by Derek Hooper

Many shots can be shaved from your score when you get the ball consistently close to the hole from within 100 yards of the green. Unfortunately, few golfers spend enough time working on this area of their game. Thus their ball striking may be quite solid, but their scores do not reflect this due to poor work in the scoring zone.

Pitching covers the shots you will play from about 20 to 100 yards. It is a shot that has a fairly high ball flight and rolls very little when it hits the ground. Many players that I see use this shot as a warm up rather than as an integral component of their practice. So how do you effectively practice your pitching? Your practice should be broken into two equal parts:

Technique Practice

During technique practice you will be hitting balls to no set target. Rather the focus is solely on reproducing a sound pitching action that consistently produces a ball first contact.

Place the feet fairly close together with the ball positioned one club head inside the front foot. Weight is distributed so that there is more on the lead foot than the trail foot, so as to encourage a downward swing on the ball and thus increase the opportunity for a ball first contact. Club selection will be either a sand wedge or pitching wedge depending on the height and length of shot required.

The length of the shot determines the length of the swing. This is the best way to consistently control distance with your pitch shots, rather than having the same length swing and changing swing speed. The loft of the club will determine the height of the pitch shot. Allow the club to fall to the ball, with the club hitting the ball first and then the ground, the loft of the club will get the ball in air.

Performance Practice

During performance practice the focus moves to games that simulate what you will encounter on the golf course, and thus helps to sharpen your pitching to where you can alter your shot distance and flight to suit varying targets. A couple of drills to help you achieve this are:

1. Pitch to known distances – Place targets on the range at 30, 50, 70 and 90 yards, and then pitch balls varying the target with each ball. No two balls in a row should go to the same target. Work through your full pre-shot routine for each shot and try to feel the change in swing length in your practice swing before reproducing it with a ball.

2. Call the shot – Use the same set up as the Known Distances Drill, except you have to call the shot long, short, left, right or perfect before looking up. This is a great drill to help you focus on the feel of each shot.

3. Nearest the pin competition – Play against a friend on the range where you take turns at choosing a target and then score a point for who gets closer to the chosen target. First person to 10 points, wins.

Work through this practice routine the next time you are on the range. I am sure you will find the performance practice fun and over time you will see the improvement in your pitching.

Derek Hooper is the Director of Instruction at Lake of Isles Golf Academy. Derek has a college degree in teaching and over 14 years experience conducting lesson programs in Australia, Japan and Taiwan. Before moving to the United States, Derek was the Director of Instruction at the David Duval Golf Academy in Miyazaki, Japan. Derek can be contacted at 888.475.3746 or dhooper@troongolf.com.

Bookmark to:

by Derek Hooper

None of us have enough time to waste practicing poorly. If the goal is to improve your golf game then you need to get the most out of every minute you have available to practice. That means that every practice swing you make and every ball you strike should be hit with purpose and a specific swing thought that is in place to help you play better golf. That means you are employing effective practice habits.

Every time you visit the range to practice, you should have a plan for what you will practice, and thus accomplish from that session. If your goal is to hit a large bucket of balls with your driver, this is not practice. It is exercise. An effective practice session will have you doing drills, practice swings,  pre-shot routine, hitting varying clubs to varying targets with a set objective in mind. An example of such a practice session is outlined below:

1. Decide how much total time you have available for this practice session.

2. The first 40% of your time should be spent on drills and practice swings. There should be at least two practice swings for every ball hit. At this point your focus should be more about the quality of the move you are trying to improve rather than the quality of the ball flight. As the move improves so will the ball flight. Be sure not to get caught up in it being all about the ball flight at this stage as it will be too easy for you to revert back to your old swing for the sake of some short term ball flight improvement. Stick with the long term plans you and your coach have in place.

3. Have a target for each ball you hit.

4. Give every shot and practice swing your fullest attention – quality is more important than quantity.

5. Spend 30% of your time hitting different clubs to different targets. For each shot take practice swings and go through your full pre-shot routine. Don’t hit the same club to the same target more than twice in a row.

