- 4 hours ago
Do you not practice enough or not know how to practice correctly? If you want to get down to scratch, you need to put the time in on the driving range and short game practice area but it’s important you maximise this time and use it as efficiently as you can. So in this video, Golf Monthly staff writer and former tour player Joe Ferguson outlines some drills and habits you should incorporate into your practice to help you lower your scores and your handicap!
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00:00Right, are you fed up with not getting any better
00:02when you practice, or do you not even know what to practice?
00:05Well, I'm a scratch golfer, and I'm here to show you
00:07how to practice like one.
00:08Right, so one of the most important factors
00:11in practicing like a scratch golfer
00:12might be one of the least glamorous,
00:14but it really is essential.
00:16It's taking care of the fundamentals
00:18of the setup position.
00:19So this is my preferred method.
00:21I use three, what, I've got alignment sticks here,
00:23you can use clubs, you can use whatever you've got handy,
00:26so long as it's straight.
00:27So the first thing I do is I establish my ball
00:29to target line where I'm going to try and hit the ball.
00:33My first stick will go just outside the ball,
00:35and that gives me a really good guide
00:37on my club face alignment and the path
00:39I'm looking to take the club away on
00:41and deliver the club on.
00:42That's a really good visual cue for me.
00:45The next one I put down is dead parallel to that,
00:47and that's my toe line.
00:49So that's to ensure my toes, my knees, my hips,
00:52and my shoulders are all lined up parallel
00:54to that ball to target line.
00:55And that's really essential for consistent ball striking
00:58and consistent dispersion.
01:00The final one I always put down,
01:02I put perpendicular to that over the top
01:04of my toe line stick, and this gives me a really good guide
01:08on the ball position, where I need to have that ball
01:10in relation to my feet in the stance
01:12to produce the shots that I want to produce.
01:14And that varies from club to club, as we know,
01:17but this is a really good recalibration tool
01:20in order to help you set up the same way every single time.
01:23And a lot of swing faults can be traced back
01:26to having something like this wrong.
01:28For example, if that was my ball to target line
01:30and my alignment got out and I was aiming a long way right,
01:34that's when you start to see people throwing the club
01:37over the top.
01:38And that's not necessarily a move that's come
01:40from a fault in their swing.
01:41That could simply be an alignment issue,
01:44forcing your body to react and put it back
01:46in the right position.
01:47There's countless other compensations
01:49that you might have to make if you get one
01:51of those simple things wrong.
01:53Again, a ball position issue.
01:54If it's too far back, you might find people start leaning
01:57back to try and scoop the ball up
01:59because they can't get the ball high enough
02:01from the ball too far back in their stance.
02:03So just simply having the setup station when you practice,
02:07doesn't have to be for every shot.
02:09I tend to use it to sort of calibrate my address position
02:12for maybe the first 10 minutes of a practice session.
02:15And then I might move on to something else,
02:16which I'll show you in a second.
02:17But it's absolutely essential to start in the right way,
02:21get yourself set up nicely and it will really help you
02:29deliver the club consistently from a better position.
02:32Right, so there we've covered the fundamentals
02:34of getting yourself set up correctly
02:36and the importance thereof.
02:38That's something we call block practice,
02:39when you're covering the fundamentals,
02:41repeating the same movement, aiming at the same target.
02:45But something else that Scratch or better players do
02:47when they're practicing is something we call variable practice.
02:49We know out on the golf course, you never or very rarely
02:52get the same shot twice in a row.
02:54So in practice, it's really important to vary
02:58what you're doing in accordance with what's going on
03:00in the golf course as well.
03:02And that would include things like just changing target
03:04every now and then.
03:05So I think it's really important to pick out different targets
03:08and here on the range at Northamptonshire County Golf Club,
03:10we've got an abundance of different targets.
03:12We're really fortunate, we've got loads to aim at.
03:15Look at different targets and look at different shapes
03:16of shots as well and that's really where you start to learn
03:19the on-course skills that are going to take you
03:21from where you are to where you want to be.
03:24So instead of just hitting where I've been hitting,
03:25I'm going to aim at that yellow flag on the right now
03:27and I'm going to hit a little low punch shot.
03:34So I've brought the trajectory down there,
03:36it's quite a windy day, that's an important skill to have.
03:38So instead of just now repeating that shot
03:40four or five times in a row, I'm going to change target
03:43and I'm going to hit a completely opposite shot.
03:47So I'm going to aim a little further left,
03:49I'm going to aim at the 200 yard marker in the distance
03:51and I'm going to hit a really high balloon ball.
03:59So again, another skill that a better player will have
04:02is shot shaping.
04:03So we've just looked at trajectory,
04:05now you might want to vary it up and start moving
04:08shots left to right or right to left.
04:10For a third time in a row, I'm going to pick a different target,
04:12I'm going to go at the white flag in the distance.
04:15I'm going to aim a little left of it
04:16and I'm going to hit a little hold off fade.
