How To Play Better Golf Without Buying Lessons – Split Your Bucket!

Here’s tip that will help you shoot lower scores without taking a single lesson. I’m not offering any fancy swing tips, ridiculous gadgets, or videos – instead, I want to revitalize the way you practice and improve its efficiency and – more importantly – its effectiveness.

Many golfers practice at a driving range, but they generally focus on their swing technique only. While that’s a great strategy, it is important to emphasize the right things.

The next time you buy a bucket of range balls, try this:

Split your bucket!

Here’s how to do it:

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• First, divide your bucket in half. Imagine you purchased 100 balls; now you have 50 in one pile and 50 in another. Then, take one of your piles of 50 and split that in half again. Now, you have three piles: 25, 25, and 50.
• With the pile of 50 balls, only hit under 100 yards – that would typically include the sand wedge, pitching wedge, and lob wedge. Select different targets and nail them: 20 yards out. 73 yards out. 99 yards out. The key is to spend half of your practice balls under 100 yards.
• With a pile of 25, use only your irons and woods. I stick with either odd-numbered or even-numbered irons for efficiency’s sake. For example, during one session, I’ll hit my 9, 7, 5, and 3-irons. Another day, I’ll use my pitching wedge (which I use for both under and above 100 yards), 8, 6, 4.
• With the final pile of 25, use only your driver. ’nuff said.

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Splitting your bucket simulates how we play. For example, on a par-72 course, you use your driver roughly 15 times. That’s about 21% of your total strokes (including putting). What percent of total swings is that?

Also, over 70% of your total strokes comes from within 100 yards of the pin – your putts, chips, sand shots, and pitches. I’m no mathematician, but to estimate that 50% of your swings (not including putting) are within 100 yards would not be far-fetched.

When I split my bucket, I realized how many less irons and how many more pitches I had to hit. Fortunately, it translated wonderfully on the course. My short game sharpened, boosting my confidence; I started hitting more fairways, and my irons didn’t deteriorate either… possibly because I hit more fairways.

In driving ranges across America, people beat balls down the range in the hopes of correcting their swing flaws. I will bet, however, if they divided their range balls more effectively across different facets, they could shoot better with the same exact swing.

There – I just saved you a lesson.

Let me know how this tip works for you! Leave a comment, hit me up on Twitter, or add me on Facebook.

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