By Bill Burk

Jamestown Community College Head Golf Coach 10^th year

2001 NJCAA Regional Championship

2000 NJCAA National Champions 

2000 NJCAA National Champions

Coach of local NJCAA All Americans:

1999: Adam Singer, Clymer

2000: Tony Bisignano, Pete Scheira, Joe Traniello, Jamestown

2001: Roy Swan, Frewsburg

2003: Kyle Benish, Southwestern

2006/07 Andy Frank: Allegheny Limestone 

2000 National Coach of the Year NJCAA Division III 

It is almost impossible to spend too much of your practice time on the short game.  Let me repeat that because it’s the major tenant in putting together a solid, competitive golf team in the short time we get here in the frozen world of Spring golf (a northeastern oxymoron in my opinion). It is almost impossible to spend too much of your practice time on the short game”. 

I have three basic reasons for this golf practice strategy:

1. When your players are on their own, you can bet they’re not practicing 4-footers, or chipping to tap-in range.  Most are trying to hit driver nine miles, drop flop wedges out of the sky, or knock down a sucker pin.  You might as well have them practice something they’ll really need in tournaments when it’s your practice time.

2. Tee-to-green the courses in this area are fairly friendly for the most part.  We don’t play at 7,000 yards, we don’t play in particularly penal rough, we don’t have to spin it too much (especially in the wet, wet Spring).  Ball striking and distance-control are always vital to scoring, but you can make up for a lot of mistakes if you can get up and down consistently.

3. Almost all players like to bomb the ball and very few hit it far and straight (if I had my way I would’ve snapped a lot of expensive drivers in the past 10 years).  This leads to a lot of recovery shots, missed GIR’s, and chances to save par from off the green.

The first year we hosted the NJCAA Division III Championships at Chautauqua Golf Club in 2000 was the first year I embraced the short-game practice emphasis.  To set up the course for a national championship, Chautauqua did not do what I thought they would, what they do at the professional level for US Open and PGA Championships, they did not grow the rough, and narrow the fairways.  They protected par on and around the greens.  At around 6,400 yards he course was very manageable for the way kids hit the ball these days…it was when players got around the greens that separation took place. 

 We practiced at least 3 hour, 4 times a week to get ready for that tournament.  At least 70% of those practices were on the practice green.  Not coincidentally, 2000 was the year we won the college’s first-ever national championship, coming from 5 down on the final day to win going away by ten shots. 

     That team was full of nice swings and talent.  We had plenty of length to overpower the course with Tony Bisignano and Pete Schiera, ball-striking with Matt Bird and Jason Anderson, and superb distance control with Joe Traniello still one of the best in the area at this skill).  The only thing I believed we lacked going into the tournament was enough short game (though not from Joe, who really had it all).  We spent the month after regionals (where Joe was runner-up) mostly on the greens.  I did not need to see these guys out on the course banging it around.  They had the shots and could manage the course well enough.  I knew the tournament (like most you’ll ever play or coach in) would come down to staying away from big numbers and making short putts.

     The best player we’ve had at JCC, two time NJCAA All American Andy Frank, was, coincidentally, also the best I ever coached at getting up and down (it helped that he didn’t have to all the time). 

     Stan Marshaus once told me that the best players in the world have two things going for them; they hit it a long way (technology, fitness, and peer pressure are taking care of this for most young players), and they have soft hands around the green.  Kids are going to learn how to hit it far, but it’s the rare player who wants to work on the second part of the equation.  This focus becomes the job of the good coach. 

Some drills we use at JCC:

-Short-putt-sequence: Phil Mickelson makes one hundred 4-footers in a row before he finishes every practice (if he misses putt number 99, he starts over again).  He says that when he’s hot he can do it in around an hour.  At JCC we do a progressive drill that starts with ten 3-footers in a row up to 5-footers. Use alignment help if needed.  Find some combination of distance and reps that works for the talent level of your team.  I always tell my teams that I don’t want to ever hear about a four-footer they missed on the course unless they’ve missed hundreds on the practice green first…only then have they earned the right to complain.  Hit all your 5-foot and under putts in a 4 day tournament and you’d be surprised how well you can score.  Grooving this stroke and confidence are they keys to being a good short-putter.  This drill gets you there. 

-Up and down games:  Phil Camarata (an excellent local golfer) told me that when he prepared for his NJCAA national championships for JCC he wouldn’t leave the  practice green until he made 15 straight up-and-downs.  We play games to 10 points (one for an up-and-down, two for a chip-in) and determine a team champ; three balls at a time, alternate choosing the shot.  Change the pairings, pick a club they all have to use (great for developing creativity around the green), make them putt with the blade of a wedge to develop concentration. 

-Around the clock:  Take ten balls and place them the same distance in a circle around a hole on the practice green.  See who can make the most of the ten.  Change the hole and distance and do it again.  By going all around the same hole you can usually get an up-hill, downhill, right-breaking, and left-breaking putt.  This is a good mix-in while they’re making their fifteen 4-footers in a row from the previous drill.   

-Chip-ins:  I usually don’t let the team out onto the course until they have made their putting sequences, and chip in a few times, preferably with different clubs.  We have had plenty of practices when players never get off the practrice green, but if they don’t have the chipping and putting skills to do these drills, you’re not doing them any favors by letting go out and play. 

There are a million of these drills limited only by your imagination.  Work backward from the skills your players need and develop a team-drill or practice plan.  The more contests you can make of these drills the more your team will focus and drive to master the skill. 

Note:  Make sure that your team is using good fundamentals during practice.  The repetition designed in these drills will groove whatever they are doing.  If it’s sloppy foot, or hand-work, that is what they will master.  Take time to correct form and especially balance.