Golf Tasks and Activities
Most of the tasks and activities in this golf unit will be done in partners, we hope having partners will help in integrating the ADD and foreign exchange students successfully and safely. We will make sure that none of these students will partner with each other.
Putting Drills
Overall Cues for Putting:
Eyes over the ball
Feet shoulder width apart, knees slightly bent
Balanced
Pendulum Stroke
Factors that Effect Putting:
Grain of grass
Uphill, downhill side-hill
Wind
Length of grass
Obstacles (mini golf)
1) Putting without the ball:
Goal: Learn the proper putting swing, and develop a comfortable grip
Conditions: Students will mimic the teacher on how to set up for a putt, the grip (students can discover for themselves what grip is comfortable for them) and the body movement
Cues: Feet shoulder width apart, knees slightly bent
Balanced front-back and side to side weight
Pendulum stroke
2) Putt with eyes closed:
Goal: Hit a series of 10 foot puts with eyes closed
Practice: Try putting the ball different distances aiming for a student selected target, to get the feel for making contact with the ball. Then progress to trying to putt with eyes closed.
Cues: Make sure stance is correct
Concentrate on hitting the putt solidly with an accelerating motion on the forward stroke
Can vary distance and difficulty of putt
3) Five in a line Game:
Goal: Make five putts in a row of varying distances, developing an understanding of putting proper distances
Cues: Balanced, square blade, comfortable grip, quiet body, nose over ball, smooth even stroke
Conditions: Lay a ball two feet from the hole, and lay down four more in a straight line at two-foot intervals. Put the ball nearest the hole, then the second and so on. If you miss any putt start over. Try to make all in a row
Progression: Once you have made all in a row, you can make the putts longer and start over, or make putts shorter if having difficulties
4) Listen but don't Look:
Goal: Hit a series of putts from inside 10 feet, using good putting alignment
Conditions: Keep head down until you hear the ball hit the bottom of the cup
Cues: Eyes over the ball
Hit the ball square with putter
To make putts in the way, your alignment and feel for distance must be accurate
5) Golf 21 (Can play this game with chipping as well)
Goal: Putt the ball to as close to the hole as possible
Conditions: Partners or groups of 3 play this game, one group per hole. Players take putts from a certain distance from opposite sides of the hole
Scoring: (first to 21 wins)
- 1 point for closest to hole
- 2 points for a lip out
- 3 points for making a putt
6) 9 hole contest
Goal: Develop proper etiquette on the putting green, and use as little strokes as possible
Conditions: Can make contest individual or Team oriented
Scoring: Scored just like regular golf
7) Building a Mini Golf Course
Goal: Practice putting, developing more knowledge on golf rules and scoring
Conditions: Provide students with various equipment to create a course. Students will be in small groups and each group will be responsible for building a hole in the gym. Students will have to decide what par they will give the hole, this will help build on their knowledge of golf rules. Student will then play each others holes, prizes for most original and best use of equipment on the holes
Chipping Drills
Overall Cues for Chipping
Grip down on club
Open stance (feet and hips)
Stand closer to the ball on a chip shot then a normal shot
Arms hang comfortable from the shoulders
Ball in the middle of the stance
Pendulum Stroke
Accelerate to and through the ball
Keep hands ahead of the club-head on follow through
8) Set-up and Swing Drill
Goal: Learn the proper chipping swing
Conditions: Students will mimic the teacher on how to set up for a chip, the grip and the body movement
Cues: Grip down on the club
Stand closer to the ball on a chip shot then a normal shot
Pendulum Stroke
9) Landing within an Area Drill
Goal: Students will have to learn how to judge distance, and how big of a swing to use
Conditions: Two clubs will be laid down parallel to each other a 4 ft apart perpendicular to the chipper. The students will partner up and take turns trying to land the chip between the two golf clubs. The students can provide feedback to each other
Cues: Open stance, weight on front foot, hands to target, quiet body
Progression: The clubs can be moved different distances apart and farther away or closer to the chipper to make the drill more difficult or simpler
10) Chipping into a large bucket
Goal: Develop loft on the chip shot, and judge distance properly
Conditions: Students in partner will take turns trying to land a golf ball into a large bucket
Cues: Students will have to put more loft on the ball to get it in the bucket
Move ball back in stance to get more loft
Open stance
Progression: The bucket can be moved to different distances for different degrees of difficulty
Different sizes of buckets can be used
11) Chipping with different clubs (Trajectories)
Goal: Using proper chipping skills with different clubs
Conditions: Students will try chipping with different clubs to discover the different trajectories the ball flies depending on the club. Students will discover what clubs to use depending on the lie they are hitting from and the lie of the green that they are hitting too
Cues: A more lofted club is better for hitting to a downhill lie as the ball will roll less
A less lofted club is better for hitting to an uphill lie
12) Target Chipping
Goal: Chip ball as close to target as possible
