putter wobble off the target line? One way to get immediate feedback as to why your putts go astray is to make the target line visible.
Buy a powder chalk line normally used for carpentry work. The device contains a string loaded with blue or white chalk; when you lay the string down on the ground and snap the line, it creates a straight chalk line on the surface of the green (see Figure 3-3).
Figure 3-3: Make like a carpenter and snap a chalk line to help you with your putting.
Take the chalk line and go out to the practice green at your golf course, to your carpet at home, or to the office. Pick a flat area and a line that you want to roll the golf ball on (which may or may not end at a hole). Pull out the chalky string and snap it down on the ground. Let the green or the carpet pick up the chalk so when you remove the string, it leaves an exact line on the ground.
Put the golf ball on the line you marked and stand over the putt. You have an immediate visual feel for your putting line as you stand with your eyes directly over the ball and the putting line. Now you don’t just focus on the ball and a hole — you literally see the line.
Hit putts down the line and into the hole. Notice the blade on the takeaway:
Does the blade stay on the line as you take it back?
Does the blade stay on the line during the follow-through?
Does the ball roll nicely along the line toward the hole or toward the end of the line?
When does the ball leave the line?
You can look for a number of possible reasons why a ball leaves the target line when putting:
The blade doesn’t go straight back along the target line. This occurrence means you have to somehow correct the path of the putterhead in midstroke, which causes an unnatural, forced flow to the putt.
The blade doesn’t come straight forward and through the ball along the target line. Anticipation of the shot or anxiety about the result can cause you to let your eyes wander toward the hole or to hurry the putterhead through the ball. A push or a pull can result, sending the ball right or left of the target line.
You decelerate the blade at impact. The putterhead veers off the target line as it slows instead of moving confidently, like a pendulum, through the ball.
Trench warfare
Need more than just an imaginary target line or a chalked line to keep your putterhead on target during the stroke? Try a little practice in the trench to develop a repeating putting stroke that goes straight back and straight through the ball every time.
Take two 2-x-4 boards to the practice green (or the carpet in your home or office); one of them can be the board from the earlier “Bunker board” exercise if you try that drill. Lay the boards down flat, parallel to each other and pointing at the target, as shown in Figure 3-4. Leave just enough room between the boards for your putterhead to swing parallel to the boards. They should be far enough apart so your putter has room to swing freely, but they need to be close enough that you get immediate feedback if your putter sways and bangs into either or both of the boards.
To train your putting stroke, stand over the boards with your putter in the trench. Try to swing your putterhead down the putting line without banging the toe or the heel of the putter into the boards.
Repeatedly swinging the putter between the boards helps you clearly see the backward and forward path of the putterhead, and it also trains you to pivot at your shoulder, using your arms and hands to take the putterhead straight back and straight through the ball. Do this drill often enough, and you’ll start taking your putter back and forth with your eyes closed. Awareness of the putter helps you putt with great precision.
Figure 3-4: Employ two wooden boards to help you keep your putterhead online throughout the stroke.
You can put a ball in the trench and putt it out of the opening if you like, and you can combine the trench drill with the chalk line drill we discuss in the preceding section to really create a straight and steady putting stroke (see Figure 3-4). You don’t need the ball or the chalk line, however, because you can use the boards alone to discover the nature of your swing.
Dowel drill
Accurate putting starts with rolling the golf ball straight to your target. Being one degree off can cause the putt to be several inches off. The dowel drill is a good way to get a feel for hitting through the ball on the intended line. Buy an inch-wide dowel and have it cut to about 8 inches long. (A dowel is a piece of solid wood shaped like a rod or a cylinder.)
Put the dowel on the practice green (or your carpet) and choose a putting line; place the dowel perpendicular to the line. Put your putterhead flush behind the dowel. Make your stroke and hit the dowel. The rolling dowel should resemble the rolling golf ball.
When you hit the dowel, you want to hit it flush with the blade (see Figure 3-5). The rolling dowel gives you immediate feedback on the movement of your putterhead when it hits the ball. If you hit it on the money, the dowel rolls straight, end over end. But if you hit it with an errant stroke, you don’t get the intended roll:
If the heel of your putter comes in first, even at the slightest percentage angle, and your putter doesn’t hit the dowel flush, you push the dowel instead of rolling it down the line.
