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- The Driving Range is Only 30% of Your Practice
The Driving Range is Only 30% of Your Practice
And The Putting Green is Included in that Number
What if I told you, the Driving Range and Putting Green (and even chipping area) should only make up about 30% of your practice time?!?!?
That’s right. We ARE talking about practice today and for good reason. Depending on your setup, the driving range isn’t exactly getting you ready for the course. Even worse are the indoor golf simulators (I have one by the way).
Wait…. what?!
Yep. Turns out, golf on the golf course isn’t a perfectly flat lie every time. Nor does it have a nice, forgiving hitting mat where it’s impossible to chunk a ball. Now I’m not saying you shouldn’t hit the range. Heck, I spend at least 15 minutes everyday on my golf simulator. What I am saying is, if you want to get better, you have to be out on the course experiencing the bad lies and sidehill stances and deep rough, etc.
And as much as I’d advocate for playing more golf to get more situations thrown at you, I like to take it a step further and work on specific skills while on the course.
Listen, I 100% understand how hard it is not to play your round with your buddies when you just shelled out $70-$100 for the round. But hear me out - the course is the perfect place to work on specific skills since every hole and every shot gives to a new world to try it in. Not only that, but I believe you’ll find it rather fun to try something new out there.
Without further delay, the following are little mini games you can play while on the course. Each one is meant to be hole specific and not used for the entire round. It’s also meant to not double stack, but hey, I wont judge you.
The Sweet Spot: Hitting the ball in the center of the clubface produces the best shots. Use foot spray, sunscreen or dry erase marker to see who finds the sweet spot. The player with the centermost shot off the tee can pick up their ball and place it 350 yards in the middle of the fairway or 6 feet from the hole on a Par 3.
Feeling It: Put away all range finders and GPS devices on this hole. Everyone must also avoid looking at yardage markers on the course. Anyone caught looking gets a 2 stroke penalty.
Let the Good Times Roll: During your putt, you must close your eyes and with eyes closed, you must guess how far away from the hole the ball stopped. If guess correctly within 1 foot, move your ball 3 feet closer. If wrong, move it 3 feet further away.
Golf Club Draft: On the tee box, each golfer will pick 3 clubs to be used this hole. Use a tee flip to determine the order of the snake draft. Once a club is selected, no other player can choose it.
Versatility: Channel your inner Roy McAvoy from Tin Cup, all golfers will play the entire hole (putting included) with their 7 iron.
No Wedgies Please: This one is simple, you cannot use any club with more loft than a 8 iron for this hole. Hint: you might want to hit to your favorite 8 iron number.
Draws Only: Do you know ball flight laws? For this hole, all tee shots and approaches must have a draw spin. A shot that does not draw gets a one stroke penalty. Be honest.
Fades Only: Do you know ball flight laws? For this hole, all tee shots and approaches must have a fade spin. A shot that does not fade gets a one stroke penalty. Be honest.
President: On this hole, the president gets to make up a rule that everyone, including the President must follow. The president is decided by tee flip.
Shot Clock: Slow play often causes a golfer to overthink. As soon you get to your ball, you have 24 seconds to get your shot off, just like in the NBA. If the buzzer blows before you hit, the golfer gets a one stroke penalty.
Tee to Green: Drive and approach shot(s) must be hit with the same club. The person will honors picks the tee box for this hole. Don’t use on Par 3’s.
Survivor: The first player to hit (decided from tee flip) chooses a club. For all other players, as soon as a club is used, no other golfer can use that club for this hole. Each club is unavailable after the first person uses it.
Weakest Link: The group plays this hole as a scramble, using the worst ball hit until the green is reached. From there, each golfer plays their own ball. Each time your ball is use, you get a one stroke penalty.
Blindman: Play this hole like Wolf. The Wolf (decided by tee flip) will need to decide on a partner before hitting or can go solo. But, the wolf cannot watch each tee shot but rather make a decision based on the sound of it.
Send It: Strokes Gained is all about hitting it as far as you can, in-play. The golfer that can hit it the furthest (playable) drive, gets to subtract one stroke from their score. All plays will hit their 2nd shot from that longest drive.
Unlock Power: Learn to generate power in which you cannot take the club back beyond a half backswing (lead arm parallel) on every shot. The rest of the group will assess a one stroke penalty for every swing deemed to long.
The Rough is Lava: Golfers that know their club dispersions and hit it mostly straight have a huge advantage in Golf. On this hole, anything that lands in anything but the fairway, fringe, or green gets a one stroke penalty.
Top of the World: Topping the ball is no fun. Unless you mean to do it. The player that can hit the shortest drive with a full swing can advance their ball to 350 yards on a Par 4 or 5 or to 6 feet on a Par 3. All other drives get to re-tee and play as normal.
Buzz City: Every golfer will hit stingers until the green is reached. If a shot is deemed too high, that golfer gets a one stroke penalty.
Bryson Big D Golf: On this hole, play from the forward-most tees and see what it feels like to have approach shots like Bryson.
DOD King: According to the DOD King (Driver Off Deck) on YouTube, tees are for Weasels. On this hole, no tees allowed.
Rush Hour: The golfers that go this way and the ones that go that way are on the same team for this hole. Play your own ball, but write down your score based on the best ball between the two of you.
After my group tested these and determined these were all actually fun, I had a legit set of cards made (see below). As we start a new hole, we shuffle the deck and pick a new card. If this is something you’d want, let me know and I can have some made for about $20.
Happy 4th of July golfers and stay safe as you light those fireworks. Let me know when you give these a try and what you thought.
I encourage you to check out a few other posts that will help your game and get you shooting lower scores: