Three drills to sharpen your game.

Practice takes persistence, so fun plays a critical role in improvement. If you are engaged in an activity you find fun, you are likely to do it for longer. Practise for longer and you’re bound to get better. These are three drills that any golfer can do at any level… and have fun doing them.

Post punch
On the range, set up two tour sticks a few feet in front of you and balance a pool noodle across the top. Now try to hit a punch shot under the pool noodle with a range of different clubs. This will give you the understanding – and more importantly, the confidence – to know which clubs you can hit and how whenever you need to keep a shot low.

Double chip
Place two tour sticks in the ground and then balance two hula-hoops on top of each other. Sharpen your chipping by using different clubs to chip through the bottom hoop and then the top one. Challenge yourself to hit five in a row through one and then five through the other. For an extra challenge, mark out a spot on the green where you want the ball to land and experiment with different clubs to hit that spot. Your short game will improve immediately.

Uphill/downhill
You don’t even need a hole for this putting drill. Put two tees eight feet apart on a slope and dial-in your speed control by putting three balls at a time, first uphill and then back downhill. Once you are consistently stopping all three balls close to the tee, extend the range to 15 feet and then 20 feet. This is a great drill to make
three-putts a thing of the past. 

Jason Laws is an Australian Golf Digest instructor and NSW PGA Teaching Professional of the Year recipient