Realistic Goals

[chasegolfguy]

Not sure if this is a good place to post about this but ill give it a shot. I'm 17 and started playing 3 months ago and I'm committed to becoming a good golfer . I have taken some lessons and have been told the way I rotate my body is very good ! Does anyone have any advice on what a practice routine for me should be ? I can play all day if I choose to for the next 50 days about and want to try to make my high school golf team . Thanks !

[David L Yskes]

honestly, i would spend plenty of time on the driving range... hitting buckets upon buckets of balls..    if you have the funds to hit 4 to 5 buckets per day, i'd use the first 4 buckets on your irons and just start with your wedges, and work your way on up to your driver.... and save the last bucket for your 3 wood and driver....

focus more on hitting the ball straight vs hitting it far.....

[Lihu]

  chasegolfguy said:

Not sure if this is a good place to post about this but ill give it a shot. I'm 17 and started playing 3 months ago and I'm committed to becoming a good golfer . I have taken some lessons and have been told the way I rotate my body is very good ! Does anyone have any advice on what a practice routine for me should be ? I can play all day if I choose to for the next 50 days about and want to try to make my high school golf team . Thanks !

Seems like you should be able to make JV pretty easily, then use the resources of the team to really work on your golf.

[PirateJim]

Glad to hear you have committed to taking up the game!  I'm also pleased to hear you have been taking some lessons.  I really think that, assuming you have a half-way decent teacher, lessons are well worth the cost if you want to advance quickly, particularly since they will help prevent developing weird swing quirks that people make up for themselves to "solve" some problem, but which limit their skill advancement in the long run.  (Watch people around you on the golf course and you will likely see many of those quirks.)

I have spent a good bit of time on the range this year and it really will help you to practice, so long as you make each shot with purpose rather than just banging balls as far as you can.  Pick a target and make sure to aim at it, even if it is too far away to actually reach with the club you're working on.  If you miss the line, take a moment to consider the miss; 'I missed that about 15 yards to the right.'  If you don't consciously note misses on the range it is easy to think you are doing better than you really are.  And the magnitude of those misses becomes more and more critical as you get into the shorter clubs.  Fifteen yards to the right may still be in the fairway for your driver.  Fifteen yards to the right is off the green and in a bunker with an 8 iron.

Golf is made up of three games really, the long game, the short game, and putting.  Time on the range is mostly about the full swing long game.   But you can't score without developing skill at those shorter pitch and chip shots and with the putter.  Watch any golf tournament on TV and you'll see that the best golfers in the world still end up with a wedge in their hands quite often, and as often as not the great saves and big come from behind shots are made with those clubs.  Don't skimp on practicing the short stuff too.

Finally, don't forget to have fun.  It's a game after all.

[chasegolfguy]

I was 7 over today on 9 holes so I shot a 43 ! Anyone have an idea on where I should be at in a month or try to be at ?