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Game of the Week: Clock

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Statistical programs consistently show how important putting is from 4-8 feet. We have a game for you that revolves around that exact vital statistic.

This week’s Game of the Week, called Clock, is a great game that will reduce the pressure that you feel when trying to hole one of these on the course. You can play it over and over again in a short amount of time; so get out there this weekend and do something great for your game, practicing pressure situations with a score present.

Game of the Weekend: Clock

  • Gear needed: Putter, 12 tees and 1 ball
  • Time needed: Less than 10 minutes, depending on how good you are!

Rules: Set up a tee at each of these distances from the hole: 4 feet, 6 feet and 8 feet. This will make up the “12 o’clock” position. Then set up tees at the same distances at 3 o’clock, 6 o’clock and 9 o’clock. This will give you a total of 12 tees.

Start from the 4-foot tee at 12 o’clock and proceed around in a circle putting from all of the 4-feet tees, followed by the 6-feet tees and finally the 8-feet tees. Add up the number of putts that you holed out of a possible 12 and enter that into the golfscrimmages.com practice website if you wish to track your score.

Benefits: Here’s what this game helps you with.

  • Pressure-packed short putts where you’ll either make your money or lose it!
  • By alternating positions around the hole, you’ll never get the same break/line twice in a row and that’s vital to your ability to do it the ONE time that we’re allowed on the course.

Practice like you play and play like you practice. Have a great weekend!

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Trent Wearner is the No. 1-rated teacher in Colorado by Golf Digest Magazine, as well as a two-time Colorado PGA Teacher of the Year (2004, 2014). Along the way, he has been recognized as a Top 20 Teacher Under Age 40 by Golf Digest, a Top 50 Kids Teacher in America by U.S. Kids Golf and a Top Teacher in the Southwestern U.S. by GOLF Magazine. Trent is also the author of the book Golf Scrimmages and creator of the website GolfScrimmages.com

5 Comments

5 Comments

  1. Trent Wearner

    Oct 2, 2015 at 4:42 pm

    Hello All – thanks for the replies and hope you’re having a great day! There are many different twists you can do with each game. My hope is that it inspires practice that is far better than dropping down three golf balls and mindlessly following them around the green. This clock game can be seen on the practice putting greens of every tour event. bg: while I agree the 6footers and 8footers are along the same line as the 4footers, the line the ball would take would not be exactly the same unless the green between the 4 and 6ft putt and the green between the 4 and 8ft putt was perfectly flat. While I would agree that seeing the 4ft putt will help with the 6 and 8ft putts behind it is still effective, beneficial and random, though yes, your version would make it more random. Keep up the good work!

  2. ooffa

    Sep 25, 2015 at 11:27 am

    Wow, the bar for what qualifies as an instructional article has really been lowered by this post. Just drop balls in random places between 3 and 8 feet from the cup. Count how many you knock in out of ten. TaaaDaaa new putting game.

    • Drawshank

      Sep 25, 2015 at 4:10 pm

      Just dropping putts at random distances doesn’t give you any way of monitoring your improvement, your random putts could average 6 feet one week and 8 feet the next, obviously you will generally be better from 6 feet.

      What’s the point of an instructional article? I would say it’s to make you better at golf. Providing the instruction works, it doesn’t have to be rocket science, don’t you think?

  3. bg

    Sep 25, 2015 at 11:12 am

    I feel like an advanced twist on this drill would be to set up a 4′ putt at 12 o’clock, 6′ at 1 o’clock, 8′ at 2 o’clock, 4′ at 3 o’clock… all the way around. This way, you truly are never hitting the same putt twice. Whereas in the drill described above, the 4′-er gives a read for the 6′-er on the same line.

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Instruction

Clement: Stop ripping off your swing with this drill!

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Not the dreaded headcover under the armpit drill! As if your body is defective and can’t function by itself! Have you seen how incredible the human machine is with all the incredible feats of agility all kinds of athletes are accomplishing? You think your body is so defective (the good Lord is laughing his head off at you) that it needs a headcover tucked under the armpit so you can swing like T-Rex?

