Stop Saying You Don't Have Time For Golf... Here's How To Drastically Improve Your Game In 20 Minutes

I’m one of those strange people that enjoys practicing as much, if not more, than playing golf. Growing up, I loved spending 3 to 4 hours on the practice ground honing my skills. Nowadays, I’m in the thick of it with work and family life, meaning I rarely get time to practice, so I’ve had to adapt to what I can do.

It took me a while to not equate the length of time available to practice with how valuable the practice was. I now firmly believe the adage of quality over quantity. So, if like me, you find yourself short on time, here is a quick guide to getting the most out of quick practice sessions.

Prioritise Purpose

It’s all too easy to fall into the trap of turning up at the range and mindlessly hitting balls but when you only have 20 minutes, there is no time for dilly dallying! Before you start your session, decide exactly what you would like to achieve and keep it simple.

20 Minutes - Chipping

Chipping for me has always been my go-to warm up, because it allows me to get my eye in and get the feel for the club and strike.

5 Minutes – No targets, just pick a club you like to use for chipping and chip away. Try to get the feel for nice strikes and experiment by chipping groups of balls to different lengths.

10 Minutes – Work on landing zones. If you can, place a towel and try to land 5–10 balls on it. Then change the distance of the towel. Change it up with the clubs you use, practice some chip and runs with a PW/9-iron, then some slightly higher chips with a sand wedge or lob wedge. Being good at chipping is all about being versatile and able to adapt.

5 Minutes – Let’s add some pressure practice. Hit one ball to one target, then choose a different target. With this exercise there are no second chances because that’s what real golf is all about.

20 Minutes - Pitching

Honing in your pitching is what will really move the needle for your scores.

5 Minutes – It’s all about that strike again. Grab your wedge and pitch away, no set target, just get your feel for the club and shot.

10 Minutes – Being able to hit set distances with your wedges is what makes all the difference out on the course. Experiment with hitting half swings and full swings and note your distances for both length swings. Then practice hitting 30 yards, 50 yards, and 75 yards.

5 Minutes – Close with some pressure practice, one shot to one target, and then change.

20 Minutes- Irons

So many clubs, so little time, but you will know from being out on the course what irons you tend to use the most. If you are practicing for play, choose a club that you use regularly. If you want to get more confident with the irons you don’t use as much, choose one of those.

5 Minutes - Start with a higher iron in the bag like a 9 or 8. Get your eye and strike in by starting with half swings. Ensure your grip placement and pressure is good.

5 Minutes - With the same iron, practice towards a target, work on trying to hit the club within yourself and with a nice relaxed, repeatable tempo. If you find you don’t have enough club for the target, then take more..

5 Minutes - Change to a lower iron in the bag or a hybrid.

Set yourself some longer targets to aim at. Work at hitting to the right and the left side of the target. Again, it’s about trying to recreate what you do out on the course, which is about hitting the best part of the green and not just firing at the flag every time.

5 Minutes - Pressure practice, select 4 irons and 4 different targets for each iron. Run through a round of hitting with each iron, then repeat the cycle. Take note of what shot was the best and what club you struggle with. Do some extra shots with the weakest iron.

20 Minutes - Hybrids and Fairway Woods

This will be a slightly different practice session because from my years of coaching this is where I see too many golfers with clubs going the same distances and ultimately doing the same job.

There is still the common misconception amongst golfers that you have to have a traditional bag set-up including a hybrid for the longer irons and 3, 5 and 7-wood, but that simply isn’t the case. This practice session will help you simplify your golf bag set-up and his will help with your decision making out on the course.

10 Minutes – If at a driving range with ball tracking technology, choose an app that allows you to track your yardages. If on a practice ground, choose a reference target to get an idea of how far you hit each club.

Hit 5 shots with each of your hybrids and fairway woods. The key to good fairway wood shots is to remember that forward ball position and to use the wide base of the club to sweep through the ball.

Once you’ve got your yardages, look to see if there are any clubs that are going a similar distance. If you are a golfer with a slower swing speed, very often your 3-wood won’t go much further than your 5-wood. You could also find your hybrid is going the same distance as another iron in your bag. Once you have this information, consider if it’s worth taking the club in question out of your bag.

5 Minutes – Now with your potentially trimmed down selection of hybrids and fairway woods, cycle through hitting them from shortest to longest and look at the gapping to ensure you are happy with the results.

5 Minutes – Closing with the pressure play, you know the drill, different clubs to different targets - one ball, one shot, one chance.

20 Minutes - Driver

Even with more practice time available, I would still recommend that you only do 20 minutes of practice with the driver due to the stress and demand it places on the body.

5 Minutes – Let’s focus on strike and direction. There is nowhere to hide if you tend to hit the ball with a mistimed clubface. I encourage those I teach to practice hitting the driver slowly with a half swing to increase awareness of the clubface through impact. It is much easier to correct things at this speed and will help you to improve your timing.

5 Minutes – Moving on to fuller swings, let’s work through the gears by starting slowly with some shots in first gear. Add speed to move through the gears until you get to fifth gear, which is your normal full swing speed.

5 Minutes – One of my all-time favourite drills to practice with the driver is trying to hit massive slices and massive hooks. Sounds crazy I know! The reason I like this so much is because it’s another great way to increase feel and awareness of what causes those shot shapes. After you have successfully done both of these shot shapes, try to hit some straighter drives and marvel at your new-found feel for hitting with a square clubface.

5 Minutes – Let’s finish with some full practice routine shots to a set fairway.

20 Minutes- Putting

Out of all the areas of the game, you can achieve a lot in 20 minutes for your putting.

5 Minutes – Let’s start with some long putts. Put a tee peg into the green about 20–30 feet away and roll 5 putts towards it. Move the tee and repeat the drill. With this exercise you are looking to get your eye in and a feel for the pace of the greens.

5 Minutes – Repeat the above working to 15 feet and 10 feet targets to a tee peg. The reason for the tee peg is to not just rate your success if you hole the putt. Being able to putt well is about having the pace of the green.

5 Minutes – Using Tour Sticks, or two irons, place them either side of the hole and work with some balls halfway along and roll in some putts. Then move to the back of the Sticks and roll some in from there. This drill is all about building confidence for the shorter putts and watching yourself roll them in.

5 Minutes – Finish with the classic clockface drill. Work around from 1 foot, then 2 feet up to 4 feet. The goal with this is again to see yourself making these putts so you feel good for when you next hit the course.

There should be something in the above for everyone. Golf is a tough game with so many parts to it and knowing what to practice and for how long can be overwhelming. If you stick to the rule of having a goal and practicing with purpose, you will get more results and hopefully enjoy yourself too!