If the toe comes through first, you pull the dowel off-line.
Figure 3-5: You can use a dowel to help you roll your putts on-line with a proper putting stroke.
If the misdirected dowel veers right or left, your putterhead isn’t coming squarely through the ball on the target line. You can try to correct the path of your putter on your own or try the drills we cover in the “Chalk talk” and “Trench warfare” sections earlier in this chapter to straighten the swing path of your putter.
Home Improvement: Working on Your Game off the Course
The phrase “don’t try this at home” doesn’t apply to improving your golf game. Anytime you can get a little practice in or do some drills to improve your technique, do it! Some of the following tricks and drills can help you at home when your golf course is under winter’s snow or when you just can’t get out of the office.
Stretching your putting skill
The following stretching exercise is designed to help you build your sense for letting your putterhead fall through the ball, swing to completion, and hold at the finish — as great putting strokes do. It trains your muscles — and your mind — to make sure that your putterhead extends forward along the target line after the ball leaves the face.
Get a strong, 6-inch rubber band and put one end around the thin table leg or any piece of furniture — something heavy and stable that won’t move under minimal pressure. Put your putterhead through the space in the middle of the band. Take your putting stance, with your putter on the left side of the table leg if you’re a righty and on the right side if you’re a lefty. Stretch the blade and rubber band forward, as if you’re putting away from the table toward an imaginary hole, and hold the finish, as shown in Figure 3-6.
The band tries to pull your putter back, but keep stretching out the band. Stop after you complete a normal follow-through. Hold the finish, and then stretch it out again. Maintain a nice, soft grip. You don’t want to break the rubber band; you just want to stretch it out. All you want to do is train your muscles.
You also see that trying to use your wrists to pull the putter forward doesn’t work as well as keeping your wrists firm and having them work in concert with your arms and shoulders. Wristy putting isn’t solid, and it complicates matters, as you can tell by trying to pull the putter forward with your wrists. Your hands, arms, and wrists should pull the rubber band as one triangular unit, which is what they should do during a real putting stroke.
Now take the rubber band off and go hit some real putts on a practice green or on your carpet. Without the rubber band, you feel so much freer to accelerate through the ball, which is what you want to do on every putt you hit. Keep the same light grip, and let the muscles you’ve trained do the dirty work.
Figure 3-6: Train your muscles to accelerate through your putts by practicing with a strong rubber band and a piece of furniture.
Weighing in on weights
In any golf shop or in most sporting goods stores, you can buy a small, lead, donut-shaped weight. You typically use a donut to add weight to a golf club for loosening up and swinging. But in this case, you should take the club home with the weight.
You can sit in your chair watching television or be in any room in the house to perform this drill. Drop the donut weight around the shaft of your club so it falls all the way down and stops at the hosel (where the shaft connects to the blade). If you push the donut against the hosel, the rubber coating around the weight sticks and holds the donut in place. With your forearm on the chair’s armrest, grip the club with your nondominant hand first.
With the club extended out in front of you, slowly lift the club up to a 90-degree angle, using just your wrist; slowly, using your wrist and forearm for resistance, lower the club back down so it points directly outward. Repeat — from flat to a 90-degree angle and back.
Now, instead of going up and down, use your grip and wrist to maneuver the club from side to side — to the right and back to the middle and to the left and back to the middle — on a flat plane. Repeat.
This drill builds up your forearm and wrist strength, which helps you swing the club firmly and fully on pitch shots and approach shots. Strong wrists and arms are also useful when hitting full wedge shots from long grass and tangled rough, or when you need to pitch a ball a long way. Building these muscles also benefits your mental game because while you build up your wrist and forearm strength, you can see the face of the club and increase your conscious and subconscious awareness of the clubface. You train your hand into the grip, and you see the face of the club . . . all while you watch the news or read a magazine.
If you’re a righty, do more lifting with your left hand and arm than you do with the right. If you’re a lefty, concentrate on your right side. The nondominant arm is the one that provides the power and direction of the club.
Mirror, mirror: Checking your alignment
Awareness of the clubface is vital when you try to swing the club along the target line (see Chapter 3 of Book III for more on the target line). Overall awareness of your alignment and the position of your body are also important. Are you actually aiming where you think you’re aiming? Are you swinging your clubhead along the target line? Are your shoulders aligned parallel to the target line?
