62 THE ME T GOLFER • AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2011 W W W.MGAGOLF.ORG

Game On!With juniors, competitive practice always trumps regular practice BY MITCHELL SPEARMAN WITH DAVE ALLEN

Photos by Leonard Kamsler

MET METHODS

Like most 10-year-old junior golfers, my young student

Tyler Eichmann (right) views practice like he does

homework: It feels more like a chore than it does fun.

Kids don’t like to practice, but they love

to compete. They understand the concept of

winning, so if you introduce games and other

forms of competition, you get their attention.

In our junior camps, we try to

bring a competitive game aspect to

every part of the learning process.

Most of our practice time is spent

giving the kids a chance to compete

against each other, another instructor,

or myself—they sure do like to beat

me! This is much more effective than

having them repeat the same swing

motion 50 times. In the process of

playing each game, they learn key fun-

damentals without even trying, and

they develop the skills necessary to

become better golfers.

Try some of these games with your

kids or on your own—you don’t have

to be 10 years old to enjoy them. These

games will not only improve the quality

of your practice, but they’ll help you

perform better under pressure on the

course as well.

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Putting Games

Hit the Tee: Lay down a chalk line about six feet in length and

stick a tee in the ground at the end of the line. Place a ball on the tee

(above). The object is to hit the putt along the chalk line with

enough speed to knock the ball off its perch (above, right). The

firmer you stroke the putt, the better chance it has of holding its line

and getting to the hole, which is key on short putts.

21: Similar to the basketball version, you must finish with

exactly 21 points (not 22 or 23), or you rewind back to 15

and try again. Three points are awarded for a made putt

(approximately 12 feet in length), 2 points for a lip-out, 1 for

a two-putt, and -1 for a three-putt. If you have 19 points, you

must lip the putt out or two-putt twice in a row to win.

Match Play: Find two holes on the practice green approximately 15 feet apart

with a little bit of break to each putt. Stand to the side of one hole while your

fellow competitor plants himself on the opposite side of the other hole. Using one

ball apiece, take turns hitting putts at the far hole (above)—the first

person to sink five (or 10) of their putts wins. This game gives juniors a feel for

controlling speed and distance, which is critical in putting.

Caption Two cats lamely auc-

tioned off umpteen progres-

sive sheep. Minnesota grew

up. Two subways gossips.

Umpteen purple elephants

bought one almost irascible

orifice, however two quixotic

poisons abused one subway,

because silly orifices gossips

quickly.

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S-C-R-A-T-C-H: Like a basketball game of

H-O-R-S-E, the object is to execute a variety of

shots—draw, fade, knockdown, etc.—and put

the pressure on your opponent to match. If you

call out “draw,” and you hit a neat little draw

toward the center of the driving range, then your

opponent has to produce the same shot or he

gets a letter “S.” The first person to accumulate

the letters S-C-R-A-T-C-H, loses. The winner is

closer to becoming a scratch golfer.

Take Your Medicine: I’m not a big fan

of being technical with my juniors, but two

things we do stress with them are “left arm

across the chest,” which we drill home by having

them swing with a head cover lodged under

their left armpit, and “rotate through to the

finish.” The latter we do with a medicine ball

(below). We have the kids stand three to four

feet apart in a circle, and the ball makes its way

around the circle. The weight of the ball forces

the kids to rotate their body through with

enough momentum to release the ball and

carry them into a good finish position (weight

over left leg). It gives them the sensation of mak-

ing a good swing without having to hit a ball.

Full Swing Games

Closest to the Target: This is a game I like to have the kids

play before we break for lunch or head to the course. We have them

hit a variety of clubs to different targets, from 60 yards to 120 yards.

Each golfer gets three shots (to one target), and the one who hits it

closest to the target is the winner. The more shots they hit, the more

focused practice they get in; they also become more target-aware,

which will help them when they play for real.

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Bocce: Drop three balls each in the fringe

or greenside rough and chip each ball

toward the hole, alternating shots with your

opponent. Whoever’s chip finishes closer to

the hole wins a point. Like the popular

European game of the same name, you can

knock your opponent’s ball out of the way to

obtain a better position, closer to the hole.

After you’re done chipping, move to one of

the greenside bunkers and repeat the exer-

cise (left). Try some pitches, too. This not

only helps you get some short-game reps

in—without it feeling like practice—but it

teaches you to get the ball to the hole.

Up-and-Downs: A variation of Bocce is

to play a game of Up-and-Downs, in which

you win a point against your competitor by

holing out in the fewest number of strokes.

The difference is that after chipping or pitch-

ing onto the green, you must putt out, which

forces you to complete the task. We have the

kids vary the clubs they use around the

green from a wedge to a 6-iron, so they can

see how much more—or less—each shot

rolls out, and how far it carries in the air. ■

Short Game Fun

Mitchell Spearman is owner

and founder of the Mitchell

Spearman Junior Academy

(www.spearmanjuniorgolf.com),

based at Doral Arrowwood in

Rye Brook, N.Y.

Twitter: @MSpearmanGolf.