Fundamentals 18 min read
Stableford Scoring Explained: Points, Strokes, and Strategy
Stableford points are max(0, par + 2 minus your net score). Rule 21.1b's table, the 95% allowance, and the exact size of the blow-up-hole discount.
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Practice notes that actually move your handicap
Research-backed practice plans, drill breakdowns, and motor-learning notes from the PracticeCaddie team. No fluff — just what actually moves your handicap on Sunday.
Practice Guide
Featured
How to Stop Shanking the Golf Ball: Causes, Diagnostic Drills, and a Four-Week Fix Protocol
A shank is hosel contact, and an open face is rarely the culprit. The real causes, a diagnostic drill that finds yours, and a four-week protocol that fixes it.
17 min read By Garrett Pierson
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Fundamentals 25 min read
Playing Golf in Bad Weather: The Rain and Wind Adjustments That Hold Up
A 10 mph headwind adds about 10 yards of playing distance. In robot testing a wet ball lost 15 yards of driver total and gained 5 with a 5-iron. Why both.
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Practice Guide 17 min read
Golf Exercises: The Year-Round Strength and Mobility Program
Pooled data from 20 studies: jump power drives clubhead speed, flexibility barely registers. The year-round golf strength and mobility program, phase by phase.
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Practice Guide 20 min read
How to Break 90 in Golf: What the Score Data Actually Requires
Shot Scope's per-hole averages put a 15 handicap at 89.5 and a 20 handicap at 94. The 4.5-stroke gap lives on par 4s, and double bogeys decide it.
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Fundamentals 18 min read
Golf Etiquette and Pace of Play: What Ready Golf Actually Saves
The R&A's own manual calls player behaviour a minor cause of slow rounds. The 5 seconds a shot that still saves 26 minutes, and the etiquette behind it.
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Fundamentals 20 min read
Golf for Beginners: What to Learn First, and in What Order
Tracked 25-handicappers take 4.67 penalty strokes a round and hit 10% of greens. The order to learn golf in, and the 12-week ladder that gets you there.
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Fundamentals 24 min read
Golf Rules for Beginners: The 12 That Actually Cost You Strokes
The 2023 Rules run through 2027, and four questions resolve nearly every ruling a beginner meets. Rule numbers, stroke costs, and the drops done right.
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Fundamentals 25 min read
Average Golf Club Distances: The Real Chart by Handicap
Shot Scope puts the 10-handicap 7-iron at 161 yards and the 20-handicap at 146. The full chart by handicap, and why your real number is shorter than you think.
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Fundamentals 19 min read
Golf Handicap Explained: How Your Index Is Actually Calculated
Your Handicap Index averages the lowest 8 of your last 20 Score Differentials. The full USGA math, the caps, and what the number actually predicts.
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Practice Guide 19 min read
Best Golf Coaching Apps in 2026: Remote Lessons, AI, and Video
Golf coaching apps do three jobs: remote lessons with a real coach, AI swing capture, or a video curriculum. Verified 2026 pricing plus what the research says.
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Practice Guide 15 min read
Best Golf Practice Apps in 2026: What Each One Actually Does
A field guide to golf apps by the job each one does — track rounds, coach your swing, teach strategy, or plan your practice — with verified 2026 pricing.
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Practice Guide 15 min read
Golf Practice Schedule: 2, 3, and 5-Day Weekly Templates (Free PDF)
Three printable weekly golf practice schedules — 2, 3, and 5 days — spaced the way motor-learning research says, plus a free 4-page PDF template pack.
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Practice Guide 19 min read
How to Hit a Fairway Bunker Shot: Ball-First Contact, Club Choice, and the Escape Math
A fairway bunker shot is ball-first, not a splash: dig in, choke down, take one extra club, clear the lip. The club math and the escape call, shot by shot.
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Fundamentals 20 min read
How to Release the Golf Club: Timing, Face Control, and the Data
Your release sets the clubface, and the face owns 85% of your start line. What the data says about lag, rate of closure, and training release timing.
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Fundamentals 19 min read
Golf Downswing Sequence: The Order That Actually Makes Speed
Tour players start down from the ground up — pelvis, thorax, arms, club — in about 0.25 seconds. The measured numbers, the myths, and a phone-camera audit.
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Practice Guide 18 min read
How to Hit a Punch Shot in Golf: The Escape Shot and the Wind Shot
The punch shot is golf's escape club: more club, ball back, hands ahead, three-quarter swing, low finish. The wind math, and when to call on it over a fade.
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Fundamentals 17 min read
Chipping vs Pitching: The Three Gates That Decide Every Greenside Shot
Chipping vs pitching, decided by data: a three-gate framework for the greenside choice, carry-to-roll ratios by club, and the 8% edge lower loft actually buys.
