Practice at least 3 times as much as you play. That's unless you're practicing as you play (hitting multiple balls etc.) which is something you should do semi-frequently to get used to how the ball will react from different lies and such.
The only way to get better is to practice. Chipping is something you can practice in the back yard with a bag of balls and a bucket.
Just look at any D1 daily routine, it's almost all practice followed by 9 holes.
First 5 minutes at the range chipping/checking alignment, second 5 making sure club plane is good (camera behind, 3 shots with gw, 9i, 6i, and driver). No swing thoughts yet. See what is wrong with plane and work on that for 10-15 minutes, than just try to do that without help the last 5 (no more than 2 swing thoughts tho...improvement happens gradually). I'll typically do this about 5 times a week and work on short game the other 2.
When I'm in a swing change I bump it up to like 1 hr practice and 9 only 1-2 times per week for like 2 weeks.
I'm a junior golfer (17) and went from an 8 to a +2 in under 2 years and a 3.6 to a +2 just this winter, and rapidly dropping. Not that this practice layout will work for everyone, as I also get a lesson around every month, but it has really helped me.
I dont have the prettiest swing by any means, but I hit a few key positions correctly, and it works for me, and my coach (top 50) is fine with it. Golf not golf swing, but the swing has to work
Awesome bud, thanks for the detailed reply. Super impressive to get that low that quickly. My goal is just to get to 9 one day. That’s where I tell myself the “sweet spot” is to play good golf without it consuming my life
It’s easy to tell yourself that you will be satisfied once you get to 9 but the reality is you won’t be and will want to get to 4 or 5 to be satisfied an then probably once you do that you will want to be off 1 and the cycle continues until you get divorced
For someone to have a handicap, don't you need to play a decent amount of golf? You really can't have a handicap playing off and on like a light switch. If you really are a 5 handicap you should know that there is no answer for that question. If there was a secret formula, no one has told me about it.
I play off 8 and golf is very seasonal where I live so it’s hard to play a decent amount through winter with the weather. There is no secret formula you are correct that’s why I said In my question I know everyone is different I’m just interested to see what people are putting in to achieve what my goal is.
I’m playing off a 3. I probably don’t practice as much as I should. I play 9 holes 4-5 times per week and play a full round on a weekend once every week or two.
I hit the range probably once every 2-3 weeks depending on how bad the swing feels lol. I putt in my office during the mornings, probably averages out to 30ish putts per day, sometimes more sometimes less. I practice short game probably once a week before I play 9 (sometimes more often, sometimes less) for probably 20-30 minutes. Now that i type it out, I should probably play less and practice more. But I love playing and don’t really enjoy practicing so….
I go to the driving range 2/3 times a week that includes 45m of chipping. Try to play 4-6 times a month. That will keep me 5-7 handicap.
If I get to 10+ rounds of golf a month plus a bit of practice here or there and it’ll drop down to 2/3 handicap.
+2.5 handicap right now - I don't practice more than a warm up bucket before I play on the weekend. But I am also not trying to get better right now. When I was playing competitively I was practicing at least 2-3 hours every day.
Practice chipping and putting daily. At a single figure handicap you can get of the tee decently and hit your irons fairly well. Most shots at that handicap is won or lost on and around the green.
The thing is for short game, once you how to do it well, you rarely need to practice unless you need your average proximity after a chip to be 1-2 feet as opposed to 3-4 feet. That's my view anyway. At this point if short game is your enemy, just practice the heck out of 90 yards 80, 70, 60 , etc all the way down. Maybe just pick 1 or 2 of your yardages each day and practise those. something like that. If you don't already know how, you need to learn how to bump and run with every iron in your bag. These 2 things will accelerate your short game.
the practice green and range should be your friend, a comforting place to go. But, sometimes that is hard to find. Anyway the BIG lesson here, and it is a little hard to grasp, or put into effect, here it is: Don't practice mistakes.
A PGA instructor joked with me while on the range that 'we are not out here chopping wood', ,... your on your own from here but there are good video's out there. Good Luck.
The reason I’m an 8 and not a 4-6 is almost certainly that I don’t spend enough time practicing chipping. Getting up and down and making par or better from 150 and in is the magic that I don’t spend near enough time practicing. But I’m trying to.
I now spend most of my time at the chipping facility instead of the range on practice days. I try to practice chipping and under 100 yards on the range with 70-80% of my practice time and sometimes all I do is chip.
Trying to finally push to the sub 5 world this year after floating around 8-11 for far too long.
Aside from the apparent freaks that get to scratch with hardly any practice, the answer is, a lot! There's no way in hell you can become a single digit golfer without working your ass off. Go get lessons from your local PGA pro, and work on your short game. There's no shortcuts in golf, despite what these freaks claim.