04:24So that's teaching me the importance of varying my path
04:27and my club face to create the shape of shot I want.
04:30But again, we're not going to stop there.
04:32Change target, picking the 200 yard marker
04:34further on the left now.
04:36So I'm going to aim right at that,
04:37I'm going to turn my club face in a little bit
04:39and I'm going to start to hit a draw.
04:45So nice soft draw, exactly what I was looking for.
04:48But more importantly than that,
04:49I've got four different targets I've just hit to there.
04:51I've had four completely different shapes of shots
04:54and trajectories, and I'm really beginning
04:56to get an understanding of what I need to do
04:58with my setup, my club path, my club face,
05:01to create the shots that you might get on the golf course.
05:03And that's absolutely critical.
05:05Golf is not a static sport.
05:07We don't play from flat lies very often.
05:09We often need to shape the shots.
05:11So it's really important in practice
05:13to vary what you're doing to make sure you can do it.
05:16Right, so that's us done at the driving range.
05:17We've covered a lot of the long game there
05:19and how to practice as a scratch golfer in the long game.
05:22But now we're down at Northampton County's
05:24beautiful Chipping Green
05:26to discuss the importance of the short game.
05:28Any good player will tell you,
05:29if you really want to shave strokes off your game
05:32and do it quickly, the short game is where to do it.
05:35One of the most important parts of the short game,
05:37particularly chipping,
05:38is being able to land the ball where you want.
05:40If you can control your landing area,
05:43you can then pick out spots on the green.
05:44You want to land it in certain slopes
05:46and you'll understand better how it's going to react
05:48and therefore you'll be able to get the ball closer
05:50to the hole and save shots doing so.
05:53One of my favorite drills that I use
05:55to help me control distance and practice learning
05:58how to control the distance is what I call the ladder drill.
06:01I've got it set up here and again,
06:02I'm using my alignment stick.
06:03So you'll be seeing these are really crucial tools
06:05in the arsenal of the better golfer for practicing.
06:08So I've got a basic chip here.
06:10I'm not even looking to hit to a hole here.
06:13I'm purely controlling my landing area.
06:15So I've got a basic 10 yard chip
06:17and I've set out my alignment sticks at increments
06:20and I change these regularly depending on
06:22how harsh I want to be on myself.
06:24And you can change it depending
06:25on your current ability level.
06:27But I call it the ladder drill
06:28because I start working up the ladder and back down the ladder.
06:30I want to land one, my first one in the first rung,
06:33second one in the second rung and so on
06:35and then work back down.
06:36So you're going up and down the ladder,
06:38you're tuning in your field
06:39and you're starting to understand
06:40how hard you need to hit it to go certain distances.
06:43So the first one, I would want to try and start to land it,
06:46try and land it in the first little rung there,
06:48just about made it into the first rung.
06:50And then obviously I want to try and work my way up from there.
06:54So generally speaking, I'll vary the lie a bit.
06:57I'll have a little look at the second rung,
06:59try and hit it a bit harder,
07:01and I've managed to land it in the second rung.
07:03I continue to work my way up and down that ladder,
07:06teaching myself how I'm going to hit it further,
07:09how I'm going to hit it softer,
07:10am I hitting it harder,
07:11am I varying the length of my swing.
07:13It'll be different for various other people,
07:16people who have different methods of doing it,
07:18but you'll begin to figure out your own way
07:20if you continue to work on the ladder drill
07:21and work your way up and down that ladder.
07:25So that's one way of practicing the short game.
07:27But as with the long game,
07:28it's really important to vary that practice
07:30because probably even more so around the greens,
07:33we very rarely get the same length of shot,
07:35the same lie, the same slopes, et cetera.
07:37So it's super important to vary the practice
07:39with your short game.
07:40One of my favorite ways to do this is I play a little game.
07:42I've got three golf balls in my hand.
07:44I like to throw them randomly around the green.
07:47They come into different lies,
07:48slightly different lengths of shots.
07:50I generally play to the same target for a little while,
07:52maybe mix it up after three,
07:54but I also bring my putter
07:55and I try and finish off those shots.
07:57So I have three golf balls in my hand.
07:59I do this six times to signify 18 holes of golf.
08:03If I consider each of these holes a par two,
08:06my goal is to get up and down as many times as I can
08:08to stay as close as par as possible,
08:10or even with the odd chip in, maybe sneak under par.
08:13So the first ball I've arrived at
08:14has actually been really fortunate.
08:15It's sat up lovely, I've got a really nice lie,
08:18so I shouldn't have a problem just going ahead
08:19and I'm playing a pretty basic chip shot.
08:23I'm popping that up relatively close.
08:26Second ball I come to is a different proposition altogether.
08:29Nestle down a little bit.
08:31It's in an old sort of track mark
08:33that probably the green keepers created here,
08:36and I've got a little tuft of grass behind the ball,
08:38so all of a sudden I need to figure out
08:40how this ball might react,
08:42and that's one key to better players.
