A golf lesson plan template for private lessons.

The seven blocks

Check-in: what happened since last time, round notes, any numbers from practice. Baseline: watch a few shots, or capture a number, before changing anything. One priority: explain it, demonstrate it, and set a feel or a constraint. Drill block: repeat the change with feedback, same club and same target. Varied block: change clubs and targets, or play a short scoring game, so the change survives transfer. Retest: repeat the baseline and see whether the number moved. Wrap: written notes, a practice plan with reps and a scoring game, and the next booking.

The shape stays fixed and the content inside it changes by student. Written down once, it means you never start a lesson deciding what the hour is for.

The 60-minute template

0:00 to 0:05, check-in. Ask about the last round or practice session. Look at any numbers the student brought.

0:05 to 0:15, baseline. Five to ten shots with the club you will work on. Record one number: start line through a gate, proximity to a target, strike location, or a launch monitor reading if you have one.

0:15 to 0:25, one priority. Explain the change in one sentence, show it, and give the student a feel or a constraint that forces it, such as an alignment stick, a gate, or a towel behind the ball.

0:25 to 0:40, drill block. Same club, same target, many reps, with your feedback tapering as the move settles.

0:40 to 0:50, varied block. Rotate clubs and targets every shot, or play a short game with a score. The change has to hold up without the repetition holding it together.

0:50 to 0:55, retest. Repeat the baseline exactly as you ran it. Write the number down.

0:55 to 1:00, wrap. One sentence on what changed, the practice plan, and the next lesson booked before the student leaves the tee.

The 30-minute template

0:00 to 0:03, check-in. 0:03 to 0:08, baseline with one number. 0:08 to 0:12, the priority, explained and shown. 0:12 to 0:20, drill block. 0:20 to 0:25, varied block or a short scoring game. 0:25 to 0:28, retest. 0:28 to 0:30, wrap and practice plan.

A half hour has no room for a second priority. If the retest shows the first one has not landed, the practice plan carries it into next week and the next lesson starts from the same baseline.

Baseline and retest: pick one number

The retest is what turns a lesson into evidence. Choose a number that the day's priority should move, and measure it the same way both times. Without a launch monitor: start line through a gate of two tees, proximity to a flag in paces, putts holed out of ten from a fixed distance, or strikes centered on the face with a spray or marker.

With a launch monitor, match the number to the goal. Trackman defines face angle as the biggest factor in start direction and face-to-path as the main driver of curve, so a slice lesson tracks those two. A contact lesson tracks smash factor, ball speed divided by club speed, which sits near 1.50 for a well-struck driver and around 1.25 for a pitching wedge. A speed lesson tracks club speed: Trackman notes that 1 mph of club speed can add up to 3 yards of driver distance.

Why the drill block comes before the varied block

Motor learning research has a consistent finding, going back to Shea and Morgan in 1979: blocked practice, the same shot repeated, looks better during practice, while random or varied practice tends to hold up better later. Golf has direct evidence. Porter and Magill (Journal of Sports Sciences, 2010) had 60 novices practice putts at three distances and found that a schedule that started blocked and moved toward random beat both pure blocked and pure random practice. A 2024 study of 40 novice golfers in the European Journal of Sport Science found random and differential-learning groups outperformed a blocked group at a 72-hour retention test.

The practical version: start blocked while a change is new, then mix clubs and targets so it holds up on the course. That is the order of the template, and it is worth telling the student why, because the varied block often looks worse than the drill block and they need to know that is expected.

Example plan 1: beginner, grip, setup, and contact

Baseline: ten 7-iron shots, counting solid strikes. Priority: a neutral grip and a balanced setup. Drill block: half swings with a 7-iron, feet together to keep the body centered, then a towel a few inches behind the ball to train a low point in front of it. Varied block: alternate 9-iron and 7-iron to different targets, one ball each. Putting finish: the gate drill, two tees just wider than the putter head a few inches in front of the ball, ten putts through the gate. Retest: ten 7-iron shots, counting solid strikes again. Practice plan: grip check in a mirror daily, 30 half swings with the towel, and the ladder drill on the practice green twice a week.

Example plan 2: mid-handicap, start line and curve

Baseline: ten drives, measuring start line against an alignment stick set down the target line and noting curve. With a launch monitor, record face-to-path. Priority: square the face to the path. Drill block: an alignment stick laid along the path, hitting 7-irons that must start right of a second stick and curve back, then the same with a hybrid. Varied block: alternate driver and a mid iron to two targets, calling the shape before each shot. Retest: ten drives, same measurement. Practice plan: three sets of ten starts through a gate on the range, then a nine-shot game alternating clubs and shapes with a point for each called shape.

Example plan 3: short game, with Par 18 as the test

Baseline: Par 18. Nine spots around a practice green at mixed distances and lies; chip and putt out from each, par 2 per hole, a target of 18. Priority: a consistent chipping setup and landing spot. Drill block: ten chips to a towel landing zone with one club. Varied block: three clubs to three holes, one ball each, changing the lie each time. Putting block: the ladder drill, balls at about 3, 6, 9, 12, and 15 feet, scoring a holed putt as birdie, a putt that stops between the hole and a club laid behind it as par, and anything short or reaching the club as bogey, with a goal of one under for five balls. Retest: Par 18 again. Practice plan: Par 18 twice a week, logging the score each time.

The practice plan you send home

A practice plan has three parts: reps, a scoring game, and a target number. Reps build the change: 30 half swings with the towel, or 50 putts through the gate. The scoring game tests it under mild pressure: Par 18, the ladder drill, or a nine-shot shape game. The target number gives the student something to beat before next time. Keep it to 30 to 45 minutes a session, because a plan the student cannot finish is one they will skip.

The next lesson starts from that plan. Ask for the scores, rerun the baseline, and decide whether to keep going or move on. That loop is the whole reason to write lessons down.

Playing lessons

A playing lesson tests whether range work transfers. Plan it around decisions: club selection, target choice, and a pre-shot routine. Pick three to five holes that expose the current priority, such as a tight driving hole for a start-line student or a hole with a short-sided pin for a short game student. Record a few simple stats as you go, such as fairways hit, greens in regulation, and up-and-downs, and use them to set the next range lesson's priority.

Keeping plans in one place

A plan on paper tends to stay in the cart. In Upswing a session plan is a set of timed blocks you build once and reuse, with a benchmark linked in. Golf starter plans and benchmarks come ready to copy and edit, so you are not building the first template from scratch. You can run the plan from your phone on the range, block by block on the clock, and when it reaches the retest you log the number and it lands on the student's record. A practice assignment for the week goes on the same record, where the student, or a junior's family, can see it and you can check it next lesson.

Questions