6. Spend 10% of your time playing a game. If you are at a range with target greens, select a target and the appropriate club and going through your full pre-shot routine try to hit the ball on the target green. Then change targets and clubs and repeat the exercise. How many targets can you hit in a row?

7. Spend 20% of your practice time with the fairway woods and driver. Have practice swings before every shot, and have a set goal. For example, how many balls out of 10 can I hit between two designated targets at the end of the range?

Remember that the purpose of practice is to help you get better, not simply to exercise. Follow the above guideline and every time you visit the driving range, practice effectively with long-term improvement as your goal and better golf will be your reward.

Derek Hooper is the Director of Instruction at Lake of Isles Golf Academy. Derek has a college degree in teaching and over 14 years experience conducting lesson programs in Australia, Japan and Taiwan. Before moving to the United States, Derek was the Director of Instruction at the David Duval Golf Academy in Miyazaki, Japan. Derek can be contacted at 888.475.3746 or  dhooper@troongolf.com.

Bookmark to:

by Derek Hooper

If you want to get better at this game, there is only one way to accomplish that – practice. I don’t just mean going to a driving range and hitting a large bucket of balls with your driver with no target and no goals for that session. That is exercise not practice. If you want to get better you need to do regular, effective practice.

Effective practice is any practice session where before you begin you clearly define what you will do in that session, how you will do it and you will have a measure to know if you achieved your goal. Only once you start doing this type of practice regularly will you start to see real improvement in your golf game. So how do you devise such a practice session?

Your first step is to assess your current full swing game and decide what aspect of it, if improved, will give you the greatest gains in performance. Taking a golf lesson with your local PGA Professional is the quickest, easiest and most accurate assessment of your swing you can get, and will be time and money well spent. They will break down your swing with you and explain where and why you are getting into trouble, before showing you practice drills to help you improve the areas of weakness. They will also tell you how to assess your ball flight so you will know if you are doing the drill correctly and thus improving.

Armed with these practice drills, you can now design your effective practice session by answering the questions and guidelines below:

1. How much total time to I have for my practice session?

2. Set up an effective practice station on a quiet section of the range, with clubs on the ground for alignment and ball position.

3. There should be at least two practice swings for every ball hit.

4. Golf is a target game, so always practice to a target.

5. Give every shot and practice swing your fullest attention – quality is more important than quantity.

6. Examine your ball flight after every shot and ask yourself if during the swing you achieved the swing change you are trying to make.

7. Based on the last swing and ball flight decide your focus for the next set of practice swing and shot. Be sure to stay focused on the goals and drills for that particular practice session. Do not allow yourself to drift into reactionary practice where all you are doing is making corrections based on the previous shot.

Follow this effective practice outline every time you work on your full swing and coupled with regular feedback from your PGA Professional, your improvement is all but guaranteed.

Derek Hooper is the Director of Instruction at Lake of Isles Golf Academy. Derek has a college degree in teaching and over 14 years experience conducting lesson programs in Australia, Japan and Taiwan. Before moving to the United States, Derek was the Director of Instruction at the David Duval Golf Academy in Miyazaki, Japan. Derek can be contacted at 888.475.3746 or dhooper@troongolf.com.

Bookmark to:

by Derek Hooper

I never met a golfer who doesn’t want to play better. But I met many golfers who don’t know what they need to do to play better. If you want to get anywhere in life, whether it be to drive from your home to New York City or take your lowest score from 94 to 89, you will need a plan. As the new golf season dawns, there is no better time to devise your golf plan to guide you to lower scores this golfing season.

Your first step is to take stock of your golf game. What would you like to achieve with your golf this season? Would you like to consistently break 100, 90, 80 or par? What areas of your game would need to improve for you to achieve this goal? What were the strengths and weaknesses of your game last season? Do you need to be more accurate or hit the ball longer? Is the problem technical or do you not have the strength and flexibility to achieve your ball striking goals?

