How to practice as a member of the USA Junior National Team

For the second year in a row, the USA Junior National Team – part and beyond US National Development Programwhich began in 2023 with a mission to identify, train, develop, fund and support the nation’s most promising young players – descended from Scottsdale’s Desert Mountain in early March for the band’s spring practice session. Last year I attended one of the sessions to get a feel for how the team worked. I came away impressed by the highly organized and specific drills they put in, and had the opportunity to observe the team in action again this year.

Twenty members of the team’s 24-man roster were in attendance for the multi-day training session, and coach Chris Zambri had the team undergo the same combine-style practice drills as before, which includes rotating between three separate practice areas and completing four different drills designed to sharpen putting skills, bunker shots and ball striking.

How did Zambri come up with this particular plan of attack for practice? Years of experience – and data collection.

Prior to his appointment as head coach of the USA Junior National Team, Zambri, a former pro himself, coached the men’s golf teams at the University of Southern California and Pepperdine. While at USC, Zambri worked with a research scientist to identify the average length of shots that players were leaving on their own during a round. Using this data, Zambri created an “18-hole” drill to simulate a round of shots on the greens.

Setup: Simulate a round

At Mount Desert, simulated putting rounds involved players practicing putts from two to 52 feet, eliminating any misses and recording their scores. Zambri’s data is proprietary but available at Golf App of the Decade to the general public with a paid subscription. Every member of the USA Junior National Team also has access to Golf Decade.

With these stats, not only can juniors compare their scores to each other, they can also compare them to the PGA Tour average. In this particular drill, a score of 29 equals 0 strokes gained on the PGA Tour. Players can also analyze their speed by measuring how many inches long or short their goals end up.

Want to try this workout yourself? If you’re a stat tracker, you can include data from your recent rounds for a truly personalized practice round. Or, there are apps like Decade Golf.

“The advice I would give to the general public is to take a tape measure and calculate how far 12 inches, 6 inches, 24 inches is,” advised USNDP regional coach Mo Martin. “Because 20 inches is a lot smaller than a lot of people think.”

Bunkers: Target proximity

For sand practice, the players hit 15 shots from the bunker on a “pin,” which was embodied by USNDP assistant coach Tiffany Joh, who changed the location for each shot. The proximity of each shot to the target is measured in inches (with a maximum of 200 inches) and the three highest numbers are thrown at the bottom. The remaining numbers are then added together for a total number. The lower the number, the better your bunker plays.

Driving range: Line test

In this test, players use a launch monitor placed on a specific target to measure how far off-line each shot is. Players hit 20 shots with the number of yards lost left or right added together for a total score.

Driving range: Random space

Once again, players are tasked with hitting 20 shots, but this time, the random fairway test is meant to challenge players to hit a specific pitch with their scoring clubs — wedges into short irons — in an effort to simulate an on-course experience.

The purpose of these drills, of course, is not only to help players improve, but also to provide a CoRe for that improvement. The tests are repeated in the fall, so players can compare scores as well as test themselves at home in between formal team meetings.

“It’s a great practice tool,” USNDP Assistant Manager Christopher Tanabe said of the combine drills. “It’s one thing to go to the range and work on your swing and hit balls, but how do you take a test like this, especially when you’re so focused on getting to the line, it’s so intentional, you’re tired after. But it’s a good way to end a day at the range.”

Ultimately, Zambri said he hopes players can use the combine drills not only as a tool to improve their game, but also as a measure of true excellence.

“We did this test for about 11 years, twice a week, with a group of really good players,” Zambri said of the development of the combine. “So, consequently, we figured out what’s really good. And so it’s almost like a ladder that you just try to work your way up to that number eventually.

“We’re saying almost, close to the human level of perfection is a score of maybe X on one of these tests. And what are you getting? And that tells us right there, where is the room for growth? How much room? Are we there? If we’re there, we can say, hey, whatever happens, get over it quickly because you’re doing something really, really good.”

“On the other hand, we can say to other people, hey, you might want to try some things. We need to get this score down from 80 to 60, or 160 to 120. I’m hoping for a measuring stick, to get them to go home and get better at it.”

For the world’s best young golfers—and the rest of us recreational golfers—we hope these drills can help make the next golf season the best yet.