For today, I’d like to give you a couple of ideas on how to get a bit more out of your practice session and have a bit more fun while practicing your golf game.

First of all, the most common problem I see with golfers on the practice tee or driving range is that they just hit a shot – reload – hit another shot – and on and on with no purpose (at least that I can determine) to what they are doing. Actually this is an outstanding way to develop some really bad habits in your golf swing.

To make your practice session more productive and interesting play a round of golf as you practice.

By that I mean (after proper warm up) approach your first shot as though you’re standing on the first tee.

Pick out a target down the fairway and hit your drive (did you hit the fairway or not – make notes of fairways hit).

Then pick out a target of shorter yardage for your approach, and select your golf club for the distance (did you hit the green or not – make notes of greens in regulation).

To Get the most from these golf swing drills, you must be completely honest.

If you really want to make it interesting take along your score card from your course and play each actual hole in this manner. Then evaluate your stats.

The idea here is from a couple different angles.

First, this will heighten your focus. It will also put a small element of pressure on your golf swing and shot making.

It will force you to vary your distances.

Doing this will also help you emulate a real round of golf where you’ve only one chance to hit the shot that you want to hit. Down the road this will help you in an area that so many golfers struggle with… getting their range golf game to follow them and show up at the first tee.

And probably most importantly, from what I see the vast majority of golfers on the driving range doing; it will slow you down and keep you from rapid firing golf shots down the range.

Remember, it’s very important to be honest and no mulligans!

Make sure before each shot you go through your pre-shot routinebefore executing each shot.

Give these golf swing drills a try and have some fun.

It’s beyond the truth.

I see it all the time with golfers. Whether they are trying to pick up the game or they have been playing for some time, the golf club everyone wants hit is their driver.

Oh it feels so good to put that ball in flight way out there doesn’t it.

When I first began playing I would go out to the local course and always find a game in the afternoon and more often than not, I would get paired up with a couple older gentlemen usually retired (in the middle of the afternoon during the week it was primarily retired folks playing).

For the longest time I couldn’t figure out how these old duffers could keep up with a young buck such as I. My drives, the distance on my irons was impressive (notice I said distance). But the older gentlemen would usually end up beating me or stay with me right to the end. How could it be I used to ponder?

Finally, it occurred to me.

One word. Accuracy.

The easiest shot in golf is the shortest shot.

The longer you intend for your shot to travel the more accurate you have to be with the ball off of the club face.

When you are practicing your golf game work on your accuracy first. Start with the shorter shafted shorter distance clubs and work to hit your target.

Master this activity. Hit your target.

Each club’s shaft gets longer as you make your way to your driver. The pure physics of this make your longer clubs more difficult to control and therefore the last to achieve consistent accuracy.

Don’t get frustrated by a wayward driver. If you’re honest with yourself and have a look at your shorter clubs, they probably aren’t that accurate either. They just aren’t as glaring at the shorter distances.

This may come as a surprise to you but if you are having trouble hitting the greens 100 yards out, what makes you think you’re going to be able to stripe your drive down the middle of the fairway some 280 yards out?

If NASA couldn’t hit the moon with a rocket do think they would then assume they would have better luck at Pluto?

Therefore, properly written it should be Golf: Accuracy-Distance.

And it then follows that this should be your mindset when it comes to your golf practice sessions. Start short, start small. Refine your swing with each club as you gradually work your way to the Holy Grail of golf swing distance… your driver. Be accurate first and distance will come.

If the accuracy of your golf shots is consistent, your golf scores will drop, and your wins will increase. Your golf swing distance will come in time.

Now that we have ourselves properly aligned we need now to put the golf club in our hands and discuss the golf grip and what role it plays when it comes to getting rid of your golf slice that you have.

The traditional type of golf grip will have the thumb of your left had down the shaft of the club.

The area between your left index finger and your left thumb that forms a ‘V’ shape should have the point of the ‘V’ pointed back up toward your right shoulder.

Your right hand should wrap over your left with your left thumb coming to rest in the palm of your right hand. The ‘V’ created with your right thumb and index finger should also be pointing toward your right shoulder.

Essentially, with this grip, if someone is standing directly across from you they would be able to see the first two knuckles of your left hand (your index finger and your middle finger knuckle).

