Cole’s practice plan
A real one, built for one golf kid from everything the parent had shared. Nothing here is demo copy.
Range + Short-Game Session: Wedges, the Driver Miss, and Scoring
Cole strikes his irons pure — this session leaves the middle of the bag mostly alone and spends its time where his strokes actually go: wedge distance control, the driver block under pressure, and the short putts that follow a good approach.
Warmup — 8 minutes
Tempo Ladder — Wedge Up to Mid-Iron
Three balls each with the wedge, the 9, and the 7 — same smooth tempo on all of them, letting the longer club do the work instead of swinging harder. The point isn't distance, it's protecting the timing that's already Cole's best quality before anything else starts.
Cue: "Longer swing, never a harder swing."
Block 1: Wedge Distance Control — 20 minutes
The Clock System — 50, 75, 100
Three backswing lengths, not three swing speeds: 7:30 (half), 9:00 (three-quarter), 10:30 (full but smooth). Hit three balls to a 50-yard target with the 7:30 length, three to 75 with 9:00, three to 100 with 10:30. Same tempo every time — the length sets the distance. The goal is a known number, not a hero shot. This is the gap that's been costing him: 75 yards should be a rehearsed length, not a coin flip.
Cue: "Pick the length, then trust it — no deceleration."
Land It On a Towel
Lay a towel at about 60 yards. Nine balls, one goal: carry the towel — not the flag, the towel. This trains commitment to a specific landing spot and kills the last-second deceleration that shows up whenever he doubts the shot.
Cue: "Commit to the landing spot, accelerate through it."
Block 2: The Driver Under Pressure — 15 minutes
Stay in the Chair
The block-right comes from standing up through impact — his hips push toward the ball and the club gets stuck behind him. Set his bag or a chair just behind his backside at address; the drill is to keep his rear end in contact with it through impact, so he stays in his posture and the club can swing back down the line.
Cue: "Keep your rear pocket on the chair through the hit."
The Fairway-Finder 3-Wood
The honest scoring club for when a hole demands a fairway. A smooth 3-wood he can find the short grass with, on purpose. Alternate: one driver "green-light" swing, one 3-wood "fairway" swing — and name out loud which one each imaginary hole would actually call for.
Cue: "Fairway first. The driver is a choice, not a default."
Block 3: Scoring Putts — 12 minutes
The 3-to-6 Foot Circle
Ring of tees at 3 to 6 feet around a hole. Make all six in a row before he leaves — miss one, start the ring over. These are the putts that follow a good wedge, and the ones that turn a bogey into a par.
Cue: "Start line first, then speed — make them boring."
Lag Ladder — Kill the 3-Putt
From 30, 40, and 50 feet, one goal: leave every ball inside a three-foot circle around the hole. Never the make — the leave. His three-putts come from speed, not line.
Cue: "Roll it to the fringe of a bucket, not the hole."
Finish — 5 minutes
Nine-Ball Scramble to a Score
Play out a pretend hole: a 75-yard wedge to a green, then putt out whatever's left, and write the score down. A good wedge means nothing until the putt drops — this closes the loop the way a round actually does.
Cue: "One shot at a time — the card is just the last putt, over and over."
One thing to watch today: after a bad range shot, does he reset and re-run his routine, or does he rake another ball and swing faster? The range is where the bogey-train habit is built or broken — the reset matters more than the next swing.
Tell it about your kid and it remembers — then everything it writes is built for them.