Why On-Course Golf Practice Lowers Your Scores Faster Than the Driving Range

Why On-Course Golf Practice Lowers Your Scores Faster Than the Driving Range

In this video, I’m going to show you how to practice effectively so you can get good practicing on the course. All right, I’m only going to play six holes, but I’ve played 18 approach shots. And approach shots on the money. If you know you can get on the green from inside 150 and you get better inside 100, your scores will fall very, very quickly. There’s nothing better than practicing on the course if you get the chance. I’ve come out this evening and play five or six holes, but I’m not playing to score. Not playing to score. I’m playing to practice. So, this usually means I’m going to hit one off the tea. I’ll bring it back to the fairway if I miss it. Then I hit multiple balls in from the scoring zone. So multiple balls in from 100 to 150. Should be able to get on the green from there. Not too worried about putting. Miss the green, you hit three balls from wherever that is. The idea is practice your close stuff. Practice everything that’s going to matter when you’re on the course. Of course, you want to get it on the fairway, but doesn’t always happen. I’m heading off down there. So, you see it’s a bit brighter to the sun, a bit wet and misty down there. I shall hit one off the tea and we see where that ends up. So, I’m going to knock a driver down. Hopefully, we get through here. Hopefully, we get to see this. Don’t be mad if we don’t. cuz of a fairway finder. 270 from the green on this par five. Never going to reach it. I’m going to hit a five iron down to hopefully be about 100 yards out for the next shot. See if we can get this. That should be closer. pushed that a bit further right than I wanted over there, but I’ll take that. So, as we approach the ball or where we think the ball is, I started getting a look at the lie of the land green. Look at this green. We can see the pins back right. We got the wind is a bit right to left on this hole. We were trying to make this make it more simple. Break it out. So, I’ve hit a drive. I’ve hit a five iron and we’re just approaching the ball now. Let’s see what we got left. 77 to the middle, 92 to the back. Battling with the wind a bit here. What I’m going to do is hit a gap wedge in. Land it roughly in the middle. this if green goes away. So, I’m going to try and drop it middle and let it run out. And I’ll be playing three balls from here. No one behind me. It’s good practice. This is the practice round. Want to be used more than once. The old goldilock drill right. Even when you’re practicing, don’t forget to repair your pitch marks. Even if you haven’t got a pitch mark repair, it’s not hard. Let me show you how I do it. Right, there’s my pitch mark. I’ve just got a tea. You don’t lift. You put the tea in or the pitch mark repair in. Push it to the middle. Go around. Push it all in like that. Then we tap it down. You’ve got a putter in your foot. There you are. Good as new. Ended up. It’s about 4 ft off the green with about 10 to 12 ft to go after that. So, I want to get up and down from here. So, I’m going to practice my little chip shot landing it just on the green and let it roll out. to the pin. And I’m going to do that with a little nine iron. There we go. Simple par five. break a hole down into manageable pieces. No point trying to go for the green and two on that one. Not from not now that we’re in damper conditions. So there we are. Nice par. Middle of par three now at 110 to the middle of the green which is roughly where that pin is. I’m going to hit a n um I’m going to hit a pitching wedge. I know from the previous hole same direction I got the wind behind. I’m going to play about a 100 yard pitching wedge and see if we can stop it. One thing to do when you’re on your own. It’s probably less embarrassing if you’re not used to it. Is talk yourself through your shot out loud. So, these shots I just hit this par three. I knew it was 110. I told myself, “Hit yourself 100 yards and let it roll out.” And the result’s not too bad. We have one there. It’s probably about 8 foot short the pin and one there but 8 foot left. The bad shot is just up there. I wasn’t concentrating. Still on the green. Still two parts for a par. By talking yourself through a shot, you’re programming your subconscious to the shot you want to hit. you’re much, my experience, you’re much more likely to hit that shot. Now, this would be within your capabilities. I’m not going to say I’m going to drive it 300 yards with a nice draw, cuz I might do that once or twice a year. But I’ll pick the shot I want to play. I’ll describe it to myself. I’ll describe how I want to see it take off. I describe how I want to see it land. I’ll describe what I think the wind’s going to do to it. And then I allow myself to hit it. Very simple. It’s like having a good caddy talking to yourself. There’s no one better as a caddy than yourself. Apart from when you get a bit overzealous and picking shots that you really can’t do. So, let’s see how we go on this next one. So, long par four down there. Not going to risk the driver. Probably going to hit a fivewood. Going to hit a fivewood into the middle and see what I’m left with. Perfect. Right, here we are. That was a nice down the middle shot off the tea and I’ve got about 120 to the front from here. From the previous holes, I were 180° around. I know that the wind was now into face. 120 is a pitching wedge, but I think I’m probably going to take a nine iron. So, I’m assuming up there the wind is in my face. And if you can see the clouds going hard right to left at the moment. So let’s try a let’s try one with a nine iron. See how it goes. Part of what we’re doing here is learning shot selection. Okay. Nine iron. Want to get it past the pin. You want to be short the green. Nice. Definitely a n iron. That came up short. Try it again. A bit more. Don’t be afraid to trust the club. Really trying to sling this one behind. Now you see that’s a whole club’s different but that came down at the 120 right on the pin. Great practice what you should be doing. Get the chance. Always prepare your divots. As I said at the start of this video, the point of this round is practice. Trying to make sure that when I get in range of the green, I can put it on or close with reasonable certainty. And if I can’t, I’m making sure I’m not ending up in trouble. Now, of those three shots, it was only 120 yards and they were fairly well struck nine irons, but