In the picture to the right, the student’s right hand is rolled under slightly out of the way to demonstrate the two knuckles of the left hand golf grip.

As far as golf grip pressure goes, probably the best description of proper golf grip pressure that I have ever heard (from one of the best – Sam Snead) was to hold the golf club as though you were holding a small bird. Firm enough that bird cannot fly away, yet not so firm as to harm the bird. A good analogy.

I don’t know if that is helpful for you, but I have always remembered it and thought it was a good way to describe your golf grip pressure.

When it comes to the grip and curing your golf slice the common mistake with the grip is to have what is termed as a weak grip.

By that, I am not referring to the pressure of your grip, rather the positioning of your hands.

A weaker grip will have your left hand rotated in a manner that has the ‘V’ we discussed pointing more toward your left shoulder instead of your right.

The illustration to the left is a bit of an over exaggeration just to show you the direction of the rotation of the hands and hence where the ‘V’s’ are pointing more toward the right shoulder.

When your grip is set up this way a couple of things occur during the execution of your golf swing.

First the club face will have a tendency to open at contact and secondly as you contact the ball you will not be able to get as much rotation of your hands which will have the affect of not getting the club face to begin to close as you pass through the golf shot. This causes not only to impart a slice spin upon the ball but if your swing path hasn’t compensated for this you’ll get the direction going right with the arc flight of the ball taking it even further to the right.

Let’s talk about putting your golf stance, and your golf grip, together with some basic swing mechanics and get that golf slice under control with your golf swing mechanics next.

We all seem to be blessed with this natural ability when we first begin learning about the golf swing.

For some it may be a runaway hook, but for most (and for the purpose of this article) we’ll discuss correcting a golf slice.

Slicing the golf shot for many is a ritual in frustration for many golfers simply because they don’t know what in their golf swing and mechanics causes it.

They only know that it continues to happen.

If you are frustrated by the constant golf slice, then you also know that if you are ever going to develop any consistency in lowering your golf score, you know the slice must be cured.

So, let’s take a look at few tips and techniques to get you started on the road to recovery.

First and foremost is you alignment to your target. Your golf stance. The width of your stance should be about that of your shoulders.

The alignment of your shoulders and hips should be one of pointing straight down your target line.

Your feet should be in line with your shoulders and hips with your toes just slightly pointed outward (duck footed) allowing for an easier full hip and upper body rotation.

This slight outwardly point of your feet will allow for an easier rotation of your torso. In other words, once you are setup in your golf stance, your nose should be pointing a perpendicular line to that of your target.

From a position of proper alignment is where all of your practicing should begin. Don’t give in to any old habits over what you know is a proper alignment.

Getting comfortable with you golf stance will take some time and some pretty ugly looking golf shots. But, this is what the range is for. I can’t over emphasis this enough… stick with proper alignment.

Getting used to properly aligning yourself to the target not only will take some time getting used to physically, but mentally as well.

Even as your body gets used to this new golf stance and set up, your visual perception of your target will change, and so will you mental perception as you execute your golf swing. Both of these perceptions will seem uncomfortable and out of sync for a while, but again give it time.

Your golf stance and setup are the foundation from which you give your swing to work from, let’s make a solid one.

Up next on correcting the golf slice, let’s discuss your golf grip and what causes what.

Along with some adjustments in your set up, your stance, and your golf grip, the final element in curing your golf slice is understanding and probably recreating your golf swing itself a bit.

Once you’ve completed your setup over the golf ball the golf swing begins with the take away.

Now that you have yourself properly aligned your take away should follow the line you have established with your stance, hips and shoulders.

In other words your takeaway should track right down your target line.

Your takeaway should start smoothly with your hands, arms, and shoulders working together to get the golf club properly started back on the correct line all in one smooth motion.

Note the full extension on the takeaway to the right (no lifting with the hands or premature wrist cock) with the golf club still on a line straight back and down the target line.

With the proper swing mechanics your golf swing will arrive at the top of your swing arc in a smooth natural fashion with very little hand activity.

Oddly enough, from the top of your golf swing, the downward march toward the golf ball should begin with your foot action and weight shift.