Conditions: A target game where rings will be set up around a center target, students will chip from a certain distance and try to land the ball as close to the center as possible. Students can do this game by themselves or as a group contest type of game
Scoring: Points will be awarded depending on what ring the ball lands in. Point value of the rings increases the closer the ball is to the center
13) Closest to Hole contest (can play this game for sand play (task #17) and long iron play (task #20))
Goal: Chip the ball as close to hole as possible
Conditions: The contest can be a no pressure, everyone gets a shot type of game, with everyone just trying their best to get the ball as close as possible
The contest can become more competitive with a knockout tournament style closest to the hole contest. Students will be in a tournament bracket and will go head to head, closest chip moves on and the other person will face someone else that wasn't closest and so on until there is an overall winner
Can have contests of different lengths of chips
14) Building a Chipping course
Goal: Practice chipping, developing more knowledge on golf rules and scoring
Conditions: Provide students with various equipment to create a course. Students will be in small groups and each group will be responsible for building a hole on the field. Students will have to decide what par they will give the hole, this will help build on their knowledge of golf rules. Student will then play each others holes, prizes for most original and best use of equipment on the holes
Sand Play Drills
Overall Cues for Sand play:
Firm footing
Open stance to restrict back-swing and to steepen the swing
Open club face
Strike san from two to four inches behind the ball
Accelerate through ball
15) Set-up and Swing Drill
Goal: Learn the proper sand swing
Conditions: Students will mimic the teacher on how to set up for a sand shot, the grip and the body movement
Cues: Establish firm footing in sand
Open stance
Splash sand from bunker with a swing path traveling parallel to the body's aim
16) Target Sand play
Goal: Hit ball to as close to hole as possible from the sand
Practice: Try hitting different shots from the sand from different lies and distances
Cues: For buried shot play the ball further back in stance
Accelerate well into impact
Sink feet deeper into sand for buried shot
Conditions and Scoring: Same premise as task #12, target chipping
17) Closest to Target contest
Long Iron Drills
18) Set-up and Swing Drill
Goal: Learn the proper long iron swing
Conditions: Students will mimic the teacher on how to set up for an iron shot, the grip and the body movement
Cues: Swing Easy
Fix eyes on spot where ball would be
Smooth Consistent swing
19) Accuracy
Goal: Hit the ball straight with an iron, develop understanding of the distance each iron club hits
Conditions: Students in partners will take turns hitting iron shots trying to hit the ball within a target lane. Student will provide each other with feedback on the swing, and teacher will circulate
Cues: Swing easy, hit hard
Keep head down and eyes fixed on ball during swing
Develop smooth consistent swing
20) Closest to hole
Driver Drills
21) Set-up and Swing Drill
Goal: Learn the proper Driver swing without the ball
Conditions: Students will mimic the teacher on how to set up for an driver shot, the grip and the body movement
Cues: Swing Easy
Fix eyes on the tee
Clip the top of the tee with the club head
22) Accuracy
Goal: Hit the ball straight with a driver off of a tee
Conditions: Students in partners will take turns hitting driver shots trying to hit the ball within a target lane. Student will provide each other with feedback on the swing, and teacher will circulate
Cues: Swing easy, hit hard
Keep head down and eyes fixed on ball during swing
Develop smooth consistent swing
23) Long Drive and Accuracy for points
Goal: Drive the ball straight and Accurate
Conditions: Student will drive the ball as far as they can, and as accurate as they can. Students can keep track of the score themselves, or this can be turned into a tournament much like the one in task #13 (Closest to hole contest)
Scoring: Points will be awarded for distance and points will be taken away for how far away the ball is from the straight center target line
24) Soccer Golf (Could use Frisbees and play Frisbee golf)
Goal: Practice golf etiquette without the use of golf clubs, balls, and a golf course
Conditions: Teacher will set up a course on the field, and students will play golf using a soccer ball and kicking it around the course. Student will play each hole in groups of 3-4 with a shot-gun start.
Cues: Use proper golf etiquette
Learn the proper scoring for golf
Course management
25) Reality Golf (Taken from Tim Hopper's web page and Griffen et. al.)
Goal: Play holes of reality golf trying to get as low a score as possible
Conditions: As we go through the unit, the teacher can have the students play holes of reality golf that use only what parts of golf have been learned at that point (for example a whole of about 50 yards, that uses just chipping and putting). By the end of the unit the student will be able to play a full length course of reality golf
26) Pitch and Putt Golf Tournament
Goal: Get the lowest score possible on a 9 hole pitch and putt course
Conditions: Students will golf in a foursome, using a scramble format where the students will choose whose ball to play on each shot (usually the best shot by the foursome) although each member of the foursome must have an equal number of their shots used as the best ball.