Our 2014 Indiana PGA Teacher of the Year, Brad Fellers of The Fort GC, shares his 6 Hour Practice Plan with us! Find a specific drill he teaches (The Ruler Drill) in the first issue of our new magazine iGolf Indiana.
Practice Cycle:
The practice cycle includes 6 hours of time in
the practice areas. It encompasses all
aspects of the game and the practice routines, drills, etc that will be used on
the course.
The 6 hours are
broken into the following time allocations:
Putting – 1 Hour Short Game – 2 Hours
Routine – 1 Hour Full Swing – 2 Hours
You should
complete 1 full practice cycle for every 3 times you play golf on the
course. It is crucial to your success to
balance time on the course with your time in the practice areas.
Putting: (One hour of time each
cycle). Putting is broken into 4
parts. Each part is equally
important. Take enough time to complete
each drill. To do all the drills it will
take more than 1 hour so rotate through the drills when you work on putting.
Ladder Drill: Step 1 – Make 20 in a row from 3
feet. If you miss – start over.
Step
2 – Make 9/10 from 6 feet. If you miss
more than 1 – start over.
Step
3 – Make 5/10 from 10 feet. If you miss
more than 5 –start over.
·
If the drill becomes easy, when you start over
in any step – go back to step #1.
Purpose is to create pressure and build confidence.
Ruler Drill: Using the yellow ruler (3 foot metal
lowes ruler) – roll 10 balls off the ruler without them falling off. Do this for straight putts, left to right
putts and right to left putts. If you
don’t get to 10 in a row, start over. Purpose
is to work on putter face control.
Connect Tees: Place tees every 2 steps across the green
from 6 feet to 36 feet. Roll 1 putt to a
tee then the next and so on. Focus on
keeping the same timing (1 second to the hit) for every distance. Work from closest to farthest, then farthest
to closest. Should be able to hit to
each tee without missing to complete the drill.
Routine Drill: Putt with 1 ball – 18 holes on the
practice green. Go through the entire
routine each time starting with marking the ball. Should complete in 36 putts or less with no
3-putts to finish the drill.
Short Game: (Two
hours of time each Cycle).
½
Hour of Bunker Play (all wedges, shots from greenside to full swing)
½
Hour of Chipping (any shot up to 30 yards away – fairway, rough, bad lies,
etc.)
½
Hour of Pitching (any shot from 30 yards to a full swing – fairway, rough, bad
lies, etc.)
½
Hour of Full Swing wedge shots (all wedges – fairway, rough, bad lies, etc.)
Full Swing: (Two
Hours of Time each Cycle)
½
Hour using sticks on the ground working on swing mechanics.
½
Hour hitting Irons (all irons – from turf, tees, fairway, rough and bunkers)
½
Hour hitting hybrids / fairway clubs (from turf, tees, fairway, rough and
bunkers)
½
Hour hitting Driver
Routine: (One
Hour of time each Cycle)
Routine practice is the key to
take what we do in the practice areas to the course. Starting with the driver, take one full swing
with every club through the wedge. Go
through the full routine each time starting with taking the club out of the
bag, assessing the lie, practice swing, etc.
After the wedge, do the same for each short game shot (partial swings
and pitches). After the shortest pitch
shot, start over with the driver.
Complete this activity for the hour.
If you go through the bag more than three times, you are going too fast.