Practice Round - How to approach

[RmoorePE]

So in preparing for tournaments, many of you probably have your kids play practice rounds. I would like to take my daughter out for some practice rounds, and was wondering about which tees we should play her from. She prefers gold tees, on the average course. Whatever tee is behind the forward tees, the USKG distances will be forward tees and sometimes closer (in her one event last year, a Par 5 was ridiculous, she got a tap in birdie while the other two girls both got eagles).

 

There is the perspective of practicing from a longer tee so the actual round feels easy (this type of approach is common in all sports), or should we try to scheme around from the likely tee locations for the tournament? There is also trying to build confidence by playing the easiest tees.

 

A lot of times we have to book a tee time and get paired with other players, so the chance to try different things is not really there. What should the goal for the practice round be? My thought is always comfort with surroundings and a feel for the greens.

[heavy_hitter]

Honestly, I would never play a practice round for a local one day event.  Just show up and play.

 

When we play practice rounds we never keep score.  On a few of the holes hit several tee shots to see which club makes the most sense.  Will usually hit 2 or 3 approach shots from a couple of different places.  Then will play all three balls and putt some around the greens.  I think the longest it has ever taken to play a practice round and do this is 3.5 hours.  I really don't care if we get paired with someone else or not.  Going to play the round how we want to play it.

 

Sometimes if the event is weeks away we will video tape each hole of the round so he can watch it again before he plays.

[Abh159]

Are these practice rounds at the actual course that will be hosting the tournament or just at your home course? Maybe I missed that in the OP but I didn't see that info in there. 

 

If they are at the tournament courses then it would be best to play from whatever distances she'll be playing from in the tournament. The most basic goal of a practice round is to get a good idea about what clubs to hit, where you should hit tee shots, where to layup, and etc. You'll never be able to recreate all of them but at least you'll know that this par 3 requires a 7 iron, this par 5 requires a layup to the left, and so on....

 

If you get paired with random people just explain on the first tee that it's a practice round for her and I doubt they would care. As long as you aren't holding up play it shouldn't be an issue. Most people I know get a kick out of watching kids play/practice. You could always reach out to other kids or the course itself to see if they want to share a tee time or pair you with other kids as well. I imagine you aren't the only ones playing a practice round. 

 

Edited February 23, 2021 by Abh159

[mrshinsa]

One time, we got paired up with a young 10yo girl who played from the tips, just because the parents thought that she would get more practice(more strokes). 

 

Group behind us weren't very pleased...

[hangontight]

My opinion, what I have found works best for my son.  

 

- Tmnt practice rounds ,  Play from same tees.  The main objective for us in a Tmnt practice round is to establish game plan - target lines off tees, miss spots & deep trouble spots, lay up spots on par 5's, etc. .  You will miss much of this if you play from different tees.

- Dont keep score.  Sometimes will play some kind of points game - i.e. set a quota where FW's, Greens, up & downs, etc. are worth points.  Takes pressure of a "The Score" , but still helps focus on something.  Not much to gain by keeping actual score - go low and it puts more pressure on tmnt round, go high and it can erode confidence.

- Play One ball....mostly.  Will play a few into par 3's if needed to figure for different pins.  Will also drop in a few bunkers or other likely miss spots.  Hit 1 or two shots out to show yourself its OK to miss here, then move on.  Never follow a good shot with another ball, take the good memory with you. 

- Dont spend all day on the practice round - so many people want to putt and chip from every conceivable direction on EVERY green, hit several balls, etc.  Just putt out and move on, there is no way you are going to remember each break on every green from each angle.  Just putting out once on each hole is plenty to learn the green speeds.  If you need extra, go to the practice green.   It is physically and mentally exhausting and sort of takes the accountability off of hitting each shot.  By this point, presumably a day or two before tmnt, you want to be in a mindset of EACH shot matters.  Having a re-do can cheapen the focus.  By this point your swing work should be done , and your objective is to leave the course with a solid strategy for each hole and be comfortable with course conditions - green speeds, receptiveness.   Dont burn your mental and physical energy hitting 100 extra shots.  Make your plan and leave fresh and confident for the next day.

 

May not work for all, but have found this to be the best approach for my son.    

Edited February 24, 2021 by hangontight

[heavy_hitter]

13 hours ago, hangontight said:

My opinion, what I have found works best for my son.  

 

- Tmnt practice rounds ,  Play from same tees.  The main objective for us in a Tmnt practice round is to establish game plan - target lines off tees, miss spots & deep trouble spots, lay up spots on par 5's, etc. .  You will miss much of this if you play from different tees.

- Dont keep score.  Sometimes will play some kind of points game - i.e. set a quota where FW's, Greens, up & downs, etc. are worth points.  Takes pressure of a "The Score" , but still helps focus on something.  Not much to gain by keeping actual score - go low and it puts more pressure on tmnt round, go high and it can erode confidence.