08:44Some of the best short game players in the world
08:45are simply the best reader of the lie.
08:48We hear a lot about reading putts,
08:50but people don't often talk about the art of reading the lie
08:53and how a ball is going to come out of certain lies it has.
08:55So this one here, I know if I just had a normal sort of chipping action,
09:01I'm going to catch a lot of this grass behind the ball,
09:03and that's going to really affect the ball flight.
09:05So what I would generally do here for me
09:08is I would put the ball a little bit further back
09:10and get a little bit steeper and try and pop it out a little bit.
09:13That's come out really, really soft,
09:15so that's really important that you figure out that.
09:17That goes in the bank and you figure out that for next time,
09:20you need to give that a little bit more oomph.
09:22Moving across to the third ball,
09:24I'd say this is somewhere between the other two.
09:26It's not lying fantastic, but it's not as problematic
09:29as in the track mark over there,
09:31so probably put a little bit more weight forward,
09:33and because I now know how sticky
09:36and probably grabby this rough is,
09:37I'm going to give this a little bit more oomph.
09:42That's come out a lot better,
09:43still not quite made it to where I wanted to go,
09:46but again, it's feeding the computer.
09:49So what I would do now, grab my putter,
09:51and I would go up and try and finish all those off
09:53in the fewest amount of strokes I can,
09:55repeat that six times, and I've got my 18 holes.
09:59You can then quantify that, you can keep a record of that,
10:01you can keep your best scores,
10:03and you've got something to beat against there,
10:04so your practice becomes measurable as well.
10:07You can start to see you're getting better.
10:09Not only are you learning through variance,
10:10you're learning through keeping the records
10:12and figuring out as you're going along.
10:18Right, so now we find ourself on the putting green,
10:21and just as equally as the driving range
10:23and the short game that we've just taken care of,
10:25putting is absolutely critical
10:27when you're trying to get down to a scratch handicap.
10:29One of the most important elements in putting
10:31is simply being able to point the putter
10:33in the right direction.
10:34I play a lot of pro-ams,
10:35I play with a lot of amateurs,
10:37who hit some great putts,
10:38but are just simply pointing in the wrong direction.
10:40So one of the ways I like to ensure my alignment's good
10:44is I do a lot of work with what we call a putting mirror.
10:46We've got a line coming on the back of the ball here,
10:48out the back of the ball,
10:49which shows our ball to target line.
10:51Then we have these perpendicular lines,
10:53which show us where to align the club face.
10:55And I just put the club face in behind the ball,
10:58and keep getting a visual reference to make sure that I,
11:00what I'm seeing is square with my eyes,
11:02matches what I know to be square with a mirror.
11:05If I'm not seeing that,
11:06then I know there's some recalibrating needs doing.
11:08So I'm happy that's a square alignment.
11:12It's a relatively straight putt,
11:13there's a little bit of break on it to the left.
11:17So you can counter that with a little bit more pace.
11:19So then once I'm happy that,
11:20I'll do that for probably five or 10 minutes at the start
11:31of most sessions when I'm putting,
11:33just recalibrates the eyes to know what square looks like.
11:37Pace is really just as crucial as line.
11:40When we've got breaking putts, for example,
11:42whether you're dropping it in the front edge,
11:43hitting it at a mid pace into the middle of the hole,
11:46or slamming it off the back of the hole,
11:47will all affect how much break you need to play.
11:50So if you've got that level of control
11:52where you can go up and down the scale,
11:54and choose your pace before you even hit the putt,
11:57that gives you a much better understanding
11:59of where you need to start the putt.
12:00So another variation of what I'm doing here with the mirror
12:03is going up and down the scale in pace.
12:05So I'll use the first ball.
12:07So I would start with the first putt,
12:08and just try and drop it really gently in the front edge.
12:14So just tumble to the hole, which is great.
12:17So now, second putt.
12:19I tend to go up and down the scale,
12:20so I would try and hit this at more of a mid pace for me.
12:26And that's gone nicely in the center at a middle pace.
12:28Then on the last one, I would try and take all of the break out,
12:31and I'm trying to really get this to slam in
12:33off the back of the hole.
12:37Pulled that a little bit,
12:38but it had the pace that took it about two foot past.
12:41So then, once I've done that, I would work back down the scale.
12:44I'd probably then go mid, front edge, back up the scale,
12:47and then vary it a little bit.
12:48So once you really delve into the finer points of control
12:52in the pace, you can really start to select your breaks,
12:55and that's really important in holding more putts.
12:59Right, so there's a few ideas on how I think you can structure
13:01your practice better to practice like a scratch golfer.
13:05The one important thing I want you to remember
13:06from taking away from this video is varying it.
13:09Block practice and variable practice, both important skills.
13:13Don't just stand there banging the same shot on the range,
13:15vary it up.
13:16Vary it up around the chipping green with your lies as well,
13:19and that is how to speed up the process
13:21of getting down to scratch.
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