How to practise to improve?

[Goosen]

Hi I am a 10 handicapper and would like some tips on practise time management. I have 4 days per week (wednesday, friday,saterday and sunday) to practise, +-3hours per day. I have just recently changed my grip so my typical practise would be as follows, start with 30min chipping and pitching then 90min irons and woods followed by putting till I go home.

During pitching and chipping I would practise chipping with all my irons around the green ie. alot of green to work with and not.

During iron and woods practise I would start with my pwedge and hit 10-15balls before moving on to the next iron. 10 of the balls I would make 3/4 swing concentrating on getting my wrist cocked and keeping it cocked..I have problems with casting..any practise drills? The rest of the balls I would make full swings. I would go through most of my irons, jumping to every second till my driver and then start form the beginning again.

Out of the 4 days I would sometimes play nine holes, to get focuse before practising. Please have alook at my practise routine and feel free to give suggestions tips. Additionally I go for a lesson every 2week..something to practise for the next two weeks!

[BrianW]

Re: How to practise to improve?

Hi Goosen and welcome to the site

Please can you explain what you main objective is in golf. Do you want to enjoy playing the game more or do you want to become more competitive?

[bill reed]

Re: How to practise to improve?

hi
work on only one part of your game at a time and try and get yourself into having a strong will where you go out to work on one thing and stick to it.
work on your short game more as thats where you can make up for poor long shots but if you have a shaky short game then you will lose shots.
make up a set plan on what to work on over a few weeks and stick to it and you will see you game improve.
working on to many things at once confuses the mind.
cheers
Bill

[Goosen]

Re: How to practise to improve?

Thank you for the replies. Brian to answer your question, I practise to become more competitive, therefore I am spending most of my time on the practise range rather than the course..is this the correct procedure or should I play more often on the course?

Bill, my biggest problem at present is my timing/rythym. My contact with the ball is not solid, most of the time thin, which I assume is because I am uncocking my wrists to quickly. Therefore it is mostly a general issue. When you say that I should concentrate on a specific area of my game what do you mean? Should I only hit 9iron concentrating on my keeping my wrist cocked for as long as possible for 1-2week, not hitting any other club?..because I have tried that and by the end of that week or 2 I can hardly hit my woods. Therefore with my current practise procedure I give attention to all areas of my game, to improve the ones which need improvement and keep what I have learned from the other areas...is this wrong? please give me suggestions how to manage my time for example solve my wrist uncocking issue.
How long at a time should I practise?
Should I practise only one iron at time, or hit 10-20 balls per iron before moving to the next?
How long should I practise irons before moving to woods or chipping?
Is it better to practise 4hours straight or twice a day 2hours each?
How often should I go for lessons?
Thank you!!

[Ian Hancock]

Re: How to practise to improve?

Hi Goosen,

What you are practicing is swing changes, or swing moves.

Why don't you spend a few weeks on a light grip for every shot and good rhythm, this will improve your competitive edge by swing relaxed and not tied up with swing thoughts.

Then spend the next few weeks working on ball flights, hooks, slices, draws, fades, high, low, practice hitting 4 irons from under trees, long and short bunker shots, not the swing but executing the shot.

Keep up the short game work thats really good, try some putts with your eyes closed, this improves feel.

Your shots will come down this way, not pounding balls with swing drills, they are for begginers not 10 h/cappers.

Good Luck

p.s forgot to add, keep your back to the target for as long as possible to create a later hit....

Ian.

[bill reed]

Re: How to practise to improve?

hi
when you go out for a few hours take only one club. have an aim. say work on a fade or a draw or to hit the ball high or low and stay with that one thing till you can hit 9 ot of 10 balls how you want then try something else.
if hitting a fade with a 7 iron then try and hit a draw to the same spot and not 10 yards further on.
by the time you finish using one iron you will feel you can hit anytype of shot. i would work on say the odd numbers to start and over 3 nights take say a 9 and then a 7 and then a 5. the next week use a 3 iron and then your wedges.
leave the woods out and work on just the irons. with the wedges work on stopping the ball and also making the ball run on.
look at each shot you hit and try and understand why you have hit each bad shot. when you go to the course even if playing only 9 holes then dont try and change anything but try and work with wehat you have to get the best score you can. by that i also mean to pick only the shots you know you can make 9 times out of 10. if you can't then play another shot and try and build up making the right choice of shot as much as playing the right shot.
cheers
Bill

[Goosen]

Re: How to practise to improve?

great thank you Ian and Bill for the usefull information! Additionally I just have afew short questions:

How long at a time should I practise my irons, maximum or how many balls?
Is it better to practise 4hours straight or twice a day 2hours each?
How often should I go for lessons?
Also, practising my swing infront of the mirror at home...good or bad?