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Fundamentals 17 min read
Golf Swing Tips: 7 Data-Backed Fixes You Can Actually Measure
Seven golf swing tips backed by measured data — GOLFTEC, TrackMan, and peer-reviewed research — each with a checkpoint you can verify on a phone camera.
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Fundamentals 18 min read
How to Grip a Putter: Grip Styles, Pressure, and Face Control
Your putting grip has one job: return the face square, since face angle sets 83 to 92 percent of a putt's start line. The grip styles, pressure, and sizing.
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Fundamentals 18 min read
How to Put Backspin on a Golf Ball: Spin Loft and the Real Numbers
Backspin is spin loft, speed, friction, and clean contact. The real rpm numbers by club, what you actually control, and how much each factor is worth.
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Practice Guide 24 min read
How to Hit Off Uneven Lies: Ball Above, Below, Uphill, and Downhill
Ball above your feet, below your feet, uphill, downhill: what each slope does to your ball flight, the setup fix for each, and how to read the blends.
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Fundamentals 17 min read
How to Hit Irons: Setup, the Descending Strike, and Solid Contact
A pure iron strike is ball-first then turf: the low point sits ahead of the ball, the club still descending at impact. Setup, strike, and iron-by-iron control.
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Practice Guide 19 min read
How to Hit a Stinger in Golf: Setup, Technique, and When to Use It
The stinger is golf's low, wind-cheating shot: ball back, hands forward, very low spin, cut-off finish. How to build one, and when it beats a punch shot.
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Practice Guide 16 min read
Golf Warm-Up Routine: The Dynamic Sequence That Adds Clubhead Speed
A dynamic golf warm-up adds clubhead speed and cuts early mishits, yet over 70% of amateurs skip it. The research-backed sequence, timing, and order.
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Fundamentals 21 min read
How to Compress the Golf Ball: Shaft Lean, Low Point, and the Impact Numbers That Matter
Compressing the golf ball is efficient impact, not effort: forward shaft lean, a low point ahead of the ball, and low spin loft. The numbers and drills.
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Fundamentals 19 min read
The Golf Backswing: Takeaway, Rotation, and Plane by the Numbers
The backswing loads the swing: about 90° of shoulder turn over 45° of hip, a 45° X-factor, and pressure shifting to the lead side before the top. Plus the fix.
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Fundamentals 17 min read
How to Swing a Golf Club: The Sequence That Actually Repeats
The golf swing is a ground-up energy sequence: pelvis, torso, arms, club. The setup that enables it, and how to learn it so it repeats under pressure.
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Practice Guide 19 min read
How to Stop Swaying in the Golf Swing: Causes, Drills, and a Fix
A sway is your hips sliding away from the target in the backswing, so you drift off the ball and hit it fat, thin, and short. What causes it, and how to stop.
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Practice Guide 18 min read
How to Stop Hitting Fat Shots (and Thin Shots): Fix Your Low Point
Fat and thin shots are the same fault: a swing low point stuck behind the ball. Which cause to fix first, the drills, and a 4-week protocol to move it ahead.
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Practice Guide 18 min read
How to Stop Pulling the Golf Ball: Causes, Drills, and a 4-Week Fix
A pull starts left and flies straight left, which means an out-to-in path with a matched face. What drives that combination, the drills, and a 4-week plan.
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Fundamentals 18 min read
How to Aim in Golf: Alignment and Aim for Every Shot
Your clubface points the ball; your body sets the path. To aim in golf, set the face to a spot a few feet ahead, then build your stance parallel to it.
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Practice Guide 21 min read
How to Hit a Pitch Shot in Golf: Setup, Distance, and Technique
The pitch shot flies about as far as it rolls: golf's 30-to-80-yard scoring wedge. A backswing-length distance system, and the faults that wreck contact.
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Practice Guide 17 min read
Reverse Pivot in Golf: Causes, Drills, and a 4-Week Fix
A reverse pivot tilts your upper body toward the target at the top, so you hang back and hit it fat, thin, and short. The cause, and the drills that undo it.
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Practice Guide 16 min read
How to Fix a Hook in Golf: Causes, Drills, and a 4-Week Plan
A hook means a clubface closed to your swing path. What actually causes that mismatch, the drills that correct it, and a 4-week plan that makes it stick.
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Practice Guide 19 min read
How to Hit a Driver: Setup, the Upward Strike, and Distance
The driver is the one club you hit on the way up. A setup that builds a positive angle of attack, the launch numbers worth chasing, and the data behind them.
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Fundamentals 17 min read
Golf Ball Flight Laws: Why the Ball Starts and Curves Where It Does
The ball starts where the clubface points and curves on the gap between face and path. The modern golf ball flight laws, explained with the measured data.
