Instruction
What to practice when you have little time to practice
At age 47, I cautiously suspect I finally have time to practice. Our children are mostly self-dependent, edging toward independence. I even struck a deal with a club 10 minutes away to let me play and practice, in exchange for some marketing/promotional advice.
Now that I have all the time I never had to hone my game, I look back at those child-rearing years and miss them tremendously. If I could go back and change one thing, given the wisdom I have today, it would be to practice important elements of the game with just a wee bit of time available.
Sagacious wag that I am, I am also generous and have decided to share this wisdom gleaned from years of futile ball-striking, wretched putting and spastic chipping. I put my money where my mouth is, mind you. When I have the following amounts of time at my disposal, this is what I practice.
1. 10 Minutes: Ultra-long putts
Have you ever putted to those mini-holes that some courses have on practice greens? After, the regular hole appears much larger, right? This is the opposite, yet the same.
After banging some 80-, 90- and 100-foot putts, the 30- and 40-footers don’t seem quite as three-puttable anymore. Hit about 15 ultra-long putts and you will come to know your stroke. After all, it will never be any lengthier.
An alternative to this is to hit putts from 10 different distances, dropping 10 feet each time. Start with 100 feet, and then go to 90, 80 and so on until you finish with a 10-foot putt, which will feel like a tap-in.
2. Five minutes: Hands-ahead chip shots
If you haven’t played much golf recently, there’s a good chance that you’re going to struggle with your chipping. One of the most common reasons for bad chipping that I see is that golfers let their forward wrist break down before impact, which can cause the the chili-dip, the chunk and the skull — all nightmares for your score.
That’s why I’ll sometimes start a short warm-up session by swinging a wedge with my forward arm (for me, it’s the left one). After a few air swings, I’ll advance to actually striking the grass and ground with the club to feel the resistance. Finally, I’ll put the back hand on the club and start hitting chip shots.
My focus is on keeping my hands in front of the club through impact. I’ll carry that thought out onto the course for half and full shots, too. It’s a great swing thought to use when you only have space for one.
3. 10 Minutes: Sand shots
It is imperative that golfers reconnect from time to time with the shot where club and ball never meet. At a golf camp in high school, I stood out only because I won a greenside bunker contest. I’m no Gary Player, but I’ve saved a few birdies in scrambles by blasting orbs to within a few feet on short par 4s and 5s. I simply have a feel for it.
However, not practicing something you have a feel for leads to something you used to have a feel for. Hit four to five shots in a bunker to see how the club and sand interact. Then, bounce over to a space where you can nip a few fairway bunker shots. These are the ones where club meets ball in a most conspicuous way. Nothing like hitting a good drive, finding the sand, and making double or triple because you weren’t confident from the beach.
4. Five Minutes: Driver
The point here is not to hone your tee ball, nor to find that extra 50 yards to finally reach 300. The goal is to simply determine which way your ball is curving, unless it is going straight. If you’re fading the ball, forget the draw today. Vice-versa holds true. If you’re the Tom Kite of the group and have the straight ball mastered, I’m told it plays as well.
Remember that you are impoverished with practice time as your currency, so don’t force a draw or a fade or a straight during warm-up. Go with what you find.
5. 10 Minutes: Punch Shots
You might be amazed at how many people can’t pitch back to the fairway. They hit it too high, too low, too hard or too soft, turning a one-shot surrender into an X on the scorecard.
It would be comical if their tears were fake, but they aren’t. These golfers know that it’s time to play safe, but they don’t know how to do it. Take some time to learn what clubs allow you to to pitch or punch the ball back to the fairway with the most ease.
The punch shot is also an awesome option when directly into the wind, or when battling a side wind. The higher the ball gets in the air, the more the wind has a day with it.
Also, if you’ve lost your swing (remember that you have no time to practice), the half-swing or punch shot can be easier to control than a full swing. Normal 7-iron distance with zero confidence? Punch a six- or five-iron shot to the green apron and count on your chipping (see No. 2).
6. Five Minutes: Clean Your Clubs
Nothing against the change-up or the knuckle ball, but I need spin. If my grooves are filled with muck, my ball isn’t spinning. That’s why it’s imperative to keep extraneous materials off your clubs, out of your grooves and away from your grips — gunk is not your friend if you want to play a clean game of golf.
Warm and soapy water does wonders, and remember to clean your golf balls while you have a tub of the suds. And if the grips are slick because they are worn, clean them too — or have a friend/golf professional change them for you. If you can change your own grips, well … why did you let them get slick in the first place?
Conclusion
I could go on, ad infinitum, but I sense that you have the spirit of the points I’m trying to make. The old adage of “practice smarter, not harder” is the basis for my decrees.