Your PGA professional, or even a friend, can check your swing on the practice range, but you’re on your own during a round, so you need to be able to sense good alignment and have an awareness of the proper positioning of your body. As with many aspects of self-awareness and introspection, you need to look no further than the mirror for answers!
Stand in front of a floor-length mirror with one of your short irons. Without looking into the mirror, take your golf stance — the position you take for chipping or putting — as if you’re aiming to hit a ball into the mirror. After you get comfortable, look at yourself in the mirror and consider the following points:
Your stance: Are your feet open to the target line?
The face angle of the blade on the club: Is it square to the target line?
The angle of the shaft: Do you have the club properly positioned in a vertical fashion in the middle of your stance, with perhaps a slight forward lean?
The position of your head over the ball: Can you see down the target line?
The distance between your feet: Are they shoulder-width?
The position of your hands: Are they close to your body and gripping the club lightly?
Now take your stance with your chest facing the mirror, as if you’re hitting a ball to the side. Get set and then look up at the mirror and evaluate the same areas. Looking at yourself in the mirror gives you immediate pieces of important feedback. Seeing is believing, and recognizing where your body is as opposed to where you think it is helps train your mind and muscles.
The Games People Play: Keeping Practice Interesting
Ben Hogan is credited with saying that “for every day you miss practicing, it will take you one day longer to be good.” But practice, practice, practice is like work, work, work. Who needs it?
One way to keep your head in the game when you practice is to banish the term “drill” by creating exciting scenarios and playing games with yourself and others. Whether you want to hone your skills alone or enjoy the company of a fellow short-game wizard, the practice drills we disguise as challenge games can get you started in your love affair with practice.
Pitching for Dollars
Pitching for Dollars is a one-on-one, closest-to-the-pin contest that can make you more aggressive with your pitch shots (see Chapter 5 of Book III for more on pitching). Hitting chips and pitches to a flagstick without competition often results in a lack of focus. Remember, you want to practice like you play. Putting $1 on each swing and a competitor’s ball on the green simulates competition and builds confidence.
The more individual battles you edge your opponent out in, the more dollars you earn; therefore, this game also teaches you not to let up on your opponent when you’re ahead and not to give up when you’re down. Some folks say that the best way to get a shot close to the hole is to try to sink it, and this game provides you plenty of incentive to hole shots.
Here’s the deal: You and a friend grab a small bucket of practice balls (40) and meet at the chipping green. Upon arrival, follow these steps:
1. Pick a grassy spot about 20 paces off the green and divide the balls between the two of you.
2. Taking turns, pitch the balls to the hole one at a time.
3. After you each pitch one, keep track of whose ball stops closer to the hole.
Whoever’s pitch is closer to the hole goes up 1 point. Wager $1 for each point — and $5 for holing a shot — and keep a running tally of the score.
4. Keep the game going until you pitch all the balls.
5. Loser pays up!
Of course, you don’t have to play for money. Try substituting a hot dog in the clubhouse or a drink after the session for the winner. Anything that keeps you competitive and driven to win!
After you hit and retrieve the first 20 balls and you figure the totals, try a different club. If you used a pitching wedge for the first round, try crafting less-lofted shots with an 8-iron in the second round. This variety helps you develop a strong sense of distance, feel, and touch — the key to shots around the greens. You can also create certain types of golf shots for subsequent rounds by
Pitching from a bad lie
Placing the ball in heavy rough
Pitching over a bunker
Blasting out of the sand
Rehearsing other on-course conditions, such as chipping balls from behind a tree or hitting balls over a branch
Horse-ing around
Consistency wins this game and rounds on the golf course. Being able to sink 5-footers under pressure isn’t a talent; it’s a gift — and a skill that you can improve through a game such as Horse.
Saddle up for a game of Horse by following these steps:
1. You and an opponent take one golf ball each to the practice green.
2. Just as in the basketball version of Horse, one player picks a spot around the hole and attempts to sink a putt from there.
• If player one sinks it: His opponent must sink it too. If the opponent fails to duplicate the putt, he picks up an H, the first letter of H-o-r-s-e. If player two sinks it, player one conjures up another challenge.
• If player one misses it: Player two chooses a putt of his own design and attempts to make it.
You can shorten the game word to Pig if you’re short on time; for that matter, you can really pick any word that tickles your fancy.
3. The first player to get stuck with all five letters spelling “Horse” loses.
Just as in the basketball game, your first temptation may be to choose wild, long, downhill, or sidehill shots with swinging breaks in them. These tough putts are fun and useful to practice, so keep your opponent guessing by mixing in the occasional cross-country slider. But making your opponent sink a straight-in 5-footer right after you make yours is a sure way to give him fits, too. (For more on putting fundamentals, head to Chapter 6 of Book III.)
Bingo Bango Bongo (Jingles)
Bingo Bango Bongo is a short-game competition that you can play on the golf course during a round. Also known as Jingles, the game works best with a foursome. Bingo Bango Bongo is great fun because players of varying strength and age can compete because of the game’s focus on the short game. Now you have a fun way to see how your short game stacks up against others’.
The fun begins at the first tee by following these steps:
1. Starting at the tee, each player plays a ball.
You must remember to execute your shots according to the etiquette of golf, which dictates that the player farthest from the hole plays first.
2. Three points are awarded on each hole:
• One point for the first on (the first ball on the green)
• One point for the closest to (the closest ball to the hole) after everyone is on the green
• One point for the first in (the first ball in the hole)
Although getting the ball on the green and close to the hole is obviously the goal, strategy should enter in from time to time. For instance, if a player has no chance of reaching the green to win the first-on point, she may carefully lay up her ball into a good position from which to chip for the closest-to point. (You can also turn this practice exercise into a betting game; see Chapter 3 in Book IV for details.)
The game sounds simple, but it can become a dramatic and complex strategic match. Here are a few sample scenarios to help explain the game:
First on: Assume that all four players hit their drives on a par-4 and Johnny rests the farthest from the hole at 170 yards out. Johnny has the first chance to win the first-on point — if he hits the green! If he misses the green, the next farthest player to the hole has a chance to win the point for first on, and so forth.
Closest to: You also have incentive to get the ball not only onto the green but also close to the hole because you can gain a point for that. Johnny misses the green by 5 yards to the right with his second shot. Maggie, who stands at 160 yards out, plays next. She hits the green, so Maggie wins the first-on point. The other two players, Harrison and Julie, hit the green in turn with their shots. All three players who hit the green are various distances from the hole, but Johnny still has to play up. If he can get the ball closer to the hole than anyone on the green, he wins the closest-to point. The point is awarded to whoever lands closest to the pin after all players are on the green, no matter how many shots it takes, as long as the players hit in turn.
First in: After all four players land the green, the putter decides the first-in point. Johnny wins the closest-to point by hitting his chip shot to within 5 feet of the hole. Harrison’s ball is farthest from the hole — 20 feet away — so he gets the first chance to putt. If he holes it, he wins the first-in point.
Bingo Bango Bongo requires golfers to play in turn, based on who is away, which is the traditional manner of play in standard, competitive golf. But many golfers, in the interest of speedy play, subscribe to playing ready golf, meaning any ready player can hit. If you want to play Bingo Bango Bongo, each player, in the interest of maintaining speedy play, should always be ready to hit in turn and be aware of where the other players are at all times.
Snake
Throughout the ages, the sinister snake has symbolized evil. On the golf course, nothing is more evil, more heartbreaking, and more maddening than a 3-putt. You play Snake on the golf course to punish the 3-putt.
Snake sharpens your putting by forcing you to pay closer attention to your first putt. Many players hit their first putts during a round carelessly and without real purpose. Snake teaches you to be more precise with your putts — not running them too far by or leaving them woefully short — because the punishment for a 3-putt means more than just another stroke on your scorecard. It means hearing it from your partners.
Holing out all your putts is a good habit to get into. Although you may find it sporting to concede small putts to each other in the interest of speedy play, you encounter times, particularly when you play in stroke-play tournaments, when you need to make 2-footers. The slightest lack of attention to a 2-foot tap-in can result in a hideous miss, as you find out playing Snake.