With proper foot action and weight shift your hips and torso will begin to naturally rotate and as a result the last action taking place is your hands and club moving toward the impact zone.

Now note the picture of the that golfer to your left.

The picture of Tiger to the left is an excellent example of what I explain in the next paragraph.

Look at the full extension of the his arms and club down the target line while his head remains down and behind the spot of where the ball was.

This type of excellent extension is set up by a full extension on the takeaway.

With hand action staying out of the shot until they are actually called upon naturally by good golf swing mechanics, your head will stay behind shot (which is a good thing) and allow your arms, hands, and golf club to not only stay online and on path; but also allow for them to fully extend through the impact zone and track further down the target line without coming across the golf ball from the top of your swing and producing an ugly, frustrating, golf slice shot.

The biggest problem that I see time and time again with people who struggle with executing any type of pitch shot is that they decelerate their clubhead just before impact.

One concept that will help you begin to execute crisp pitch shots is to think of a shorter backswing with a longer follow through.

Now, I don’t mean to take an abbreviated short backswing and then a rapid jab at the ball with a semi manufactured follow through, but we do want the concept of a consistent lengthy follow through.

Many times the cause of deceleration just before impact is because the golfer has taken much too big of a backswing… and at the last moment the brain tries to adjust to the perceived too much distance by decelerating the club……. and yuk… or is that yak.

As you practice your pitch shots work to keep your backswing as short as necessary to get the job done with a smooth tempo. With a longer golf pitch shot make sure that your left hand leads the club through the shot and you don’t ‘flip’ the club at the golf ball.

As we mentioned in a previous lesson work your pitches to a static target using different clubs so you’ll begin to develop that all important ‘feel’ for your clubs and what they are (or aren’t) capable of. As you do this you’ll begin to develop a nice rhythm to your pitch swing and your confidence in this shot won’t be far behind.

The key to developing a deadly golf pitch shot lies in how much practice you allot for this part of your game. Remember, work to shorten you backswing and extend that follow through. Deceleration is the kiss of death for a pitch shot.

Your success is directly related to your time spent working on this shot.

As you know by now the golf swing certainly is not about applying brute force.

With that in mind let’s look a simple yet very effective golf practice drills that will help you promote rhythm and balance in your golf swing. This is one of the most popular drills because it is so easy and effective. And it’s one you can use to warm up or even stay loose.

Golf Practice Drills – Feet Together Drill

Keeping your feet together (or very close to it) practice hitting a ball that is teed up. Swing very slowly at first thinking of a pendulum on a clock.

Focused on rhythm and timing and solid contact (distance is of no concern here). Just focus on a smooth back and forth – to and fro motion and making good contact. Once you are able to consistently make good contact with a consistent rhythm and motion, move the ball off the tee and onto the grass and continue to work the drill.

As you progress with golf practice drills and become more comfortable with your rhythm, balance, and timing you may be surprised at just how far the ball will travel with such an apparent lack of effort… good!

This is what I want. You’ll begin to see that it’s all about rhythm, timing and balance.

The net benefit of this golf practice drill is to improve your timing along with your balance and rhythm. This drill will also reduce the amount of swaying within your golf swing (a very common fault among beginners and high handicappers). This is accomplished via this drill by creating a narrow balance point with your feet so close together.

This is a great drill to always remember and to keep in your tool kit. During those times when your swing has seemed to have left you (it happens to everyone) you can break this drill out and actually can regain your apparent lost rhythm and timing. Even during your round of golf.

And believe me, once you begin to get your rhythm and timing back, a little thing call confidence won’t be far behind.

The feet together golf practice drills – a great drill to either learn or get back rhythm, timing, and balance. A drill you can break out as an on the fly fix at any time. A drill that can actually correct and even prevent many swing faults.

So, keep this drill handy and use it often.

In fact, the improper golf weight shift is the cause of a myriad of shot problems not the least of which is a lack of distance.

Golf Weight Shift: Right Foot / Left Foot Drill

Select one of your mid irons and assume an address position with your feet about shoulder width – no further apart than that. Begin by slowly executing your swing. After several practice swings this is what I would like you to do.

As you take your backswing, I want you to lift your left foot slightly off the ground. Then, as you initiate your downswing, place your left foot back on the ground and as your swing transitions through the shot, and you begin to follow through make sure your weight transitions to the left foot by now lifting your right foot slightly off the ground.

