Drills and Games

Individual Drills

Around the Circle- Place 6-10 tees approximately 5 feet around the hole. Putt until you make all of the putts in a row. If you miss one, start over at the beginning.

Penny Putting- Put alignment rod on ground and a coin about two to three feet away. Make sure it is a straight putt. Goal is have the ball roll over the coin (about 10x). Practice hovering putter over the rod and working on a straight putt. Goal is for kids to see what a straight putt is right away. Good thing to do first thing when getting to course.

Move the penny game- Put a tee in the ground. Measure two putter lengths and put another tee in the ground. Measure two more club lengths and put a third tee into the ground. Goal is to get it in between the second and third tee, increasing in distance ever so slightly every time. Each time you hit a putt you put the penny down. The goal is to get a little further than the penny each time while still staying within the clubs. If you don’t get it past the penny, or you hit it past the last tee, you must start over. A good score is to be able to putt about 8 times. Anything more than that is really good. Most kids were getting three to four. Good game for working on touch

Gate drill- Tiger Woods uses this drill all the time. Three feet from a hole, he pushes two tees in the ground just outside the heel and toe, forming a gate for the putter head. He alternates hitting 12 putts with his right hand only, then six with both hands, until he makes 50 or 100 in a row. If he misses, he starts over.

21 and 9- Find 9 shots around the green (challenge yourself!) Work your way around to all 9 spots. Chip on the green and try to make the putt. Go around and try to make your score 21 or less. If you fail, try it again!

Darts- This is a chipping drill. Pick different places around the green to chip from. If you get your chip within 1 club length you get 3 points, two club lengths 2 points, and 3 club lengths 1 point. Play from 18 different spots and determine your total. Record your total so you can try and beat it the next time. You can turn this into a partner game.

Partner Drills

7-up- You decide who is going to go first. The person who goes first picks a hole to putt to. Whoever is closest to the hole gets a point. If you make the put you get two points. If you three putt you lose a point. The goal is to get to 11. You have to win by two and land right on 11. If you go over 11, you would go back to five.

Up- and Down- Determine a player to go first. They get to pick the hole you chip to. Chip to that hole and go putt until the ball is in the hole. The person with the lowest total wins a point. First one to 10 points wins.

Around the world- Place 6-10 tees around a hole approximately 5 feet away. Determine a starting tee. Choose a person to go first. The person starts working their way around the circle until they miss. Once they miss, the have the option to chance. If they chance and make it, they can keep going. If they chance and miss it, they will have to start over on their next turn. If the player chooses not to chance, they stay at their current spot until their next turn (just like basketball around the world).