- Play One ball....mostly.  Will play a few into par 3's if needed to figure for different pins.  Will also drop in a few bunkers or other likely miss spots.  Hit 1 or two shots out to show yourself its OK to miss here, then move on.  Never follow a good shot with another ball, take the good memory with you. 

- Dont spend all day on the practice round - so many people want to putt and chip from every conceivable direction on EVERY green, hit several balls, etc.  Just putt out and move on, there is no way you are going to remember each break on every green from each angle.  Just putting out once on each hole is plenty to learn the green speeds.  If you need extra, go to the practice green.   It is physically and mentally exhausting and sort of takes the accountability off of hitting each shot.  By this point, presumably a day or two before tmnt, you want to be in a mindset of EACH shot matters.  Having a re-do can cheapen the focus.  By this point your swing work should be done , and your objective is to leave the course with a solid strategy for each hole and be comfortable with course conditions - green speeds, receptiveness.   Dont burn your mental and physical energy hitting 100 extra shots.  Make your plan and leave fresh and confident for the next day.

 

May not work for all, but have found this to be the best approach for my son.    

 

Practice greens more often than not don't have the same speed as the greens on the course.  Always better to hit two or 3 balls on the course.  Doesn't have to be full routine.

[tiger1873]

You should have a plan before you show up and try and execute it during a practice round making notes along the way of trouble. Then after the round take all your notes and update your plan.

 

If you happen to go to a tournament with a very large field and doesn't have a practice round built in don't expect to get one in on a friday afternoon. You learn pretty quick that is not productive at all.  If your traveling try and get there a few days early and get around the course before the last minute rush. 

 

 

 

 

[golfday]

A big pet peeve of mine is people playing 6 hour practice rounds. You're still on a golf course and should still be playing in 4 hours. There are people behind you.

 

The purpose is to establish a game plan and figure out the course. You may hit multiple shots off a tee to figure out what the best club is. Focus on the big picture of each hole, not narrowly looking at how to play your shot that day. E.g. If you drive it into the woods it may make sense to toss it out so that you can see what the approach shot looks like. Added benefit of this is you don't shoot a bad score, you want to have confidence after the practice round and you don't want to feel bad about a bad round.

 

Look all around the green and over the back of it as you're walking to see where the good / bad miss spots are. You don't have to hit a shot from every location but you do want to know if a green has a severe slope, really long rough in one area, a small water hazard over the back, etc.

 

End goal is knowing what club to hit off of each tee and being able to picture that shot, then knowing the good/bad miss spots on each approach. If you have those things in mind then you'll be able to start the tournament confidently and not hit any surprises.

[MikekiM]

We play a practice round just to make sure my kid doesn't accidentally play the wrong hole come tournament time. Particularly courses we've never played before.

 

 

[Stonebridge]

Play the practice round without rangefinder and yardage book. Learn the course by feel.

[RmoorePE]

Thanks everyone. I think this gives me a lot to go on. First we just make it a fun round together which is the main thing, and second I can take some of the stuff out of your posts and apply it. Mostly I will talk her through each tee shot and have a look at the greens as to where we don't want to go.

 

She's only 12 I don't want to make it any more stressful as she creates her own stress.

 

 

[Abh159]

5 minutes ago, RmoorePE said:

Thanks everyone. I think this gives me a lot to go on. First we just make it a fun round together which is the main thing, and second I can take some of the stuff out of your posts and apply it. Mostly I will talk her through each tee shot and have a look at the greens as to where we don't want to go.

 

She's only 12 I don't want to make it any more stressful as she creates her own stress.

 

 

 

Good plan!  Once she gets older the practice rounds will become much more technical (i.e. specific yardages, angles for approach shots, and etc.)

 

At 12 years old all you should want to take from the practice round is a basic idea of what club to hit off the tee (especially if there are elevation changes), where NOT to hit it, and a general sense of familiarity with the course. Again though I'll mention that you should try to play from the same tees/distances she'll be playing from in the tournament. Otherwise you're pretty much defeating the whole purpose of playing a practice round. 

 

 

[ChipNRun]

Just go out and get a sense of the course.

 

Does the turf have any unusual cuts or textures? Are greenside shoulders well manicured, allowing chip and run or putter shots? Or will everything three yards left or right of green call for a lob wedge?

 

In summers past, on my Monday drop-in rounds the pro sometimes had me serve as "tour guide" for parent-child practice rounds.

 

I always suggested the kid hit a couple of shots out of fairway bunkers. Some bunkers had high lips and would ricochet ball into hazard or OB if player hits hybrid rather than 8i. (People shouldn't complain about a couple of extra shots unless the course is packed.)

 

Greenside, is bunker sand heavy or light?

 

Another thing is to get a sense of par 3 holes. Basically, where is "miss" area?

[leezer99]

Going to a two day IMG qualifier this weekend. No practice round planned.