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Practice Guide 18 min read
Casting in the Golf Swing: Causes, Drills, and a 4-Week Fix
Casting throws away your downswing lag too early, which adds loft and weak contact. The truth about holding lag, the drills, and a 4-week fix that sticks.
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Practice Guide 20 min read
How to Hit a Flop Shot in Golf: Setup, Technique, and When to Risk It
The flop is golf's highest-variance greenside shot. Open the face, use the bounce, accelerate, and save it for when you're short-sided over trouble.
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Practice Guide 19 min read
How to Hit a Bump and Run in Golf: Club, Setup, and When to Use It
The bump and run is golf's lowest-variance greenside shot: minimum air, maximum roll. Which club to take, how to set up, and when it beats a lofted chip.
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Practice Guide 17 min read
How to Fix an Over-the-Top Golf Swing: Causes, Drills, and a 4-Week Plan
An over-the-top move throws the club outside the line for an out-to-in path — the engine behind most slices. What triggers it, the drills, and a 4-week fix.
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Practice Guide 24 min read
How to Hit a Hybrid: Setup, Strike, and Which Iron It Replaces
A hybrid is played more like an iron than a wood: a slightly descending strike, ball just forward of center, small divot. Plus the data and how to gap yours.
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Fundamentals 20 min read
Weight Shift in the Golf Swing: Pressure, Sequence, and the Fix
Force plates show 'weight shift' is mostly a pressure shift to the lead foot. What good players do, the three faults that wreck it, and how to fix yours.
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Practice Guide 17 min read
Early Extension in Golf: Causes, Drills, and a 4-Week Fix
Early extension is the pelvis thrusting toward the ball as you stand up out of posture. TPI finds it in 67% of amateurs. Why it happens, and how to stop it.
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Practice Guide 21 min read
How to Hit a Fairway Wood: Setup, Strike, and When to Bag the 3-Wood
Fairway woods reward a shallow, slightly-down strike with ball-then-turf contact. What the launch-monitor data says, and when to bag the 3-wood entirely.
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Fundamentals 18 min read
Golf Stance and Posture: The Setup That Fixes Your Contact
Your stance sets your base and your posture sets your spine angle. How to build an athletic, repeatable setup for every club, plus the faults to watch for.
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Fundamentals 18 min read
How to Read Greens in Golf: Break, Speed, and a Repeatable Routine
Amateurs make under 40% of putts from 6 to 9 feet, mostly from misreading break and speed. How to read greens: the physics, AimPoint, grain, and a routine.
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Fundamentals 17 min read
Golf Ball Position: Where to Place the Ball for Every Club
Ball position sets the low point of your swing, which controls strike and launch. Where to play the ball for every club in the bag, wedge through driver.
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Fundamentals 20 min read
How to Grip a Golf Club: Grip Styles, Strength, and Pressure
Your grip sets the clubface, the biggest factor in where the ball starts. The 3 grip styles, how to set grip strength, and how hard to actually hold on.
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Fundamentals 16 min read
Strokes Gained: Putting Explained (And Where Amateurs Actually Lose)
Putting is one-sixth of your scoring story. The make-rate data by distance, how the Strokes Gained: Putting metric works, and where amateurs lose strokes.
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Practice Guide 20 min read
How to Increase Golf Swing Speed: A Research-Backed Plan
Clubhead speed comes from your kinematic sequence, lead-leg ground force, and trained power. The biomechanics behind each, plus a 6-week plan for 2-5 mph.
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Fundamentals 14 min read
Strokes Gained: Approach Explained (And How to Fix Yours)
Approach shots are 40% of the gap between average and elite Tour pros. What Strokes Gained: Approach measures, the proximity data, and how to fix yours.
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Fundamentals 17 min read
Strokes Gained Explained: What Amateurs Actually Need to Know
Strokes Gained isolates where you actually lose strokes by category. What each metric measures, what the amateur data shows, and which leak to fix first.
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Practice Guide 19 min read
Golf Practice Plan: The Weekly Schedule That Lowers Handicaps
Driver is 14 swings per round and the smallest SG-loss category. A weekly golf practice plan that allocates time where strokes actually leak instead.
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Fundamentals 24 min read
Golf Swing Speed Chart by Age, Handicap, and How to Add MPH
PGA Tour averages 116 mph off the driver, scratch amateurs 110, mid-handicaps 95. The benchmarks by age and handicap, plus how to add 2-5 mph in 6-8 weeks.
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Practice Guide 23 min read
How to Stop Shanking Your Irons: The Early-Extension Fix
Iron shanks are hosel contact driven by early extension, lie-angle drift, and hand-path errors. A diagnostic to find yours, drills, and a 4-week fix plan.
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Practice Guide 24 min read
8 Lag Putting Drills That Cut Three-Putts (And the Tour Data Behind Them)
Lag putting drills that cut three-putts: Faxon's look-at-the-hole stroke, Stockton's intermediate spot, Kenyon's metronome, Utley's underhand toss, and more.