Too many golfers bang away on the course or on the range and have no direction nor goal in mind. By the end of the session, they are tired, frustrated, at times injured and unaware of any impactful discovery about their game. Don’t be that guy.
Address every ball as if it truly were the last you would ever hit and every ball will count toward your improvement, even if you only have five minutes.
Thanks to Simond Selin, whose How Much Time Do You Really Have To Practice Golf? served as the impetus for this piece, and to River Oaks Golf Club (Grand Island, NY) for location.
There may be no more painful affliction in golf than the “yips” – those uncontrollable and maddening little nervous twitches that prevent you from making a decent stroke on short putts. If you’ve never had them, consider yourself very fortunate (or possibly just very young). But I can assure you that when your most treacherous and feared golf shot is not the 195 yard approach over water with a quartering headwind…not the extra tight fairway with water left and sand right…not the soft bunker shot to a downhill pin with water on the other side…No, when your most feared shot is the remaining 2- 4-foot putt after hitting a great approach, recovery or lag putt, it makes the game almost painful.
And I’ve been fighting the yips (again) for a while now. It’s a recurring nightmare that has haunted me most of my adult life. I even had the yips when I was in my 20s, but I’ve beat them into submission off and on most of my adult life. But just recently, that nasty virus came to life once again. My lag putting has been very good, but when I get over one of those “you should make this” length putts, the entire nervous system seems to go haywire. I make great practice strokes, and then the most pitiful short-stroke or jab at the ball you can imagine. Sheesh.
But I’m a traditionalist, and do not look toward the long putter, belly putter, cross-hand, claw or other variation as the solution. My approach is to beat those damn yips into submission some other way. Here’s what I’m doing that is working pretty well, and I offer it to all of you who might have a similar affliction on the greens.
When you are over a short putt, forget the practice strokes…you want your natural eye-hand coordination to be unhindered by mechanics. Address your putt and take a good look at the hole, and back to the putter to ensure good alignment. Lighten your right hand grip on the putter and make sure that only the fingertips are in contact with the grip, to prevent you from getting to tight.
Then, take a long, long look at the hole to fill your entire mind and senses with the target. When you bring your head/eyes back to the ball, try to make a smooth, immediate move right into your backstroke — not even a second pause — and then let your hands and putter track right back together right back to where you were looking — the HOLE! Seeing the putter make contact with the ball, preferably even the forward edge of the ball – the side near the hole.
For me, this is working, but I am asking all of you to chime in with your own “home remedies” for the most aggravating and senseless of all golf maladies. It never hurts to have more to fall back on!
Over the last couple of decades, golf has become much more science-based. We measure swing speed, smash factor, angle of attack, strokes gained, and many other metrics that can really help golfers improve. But I often wonder if the advancement of golf’s “hard” sciences comes at the expense of the “soft” sciences.
Take, for example, golf instruction. Good golf instruction requires understanding swing mechanics and ball flight. But let’s take that as a given for PGA instructors. The other factors that make an instructor effective can be evaluated by social science, rather than launch monitors.
If you are a recreational golfer looking for a golf instructor, here are my top three points to consider.
1. Cultural mindset
What is “cultural mindset? To social scientists, it means whether a culture of genius or a culture of learning exists. In a golf instruction context, that may mean whether the teacher communicates a message that golf ability is something innate (you either have it or you don’t), or whether golf ability is something that can be learned. You want the latter!
It may sound obvious to suggest that you find a golf instructor who thinks you can improve, but my research suggests that it isn’t a given. In a large sample study of golf instructors, I found that when it came to recreational golfers, there was a wide range of belief systems. Some instructors strongly believed recreational golfers could improve through lessons. while others strongly believed they could not. And those beliefs manifested in the instructor’s feedback given to a student and the culture created for players.
2. Coping and self-modeling can beat role-modeling
Swing analysis technology is often preloaded with swings of PGA and LPGA Tour players. The swings of elite players are intended to be used for comparative purposes with golfers taking lessons. What social science tells us is that for novice and non-expert golfers, comparing swings to tour professionals can have the opposite effect of that intended. If you fit into the novice or non-expert category of golfer, you will learn more and be more motivated to change if you see yourself making a ‘better’ swing (self-modeling) or seeing your swing compared to a similar other (a coping model). Stay away from instructors who want to compare your swing with that of a tour player.
