Total Game Improvement Week: Recap

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It was a long road, but we made it. Total Golf Game Improvement Week is at an end.

On each of the previous five days, I posted a series of tips, drills, and information designed to address every aspect of your (and my own) golf game.

It was an awful lot of material so I wanted to create a summary post to kind of capture everything that was included. Use the links below if you missed any of the days and want to catch up, or if you want to use this an index of the week, for future reference.

Total Golf Game Improvement Week: Day 1

• Putting: spice up putting practice with the “Around the Green” game.
• Short Game: try the “second ball” drill to encourage more crisp chipping.
• Recovery: hitting from thick rough.
• Course Management: stop under-clubbing.
• Driving: setting your hands behind the ball at address to encourage a slightly ascending blow.
• Sand Play: the “point of entry” sand bunker drill.
• Mental Game: creating a pre-shot routine.
• Fitness: do the “side plank” exercise to increase core strength.
• Iron Play: stop hanging on your right side for too long. Get over to the left sooner for better ball striking.

Total Golf Game Improvement Week: Day 2

• Putting: what is the optimal speed for putts?
• Short Game: splashing the ball from greenside rough.
• Recovery: hitting from hardpan lies.
• Course Management: using the teeing area to your advantage.
• Driving: right knee stability to increase the “X-Factor” and gain distance and consistency.
• Sand Play: dealing with buried lies in sand bunkers.
• Mental Game: end your pre-round warm-up on a good note.
• Fitness: the importance of nutrition in golf and in life.
• Iron Play: cure your shanks.

Total Golf Game Improvement Week: Day 3

• Putting: gain putting consistency and confidence through repetition: The 100-putt drill.
• Short Game: for chipping consistency, try the “swinging over a shaft” drill.
• Recovery: ball landed in shallow water? Think about playing it!
• Course Management: using your natural shot type for a hole, even if it was designed with another type in mind.
• Driving: increase your lag and increase your distance.
• Sand Play: hitting from fairway bunkers.
• Mental Game: visualize each shot.
• Fitness: improve your cardio workouts with High Intensity Interval Training – HIIT.
• Iron Play: put a ball under the outside edge of your right foot during practice to help you stop swaying too much during the backswing.

Total Golf Game Improvement Week: Day 4

• Putting: groove the pure in line square (pils) putting stroke with the help of a training aid.
• Short Game: do the “towel drill” to feel synchronization in your upper and lower body during finesse wedge shots.
• Recovery: hitting the ball when your backswing is restricted.
• Course Management: don’t be tempted by sucker pins.
• Driving / Iron Play: kill your slice – once and for all.
• Sand Play: the basic sand shot.
• Mental Game: around the practice green, use a single ball.
• Fitness: target golf-specific strength and flexibility by swinging a weighted club.

Total Golf Game Improvement Week: Day 5

• Putting: you don’t read enough break on putts – even if you think you do.
• Short Game: use two old club shafts to help fix your swing plane on wedge shots, for more consistency.
• Recovery: use a punch shot to keep the ball under tree limbs.
• Course Management: don’t be fooled by “false fronts” on greens.
• Driving: a simple but effective swing thought to use when driving: “clip the tee”.
• Sand Play: if the conditions are right, consider chipping the ball from greenside bunkers.
• Mental Game: the art of gamesmanship.
• Fitness: for better on-course performance, and better health in general, don’t let yourself get dehydrated.
• Iron Play: keep you weight from hanging on the right side too long with a simple thought: try to get the feeling of your right knee passing the ball at the same time as your hands.

I hope you found Total Game Improvement Week useful. For me, it was like cramming for a test, so I got a lot out of it. I hope you’re able to get over whatever golf plateau you’re stuck at right now. Keep plugging away and it will come with time and hard work.