[bill reed]

Re: How to practise to improve?

hi
i pratice till i start to get tired of fed up 2 to 3 hours for me.
when you pratice its not so much how long as to understand what your trying to achive and what results you want, you need to have a plan or an aim or target. if hitting say a 7 iron 130 yards then you want to be able to put all your balls in a 10 yard patch and be able to do that hitting the ball high with little run and hitting the ball low with a bit of run.
hitting say 30 ball high and then 30 low works good for me also if playing on a footbal park or range yopu can walk on then any balls you miss then try and play a shot from there to where the balls end up but try and hit say a high soft landing shot or a little bump and run. make use of even the missed balls.
often one your out there you want to try and hit another club or diffrent shots but it as much training to keep to a plan as it is the dshots you hit.

we have a load of football pitches that are only used of Saturday and are great for using wedges up to a 7 iron on.
one thing i do is use the football goals and hit over the bar from behind the goal and use that to help me gadge the hight of the ball, moving closer and closer to the bar and trying to hit higher and higher, great for judging how to fly over trees.
use the wind when you play to and try and play with the wind from all sides and see what you can do and what you can't in a strong wind.
cheers
Bill

[daviesec]

Re: How to practise to improve?

hi
i pratice till i start to get tired of fed up 2 to 3 hours for me.
when you pratice its not so much how long as to understand what your trying to achive and what results you want, you need to have a plan or an aim or target. if hitting say a 7 iron 130 yards then you want to be able to put all your balls in a 10 yard patch and be able to do that hitting the ball high with little run and hitting the ball low with a bit of run.
hitting say 30 ball high and then 30 low works good for me also if playing on a footbal park or range yopu can walk on then any balls you miss then try and play a shot from there to where the balls end up but try and hit say a high soft landing shot or a little bump and run. make use of even the missed balls.
often one your out there you want to try and hit another club or diffrent shots but it as much training to keep to a plan as it is the dshots you hit.

we have a load of football pitches that are only used of Saturday and are great for using wedges up to a 7 iron on.
one thing i do is use the football goals and hit over the bar from behind the goal and use that to help me gadge the hight of the ball, moving closer and closer to the bar and trying to hit higher and higher, great for judging how to fly over trees.
use the wind when you play to and try and play with the wind from all sides and see what you can do and what you can't in a strong wind.
cheers
Bill

Hi Bill

I like that practice routine you do with goal posts, will def give that one a try.

[bill reed]

Re: How to practise to improve?

hi Davie
not seen you post for a while' hope you are well and still playing links.
see your still on 5 so must be playing well.
watch out for the ball comming back of the crossbar as it could be painfull.
all the best
Bill

[daviesec]

Re: How to practise to improve?

hi Davie
not seen you post for a while' hope you are well and still playing links.
see your still on 5 so must be playing well.
watch out for the ball comming back of the crossbar as it could be painfull.
all the best
Bill

Yes i'm still off 5, got down to 3.8 at the end of last year but back up to 4.6 now. I'll always play links golf, can't get anough of it. Hope your golf is still going well, no doubt it will be.

[Goosen]

Re: How to practise to improve?

Thank you Bill and Davie for the replies, please answer these questions if you have time..thank you in advance.

How long at a time should I practise my irons, maximum or how many balls?..to elaborate on that, what I have been trying to do until now was to hit my say 7iron straight with good timing and good contact, and to to this 5times in a row. I would hit 15-20balls before moving to the next iron, regardless whether or not I managed to do that. I would sometimes end up hitting 200 balls and going home feeling worst about my golf than when I got there. So what I probably should say is how long should I practise before I give up?

Is it better to practise 4hours straight or twice a day 2hours each?
How often should I go for lessons?
Also, practising my swing infront of the mirror at home...good or bad?

[bill reed]

Re: How to practise to improve?

hi Goosen
hitting a shot straight is very hard to do even with a 7 iron, hitting straight you never know if the ball will go left or right and it will always fade or draw a little. i would work on hitting a slight draw or fade. use a draw when you need to more run on the shot and a fade when you want the ball to stop. what your working on is ball control. with the lower clubs (7,8,9 and wedges) you wont fade or draw much but setting up to fade will have the ball bounce more right and that is good to know if playing with a bank on the left hand side of the green.
if you hit say 50 balls and get about 40 in an aera your happy with them move on and try a diffrent shot. if your not getting the shot you want then go to the basics and work on your alinement and swing slower even if your losing 30% distance. once you have control then speed up a little at time.
i don't think there is a set amount of time to work on things. if things are working then an hour could be fine to keep things feeling good.
sit down and think of your last round and where and when you lost shots and then think why and if it was a bad 5 iron work on that if it was chipping work on that. sometimes as little as 30 minuets chipping into a washing basket in your back green can help other parts of your swing.
once you start to get tired then stop or if you start to hurt. try and enjoy what your doing and don't think of it like homework more of tunning up a little.
cheers
Bill