Review All Things Golf

Back Yard Golf

August 30th, 2009 by Jay R. McGrath

As a once a week golfer it’s hard to improve. My game comes and goes.

One week I can putt but can’t get off the tee – and the next I’m crushing it with my Driver but can’t seem to buy a putt.

for my 40th birthday, my wife put in a backyard golf green for me. And being in the golf mat business I have plenty of these to test.

So now I swing the club much more often than I ever have in the past. It’s great fun and the kids are even showing some interest.

I have a little over an acre and have devoted about a half acre of the backyard my mini-golf course.

One green apprx 20′x30′ with 4 cups and three mats at various yards (30,35,40) shooting into the green.

So what we do is hit the limited flight birdieballs to the green (or close) and then place a real golf ball down and play in from there.

Join the fun and start playing golf at home in your back yard.

Golfers helping golfers – What games do you play?

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Tags: backyard putting greens, birdieballs, golf mats
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In High School I had a coach that was fond of saying “perfect practice makes perfect“. Although I agree with the premise it’s hard to know what you are doing is “perfect” or not. However, I do believe that in golf as well as other sports people just go out and hit a bucket of balls, volley a tennis ball, or shoot the basketball calling it practice.

I found with basketball that there were cetrain thing that you could practice with great results. Foul shots for exmple – It drives me crazy to see college and pro players who can’t shoot better than 80% from the stripe. They call them ”free-throughs” after all!

Now I was no great b-ball player by any streatch of the imagination – but I could make my foul shots. In fact I’d get put in the game a critical spots for exactly that reason.

So how can you practice more effectively in your golf game.

Have fun – make a game of it.

1) Putt Around – One the common games that I play is what I call “putt around“. You take a number of balls (7-10 is a good number) and place the balls 2′ from the hole. Once you make ALL of these add a foot to the distance and repeat. The object of the game is to make a full circle or “round” before moving on to the next. Now making a “round” of 2-footersmay not seem like a challenge, but the last one is always a little tougher than the first and that’s the point – it puts a little pressure on you to mimmick a game situation. Now move out to 3′, 4′ ect. These are what I call “Must Make Putts” – most golfers would improve a number of strokes if they just made every putt 3′,4′, 5′ or less.

2) Par-3 This is another game that I play with the kids – but it’s fun for all ages. I have a small putting green in the back yard, but you could improvise with a putting mat on the deck or patio. First, with a club other than your putter chip a shot onto the green – and then try to two-putt. This has been a great game to impart some feel on my childeren’s golf game. They had a tendancy to putt way past the hole with little chance to make the come back putt. Now they try to get it close because they are working for a two putt rather than a one putt. It has helped eveyones lagg game a bunch.

If you play any golf games that work for you please contribute with a comment below.

Golfers helping golfers, jay

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