The Nine Ball Flights Golf Game (Video) - by Pete Styles
The Nine Ball Flights Golf Game (Video) - by Pete Styles

Now the Nine Ball Flights Game is a game that Hank Haney and Tiger Woods used to work an awful lot on, so I can’t claim credit for inventing this game. But Tiger and Hank Haney would spend a lot of time on the driving range. When Tiger was swinging well, he’d want something to keep his practice interesting, keeping focused. So Hank Haney would ask him to hit the nine different ball flights.

So let’s just look what those might be. Imagine we are on a grid and we've got top left, middle, top right, middle left, middle middle, middle right, and downstairs here we've got bottom left, bottom middle, bottom right. So we've got that big grid with nine different spaces, nine different windows if you like. And then when Tiger was on the driving range, he would be standing there hitting golf balls and Haney would just call out to him, oh try and hit it through the middle of them, try and hit it through the top middle, the bottom middle, picking out those different windows. And then Tiger would have to alter his swing, his stance, his setup, to create the perfect shot that would fly through that intended window, but crucially try and get it back to the target. So if it was a left hand window, it's not just the case of hitting the big pull hook that goes miles left into the trees. The idea was to hit it through the left hand window, but to bring it back around on to the green, well the right hand window through the window, draw it back round on to the green. And it’s a fantastic way of you understanding and also improving on your ball flights. What we often find with golfers when we set this task is that they have preferred windows, windows that they find easier. For some people, they have a low ball flight, so of course all the low windows become easier instantly. The high windows they struggle with. Vice versa, they might love the high shots, struggle with the low shots. The important thing is here. You identify the windows that you struggle with and actually try and hit those more, focus on those shots that you struggle with because out in the golf course particularly as a good player you will get asked to hit certain shots on a windy day, you might have to try and hit everything lower. On a firm greens day, when the greens are really firm there is not much water on them, you might have to try and hit everything high so it stops a little bit quicker and spins a little bit more. Certain times we are going to have to draws against the windows, fades around the lake. So by understanding those nine different ball flights and working on how to hit them, it’s a great way of improving your practice, engaging with your practice and not becoming so bored. And if it works for Tiger Woods, it’s got to be good enough for us. 2015-07-07

Now the Nine Ball Flights Game is a game that Hank Haney and Tiger Woods used to work an awful lot on, so I can’t claim credit for inventing this game. But Tiger and Hank Haney would spend a lot of time on the driving range. When Tiger was swinging well, he’d want something to keep his practice interesting, keeping focused. So Hank Haney would ask him to hit the nine different ball flights.

So let’s just look what those might be. Imagine we are on a grid and we've got top left, middle, top right, middle left, middle middle, middle right, and downstairs here we've got bottom left, bottom middle, bottom right. So we've got that big grid with nine different spaces, nine different windows if you like.

And then when Tiger was on the driving range, he would be standing there hitting golf balls and Haney would just call out to him, oh try and hit it through the middle of them, try and hit it through the top middle, the bottom middle, picking out those different windows. And then Tiger would have to alter his swing, his stance, his setup, to create the perfect shot that would fly through that intended window, but crucially try and get it back to the target. So if it was a left hand window, it's not just the case of hitting the big pull hook that goes miles left into the trees. The idea was to hit it through the left hand window, but to bring it back around on to the green, well the right hand window through the window, draw it back round on to the green.

And it’s a fantastic way of you understanding and also improving on your ball flights. What we often find with golfers when we set this task is that they have preferred windows, windows that they find easier. For some people, they have a low ball flight, so of course all the low windows become easier instantly. The high windows they struggle with. Vice versa, they might love the high shots, struggle with the low shots. The important thing is here. You identify the windows that you struggle with and actually try and hit those more, focus on those shots that you struggle with because out in the golf course particularly as a good player you will get asked to hit certain shots on a windy day, you might have to try and hit everything lower. On a firm greens day, when the greens are really firm there is not much water on them, you might have to try and hit everything high so it stops a little bit quicker and spins a little bit more. Certain times we are going to have to draws against the windows, fades around the lake. So by understanding those nine different ball flights and working on how to hit them, it’s a great way of improving your practice, engaging with your practice and not becoming so bored. And if it works for Tiger Woods, it’s got to be good enough for us.