This 1-Hour Practice Routine Will Transform Your Game

1. Swing Mechanics (20 min.)

We all have different things to work on when it comes to swing mechanics. You might need to work on flattening out your swing plane, or on overall alignment, or even just on your wrist hinge  Anything mechanical that you need to work on generally involves hitting consecutive balls with a drill in mind in a block-practice format.

NOTE: “Block practice” in this case refers to doing the same drill repeatedly, whereas the opposite would be a more randomized slate of shots from a variety of conditions.

There is a reason this is done first - improving your swing allows you to continue practicing these motions in a golf format later in the practice session. Ingrain those motions in the first 20 minutes, because you’ll be relying on them in the next two sections!

If you are struggling to find some drills to work on during this section, here is a great video by Coach Lockey that gives you five drills that use alignment sticks to improve different parts of your swing!

2. Feel Exercises (20 min.)

This section is mostly dedicated to wedges, as they are perhaps the most important clubs in the bag. There’s little that’s more valuable than being able to hit the ball a specific distance in the moment, and this can only be accomplished through repetition.

One of the go-to drills to develop feel is hitting different clubs to the same target. Take your Lob Wedge and hit a standard shot to a target ~30-50 yards away. Then, aiming at that same target, hit a Sand Wedge. Then try a Pitching Wedge and do the same. Not only will this give you a better feel for the trajectories of each club with different backswing lengths, it should also help you improve your face control, as you’ll need to keep the face more stable to keep the ball on the intended line. Here’s an example video:

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3. Pressure Simulation Games (20 min.)

This is the most important 20 minutes of the practice session, because it is meant to apply a little bit of pressure and make you focus a little harder on the task at hand. Setting target scores with negative outcome stakes is a fantastic way to really put your game to the test. Here are a few game examples that can help simulate the pressure from on-course shots:

• DRIVER: Pick 2 objects out on the range (flagpoles, yardage signs, houses in the background, etc.) roughly 40 yards apart which will act as your “fairway”.  Take 10 balls with your driver and see how many shots out of 10 you can hit in between the two objects and hit the “fairway”. Set a target goal for yourself and you can’t stop playing the game until you successfully hit the number of shots in the target zone - a good start is 5/10, but increase the difficulty as you see fit! You can also narrow the target window if desired.

• APPROACH SHOTS: Pick a target flag ~150 yards out (or whatever distance you want to work on) and do the same 10 ball drill as above but see how many hit the green.  Hitting 5/10 greens here is good, but feel free to make it harder if you’d like!

• SHORT GAME: Pick a target ~25 yards out. Imagine you’re playing a short game shot over a bunker to a tight pin. Aim to land the ball within ~10 feet of your target, again trying to achieve the goal 5/10 times.

• Or you could be like these tour pros and hit stingers at the driving range cart… Last one to hit the cart buys everyone a round!

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