You’ve signed up for a golf club competition, but don’t have much time to practice. Here’s a short guide to help you prepare for club competitions making the most of the spare time you have.
Why an Accurate Handicap is Crucial for Competitions
According to our poll on X only 43% of golfers hand-in all of their rounds for handicap qualifying. Therefore, 57% of golfers have an inaccurate handicap! Lets be honest, golfers tend not to like their handicap going up. I’ve known golfers who only hand in “good” rounds. As a consequence, these golfers will have an artificially low handicap. Hence, my first tip is to submit every round you play, or at least, as many as you can. This will give you an advantage, as many golfers will have an artificially low handicap. And, in competitions, every shot counts.
Quick Golf Practice Tips When Time Is Tight
This I understand. You need to prioritise what little time you have. Below I’ve listed some tips depending on how much time you have. I’ve listed them in time-line order up to competition day. If you really have no time at all, skip to Chipping and Putting Warmup Before you tee-off.
Maximize Your Driving Range Practice Time
If you have time to practice at the driving range before your competition then, in priority order, below are the top three things to work on, 1 being of most importance:
- Pitching between 25 and 100 yards – 50 balls. We suggest this for one simple reason. You can pick up shots more easily practicing your pitching rather than whacking trying to improve your swing with 50+ balls.
- A solid driving range practice session. For this, see our article “Driving Range Practice Routine” for some ideas.
- Your biggest weakness: something that is costing you more shots than anything else. Including such things as penalty shots from slices or fating the ball. Focusing a range session on your biggest weakness is an effective use of time. Note, this includes working with a different shot choice or club.
Practice Your Swing at Home With Simple Tools
If you can’t go to the driving range before you play, try a warm up at home. You don’t need a ball or a net. Simply find space to stretch and swing. Be conscious of how you’d like to swing on the golf course. Think about pace, hip movement, club path, face angle. If you have space, put a tee in the ground and practice hitting the tee. Any practice at home immediately before heading to the course is worth every minute and it’s far better than nothing. This will also help prevent injury, especially if you introduce a warm up.
Chipping and Putting Warmup Before you tee-off
You’re at the course, you have X minutes before you need to head for the 1st tee. Below are the top three things to do based on the amount of minutes you have.
5 Minutes Practice on the Putting Green
At minimum, spend 5 minutes putting from 3ft. Find a flat area on the putting green. Hit 3ft putts over and over again working round in a circle. The aim here is to gain confidence. Putting from 3ft should feel effortless, without pressure. This motor learning exercise can do this. This can have a positive knock on effect to all of your putting and the rest of your game.
10 Minutes Practice on the Putting Green
The first 5 minutes should be focused on 3ft putts. For the second 5 minutes, concentrate on chipping. Using your favorite club to chip with, hit at least three balls from the same place at the same target. Concentrate on getting the face square at impact. Your aim is to hit clean consistent chips. Repeat for different positions and lengths.
20 minutes Practice on the Putting Green
As well as chipping, repeat what you did for 3ft putts, but from 6ft and 9ft, or something similar. I use one step from the cup for 3ft putts, two steps for 6ft and three steps for 9ft. This doesn’t have to be perfect as long as the distance from the cup is fairly consistent. Work your way around the cup from 8 positions. If you miss a putt, putt it again until you hole it. Aim to putt all 8 balls in the hole – obviously the 9ft putts will take longer. Don’t stress if you don’t finish.
30 minutes Practice on the Putting Green
You have some luxury. As well as the exercises above spend 5 minutes putting from various distances. Work your way out and around the cup in an outward spiral from 3ft to 15ft, or similar. This will mean you are putting from different distances each putt. For the last 5 minutes, practice putts greater than 15ft. Aim to hole each putt, but don’t worry if you don’t. The concept of lag putting introduces a negative approach to putting, why not try to hole out?
We hope you found this short guide useful. Your thoughts are always welcome using the comments further down this page. To get the latest articles delivered direct to your inbox use the Subscribe link below.
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