Chart your progress on a notepad

All practice should have a goal, weather it is trying to make a larger percentage of 10-foot putt or straightening out an erratic diver. Chart your progress on a notepad. This type of organization will prevent you from following the wrong path.

We practice to improve both our score and our enjoyment. This acquires the ability to change, and most importantly, "to think". Limit the time of your practice sessions to the time you can be strong mentally and physically. Many good practice sessions do not produce the result they should because the player hit too many practice balls, got tired, and fell back into old bad habits.

Instruction and information combined with intelligent practice are the ingredients to a better golf game!
"Concentration" on distance rather than direction will result in rolling those long ones up for a "gimme".

Putting is a matter of combining the distance of the putt and the direction of the putt. For the most part, the direction will be fairly automatic. Rolling the ball approximately on line is fairly automatic for even the newest golfers, bur hitting the ball the right distance is an acquired talent that takes time and practice. When making a practice stroke, the player should concentrate on how hard the putt must be hit and then duplicate that stroke when making the actual putt.

When you have a short putt of a few feet that you certainly expect to make, roll the ball firmly enough to reach the back of the cup. Nothing is more frustrating than leaving a 3 or 4-foot putt short. Making the putt to the back of the hole will do three things:

    Eliminate or lessen the amount of "break".
    Putting greens are not perfect. If the putt has speed, little imperfection such as pebbles or sand will have less influence on the roll of the putt.
    Reduce the chances of leaving the putt short.
These types of shots are custom made for a wedge or a 9-iron. The effect of the long green will once again decrease the loft of the club. The ball will therefore fly lower and run more than if it were in the fairway. Remember, allow the loft of the club to lift the ball out of the rough! Seldom does a player have a purely sidehill or uphill lie. This system takes all the factors into account as the practice swing is the forerunner to the actual shot.
Practice

The general of thumb is to position the ball in the stance nearer the higher foot on the downhill lies, and about center on the uphill lies. On sidehill lies, position the ball left center (as you normally would). If the ball is above your feet on the sidehill lie, you will normally hit the ball straight or pull it to the left. If the ball is below your feet, most players will actually pull the ball to the left because their leg action will slow down as they try to maintain their balance.