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Fundamentals 24 min read
Golf Course Management Tips: 5 Decisions Strokes-Gained Data Says Actually Save Strokes
Course management is decision cost: strokes lost to target and club choices, not your swing. The five highest-cost amateur decisions, ranked by the data.
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Fundamentals 19 min read
The Golf Pre-Shot Routine: What Tour Data Actually Says About Timing, Consistency, and Pressure
The 12–14 second pre-shot routine rule isn't supported by primary data. What 22,579 European Tour shots reveal instead, and how to train your own.
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Practice Guide 17 min read
How to Stop Shanking the Golf Ball: Causes, Diagnostic Drills, and a Four-Week Fix Protocol
A shank is hosel contact, and an open face is rarely the culprit. The real causes, a diagnostic drill that finds yours, and a four-week protocol that fixes it.
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Fundamentals 12 min read
The Golf Mental Game: What the Research Actually Says About Pressure, Routine, and Focus
The golf mental game has three measurable levers: arousal, routine, focus. What the peer-reviewed research says about each, and how to train all three.
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Practice Guide 21 min read
How to Hit Long Irons in Golf: Setup, Swing, and When to Replace Them With Hybrids
Long irons punish slow swings and steep attack angles. How to set up and swing them, plus the Shot Scope data on when to bag a hybrid instead.
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Fundamentals 18 min read
How to Actually Improve at Golf: The 5-Step Framework
Most golfers practice hard and never improve. The 5-step framework — commit, diagnose, focus, root-cause, three practice modes — is what actually does.
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Practice Guide 20 min read
How to Hit a Bunker Shot in Golf: Setup, Drills, and a 4-Week Protocol
Amateur golfers save about 17% of bunker shots; PGA Tour pros sit near 50%. Five drills and a 4-week protocol built to close that gap, starting with setup.
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Practice Guide 19 min read
8 Ball Striking Drills That Move Compression, Strike Pattern, and Attack Angle
Ball striking is low-point control, strike location, and attack angle. Eight drills with named origins, success criteria, and the data behind them.
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Practice Guide 27 min read
10 Golf Putting Drills That Move Strokes-Gained-Putting (And the Tour Data Behind Them)
Putting is where amateurs leak the most strokes inside 30 feet. These ten golf putting drills — Faxon, Kenyon, Utley, Stockton, AimPoint — fix the leak.
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Practice Guide 19 min read
How to Hit a Draw in Golf: Setup, Drills, and a 4-Week Protocol
Tour distance leaders draw it. Five drills and a 4-week protocol that build an on-demand draw, plus the checkpoints that stop it collapsing into a hook.
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Practice Guide 18 min read
How to Stop Topping the Golf Ball: Causes, Drills, and a Four-Week Fix Protocol
Topping happens when your swing's low point sits behind the ball. What pushes it back there, the drills that move it forward, and a four-week protocol.
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Practice Guide 24 min read
10 Golf Chipping Drills Tour Coaches Actually Use (And the Strokes-Gained Data Behind Them)
Amateurs leak more strokes around the green than anywhere else. These ten golf chipping drills — Pelz, Utley, Mickelson, and tour standards — fix it.
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Fundamentals 19 min read
Golf Tempo Drills: The 3:1 Ratio and 8 Drills That Actually Move It
Tour pros hold a 3:1 backswing-to-downswing ratio at every speed; most amateurs run 4:1 or slower. Eight drills that pull your golf tempo back to 3:1.
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Practice Guide 18 min read
How to Hit a Fade in Golf: Setup, Drills, and a 4-Week Protocol
Tour pros hit fades on 50% of drives. A setup, drills, and 4-week protocol that build an on-demand fade with tighter dispersion than your draw ever had.
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Practice Guide 21 min read
10 Golf Practice Drills Tour Coaches Actually Use (And the Research Behind Them)
A bucket of balls is not a drill. Ten golf practice drills used by tour coaches, each with a named origin, a success criterion, and the data behind it.
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Fundamentals 12 min read
Block vs Random Practice in Golf: What the Research Actually Says
Block practice feels productive but transfers worse than random practice. The research behind that gap, and how to design a session that moves your handicap.
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Practice Guide 15 min read
Driving Range Practice Routine: 3 Plans by Handicap (Beginner, Mid, Single-Digit)
Most range time trains the wrong skill for your handicap. Three driving range practice routines built from real on-course data, sorted by skill level.
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Practice Guide 13 min read
How to Fix a Slice in Golf: Causes, Drills, and a 4-Week Practice Plan
Around 60% of amateurs slice, and the cause is an open face relative to path. The drills that close the gap, plus a 4-week plan that makes the fix stick.
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