3. Learning theory basics
It is not a sexy selling point, but learning is a process, and that process is incremental – particularly for recreational adult players. Social science helps us understand this element of golf instruction. A good instructor will take learning slowly. He or she will give you just about enough information that challenges you, but is still manageable. The artful instructor will take time to decide what that one or two learning points are before jumping in to make full-scale swing changes. If the instructor moves too fast, you will probably leave the lesson with an arm’s length of swing thoughts and not really know which to focus on.
As an instructor, I develop a priority list of changes I want to make in a player’s technique. We then patiently and gradually work through that list. Beware of instructors who give you more than you can chew.
So if you are in the market for golf instruction, I encourage you to look beyond the X’s and O’s to find the right match!
Most pros take months, even years, to win their first tournament. Lottie Woad needed exactly four days.
The 21-year-old from Surrey shot 21-under 267 at Dundonald Links to win the ISPS Handa Women’s Scottish Open by three shots — in her very first event as a professional. She’s only the third player in LPGA history to accomplish this feat, joining Rose Zhang (2023) and Beverly Hanson (1951).
But here’s what caught my attention as a coach: Woad didn’t win through miraculous putting or bombing 300-yard drives. She won through relentless precision and unshakeable composure. After watching her performance unfold, I’m convinced every golfer — from weekend warriors to scratch players — can steal pages from her playbook.
Precision Beats Power (And It’s Not Even Close)
Forget the driving contests. Woad proved that finding greens matters more than finding distance.
What Woad did:
• Hit it straight, hit it solid, give yourself chances
• Aimed for the fat parts of greens instead of chasing pins
• Let her putting do the talking after hitting safe targets
• As she said, “Everyone was chasing me today, and managed to maintain the lead and played really nicely down the stretch and hit a lot of good shots”
Why most golfers mess this up:
• They see a pin tucked behind a bunker and grab one more club to “go right at it”
• Distance becomes more important than accuracy
• They try to be heroic instead of smart
ACTION ITEM: For your next 10 rounds, aim for the center of every green regardless of pin position. Track your greens in regulation and watch your scores drop before your swing changes.
The Putter That Stayed Cool Under Fire
Woad started the final round two shots clear and immediately applied pressure with birdies at the 2nd and 3rd holes. When South Korea’s Hyo Joo Kim mounted a charge and reached 20-under with a birdie at the 14th, Woad didn’t panic.
How she responded to pressure:
• Fired back with consecutive birdies at the 13th and 14th
• Watched Kim stumble with back-to-back bogeys
• Capped it with her fifth birdie of the day at the par-5 18th
• Stayed patient when others pressed, pressed when others cracked
What amateurs do wrong:
• Get conservative when they should be aggressive
• Try to force magic when steady play would win
• Panic when someone else makes a move
ACTION ITEM: Practice your 3-6 foot putts for 15 minutes after every range session. Woad’s putting wasn’t spectacular—it was reliable. Make the putts you should make.
Course Management 101: Play Your Game, Not the Course’s Game
Woad admitted she couldn’t see many scoreboards during the final round, but it didn’t matter. She stuck to her game plan regardless of what others were doing.
Her mental approach:
• Focused on her process, not the competition
• Drew on past pressure situations (Augusta National Women’s Amateur win)
• As she said, “That was the biggest tournament I played in at the time and was kind of my big win. So definitely felt the pressure of it more there, and I felt like all those experiences helped me with this”
Her physical execution:
• 270-yard drives (nothing flashy)
• Methodical iron play
• Steady putting
• Everything effective, nothing spectacular
ACTION ITEM: Create a yardage book for your home course. Know your distances to every pin, every hazard, every landing area. Stick to your plan no matter what your playing partners are doing.
Mental Toughness Isn’t Born, It’s Built
The most impressive part of Woad’s win? She genuinely didn’t expect it: “I definitely wasn’t expecting to win my first event as a pro, but I knew I was playing well, and I was hoping to contend.”
Her winning mindset:
• Didn’t put winning pressure on herself
• Focused on playing well and contending
• Made winning a byproduct of a good process
• Built confidence through recent experiences:
- Won the Women’s Irish Open as an amateur
- Missed a playoff by one shot at the Evian Championship
- Each experience prepared her for the next
What this means for you:
• Stop trying to shoot career rounds every time you tee up
• Focus on executing your pre-shot routine
• Commit to every shot
• Stay present in the moment
ACTION ITEM: Before each round, set process goals instead of score goals. Example: “I will take three practice swings before every shot” or “I will pick a specific target for every shot.” Let your score be the result, not the focus.
The Real Lesson
Woad collected $300,000 for her first professional victory, but the real prize was proving that fundamentals still work at golf’s highest level. She didn’t reinvent the game — she simply executed the basics better than everyone else that week.
