Goodness, it’s been a while. Spring season is finally going at full strength, and I’ve been organizing my first golf tournament that we are hosting Monday.
It’s frustrating trying to get the most practice out of the day when the NCAA regulates that I can only have the players out for 4 hours a day, 20 hours a week.
My biggest goal is to keep the kids from becoming “range zombies.” In other words, just becoming good at practicing on the range, but not exercising the problem-solving part of their brain which is necessary to make a good score in golf.
So obviously the answer would be to just forget the driving range and play all day — however, the club where our team practices tends to be picky about when we can get on the course. Therefore, sometimes the driving range is just our only option.
How do we make the most out of practice, then? With games on the range. The goal is to engage the players mentally and provide stimulation to their problem-solving areas.
My new favorite involves an unusual training aid: a deck of cards. Here’s how you play:
The numbers on the cards in the deck correspond with the clubs in your bag.
King = driver; queen = 3 wood; jack = 5 wood.
10 = pitching wedge; 4-9 corresponds with your nine-four iron. I removed all the aces, twos and threes, but you can leave them if you have clubs to correspond with them (like a rescue club for the aces).
Shuffle the deck, and spread the cards face down. Then, one at a time, the players each draw a card and hit the club that corresponds with that card. Go through the deck as many times as you like.
I like this drill because it forces the player to focus on the single shot, rather than just hit ball after ball on the range. Because each player goes one at a time, you get to practice having people watch you — which is a realistic tournament scenario — as well as learn to deal with the shot, even if it sucked.
Tags: college golf practice, driving range drills, games for practicing golf, how to practice golf, smart golf practice
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