Practice

[Jarro]

just wondered how often everyone practices

and what do you work on mostly when you do go to the range

[Jarro]

yeah but you're a freak

i just noticed we have some really low markers on the site, just wondered about their approach to the practice side of things

[Fishman Dan]

If i have a practice 18, i try to smile a lot more. If it's with the missus, i try to curb the swearing and pretend i'm having a great time, and that me playing golf every other weekend is good for "us".

At the range i'll start with an 8-9-PW and try and hit a few with each club. Focus on the clubs i hate/hate me, and then do G69's thing of trying to smoke a few drivers. Note - sliced high, right and foul doesn't count.

Seeing as though you are trying to woo the low markers with this thread, you may choose to completely ignore this post.

[wavemaker]

well ive only just started practicing since i got a lesson last month, i take my little bag of 60 or so balls and go up to the school oval and start with the wedges and loosen up for a while. about an hour, so im pretty tight when i start. hit balls through the goal posts for a while and then start trying to hit em into a bucket. im usually buggered after about 2.5 to 3 hours, then i come home and practice beer drinking and i have to say i have more talent for that than golf.

[amanda]

We head to the driving range every Friday night after dinner - it's the quietest night of the week!

Brad & I share a large bucket of balls (110). I always start by stretching and doing some warm-up exercises I got from a video.

Then start with the 8 iron - movement drills first - body turn, first part of the takeaway, full takeaway and then full swing. I try to do 5 of each drill then hit 3-4 balls.

Then swap with hubby who has been watching. I try not to hit too many balls in a row as I find my tempo gets faster. We hit 5 balls each then let the other person have a go.

I move up the bag from 8 iron to 4 iron, then driver, then 3 wood - doing drills before each shot.

Then we have "grip & rip" time - maybe 5 golf balls hit with the driver at full tilt + a little!

For the last 10 balls I'll work on partial 9 iron/wedge shots.

Sounds complicated but we manage to do all of this in about 1 hour.

[jaster]

I'm not one of the low markers you were referring to but plan to be one day so if you want to read my plan here it is......

Working 8-5 and having a young family and lovely wife I find it very hard to practice without feeling guilty and pissing the wife off too much But me and goughy have been sticking to this plan for nearly 9 months or so now. The most important component is flexability We go out before work at 5:30amish but this was 5ish during summer and is now 6ish in Winter


Monday - Rest but if time putting either at home or at the course

Tuesday - As per Monday

Wednesday - AM 60-90 mins of practice, usually I will choose something in the short game...bunker/chipping, pitching and putting but will also hit 6 - 9 iron if I feel that is an area I need to work on and some days will even play a few holes..up to 9 usually. Sometimes we will get the Video out and put it on film so I can compare to previous swings.

Thursday - AM Play 9 holes alternating front 9 back 9 per week or depending on how busy the course is.

Friday - AM 60 - 90 mins As per Wednesday but I do try and play comp (RDO) once a month

Saturday - 60-90mins of Range work...focusing on anything that I feel is needed (Read Lots!!) but as the range is pretty short at City usually I hit clubs that are no longer than 5 iron. I also do and extra 60mins if possible of putting

Sunday - Play if I can otherwise I will hit the range and the chipping green again and also spend more time putting..up to 60mins again.

I think it is working as I have gone from around 6 at the beginning of this year to low 4s....goughy has had a major swing reconstruction and has now reached his all time low handicap with a goal of being a single figure marker by the end of this year.

There is no long game work on the range at all unless I really feel it is needed or have a new club to try (often :P) as I feel that the long swing should be the same as a 5 irons swing.

I do not rate lessons as important as practice and if you look at the guys on the PGA tour they all swing in their own unique way...I rate the most important aspects in improving your golf as: -

1. Good setup and solid preshot thoughts/routine...doesn't have to be perfectly the smae everytime but it just has to be positive
2. Good Attitude towards golf (practice and play)
3. Realisitic short term goals
4. In your dreams long term goals (why aim for the clouds if you want the stars?)
5. Good equipment, this means you need to be happy with what you are using...the perfect excuse for any equipment HO!

Hope this helps

Jaster

[Fishman Dan]

Hope this helps

Helps? Love a duck, not sure if that helps us at all, but it had better help you. How long do grooves last in your clubs?

[jaster]

What would that not help? Jarro asked for a practice routine, I was honest and posted what myself and goughy do I don't see the point in doing things by half
As for the grooves, judging on the wear that my 690mbs are showing not long enough

[jaster]

I'm not one of the low markers you were referring to

Holy Squamoley....I've heard of talking yourself down but...4...not a low marker ?

I was only referring to what jarro posted...

i just noticed we have some really low markers on the site, just wondered about their approach to the practice side of thing

I took this as meaning Jose and Spiersy...as they are really low markers I consider 4 to be low of course but not a REALLY LOW MARKER I want to be there one day though

[BrisVegas]

I usually put in an hour of putting/chipping each Saturday while my wife goes to the Brookwater ladies clinic. I spend 15 minutes each on the 3 foot and 20 foot putting drills. I then spend half an hour on different styles of chipping. It's not much, but it's better than nothing at all I guess....

[jaster]

Thanks G69 Gotta keep pushing the envelope though mate

[Speirsy11]

I'll chime in.....And Jaster, 4 is pretty low.....

Lately, I really haven't been able to practice much, too busy at Uni, but I still get out to hit balls at the range at least once a week. While I'm there, I really work hard on my driving clubs (Driver, 3w, 2i) and wedges. I find that they are the keys to playing well. If I can hit it in the FW, then I'll be ok with most clubs that I'm hitting into greens. Since my length is an asset (I avg about 295yds off the tee) that usually means wedge, so those are what I work hard at getting very consistent with.

As far as other habits, in summer when I'm out of uni (And when I'm at home not studying) I try and have at least one good short game session a week. Again, this isn't what a lot of guys will do, but it works for me. I'll get out on the course early or late (I try and get there around 6am or 6pm) and go to the 15th or 16th green. Once I'm there, I'll hit all manner of chip shots and pitches, from all lies, all distances, with all clubs. I find this helps me with my touch and imagination. Basically, I'll work my way around the green with one club, from any number of distances (usually from 5-30 yards out...I don't want to make 500 ball marks), then do it again with another club....and another...and another.....The most important part of this "drill" is that I putt each of the shots into the hole. Its all fine and good to ingrain a stroke by making 100 4 footers in a row, but this gives me a chance to hit putts that I'll see in a real round situation. You'll be surprised how good your scrambling gets if you work on this type of putt rather then hitting 20 putts fromthe same spot over and over.....

After my shortgame work, usually interupted by the first group coming through after about 90 minutes, I'll go work on my lag putting and some stroke work. For the lag work, I'll do a drill called "Dragon" where you putt 3 balls from whatever distance (I usually work from 30-60 feet) and try and get it inside of 10% of your distance. When you get to your first putt, you have to drag it back one putter length away from the hole and sink it. I do this until I get 3 in a row down in 2 putts from 30-35-40-45-50-60 feet. Then to ingrain the stroke, I'll stroke 5 footers uphill until I get 30 in a row. This all takes about an hour.......depending on how I'm rolling it :P .....

My brother has a drill he likes to do to get his stroke working. He'll get 4 balls around the hole, 4 feet away....north, south, east and west....then move his way around the hole sinking them all 25 times...He tries to make at least 92% of them.....He'll do this at the start and end of his practice session, but hey, he's a TOUR Pro, he gets paid to spend hours out there...I've got better things to do......

So, all that was a long winded way of saying:

1. I spend one hour a week hitting balls working on consistency with driving clubs and wedges.
2. I spend at least 1.5 Hours a week on short game in real round situations instead of just chipping around a practice green...unless your course has a great one like Royal Sydney does...
3. I spend about an hour a week on putting, focusing on lag speed and 5 feet and in. I don't see working on 20 footers that important since you make so few from there anyway, you're better off being good at lagging it and sinking 4-5 footers.

Hope that helps, if you have any questions, just ask....

Speirsy11

[nick]

Where does your bro play again? What tour is he on?

Nick

[Speirsy11]

Where does your bro play again? What tour is he on?

Nick

He has full status on the Canadian Tour and conditional status on the Nationwide Tour

Speirsy11

[Courty]

I usually practice on Thursday and Friday afternoons to try and help groove my swing before the regular Saturday round. I hit 40-50 balls with a 9 iron, working mainly on swing mechanics and tempo (is there anything else to work on ) Then I will hit various wedges from various distances to my shag bag until it gets too dark.

[nick]

Where does your bro play again? What tour is he on?

Nick

He has full status on the Canadian Tour and conditional status on the Nationwide Tour

Speirsy11

Theirs a few Aussies on the Canadian tour, cant remember their names though. Do you get many tour vans on the Canadian tour?

Nick

[Jarro]

thanks for the replies people

and yes Jaster, i do consider you one of the low markers here mate

.. but then i already had a fair idea you'd have a punishing praccy schedule

[Onewood]

just wondered how often everyone practices

and what do you work on mostly when you do go to the range

I just go into the back yard
one night its Iron play,then chipping and even bunker play (even though we don't have bunkers at logan ) it did help at tweed :P then upstairs to my putting rink

[terryand]

I envy you Jaster the amount you get to practice.

I know you give up a bit of sleep so you don't eat in to the family time,which I think is great.

