The Best Golf Practice Routine (Backed by a +2 Handicap)

If you’re tired of showing up to the driving range, hitting a bucket of balls, and leaving without any real progress—you’re not alone.

The truth is, most golfers don’t have a practice problem… they have a planning problem. Without structure, intent, and pressure in your practice sessions, you’ll keep wondering why the range swing doesn’t show up on the course.

The best golf practice routine isn’t about grinding for hours or copying a PGA Tour pro's unrealistic schedule. It’s about maximizing the time you have with a routine that’s efficient, game-specific, and actually gets results.

Let’s break down what that looks like—and how you can implement it starting today.

Why Most Golf Practice Doesn’t Work

Here’s the harsh truth: random range sessions lead to random results. Most amateur golfers fall into one (or more) of these traps:

• Avoiding short game and putting.
• Only working on full swing technique.
• Never simulating pressure or consequence.
• Not tracking any stats during the round, which leads to ignoring weaker parts of your game in practice. 

If you’ve been doing the same things and expecting different results, it’s time to change the formula. The best players I’ve coached—and what I’ve learned from 25+ years competing—always comes back to practicing with purpose and pressure.

The 5 Pillars of the Best Golf Practice Routine

As Harvey Penick wrote in For All Who Love the Game,

“Every day I see golfers out there banging away at bucket after bucket. If I ask them what they’re doing, they say, ‘What does it look like I’m doing, Harvey? I’m practicing!’ Well, they’re getting exercise all right. But few of them are really practicing.”

That quote couldn’t be more relevant today.

Most golfers think they’re improving simply because they’re hitting balls—but activity doesn’t equal progress. True practice means focused, intentional reps with a purpose. It's about creating structure, measuring feedback, and simulating pressure—not just grooving the same 7-iron swing over and over.

And here’s the other truth: more time doesn’t always mean more results. You don’t need to practice for hours a day—you just need a system that targets the right skills in the right way.

Follow these five pillars to create the best golf practice routine so you can beat your buddies this year a lot more often. 

1. Practice With a Plan

Don’t just “hit balls.” Show up with a clear intention for every session.
Ask: What am I working on today? What’s the goal? What does success look like?

When you practice with a plan, you build confidence and eliminate wasted reps. That’s exactly why I created the Practice Formula—so you’re never guessing what to do at the range, short game area, or at home. Keep reading to learn three more 60-minute plans to give you some guidance along the way. 

2. Incorporate All 5 Types of Practice

Great golfers don’t just hit balls—they train with variety and intention. They mix up how they practice to simulate the shots, situations, and mental demands they’ll face on the course. Meanwhile, most amateurs get stuck in the “block practice trap,” grooving the same shot over and over while chasing perfect mechanics.

Here are the five types of practice every golfer should use:

Block Practice

This is where you repeat the same shot or motion to refine your technique. For example, hitting 10 consecutive 8-irons to a single target helps you work on contact, posture, or swing mechanics. Block practice is great for building familiarity—but not pressure.

Random Practice

Here, you mix up clubs, shot shapes, and targets every swing. One shot might be a driver, followed by a knockdown 7-iron, then a pitch shot. This style builds adaptability and mimics the variety of real golf far better than hitting one club for 20 minutes.

Competitive Practice

Now you add consequence. Create pressure by adding a scoring element—like getting up-and-down 5 times in a row or making 8/10 putts from four feet. When there’s something at stake, your focus sharpens and your routine gets tested (just like on the course).

Routine-Based Practice

This is where you rehearse your pre-shot routine for every shot in practice. Use it on the range, the putting green, and even in your warm-up. This builds consistency and gives you a reliable system to lean on when nerves creep in.

On-Course Practice

Take it all to the course and play practice rounds with purpose. Try worst-ball, scramble formats, or play two balls to simulate pressure. Course-based reps are the best way to test your decision-making, feel, and confidence under real conditions.

Most golfers stop at block practice and wonder why their game doesn’t hold up when it counts. If you want to make your swing hold up under pressure, train in a way that mirrors the real thing. The best practice routines include all five—and that’s exactly what you’ll get inside the Practice Formula.

3. Work on Your Weaknesses (Based on Stats)

You don’t need to log every swing—but you do need to know where your strokes are coming from. That starts with tracking your stats and identifying patterns in your scoring.

Whether it’s missed fairways, poor wedge proximity, or too many 3-putts, your stats reveal the truth. Tools like Shot Scope, DECADE, or Arccos make it easy to pinpoint your biggest leaks so you can work backward and design smarter practice sessions.

As I explain in Wicked Smart Golf, the key to playing better fast is targeting your biggest weaknesses with purpose—not guessing or grinding on what feels off. Awareness leads to focused practice. Focused practice leads to real improvement.

4. Don’t Skip Short Game + Putting

If you want to lower your scores, stop avoiding the areas that matter most. Roughly 65% of shots happen inside 100 yards… yet most golfers spend 90% of practice time on their full swing.

Prioritize putting and short game in every session—even 15 minutes goes a long way. Use indoor tools like PrimePutt or create competitive up-and-down drills to replicate pressure.

Short game confidence = freedom with the rest of your game.

5. Train Under Pressure

On the course, there are no mulligans, do-overs, or second balls. That’s why every practice routine needs some form of pressure.

Try these:

• 10 up-and-downs in a row or start over
  
• Worst ball scrambles on the course
  
• Putting ladders where you need 100% makes
  
• Elevated heart rate reps before hitting key shots
  

As I always say, you need to be uncomfortable in practice to be comfortable in tournaments. Watch the video below to learn more about competitive practice.

60-Minute Golf Practice Template

In your quest to find the best golf practice routines, I wanted to provide a few shortened versions of what you can find in my Practice Formula plans. 

Golf Practice Plan #1 – Balanced Routine

• 10 min: Dynamic warm-up + posture check
• 15 min: Random full swing reps (mix targets, clubs, and shot shapes)
• 15 min: Wedge matrix from 40 to 100 yards (three swing lengths, three clubs)
• 20 min: Putting ladder + pressure drills (short + long putts)

Golf Practice Plan #2 – Full Swing + Shot Shaping

• 10 min: Stretch + wedge warm-up (focus on feel, not outcome)
• 20 min: Technique work with mid-iron + training aid
• 20 min: Tiger’s 9-shot drill (draw, fade, straight at low/med/high trajectory)
• 10 min: Shot shaping challenge (miss 5 left/5 right of target to simulate course strategy)

Golf Practice Plan #3 – Short Game Focus

• 15 min: Landing zone drill (towel or poker chip as target, adjust technique)
  20 min: Triple Threat Challenge (3 wedges × 3 lies × 3 balls = 27 reps)
• 25 min: Par-18 Challenge (chip + putt from 9 spots, par is 2 per hole)

Recommended Tools to Maximize Your Practice

If you want to make the most of your sessions, here are a few tools I recommend (and personally use):

• WhyGolf Alignment Mirror – Clean up your setup and ball position
• Rypstick – Train speed and add 10–15+ yards
• HackMotion – Dial in your wrist angles and face control
• Mental Golf Type – Build a mindset to match your personality
  
• iRange Sports Stick – Film your swing consistently

Smart practice + real-time feedback = faster improvement.

Final Thoughts: Smarter Practice = Better Golf

You don’t need to change your swing to shoot lower scores. You need to practice with purpose, focus on the areas that matter, and simulate pressure when it counts.

If you're tired of wasting time and want a complete system to structure your sessions, track progress, and improve every time you practice…

👉 Check out the Wicked Smart Golf Practice Formula now.

It’s time to stop hoping and start training like a scorer.