The fundamentals that won:
• Hit more fairways
• Find more greens
• Make the putts you should make
• Stay patient under pressure
That’s something every golfer can do, regardless of handicap. Lottie Woad just showed us it’s still the winning formula.
FINAL ACTION ITEM: Pick one of the four action items above and commit to it for the next month. Master one fundamental before moving to the next. That’s how champions are built.
PGA Professional Brendon Elliott is an award-winning coach and golf writer. You can check out his writing work and learn more about him by visiting BEAGOLFER.golf and OneMoreRollGolf.com. Also, check out “The Starter” on RG.org each Monday.
Editor’s note: Brendon shares his nearly 30 years of experience in the game with GolfWRX readers through his ongoing tip series. He looks forward to providing valuable insights and advice to help golfers improve their game. Stay tuned for more Tips!
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Ronald Montesano
Aug 16, 2013 at 1:25 pm
Beautiful words, Joey! It’s great to have the perspective of the middle ages…here’s hoping you preserve your health and can play well long into your years. Keep reading and keep commenting!!
Joey Koontz
Aug 15, 2013 at 1:22 pm
Good stuff here. I’m just getting to a point in my life where I have more time to devote to the game, my only child is now a senior in HS.
I even got a part time job at the city course so I could play and practice for free. It’s a bunch of fun for sure.
The advice in your article is simple, “not simplistic” which is a great thing for me. Loving the game, hoping to get down to scratch one day. Will enjoy the journey no matter the destination. Peace!
Ronald Montesano
Aug 14, 2013 at 10:48 pm
Nick…good point. It’s the things we take for granted, be it long putts or scoring clubs. I chose the punch or recovery because I see so many kids and adults destroy good rounds with a woeful recovery shot. Thanks for reading, EVERYONE and for commenting!!
Nick
Aug 15, 2013 at 3:54 pm
No doubt that a failed effort to “take your medicine” is a double bogey or worse, without fail.
Nick
Aug 14, 2013 at 3:11 pm
Ronald, I very much agree with your article, especialy the long putting. I neglected it for years, mostly because the embarassment of rolling long putts woefully short or long on the practice green was more than my fragile ego could bear, but come to find out, its better to be embarrased on the practice green than the first or eighteenth green…
The one thing I would add, perhaps in substitute of the punch shot which I think is fairly easy to master (perhaps because I’ve spent a lifetime employing it with great regularity…) is that the average joe should spare ten minutes on his precious time on 80-125 yard approaches. Few of us with little time to practice will throw darts with our long irons or fairway metals, and even the mid irons can be a challenge without time to hone a stroke, but we should be able to be confident enough with our “scoring clubs” to at least routinely find the green.
Timothy Young
Aug 14, 2013 at 3:04 pm
Love it. I actually cleaned the wifes clubs and my clubs the other night when the weather didn’t let us get out to the range.
Tyler
Aug 14, 2013 at 12:10 pm
Good article. I have an 8 month old so making time to practice can be tricky when I’m working.
I’ll go to the range a few times in the evenings after the crowds have left(and hopefully left me some grass). I’ll hit about 60 balls in 45 min. Wedges(focusing on rhythm and contact)then I fly some short irons out into the range(no targets yet). After some solid shots I’ll starts firing at some pins.
Then I’ll do the same with mid irons and hybrids. Then I move to metal woods and Driver.
Quality over quantity works for me. I like hitting less balls more often versus practicing for hours at a time a couple times a week. It helps of course that I live right across from a golf course.
P.S I usually alternate hitting odd and even numbers each session.
Ronald Montesano
Aug 14, 2013 at 6:18 am
Thanks, jabrch. I would fill up the sink with hot, soapy water and my clubs always said “gracias.” None of us backs up the ball like the pros, so we’re not looking to take spin off the ball. Appreciate the read, friend!
jabrch
Aug 13, 2013 at 11:48 pm
Brilliant article. I have two 6 year olds. I totally get your point. The clean clubs point is tremendously underrated with Jo Average who doesn’t have caddies and rack room boys to clean their clubs or aren’t analysis retentive about their sticks. I try and clean mine after every round.
Ronald Montesano
Aug 13, 2013 at 9:36 pm
Damian…if I knew then (when our 4 kids were ankle-biters!) what I know now…Thanks for reading.
Curt…I hope you meant “simple” and not “simplistic.” Thanks for reading.
Curt
Aug 13, 2013 at 9:03 pm
A very simplistic, well organized, article!
Damian
Aug 13, 2013 at 8:35 pm
Great article Ronald! From someone who has 2 kids under 2 years old, its great to hear how to make the most out of little time. Thanks for that little gem.