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How a towel can fix your golf swing

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This is a classic drill that has been used for decades. However, the world of marketed training aids has grown so much during that time that this simple practice has been virtually forgotten. Because why teach people how to play golf using everyday items when you can create and sell a product that reinforces the same thing? Nevertheless, I am here to give you helpful advice without running to the nearest Edwin Watts or adding something to your Amazon cart.

For the “scoring clubs,” having a solid connection between the arms and body during the swing, especially through impact, is paramount to creating long-lasting consistency. And keeping that connection throughout the swing helps rotate the shoulders more to generate more power to help you hit it farther. So, how does this drill work, and what will your game benefit from it? Well, let’s get into it.

Setup

You can use this for basic chip shots up to complete swings. I use this with every club in my bag, up to a 9 or 8-iron. It’s natural to create incrementally more separation between the arms and body as you progress up the set. So doing this with a high iron or a wood is not recommended.

While you set up to hit a ball, simply tuck the towel underneath both armpits. The length of the towel will determine how tight it will be across your chest but don’t make it so loose that it gets in the way of your vision. After both sides are tucked, make some focused swings, keeping both arms firmly connected to the body during the backswing and follow through. (Note: It’s normal to lose connection on your lead arm during your finishing pose.) When you’re ready, put a ball in the way of those swings and get to work.

Get a Better Shoulder Turn

Many of us struggle to have proper shoulder rotation in our golf swing, especially during long layoffs. Making a swing that is all arms and no shoulders is a surefire way to have less control with wedges and less distance with full swings. Notice how I can get in a similar-looking position in both 60° wedge photos. However, one is weak and uncontrollable, while the other is strong and connected. One allows me to use my larger muscles to create my swing, and one doesn’t. The follow-through is another critical point where having a good connection, as well as solid shoulder rotation, is a must. This drill is great for those who tend to have a “chicken wing” form in their lead arm, which happens when it becomes separated from the body through impact.

In full swings, getting your shoulders to rotate in your golf swing is a great way to reinforce proper weight distribution. If your swing is all arms, it’s much harder to get your weight to naturally shift to the inside part of your trail foot in the backswing. Sure, you could make the mistake of “sliding” to get weight on your back foot, but that doesn’t fix the issue. You must turn into your trial leg to generate power. Additionally, look at the difference in separation between my hands and my head in the 8-iron examples. The green picture has more separation and has my hands lower. This will help me lessen my angle of attack and make it easier to hit the inside part of the golf ball, rather than the over-the-top move that the other picture produces.

Stay Better Connected in the Backswing

When you don’t keep everything in your upper body working as one, getting to a good spot at the top of your swing is very hard to do. It would take impeccable timing along with great hand-eye coordination to hit quality shots with any sort of regularity if the arms are working separately from the body.

Notice in the red pictures of both my 60-degree wedge and 8-iron how high my hands are and the fact you can clearly see my shoulder through the gap in my arms. That has happened because the right arm, just above my elbow, has become totally disconnected from my body. That separation causes me to lift my hands as well as lose some of the extension in my left arm. This has been corrected in the green pictures by using this drill to reinforce that connection. It will also make you focus on keeping the lead arm close to your body as well. Because the moment either one loses that relationship, the towel falls.

Conclusion

I have been diligent this year in finding a few drills that target some of the issues that plague my golf game; either by simply forgetting fundamental things or by coming to terms with the faults that have bitten me my whole career. I have found that having a few drills to fall back on to reinforce certain feelings helps me find my game a little easier, and the “towel drill” is most definitely one of them.

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Instruction

Clement: Why your practice swing never sucks

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You hear that one all the time; I wish I could put my practice swing on the ball! We explain the huge importance of what to focus on to allow the ball to be perfectly in the way of your practice swing. Enjoy!

 

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