Days like yesterday and today are why I don't practice.Up at 5am, on site at 6.15am for a full new house drainage.Literally in the trenches laying pipe and shovelling sand around the pipes as you lay them. Between my dad and I we would have shovelled 10 cubic metres by hand and layed 90 metres of pipe by the end of the job.Yes I know bobcats are for that,but you can't have one on the job to put the sand around the pipe when you need it,so he piles it along the trench so we don't have to work too hard.

So when you get home aound 4pm the last thing your thinking about is swinging a golf club.

Right now with the improvement I have had over the past 6 to 8 months,I am a firm believer that you can buy a golf game.

The only thing that is different,is a set of blades and a big ass driver with a good quality shaft.

My practice when work and the family allows, is a range session after the kids are in bed.This is usually once every 2 weeks,sometimes evey week, but not often.

One bucket of 80 balls, start with 9 iron,then 5 than the big dog. So I don't get into the groove of bashing driver I will swap back to the 9 to get my rhythm back and just go from club to club in no particular order.But when I feel I've lost rhythm I go back to 9 iron.

But the main thing I do which I live by, is practice how you play. So cause I have a particular pre-shoot routine, I do this every shoot while I am practicing.The secret to good golf is repetition.

I managed to get down to 4 albeit for one game with what I do and currently hoover around the 5 mark comfortably.

So I think if you can find a routine that suits your lifestyle, that doesn't eat into family time,thats the way to go.

Even if it is 1/2 hour chipping in the back yard,great, thats better than nothing.

Thank you for putting up with this novel.

Sorry,

Terry.

[McMw]

I've started practicing my shortgame abt 3 weeks ago...
and the funny thing is - my scores have gotten worse...

what I do is I get down there abt 5pm - chip abt 20 balls to a flag, and putt those in as if there were par putts...
finish that - start all over again...etc etc until all the balls are done...

then if I have spare time left, I'll practice either my long putts, or 6-8 footers, or short chips, or in the case of last night - bunker play...
and I'm usually done by 7pm...

and if i'm not practicing my short game (like today) - I'm off to the course for another hacking round...

[jaster]

While I'm there, I really work hard on my driving clubs (Driver, 3w, 2i) and wedges. I find that they are the keys to playing well. If I can hit it in the FW, then I'll be ok with most clubs that I'm hitting into greens.

Interesting, opposite to what I do....hmm...maybe I am looking at it all wrong

My brother has a drill he likes to do to get his stroke working. He'll get 4 balls around the hole, 4 feet away....north, south, east and west....then move his way around the hole sinking them all 25 times...He tries to make at least 92% of them.....He'll do this at the start and end of his practice session, but hey, he's a TOUR Pro, he gets paid to spend hours out there...I've got better things to do......

Is this him?

http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Golf/PGA/2...12/311393.html

Seem's like a player Must be awesome to have a sibling paving the way

Great practice routine all round mate, few things in there that I might copy

[goughy]

I must say that my regime is not as full as jaster. If I'm playing on the weekend I usually only make 2 weekday mornings, but if no game on the weekend I try and stretch that to three.

[jaster]

My routine is 5 days a week but at the most you are looking at approx 6-7 hours practice and possibly a game once or twice a month. It's hardly 5 hours a day. Most of you guys are playing twice a week and therefore you are spending the same amount of time if not more at the golf course as me and not having to get up in the freezing cold and missing out on 2 hours extra sleep a day

Also, I didn't play any golf for 9 years between the age of 19 to 28 (playing off 3 when I stopped) and have been back into it now for 2 years but I was a far better golfer before I stopped (Club champ, South west regional champ and rep) and most days really struggle to feel comfortable over the ball, especially with my short game Therefore I feel that practice and time is the only thing that will get me back to where I once was Pity I couldn't get the Tardis to go back about 8 years

[Speirsy11]

Is this him?

http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Golf/PGA/2...12/311393.html

Seem's like a player Must be awesome to have a sibling paving the way

Great practice routine all round mate, few things in there that I might copy [/quote]

Yeah, thats him......but I'm not sure what way he's paving for me..... :P He's my little brother, so I'm the one who'll be taking the paving credit if he hits it big......Actually, that honour will go to Dad (Still plays off 1 at 59 yrs old....Canadian Amateur Team Champ in like '79 or something), he's paved the way for both of us in everything we've done....

I long ago gave up the dream to play golf for a living. I thought about it when I was 23 or 24, but realized that I hate hotels and airplanes, and was never good enough to begin with :P ....So, here I am, stuck doing a Doctorate instead of living the highlife like him .....

I wouldn't trade places with him for all the R7's at TM.......But he loves it, so to each their own......

Speirsy11

[nick]

He looks like he can play.

I suppose he would hook you up with equipment, ey?

Nick