If you initially struggle with this drill it will indicate to you that you aren’t executing your golf weight shift properly.

Note: for this drill you are not actually hitting golf balls. Rather I want to get you to comfortably and rhythmically work your golf weight shift from the right foot to the left foot…. right foot/left foot – right foot/left foot and so on until it becomes a natural movement incorporated into your golf swing.

As your foot work and weight shifts improves you’ll begin to gain much greater consistency in your golf shots and you’ll also notice much more effortless distance in your golf shots. In essence you are learning, and building tempo. Tempo is executing your backswing and downswing in the same rhythmic motion.

This drill is also an extension of your tempo building from the previous drill.

As you begin to get the hang of the golf weight shift you will be well on your way to playing better golf because now (along with what I’ve covered for you so far) you are beginning to understand and feel how all of this is coming together to provide you with a great foundation from which to work and to build your swing upon.

Continue the good work and continue to play better.

Remember it’s practice that makes permanent.

To become a consistently good or even improved player (key word consistent), you have to posses a good short game. It doesn’t matter who your are, there are going to be times (even days) when you aren’t hitting the greens… hello short game!

Believe me… it is within one’s short game, where by improving it, you can quickly and easily shave numerous strokes off your golf game.

For this time around I want to work with you on developing some touch with your various clubs. In the past I’ve mentioned how important it is for your golf short game to get the ball on the green and get it rolling toward the hole as soon as possible. The purpose of this next drill is to get you an understanding of the flight and roll characteristics of each of your clubs.

From just off the green and varying distances, pick out a landing spot on the green. You could even stick a tee into the practice green to mark your spot.

Next, with varying clubs, work to chip or pitch your golf ball to hit your landing spot. The idea here is to not only begin to learn the various ball flights of each club, but to also understand the roll characteristics of the ball after it hits the green. Again, we aren’t trying to necessarily get the ball to the pin…

we want to hit the landing spot and learn what the ball does (or doesn’t do from there).

In doing this golf short game drill you’ll soon begin to get a feel for what each club will do. This will develop your ‘touch’ around the green and it will get those of you who have become locked in to using the same club around the green no matter what the circumstance off of that bad habit as well.

You will also develop a very good sense of what your favorite club to use is under what type of circumstance the shot demands… and under pressure you’ll confidently know that this club is indeed the club for the job at hand.

A side note hear is that once you have practiced this golf short game drill for a while and your understanding and comfort level is good, begin to challenge yourself further by deteriorating your lies a bit.

Remember, on the course you won’t always get a nice cushy lie to work with so once you begin to groove your short chips and pitches, then you’ll want to add some degree of difficulty with less than perfect lies to your practice routine.

O.K. so pick out a target of your scenario distance and get that golf club.

Do your pre shot routine and go after the target.

Then go back to the driver and pick out a different target line that gives you a different visual perspective.

Do this each time as part of your golf practice drill routine aiming for targets that are to the left of you natural line and to the right and so on.

The point here is to change targets and golf clubs frequently; get yourself comfortable and confident with going from a long shafted golf club to a shorter one and vise versa. As I just mentioned, changing your visual perspective of the target is important as well.

Tee boxes on golf courses aren’t so magnanimous that they align you perfectly with the fairway so you must get used to these visual changes that courses throw at you. You always here the expression of how a golf hole fits or doesn’t seem to fit a players eye. Golf course architects are like that.

I’ve mentioned your pre shot routine as a part of this golf practice drill a couple of times.

If you’re not sure you have one work on finding one that feels comfortable to you and use it before every shot.

This doesn’t (and shouldn’t) be some long and drawn out routine that adds another hour to your (and everybody else’s) round of golf. Keep it simple and easy to replicate and get into the habit of doing it.

Hopefully you’ve gotten the gist of this part of your golf practice drill routine.

You’ll note that I said ‘part’ of your practice routine. Certainly if you are just starting to learn the golf swing you will spend more time with just one club in your hand.

But as you advance in your swing and your game there may come a time when you begin to lament that you can’t seem to get your golf game from the range to the golf course. If this is the case then this golf practice drill will certainly help you get over that hump.