Follow these steps, and the game of Snake is on:
1. Purchase a rubber snake at any toy store — the uglier the snake, the better.
2. As soon as the round of golf begins, pull the reptile from your golf bag.
3. The first player to 3-putt takes possession of the snake, and the other players hang it from his golf bag or cart.
Be sure to putt in turn based on who’s away — more than one player may 3-putt on a given green.
4. The 3-putter suffers the indignity of carrying the snake until another player 3-putts.
5. The player who carries the snake when the round ends loses the match.
You concede no gimmes or inside the leather putts in Snake. Gimmes are putts so short that the players assume they’re unmissable and concede them in a friendly match. Inside the leather means that if a putt is shorter than the length of your putter grip (a throwback to when grips were made of leather, not rubber), you count it as a gimme putt. Because of the pressure the Snake game induces, you must hole all putts, no matter how short.
If you want to make Snake more interesting, put a friendly wager on the outcome. Flip to Chapter 3 in Book IV for the lowdown.
Snake provides some natural opportunities to tease your opponents mercilessly. But be warned: You may be on the receiving end of some ribbing as well. Three-putts resulting from missing little tap-ins that players normally concede during friendly rounds can be embarrassing and frustrating. Go easy on the needle, unless you can handle the other players applying it to your backside!
Eight in a Row
Do you believe that you can make eight 8-foot putts in a row? You may be able to.
Eight in a Row is a fantastic putting game that you can play all by yourself. The immediate improvement of your putting may astound you after you play the game. Putting consistently is a huge confidence builder. The knowledge that you can hole eight 8-footers in a row in practice takes the teeth out of a knee-knocking 4-footer on the golf course.
Take these steps toward putting success:
1. Pull eight balls from your golf bag.
2. Find a fairly flat hole on a practice green and pull the flag from the hole.
3. Set yourself up 2 feet from the hole and try to make all eight putts consecutively.
If you miss one, start over until you make all eight putts.
4. Back up one foot and try to make all the 3-foot putts consecutively.
If you miss one, begin again until you make all eight putts consecutively. If you fail to make all the 3-footers again, go back to 2 feet and start over.
5. Repeat the process, increasing the distance by 1 foot every time you make eight consecutive putts.
Keep going until you stand 8 feet from the hole. Don’t be startled when you find yourself repeatedly draining 8-footers.
6. After you master the flat putt, try the same game on a sidehill, uphill, or downhill putt.
Making a bunch of 2-foot putts consecutively isn’t difficult. It may seem easy, as may the 3-footers, after you get into a rhythm. But this game tests your focus and attention span. If you allow your mind to wander, you quickly find out how easy it is to miss a 3-footer.
You also find that the pressure increases as you back up. After you take the time and energy to hole eight consecutive putts from 2, 3, and 4 feet, that eighth putt from the 5-foot range is important. After all, who wants to go back to 2 feet and start all over again?
First to Make Five
Arriving late at the golf course with only a limited time to warm up on the practice green? The best way to roll as many putts as possible is to join forces with another player. Instead of taking four or five balls to the practice green and chasing them around, pick a partner and grab one ball each.
After you each have a ball in hand, follow these steps to quickly get up to speed:
1. Choose two holes on the practice green cut about 10 to 15 feet apart.
2. Position yourself to the side of one hole while your partner stands at the other.
Keep your ball between your feet and the hole closest to you.
3. At the same time, or in a quickly alternating fashion, putt to the opposite hole.
4. When the ball arrives at or in your hole, rake it up and putt it to the other hole.
5. The first player to sink five putts wins.
You can switch sides to continue the game.
Although the name First to Make Five implies a race, don’t hurry yourself. The speed of this game isn’t important. You can hit putt after putt in rapid fashion, but concentrate on making good strokes and trying to hole your putts. Think of the alternating putts as baseball innings.
Because you don’t have to retrieve your putts (a fresh ball your opponent putts instantly arrives at your feet), you can roll countless putts and build a solid, repeating, confident stroke in a short time. After you and your practice partner find a rhythm, you don’t have to move your feet to keep putting — you begin to read the break and the speed so well that the 10- to 15-foot putt seems easy, so you start to putt without fear. Your only goal is to consistently make that putt.
Subconsciously, when you go onto the golf course, you find yourself confidently attempting 15-foot putts because you know the speed and develop a hunger for sinking them.