If you’re a golfer with a busy life, finding time to practice golf is not easy. When you do get a chance to go to the range, every minute counts. These practice plans will let you practice the golf’s most critical skills in one hour.
Plan 1:
Get to the range and buy a bucket of 40 balls.
From the range:
0:00-0:03 Warm up with three or four pitches of 60-75 yards.
0:03-0:25 Hit full shots, in this sequence: 9,9,7,7,5,5,3,3,D. Repeat twice. Hit longer pitches with any remaining balls. The next time out, hit an 8,8,6,6,4,4,2,2,D sequence. If your range has a practice bunker, you can alternate hitting practice bunker shots instead of hitting the pitches to specific distances.
Notice that this is a lot of time to hit less than 40 balls. Take your time, take lots of practice swings, get set up for each ball like you would on the course. Make each ball be worth something.
On the practice green:
0:25-0:40 Using four balls, hit chips from about six feet off the green to four targets of varying distances. Then go putt out each ball. Repeat at least twice. Try this with a 6-iron and with a sand wedge. The 6-iron would be used for a regular greenside chip, and the sand wedge for chipping over an obstacle between the ball and the green. Practice chipping out of the rough. This is a special skill which you might need a lesson to learn how to do correctly.
0:40-1:00 With just one ball, practice 2-foot putts from different angles around a hole. Repeat with 3-foot putts. Hit approach putts from 40, 30, 20, and 15 feet, just getting the ball close to the hole. Practice a few breaking putts, uphill, downhill, or sidehill, reading the putt first. Invent putting games of your own to make putting practice enjoyable.
Plan 2:
Get to the range and buy a bucket of 40 balls.
0:00-0:30 Work on these two shots only: your 150-yard club, and the long pitch. The first shot comes from Harvey Penick’s writings. If you get good at getting down in three from 150 yards in, you’ll score very well. Hitting the green from 150 yards in is the best way to do that. Next, hit pitches from 60-90 yards. The point is to find out which wedges give you predictable distances. See this post for pointers on how to control distances in the range.
0:30-1:00 Practice chipping and putting as above. Always spend half your time at the range around the practice green.
Plan 3:
Get a lesson. There has to be something you need to learn how to do or need to improve on. A half-hour lesson, followed by a half hour of practicing what you were just taught, is one of the best ways to spend an hour at the range. Once a month is not too often.
Golf is the most time-consuming, practice-driven recreational sport there is. If you’ve chosen to play, organizing your practice is the best way to make the time you spend on the course worthwhile.
See also Two hours at the range.
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