Not so long ago I was having a chat with a golfer who asked me a question.
He wanted to know, that if I had my time again and I had the chance to play professionally, what would I do different.
Being the kind and warm hearted sole I am, I had to answer the poor lamb as I think he really wanted soma advice and guidance.
The answer was simple.
Knowing what I know now, I would spend most of, if not all of my practice time working on shots from 120 yards and in.
In other words, anything from a full wedge downwards.
The reason is simple.
At the top end of the scale, where most golfers’ swings are fairly consistent, the winners and the losers are separated by the ability to get the ball in the hole.
To turn three shots into two.
Swings are grooved and don’t really change much from one day to the next. I can testify to this myself, as I hit no way near the amount of practice balls I used to, and yet my swing is still as consistent as ever.
The long game is just like riding a bike, once you can do it, you can keep on doing it and repeating it.
I would also spend a lot of time practicing from five feet on the putting green.
In theory at least, by being great from five feet, you give yourself a ten foot circle to chip, pitch or splash the ball from the bunker into.
You should also dramatically cut down on the number of three putts as well.
Now if you’re a regular weekend player and feel your swing is fairly consistent and you’re looking to take strokes off your score, the above is not a bad practice plan idea for you either.
In other words you cut to the chase and start working at the sharp end of your game.
And guess what, over the next few weeks I’m going to spend quite a bit of time talking about the short game and how you can really tighten up on and around the greens.
In the meantime if you’re interested in improving your game and lowering your scores, have a look at my free e-book “9 Ways to Lower Your Handicap & Shoot Your Best Round Ever”
Bob James PGA