For non published holds (which I don't think i've ever done in the UK) I used a similar technique to the above.
Picture yourself at the bottom of the DI with the centre being the fix and draw in the hold
If the instructions were to
Hold south of the XYZ VOR
on the 180 deg radial.
at 5000 ft
left turns
Picture yourself at the bottom of the DI,
mentaly draw your a line on the DI from 180 to the center
mentaly draw in your left outbound turn followed by the outbound leg the inbound turn and the inbound leg to complete the picture.
mentaly draw in the dividing line that denotes the different sectors of the hold then use the following accroym to figure out your entry
NDB TOP
(Nose=Direct Body=Teardrop Outside=Parallel)
The nose being the small area inside the holding pattern, the body being inside the main 'body' of the pattern and outside being self explanitory.
so for eg if your track takes you over the fix and into the nose of the hold it will be a direct entry. If your track takes you over the fix into the body, do a tear drop entry and if you cross the fix to the outside of the hold do a parallel entry. (NDB TOP).
You can apply this to published holds by using the reciprocal of the inbound leg when forming your mental picture (which is iirc is conveniently printed on the outbound leg of the hold to save on mental arithmetic, if it's not , pencil it in before you go).
With a bit of practice you can do this quite quickly and accurately but you need to do it when you are heading direct to the hold.
Now I have a question.
With regards to max holding speed. We all know that it should not be above 250kts bellow 10k' however in FAA books I found following speed restrictions due to max bank angle.
0-6000ft - 200kt
6000-14000ft - 230kt
14000-UNL 265kts.
that's the FAA...they have can have slightly different rules, I don't remember the speeds though as i've never flown an aircraft capable of exceeding them
