Improving my game

I'm 13 years old and right now my handicap is 36. I wanted to improve over the summer but I didn't have time to with holidays and everything :( I want to get my handicap down to around 9 or 10, or less, by the start of next summer. With school it's gonna be tough to get out and practice during the weekdays but on weekends I'm free. How much should I practice so that I'll get to that skill level?

When I think about it now, I will actually be able to go the driving range and practice after school on weekdays :P

I've been playing for a little over a year and I'm a 9 handicap. The biggest key is to practice your short game. I have the ball striking ability of a 20 handicap (spray the faces of my clubs with offcenter hits) but I have the short game of a scratch player. If you work on your short game twice as much as you go to the range you will drop strokes very quickly. You'll start to chip in, and will be getting up and down from tricky spots.

+1

You don't have to make it to the course or the range everyday to improve your golf game. If you have a backyard and a pitching wedge, you can drastically improve your game without ever leaving the house. Grab a 5 gallon bucket or a hula hoop or something like that, a few balls, and your wedge and just go hit. Start close and try to put 3 out of 5 balls inside the hula hoop circle. Once you can do that consistently, step back about 20 feet and repeat the process.

Like GingerGolfer said, you will find that an above-average short game will get you out of a lot of tough spots.