| Golf Tips: Make Your Practice More Productive |
|
|
|
advertisement
|
By Jon Ebert
Golf Pro
All golfers agree that the more you practice, the more you'll improve. But what should you practice? In most cases, golfers are not practicing the shots that are causing their problems. So what should you be practicing? It all depends on your caliber of play. I'll break it down for a "scratch" player, a middle handicapper and a high handicapper. A regulation or "perfect" round for a scratch player would mean that all four par 3's were hit, fourteen fairways were hit, with the four par 5's being hit in three and the remaining ten par 4's being hit in two. Allowing for two putts per hole, that equals a score of even par 72. Fourteen of these shots were drivers. Thirty-six of these shots were putts. The remaining shots were scattered iron shots and only a couple fairway woods. There were no pitches, chips or sand shots. It's obvious what this player should practice. The way to lower his scores is to lower the number of putts. He also needs to practice driving, which sets up those iron shots to the green. Some iron practice will also help. Very little practice on pitching, chipping and bunker play is needed, as this caliber player rarely has these shots. The scratch player usually has a very good practice routine. The middle handicapper misses some fairways and misses many greens in regulation. However, even though he misses the greens, he still comes close, leaving himself many pitches, chips and short putts. The bunkers also come into play more often for this caliber player. What should this player be working on? Again, the answer is obvious. The short game is where he has to be sharp. I'm not suggesting that this player should ignore the long game. He should still be practicing his driving and iron game. However, the bulk of his practice should be on the short game. In a typical practice session, this player usually goes through short irons quickly, hits drivers and fairway woods for the bulk of the session and skips pitching, chipping, bunker practice and putting completely. The high handicapper is not thinking about fairways and greens hit in regulation. He's trying to get the ball in the air and hit it forward. He's generally a pretty good chipper and putter, as that's the part of the game that comes easiest to most players. This player spends more time on the chipping and putting greens, because that's where he finds success. He should be spending more time on the tee, learning to get the ball in the air with the woods and long irons. Players of all levels will improve with practice. The key is to determine which part of the game will contribute most to lowering your scores and concentrate on that area. Have a question? Mail it to Jon Ebert, 3350 Pine Ridge Road, Naples, FL 34109, fax it to 941-649-0500 or e-mail it to Jon@ebertgolf.com . For information on personal, video golf instruction, visit Jon Ebert's Web site at www.ebertgolf.com. (Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.shns.com )
| 
