Golf tips, instruction, and commentary for any golfer looking to improve.

Category: Practice Page 1 of 2

2 Unique Putting Drills for a Confident and Pure Putting Stroke

Putting. The one area of golf where strokes start to add up fast.

Lag one 15ft past the hole? No chance of making par with a three-putt. Or maybe you’ve lipped out one of those knee-shaking 3-footers? Even tour pros have a hard time shaking that off before they tee on up on the next hole.

So what is the reason golfers of all ages and skill levels make these mistakes? Well, there are two very simple yet hard to fix reasons. That is unless you know what to work on…

Reason 1: Poor Ball Striking

The first reason golfers struggle with putting is poor ball striking.

Why is this such a big deal? Simple – if you can’t strike the ball both purely and consistently nothing else about your putting game matters. You could have the perfect line but if you dig the club into the green before contact or blade your putts the ball will never make it to the cup anyways.

Additionally, if you don’t strike the ball well, it’s impossible to discover how hard you need to strike a putt for a given distance. And if you have not idea how hard to hit a putt, you’ll be doomed to lipping out 3-footers or lagging the ball off the green forever.

So what drill can we do to improve the ball striking on our putts? Fortunately, it’s really a very simple drill:

How Many Degrees is a Sand Wedge // Explained in Detail [2019 Update]

Drill One – Putt with your Wedge:

Now before you think I’m crazy, hear me out. There are a couple of benefits of practicing with a wedge, both physically and mentally, that will make you a better putter. Here’s why you should give it a try.

Less margin of error – instant feedback:

  • To putt well with a wedge you have to strike the center or equator of the golf ball perfectly with the leading edge of the club. Any miss with your wedge will result in a pop-up/top of the ball or a hollow feeling if you hit the ball off the heel or toe of the club.

Promotes a softer putting grip:

  • Many golfers struggle with a vice grip on their putter – especially when it comes to knee-shaking 3-4 footers. This causes players to lose their “feel” with the putter and over-exaggerates small wrist movements which can change the direction of a putt.  Using a wedge fixes this problem by simply giving the mind something else to focus on. Instead of worrying about missing a putt or stabbing at it, your mind can focus on how weird it is to putt with an iron. The result is a relaxed demeanor (which causes a softer grip) and an emphasis on stroking the putt with your shoulders (instead of your wrists)

It makes you miss your putter:

  • The beautiful thing about this drill is that it’s all about resetting your mind. Nothing about putting with a wedge is about technique; you can use any stance, grip, or putting motion you want and this will make you hit purer putts. Probably the best part about the entire drill is that putting with a wedge is hard… It’s so hard in fact, that once you start hitting putts you’ll miss having your old putter back. Picking up a club that gives you confidence is one of the best ways to hit a great shot, and after putting with a wedge for half an hour, picking up a putter will feel like night and day.

So there’s our first step to pure putting, grab a wedge or 9-iron and start in on the putting green. It won’t take long for you to start regaining your putting mojo.

Next up is another drill that works regardless of a player’s putting technique. Let’s talk about:

Drill Two – The Steel Ruler Drill:

steel ruler drill

Our second putting drill today is, as you may have guessed, the steel ruler drill. This drill places your ball on top of a steel ruler close to the hole with the objective of forcing the golfer to strike the ball squarely. Here’s how the drill works:

  • Place a steel ruler on a flat surface of putting green, roughly 3-5ft from the hole.
  • Place your ball on the far end of the ruler and take your normal golf stroke.
    • If the ball stays on the ruler all the way to the hole, you’ve hit a straight one. If not, your putting stroke needs some extra work.

Why It Works

The Steel Ruler Drill is great for two reasons. First, this drill provides instant and visual feedback on your last stroke with all extra variables, besides your putting stroke, removed.

On the course, it’s easy to chalk up a missed putt to a bad read, wind, green speeds, or any other number of things. This is a problem because often times the reason we miss putts in because we simply miss-hit the ball and place in along the wrong path towards the hole.

This leads to the second valuable part of this drill; it makes improvement simple and measurable. While you could plop down 10 balls and make 8 of them in the hole, you’ll never know what caused the two misses or even in the 8 makes were well executed or just lucky breaks.

With the steel ruler, you are only measuring if the ball travels across the ruler to the hole, nothing else. And if it doesn’t then you know either your swing plane is crooked or your clubface is not square at contact.

Either way, hitting 10/10 putts straight along the ruler will definitely ensure that your putts start out on the right line. The additional confidence from knowing you have a pure stroke is just an added bonus.

Once you have that covered, it all comes down to correctly reading a greens break; something that every golfer improves on given time and practice.

The Wrap-Up

So there it is, two unique putting drills to help refine your golfing fundamentals. While wedge putting and the steel ruler may seem like simple gimmicks, the unique nature of the drills is the reason they work so well.

Golfers are full of thoughts that constantly try to talk them into bad shots. By giving your mind something totally different to feel and focus on, you give your body the chance to stroke solid putts, build up muscle memory for your swing, and most importantly, gain confidence in your putter and putting stroke.

This simple boost of confidence of being able to feel a well-struck putt or trust that your swing will set the ball down the line you’ve chosen is the most important step you can make to improving your putting.

So take some time on the practice green or in your living room and play around with these two unique golf drills. I know that a couple of hours with the wedge or rolling the ball on the ruler are going to lead to successful, and more importantly, enjoyable rounds for you.

How to Practice: During the Winter

It’s awful, isn’t it? You practiced throughout the spring, perfected your golf game in the summer, and really found a groove in the fall only to lose all of that hard work once the snow starts to fly. It happens every year and somehow we never really figure out a way to fight back.

I know that no golfer likes to admit it, but we all get rusty during the winter. We don’t get a chance to play golf while there’s snow on the ground, and the 20-degree weather doesn’t exactly make you jump off your couch to go practice either. So how can we try to keep some of the improvements that we made during the summer months for next year without hating every moment of putting on a small synthetic green in the basement? Join us today as we share some of our favorite ways to get your golf fix during the winter months.

Chip, Putt, and Swing at Home

Image result for golf putting matsEven though the weather outside might not be great, that’s no excuse to not work on the parts of your game that don’t require as much room to practice. One of the best things you can do for your game during the winter is just maintaining the feel of your short game by hitting a couple putts either on a putting mat or just at a water bottle. It might seem boring, but it’s a great way to keep a smooth stroke during the winter and pass the time during all those long hockey match commercial breaks.

Along with that, putting, chipping and swinging a club are also great ways to practice at home. While it might not have the same feel as chipping off grass, chipping some whiffle balls into a cup or bucket is a great way to simulate contact with a ball and it’s still one of the ways I like to practice with my dad during the winter months.

Similarly, if you have the space to do so, simply swinging a club without having to hit a shot is a great way to engrain a swing fix that you implemented during the last season. It’s also a great way to get in the 100 swings a day that Hank Haney recommends to help put a swing into memory.

Now, while these may not be the most glamorous ways to practice during the off-season, every little bit helps, and taking 15-20 minutes a few times a week is almost guaranteed to help you shake off the rust quicker once the weather warms up.

Golf Ranges and Indoor Simulators

 

Image result for indoor driving range

Low roofs and short distances to walls are problems that plague indoor driving ranges.

Another great (and much more exciting) way to work on your game during the winter is to practice at an indoor driving range. Although they may not be that common, if you live near a metropolitan area there’s likely at least one within driving distance. Indoor ranges are great not only because you get to actually hit a physical ball, but also because you get to feel the full swing of the club and contact with the ball which more closely simulates a real golf shot.

 

Driving ranges do have their limitations, however. While it is nice to be able to hit a real ball and take a full swing, the shots you’re hitting at the range are not incredibly comparable to an actual course.