the wind took at least the club off it. I normally look at 135, 140, and they’ve come down the 120. Let me flip the camera around. So, as we approach here, clearly I’ve got two pretty close here. This one I’d hope probably even pop that one close to the edge. The green, the grass, not bad, but up and down from there. This one’s definitely a birdie chance. And the one that didn’t go quite so well, flared it out to the right a bit. It’s here, but there’s still a good chance of a chip in a pot. Bogey at worst. We don’t want double bogeies. We’re really trying to keep big scores off the card. So, let’s have a go at this worst shot here. See how close I can ship it. Right, we’re going to see if we can just flip this over the little tuft that’s in front of. Land it close to the edge of the green. Let it run down. It’s quite a steep green this one. Good to walk up and visualize it too. A little little pitching wedge tow down on the landing point. That’s not too bad. Got a chance of knocking that in for par. Worst case bogey. I’ll take that. Okay, this hole is interesting. Played off the yellows today. It’s only about 314 to the green and probably a little bit downwind. So technically some of you out there thinking, “Oh, that’s in range.” You have problems on this hole. That hole slopes left to right. There’s bunkers guarding the green. If you pull it left, you got trees and they’ll get if you hit them or you come up short of them, they’re in your way if you approach shot. If you leak it out to the right, you could end up under the trees on the right hand side. So my approach is, well, let’s come back to a decent distance like between 100 120 from the green. So I just need to get it down there 200. So I’m going to I’m going to stick a four iron on a T and four out or a fivewood. I think I’ll go four iron today. Let’s see where it ends up. So good shot. should be going down the left side. Let it roll back to the middle, right side of the fairway at the worst at the end. Let’s see what we could do. A nice smooth Okay, that drifted right. But because I was aiming for middle, left, middle, I’ll be in the light rough on the right, which is perfectly fine from this hole. Let’s go find it. Right, the balls come up, as I said, off the side up the hole a little bit further than I thought. Now, we got 30 to the middle, but a strong wind behind now. So, I’m going to The pins’s at the front at 120. So, I’m going to play a pitching wedge in and see if we can stop it on the green somewhere. So, sometimes you have to be brutally honest with yourself. That was absolutely rubbish. I misjudged the wind. First hitting the pitching wedge too soft, not committing to it, then thinking, “Oh, I should have hit the nine iron.” It’s too late. I’ve hit the pitching wedge. So, I’ll have to take that wherever that ends up. And it’s not looking too pretty. Well, at least I can say I’m consistent if nothing else to in the bunker. So, there’s a little thing. Let’s Let’s bathe these out and put them Let’s take the right hand one. We’ll put them both there and see if we can get it on the green and get up and down. That would be brilliant. Let’s not up brilliant, but let’s not expect too much. Right. This is a should be a reasonably easy par five. A lot of space up there may not look like it. The right bunker is no issue for me. I should be carrying that. The wind is right to left. So, I’ve got to go down the right side expecting the wind’s going to push the ball back to left. From this tea, I should be clearing the uh left bunker, which is telling me 225 to clear it. Let’s see what happens. Well, I put it out the right, but the wind had no effect on it. Still okay, though. Let’s go find it. There we are. I found it. Still got 240 to the grave. Was a bit of a flare out right into the wind. It didn’t go so far. Technically, I could probably get my 3-wood pretty close, but I’m going to play the percentages on this par five and see if I can get it up there to about 80 out. Look, about 180 from here. I’m going to hit a six iron. So, I hit the six iron there. It’s an easy shot for me. No heroics. It’s going to leave me a nice distance in. Not going to lose this ball. So, this is telling me 82 to the middle about 90 to that pin. Little bit of wind in. So, knock down pitching wedge. Let’s see how we do. Just going to dribble it down a bit. Close. I’ll take that. Couple more practice where you get consistent with these shots. better. Find your divots. Put them back. Well, there we are. That’s quick six holes done. Quick bit of practice. I’m pleased with what I’ve done. My range practice has paid off. I’ve tested it on the course. particularly from inside 100 120 yards. These last three shots I played in were 90 yards there or thereabouts. So, I’m not tall pro level, now we’re near, but I’m very happy where these three have landed. Let’s go and have a closer look. If you’ve enjoyed this and you’d like to see more stuff, go and subscribe. Leave me comments down below. I’d really like to know what you’d like me to show you do on the course. Well, these are not too bad. Missed the green a little bit on one, but they’ve rolled out. Let’s have a look. Let’s turn it around. Here we go. One just off there. Four paces. Four paces. Five paces. All all within range of hauling. Possible birdies, but guaranteed paths from that distance. I’ll see you in the next one.

Most golfers head to the range for practice, but the real secret to lower golf scores is on-course practice.

In this video I’ll show you how I turn 6 holes into 18+ approach shots, focusing on the scoring zone inside 150 yards. By hitting multiple balls, working on wedges, chips, and course management, you’ll see why on-course practice beats the range every time.

⛳ Watch the full practice round:

0:00 Intro – why on-course practice
1:25 Driver (Par 5 tee shot)
2:09 5 Iron layup
2:49 Scouting the surroundings
3:26 Gap Wedge into green
4:34 Good Etiquette – Repair Pitch Marks
5:16 Chip with 9 Iron
6:12 Par 3 – Commit to the shot
7:14 Be Your Own Caddy
8:11 5 Wood tee shot (Par 4)
8:51 9 Iron approach (into wind)
10:42 Good Etiquette – Repair Divots
11:02 Remember what we are practising
12:36 Chip from rough – visualising the shot
13:23 Short Par 4 – 4 Iron layup
15:10 Approach shot misjudged
16:22 Bunker practice
16:59 Good Etiquette – Rake the Bunker
17:10 Driver (Par 5 tee shot)
18:14 6 Iron layup – play the percentage shot
19:02 Wedge approach (82 yards)
20:31 Wrap-up & takeaways

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