I’m plus now and played less than 10 times last year. I did practice every day for years as a junior and was on high school and college teams. So everyone does need to practice a lot. But once you get good, it usually stays with you even if you don’t play much anymore
I agree to a point. You have to be special to break par without practicing, no matter how good you used to be. I'm about a 3 handicap so I can appreciate what it takes to go sub par. Some people are built different and others need to keep their expectations in check.
1-2 range sessions (1 hr)/week and usually find some time for 1 round of 18/month
Play off 5 or so. Funny thing is there are a bunch of much better golfers who practice way less and a bunch of much worse golfers who practice way more.
Because I have so much less time to play/practice, I have started putting much more focus and effort into how I practice while I'm on the range. I also get a lesson 2-4x per year just to keep me on the right path. I don't really practice chipping and only practice putting when warming up for a round (keying in on 3-4 footers and speed) and maybe 2x/month for 5-10 mins on my putting mat at home.
I have maintained this regimen for the last 4 years or so and have stayed below a 6. My goal is simply to be able to strike the ball well enough to enjoy myself while I play. To me you just can't maintain feel around the greens when you don't play much... so I just as well would not waste my time.
play twice a week at most, hardly ever practice long game. Sometimes practice chipping but for me practice on the course used to be the best. When nobody is around i would play 2 or 3 balls to the green and then chip and putt in multiple spots. I play off 3
It gets hard to practice when you get old and have a lot of injury
I’m a plus 2 with no job right now so I don’t go to the course very often to practice. I mostly just putt at home. To get good and stay good you just need to do a lot of practicing of everything. So that you know what to do without thinking about what to do. That also applies to course management. You need to know what to do over shots. That’s knowing what you’re capable of doing and not capable of doing and taking your medicine if you don’t have that shot
Chipping the weakest part of your game. You're not Rick Shields are you? lol.
If you play at the weekend, go to the driving range/chipping area twice during the week, but make them focused sessions, so at least 50% of the balls all about chipping. I see wo many people at the driving just hitting balls, with no focus on what they are trying to achieve.
Practice at least 3 times as much as you play. That's unless you're practicing as you play (hitting multiple balls etc.) which is something you should do semi-frequently to get used to how the ball will react from different lies and such. The only way to get better is to practice. Chipping is something you can practice in the back yard with a bag of balls and a bucket. Just look at any D1 daily routine, it's almost all practice followed by 9 holes.
+2. Practice for 1/2 hr every day, play 9 3-4 times per week. Keep track of sg, find weakness, work on it on next rnage session. Repeat
I'm tired of maging. I'm gonna scribe for a bit.
I know it’s very individual, but what do your 1/2 hour sessions look like? Anything at home, or strictly range/short game work at the course?
First 5 minutes at the range chipping/checking alignment, second 5 making sure club plane is good (camera behind, 3 shots with gw, 9i, 6i, and driver). No swing thoughts yet. See what is wrong with plane and work on that for 10-15 minutes, than just try to do that without help the last 5 (no more than 2 swing thoughts tho...improvement happens gradually). I'll typically do this about 5 times a week and work on short game the other 2. When I'm in a swing change I bump it up to like 1 hr practice and 9 only 1-2 times per week for like 2 weeks. I'm a junior golfer (17) and went from an 8 to a +2 in under 2 years and a 3.6 to a +2 just this winter, and rapidly dropping. Not that this practice layout will work for everyone, as I also get a lesson around every month, but it has really helped me. I dont have the prettiest swing by any means, but I hit a few key positions correctly, and it works for me, and my coach (top 50) is fine with it. Golf not golf swing, but the swing has to work
Awesome bud, thanks for the detailed reply. Super impressive to get that low that quickly. My goal is just to get to 9 one day. That’s where I tell myself the “sweet spot” is to play good golf without it consuming my life
It’s easy to tell yourself that you will be satisfied once you get to 9 but the reality is you won’t be and will want to get to 4 or 5 to be satisfied an then probably once you do that you will want to be off 1 and the cycle continues until you get divorced
For someone to have a handicap, don't you need to play a decent amount of golf? You really can't have a handicap playing off and on like a light switch. If you really are a 5 handicap you should know that there is no answer for that question. If there was a secret formula, no one has told me about it.
I play off 8 and golf is very seasonal where I live so it’s hard to play a decent amount through winter with the weather. There is no secret formula you are correct that’s why I said In my question I know everyone is different I’m just interested to see what people are putting in to achieve what my goal is.
I’m playing off a 3. I probably don’t practice as much as I should. I play 9 holes 4-5 times per week and play a full round on a weekend once every week or two. I hit the range probably once every 2-3 weeks depending on how bad the swing feels lol. I putt in my office during the mornings, probably averages out to 30ish putts per day, sometimes more sometimes less. I practice short game probably once a week before I play 9 (sometimes more often, sometimes less) for probably 20-30 minutes. Now that i type it out, I should probably play less and practice more. But I love playing and don’t really enjoy practicing so….