Once you answer these questions, your next step is to design your plan or roadmap as to how you will achieve these goals. Your plan should include how often you will work on your game, and specifically how much time you will spend on each area from putting through to driving and playing on the course. The time you have to commit to your improvement must be balanced so as not to neglect any area but still allow maximum focus on the areas that need the most attention. You will also need to decide what you will do within the time you have committed. Simply standing on a driving range and pounding balls will not guarantee improvement. Your practice needs to be structured and disciplined with drills and time set aside to check your progress.

All of these things you can do on your own, but the process will be a lot more fun and your progress more efficient if you find someone to help you work through your improvement program. The best person to do this with is your local PGA Professional. Find someone who is willing to take the time to work through the above process with you, where both of you have input into the design of the program. Meeting with your Professional regularly will also help to speed up your improvement, as they will not let you wander far from the plan you have in place. You can take a lesson as often or as little as you like, but getting some professional help will be worth it in the long term.

So don’t let this season end the same as the last with another mediocre season of golf shots with occasional flashes of brilliance. Make the commitment to playing the best golf of your life this season and find out how good you really can play.

Derek Hooper is the Director of Instruction at Lake of Isles Golf Academy. Derek has a college degree in teaching and over 14 years experience conducting lesson programs in Australia, Japan and Taiwan. Before moving to the United States, Derek was the Director of Instruction at the David Duval Golf Academy in Miyazaki, Japan. Derek can be contacted at 888.475.3746 or  dhooper@troongolf.com.

Bookmark to:

by Derek Hooper

Every move we make in the golf swing is about setting ourselves up for one single instant in time – impact. It is at this point when the club comes into contact with the ball and the resultant ball flight is determined. The only things the ball will react to is what is happening with the club at the moment of impact – the angle of the clubface in relation to the target line, the path the club makes into the ball, where the ball is struck on the clubface, the speed of the club and the angle of attack.

All great players have very similar impact conditions. They have more weight on the lead leg, the hips are turned slightly open to the target line and the shaft is leaning slightly towards target. Each of these moves combine to ensure a ball first contact and thus better control over the ball flight.

Too many players strike the ground before the ball, trapping grass and dirt between the clubface and ball that compromises both distance and directional control. The first step in attaining a good impact position is to understand exactly what it is.

Impact Rehearsal Drill:

Take your normal address position with a 7 iron and place the club head against something solid. This could be the edge of a piece of furniture or a door jam. Then try to push the club head into the resistance. You will be able to generate the most force if you rotate your hips towards target, move some weight to the lead leg and the arms are ahead of the club head thus creating some shaft lean.

The objective is not to try and create maximum force but rather to notice how the body positions change when the objective is to apply some force. The position described above, the one your body instinctually moves to, is what we are looking for at the moment of impact.
Tee Drill:

Once you have an understanding of what impact should feel like the next goal is to put that feeling into a swing motion. A drill that works very well for this purpose is the tee drill.

Lay a tee on the ground three inches behind the club head in your normal address position. The objective is to take short swings missing the tee but get the club to hit the ground on the target side of the tee. The only way you can do this is to reproduce the impact position you learned in the rehearsal drill. Once you can do this drill consistently without a ball, add a ball and while taking short swings try to hit the ball then the ground while missing the tee.

This drill encourages a downward swing path, good shaft lean, lower body rotation and weight moving to the lead side, all the characteristics of a good impact position.

Derek Hooper is the Director of Instruction at Lake of Isles Golf Academy. Derek has a college degree in teaching and over 14 years experience conducting lesson programs in Australia, Japan and Taiwan. Before moving to the United States, Derek was the Director of Instruction at the David Duval Golf Academy in Miyazaki, Japan. Derek can be contacted at 888.475.3746 or dhooper@troongolf.com.

Bookmark to: