Iowa State University Head Women's Golf Coach;
2011 Big 12 Coach of the Year;
2011 NGCA Central Region Coach of the Year;
led the Cyclone program to its first-ever NCAA Championship berth in 2014; has coached 12 All-Big 12 players.
To create championship-caliber golfers, coaches must know how to train essential skills from all distances - tee to green. Christie Martens, 2011 Big 12 Coach of the Year at Iowa State University, reveals 13 drills that she uses to help her golfers maximize their potential and lower their scores.
Whether it's hitting one more fairway, holing out a bunker shot or draining a putt, Coach Martens has a drill to enhance your golfer's abilities. With Coach Martens' drills, you'll be able to keep your golfers focused on improving their game during practice while also challenging them with goal-oriented exercises.
Putting Drills
Coach Martens begins with the Penny Drill, which uses a coin to work on green reading and putting consistency. Once your golfers have learned how to read greens, the Box Drill can help them lock in on green speeds and lag putting. When Coach Martens and her golfers arrive at a tournament, the Box Drill is one of the first drills they set up and complete, because getting the feel for the speed of the putting surface is essential for lower scores.
Four more putting drills are included, including the 3-6-9 Drill, Snail Drill, Makeables drill and Star Drill. These drills are designed to help your golfers make short putts, create in-match scenarios during practice, roll in birdie-distance putts and heighten concentration.
Short Game
While putting is important, many times golfers end up missing the green and must scramble to make par. The Win the Day drill is an exercise completed from the bunker in which Coach Martens requires golfers to hole out two bunker shots in order to end practice. Great for player confidence, this drill promotes keeping a low center of gravity and having the wrists pointed at the hips - two common elements of great bunker play.
Coach Martens is also a big fan of using golf rings while working on chipping. By placing a 3-foot radius ring around the hole and having a golfer put down an 18-inch circle where they want their ball to land, you can teach your athletes how to pick a spot on the green to aim for while hitting a bump-and-run or pitch shot.
Coach Martens also shares a wedge drill that improves touch and helps golfers calculate the distances they hit their wedges. She believes it's a great idea to log wedge distances and keep them on hand during a competitive round.
Distance Shots
Three long-distance drills focus on improving the creativity, accuracy and consistency of your golfers from the rough and from the tee box. The Deep Rough Drill requires players to drop a ball into the rough, adjust their setup, grip down on the club and use a steeper swing to strike the ball solidly in thicker grass. Calculating the influence of the wind and selecting the right club is paramount in the 8-Ball Drill, which can also be used to practice fading and drawing the ball.
Challenging your golfers to meet drill goals in practice will prepare them for success in upcoming tournament rounds. You will see your players become more confident on the course which will lead to more putts dropping in the hole for lower scores on the card!
45 minutes. 2016.
GLD-04944: with Andrew Tank,
Iowa State University Head Men's Golf Coach;
led the Cyclones to the NCAA Championship in 2013-14;
has coached two All-Americans and five All-Big 12 players at ISU; captain of the University of Minnesota's 2002 NCAA Championship team.
Over the course of his coaching career, Andrew Tank has developed a formula for golf practice that he uses to ensure his players learn the skills of the game and perform well throughout the season. In this video, you'll receive 23 drills, games and variations that focus on refining putting and chipping technique. Coach Tank believes that using a mix of blocked (constant) and varied (random) practice will equip golfers with the knowledge and confidence they need to play their best during competition.
Blocked practice helps give players confirmation that they are executing the chosen fundamentals correctly by completing one repetition after another in a controlled environment. Coach Tank explains that since it's more constant, blocked practice serves as a time of internal focus for a golfer.
Meanwhile, varied practice will allow your athletes to work on their mental process, judgment, and feel for adapting to different lies and conditions. More random in nature, varied practice focuses on external factors, such as changes in trajectory, distance and shot routine.
Putting Drills and Games
Coach Tank runs through five drills and 10 performance games for putting. The drills are made for the blocked portion of practice and look to improve skills like green reading, face angle control of the club, making center contact on the face of the club, and rise angle of the stroke.
Once a golfer has mastered their ability to read greens, they must repeat their stroke until to perfect it. You'll learn to keep the face of the club square, contact the ball in the center of the blade, and generate topspin for a pure roll - all essential elements in developing a great putter.
To add competitiveness to practice, Coach Tank introduces a variety of performance games. These games utilize goals and pressure, and provide scenarios that are similar to what golfers will face during a round. Coach Tank's games work on two-putting, speed control, holing out long putts, dealing with different breaks and finishing under pressure.
A drill that your players are sure to love is "Battleship," a partner game in which each golfer stands next to a hole and hits putts simultaneously until one of them makes it and scores a point.
Short Game Drills for Skills
The final portion of the video covers eight exercises for chip shots around the green. You will learn drills that focus on keeping weight on the lead foot and hitting down on the ball, as well as ways to correct a player who's being too "handsy" or "scooping" the ball on contact. Coach Tank also covers club selection, trajectory and distance control for chipping.
Coach Tank's instruction is clear, concise, and will provide you with some new ideas to use at your practices. All of the drills and games shown in this video can be used in an individual or group environment, making this a great resource for an instructor who gives personal lessons or a coach of a team.
80 minutes. 2016.