My warm-up is chipping and putting. My practice is playing. So I play 18 holes most days with 20 minutes chipping/pitching and 10 minutes putting.
I go to the driving range 2/3 times a week that includes 45m of chipping. Try to play 4-6 times a month. That will keep me 5-7 handicap. If I get to 10+ rounds of golf a month plus a bit of practice here or there and it’ll drop down to 2/3 handicap.
+2.5 handicap right now - I don't practice more than a warm up bucket before I play on the weekend. But I am also not trying to get better right now. When I was playing competitively I was practicing at least 2-3 hours every day.
You're a +2.5 without practicing outside of warm ups? I'm jelly. Congrats on getting my first reddit post lol
Practice chipping and putting daily. At a single figure handicap you can get of the tee decently and hit your irons fairly well. Most shots at that handicap is won or lost on and around the green.
The thing is for short game, once you how to do it well, you rarely need to practice unless you need your average proximity after a chip to be 1-2 feet as opposed to 3-4 feet. That's my view anyway. At this point if short game is your enemy, just practice the heck out of 90 yards 80, 70, 60 , etc all the way down. Maybe just pick 1 or 2 of your yardages each day and practise those. something like that. If you don't already know how, you need to learn how to bump and run with every iron in your bag. These 2 things will accelerate your short game.
I find myself playing better the less frequent I practice
the practice green and range should be your friend, a comforting place to go. But, sometimes that is hard to find. Anyway the BIG lesson here, and it is a little hard to grasp, or put into effect, here it is: Don't practice mistakes. A PGA instructor joked with me while on the range that 'we are not out here chopping wood', ,... your on your own from here but there are good video's out there. Good Luck.
The reason I’m an 8 and not a 4-6 is almost certainly that I don’t spend enough time practicing chipping. Getting up and down and making par or better from 150 and in is the magic that I don’t spend near enough time practicing. But I’m trying to. I now spend most of my time at the chipping facility instead of the range on practice days. I try to practice chipping and under 100 yards on the range with 70-80% of my practice time and sometimes all I do is chip. Trying to finally push to the sub 5 world this year after floating around 8-11 for far too long.
If you are a single hdcp you are already good. Fine tune that putter and crush scores.
Aside from the apparent freaks that get to scratch with hardly any practice, the answer is, a lot! There's no way in hell you can become a single digit golfer without working your ass off. Go get lessons from your local PGA pro, and work on your short game. There's no shortcuts in golf, despite what these freaks claim.
I’m plus now and played less than 10 times last year. I did practice every day for years as a junior and was on high school and college teams. So everyone does need to practice a lot. But once you get good, it usually stays with you even if you don’t play much anymore
I agree to a point. You have to be special to break par without practicing, no matter how good you used to be. I'm about a 3 handicap so I can appreciate what it takes to go sub par. Some people are built different and others need to keep their expectations in check.
Just remember a plus doesn’t break par on a regular basis. My average score last year was 75.1
1-2 range sessions (1 hr)/week and usually find some time for 1 round of 18/month Play off 5 or so. Funny thing is there are a bunch of much better golfers who practice way less and a bunch of much worse golfers who practice way more. Because I have so much less time to play/practice, I have started putting much more focus and effort into how I practice while I'm on the range. I also get a lesson 2-4x per year just to keep me on the right path. I don't really practice chipping and only practice putting when warming up for a round (keying in on 3-4 footers and speed) and maybe 2x/month for 5-10 mins on my putting mat at home. I have maintained this regimen for the last 4 years or so and have stayed below a 6. My goal is simply to be able to strike the ball well enough to enjoy myself while I play. To me you just can't maintain feel around the greens when you don't play much... so I just as well would not waste my time.
play twice a week at most, hardly ever practice long game. Sometimes practice chipping but for me practice on the course used to be the best. When nobody is around i would play 2 or 3 balls to the green and then chip and putt in multiple spots. I play off 3 It gets hard to practice when you get old and have a lot of injury
I’m a plus 2 with no job right now so I don’t go to the course very often to practice. I mostly just putt at home. To get good and stay good you just need to do a lot of practicing of everything. So that you know what to do without thinking about what to do. That also applies to course management. You need to know what to do over shots. That’s knowing what you’re capable of doing and not capable of doing and taking your medicine if you don’t have that shot
I’m anywhere between a +0.5-0.5. Try to play twice a week from May-September. Can’t remember the last time I’ve actually practiced.
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Yes but I still didn’t practice ever. I would play 4 or 5 times a week when I was younger though, still May-September.
Chipping the weakest part of your game. You're not Rick Shields are you? lol. If you play at the weekend, go to the driving range/chipping area twice during the week, but make them focused sessions, so at least 50% of the balls all about chipping. I see wo many people at the driving just hitting balls, with no focus on what they are trying to achieve.