For starters, you can’t take a divot at an indoor driving range which can really mess with your irons if you’re used to taking a sizable chunk of grass out with each swing. Along with this, driving ranges almost never have obstacles to hit around or wind and other elements, which means the experience is not incredibly similar to playing a round of golf on a course.

One great way to combat this, however, is to play a round of golf on a simulator. While you might not get to track the ball flight of your shot the same way you would at a driving range, using a golfing simulator is a fun way to get your golf fix in during the winter. Simulators are constantly improving and many now have wind, rain, different lies and ways to track the spin you put on your shot with pinpoint accuracy in order to provide you with a reasonably authentic experience.

These simulators can be fun and entertaining but they are also expensive to rent out or buy and that makes them less of a practical option for consistent practice during the winter.

Go South or Play Real Golf

Our final way to practice during the winter is one of the most obvious and also one of the best options golfers have to keep their game together during the winter. You must simply find a way to play.

Easier said than done!

Although it maybe tough to play during the winter, it’s not impossible, and one great way to get some golf in during the offseason is to a take a trip to a more hospitable golfing climate. Whether this means leaving your state or leaving your country, taking a golf trip can be a great way to enjoy a weekend with friends and keep your golf game in check while you wait to the weather to warm up back home.

There are dozens of golf trip planning websites and many golf courses offer special “stay and play” rates for hotel rooms and golf rounds for those of us looking to take a small vacation. While this option might take a little more planning than the others, it’s almost always a great experience to go golfing somewhere warm during the winter months.

Finally, your last option is to just head out and play golf back home. While this doesn’t necessarily have to be on a course, Golf Digest has determined that a golfer can play a perfectly enjoyable round as long as temperatures are above 35°F. Though this might be a little farfetched at this time of the year, in a couple months spring will be on its way and we may very well get some weather that’s nice enough to squeeze in an early round as we prepare for the 2018 season.

So there you have it, a couple easy ways to keep your game going during some of our colder months. Personally, I love going to indoor driving ranges but I’m sure some of you might have different preferences. What is your favorite way to practice during the winter? And how guilty are you of slacking on your golf game once the weather goes south? Let me know down below and wish me the best of luck staying warm here in chilly Wisconsin.

How to Practice: Getting Up-and-Down

Of all the skills around the green, one of the hardest to perfect is the art of getting up and down. While it might be hard to get the hang of, perfecting this can be one of the easiest ways to save strokes during your round. I mean, if you think about it, going from three shots around the green to only two is an extra stroke on your scorecard every time you get up and down. And you know we’re all about saving strokes here at The Golf Academy! So we’re here today to talk about some of the different ways to practice the art of getting up and down.

How to Practice: At the Range

This might seem like a no-brainer. Go to the range, buy a bucket of balls, and whack away. And while this might be what you see other people on the range doing, putting some thought into the clubs you focus on and just how you practice at the range might help you improve your game.

So what should you be doing at the range? Well I think of it like this: ideally, you want to get a consistent shot that you can use while you’re on the course. So, if you’re looking to replicate your range shots out on the links, it only makes sense that you should practice like you’re on the course. Yes, this is going to slow you down, so if you’re trying to hit 200 balls in a couple hours you might not reach your goal, but practicing on the range (like almost everything in golf) is about quality over quantity.

How exactly do you do that?

How to Practice: Chipping

Continuing the recent series on practice advice, I decided to look at the short game today. I talk extensively about why chipping and other shots around the green are seemingly more difficult than other shots in my article: How to Chip Away Strokes Around the Green but, to summarize, it all boils down to practice, or at least it did for me.

The reason I was successful around the green was because I spent hours and hours practicing the shots I would be required to hit. Now in the same article I also briefly discussed how I used to practice but, looking back at it, I realize that it’s not only impractical for a lot of different golfers but also somewhat unorthodox. It worked for me but it might not for you, and that’s why we’re here today. There are other, just as effective, methods of practicing chipping that require a lot less time and space than my unique method (although I thought it was awesome as a kid).

Page 1 of 2

Powered by WordPress & Theme by Anders Norén