Can you get better by just playing alot?

[Golfing Dad]

My son and I play everyday. We also practice alot (I am a teacher and it is still summer). I was wondering if we just played everyday, wouldn't we get just as good or better even if we don't go to the range or the putting green? Like my son told me one day, "Dad, on the range I don't get balls behind trees, at the range I am always hitting from a flat area, whereas on the course I am hitting on uphills or downhills, there is no rough on the range, on the range and practice areas I get into a rhythm which doesn't happen on the course, etc."

I guess what I am asking is, "If you played enough and used your practice time to just play, wouldn't that make you a better player than going to the range or practice areas?"

[ks8829]

I think you will get better but you will either not get better faster or step it up to the next level and maintain that level as in a lower handicap.

Practice and the correct practice is important with a round of golf.

I believe that when you practice and the improvement translated on the course immediately, its the best feeling you can get.

if you were to ask me what percentage of practice versus playing, I would have to say 80% practice and 20% playing.

If you practice putting for an hour everyday for a week and your practice putting straight line up to 10 feet and practice your lag putting from 20-30 feet, I am confident that the next time you play a round you can break 30 putts. now along with putting if you practiced chipping around the green for an hour for a week, you will cut your stroke by 5 the next time your play and keep it off.

where as if you played everyday you putting and chipping will get sharper but may not improve as much.

[$2 Nassau]

It's very tough to argue against practice.......but you can't replicate a round of golf and the experience you gain from it.

I rarely ever practice, usually at the beginning of the season when the weather starts getting nice I'll hit the range a few times but that's it. When the season gets in full swing, I'd rather just play. Because due to time constraints and other things going on in my life, if I have the time to spare I want to be out on the course - but I guess that's a whole different thread topic.

If you have the time, do both! But if you don't then I think you can certainly improve and learn a lot about your game by just simply playing, and playing different courses of varying difficulty from different tees.

[DavidFehertysBike]

Yeah. Experience never hurts. You go through many different kinds of situations on the course that you dont find on the range, and once you go through them (even if you hit a bad shot) youll be familar with it and more comfortable next time. But you still need to practice if youre commited to being a better player.

Once or maybe twice a week, i make myself drain 50 5 foot putts in a row. When i get a 5 footer for par on the course, its like i dont even think anymore and im not intimated. Its just reflex at that point. Thats an example of what practice can do for your game rather than playing.

[David in FL]

I am not a range rat. I play a heck of a lot more than I practice, but playing more is not a substitute for practice. Can you get better solely through play? Sure, especially if you're not very good to begin with, but "better" is relative.

Remember, in a full round of golf, even a high handicapper is only hitting 14 drives or so, maybe a dozen fairway woods/hybrids, a smattering of mid-irons, a bunch of chips, and lots 'o putts........but never with an opportunity to practice and correct their problem areas. If you hit a bad driver, on the range you can analyze what caused the bad drive and make necessary adjustments, see the results, ingrain the change and benefit from it. Not so on the course....you hit a big slice and rather than "fixing" it, you charge after it and hack out of the woods.

Play as much as you like......it's fun and that's why we play this game in the first place, but I really recommend a range session a week or so to help improve your ball striking, short game, and putting. You'll get more out of your playing time and learn how to better adjust to difficulties when they do crop up on the course.

My .02 worth.

[kfowler]

It depends on what handicap level you're talking about. For a mid-high handicapper, I think you can get better but you'll peak pretty quickly. I think you'll see improvement is your short game since it's highly dependent on feel.

Driver and irons, I don't see it. It's way too hard to make swing changes on a course and ingrain them. That all needs to be done during practice.

Opposite of that is my dad, he's about a 6 HCP. His driver and irons are pretty solid. When he shoots his best is when he's been playing a lot and it lights out around the greens. That comes from experience.

[Bump-n-MI]

The key to getting better is understanding your swing flaws and then understanding how to correct them. Practicing and playing with poor mechanics will only make it harder to correct later on. That is why you hear of so many people playing off a 20+ hdcp for 20 years because they never were able to understand what it was they were doing wrong. The more you play/practice with swing flaws the harder it is to correct them.

Repetition is good but only if you are repeating something that will produce results.

[ks8829]

I experience a summer when I just played golf everyday for about 3 month. no practicing, just playing 18 holes. My best score was 75 and the next day, I shot 85 or 90.

On the other hand if I spend 40% of my time practicing. I would have been shooting in the 70s more often and become a better player sooner.

[cape cod beachfront golfer]

Sure.
You may not have a 'better' swing but your scores certainly will go down.
Since I retired I have reduced my handicap by 5 strokes.
I DO NOT hit the ball any further BUT I do some things much better.

1. I read the greens much better.
2. My golf fitness level is better.
3. I know my course distances much better... layups, etc.
4. Similar to distances, I know my club selection better. (7 iron on #8,etc)
5. I do not frustrate as quickly, knowing I will play again soon. (tommorow)

[Yukari]

I experience a summer when I just played golf everyday for about 3 month. no practicing, just playing 18 holes. My best score was 75 and the next day, I shot 85 or 90.

I agree with all those who say practice will make you a better player faster. I been playing this game for 10+ years now, and I hated practicing. For the first 8 years or so, I did not practice. I would rather go play 9 holes than practice on the range. But my score did not improve very fast.

Last four years, I have spend some (not a lot about 1 hour per month at most) time on the range to figure out my swing flaws and spend time on the short game. That is when I finally started seeing a relatively fast improvement. Practicing just hitting the ball doesn't get you anywhere--bad practice only grooves bad swing. But working on correcting one flaw at a time at the range will results in a much faster improvement than simply playing. That is because at the range, you can hit shots repeatedly to fix the swing flaw whereas on the course you don't get a chance to correct the mistake immediately after making it.

[daveh]

I experience a summer when I just played golf everyday for about 3 month. no practicing, just playing 18 holes. My best score was 75 and the next day, I shot 85 or 90.

That's what I'm doing this summer. It's much easier and cheaper (and fun) for me to play than go to the range. I do take advantage of the chipping/putting green at my course, however. And I study a lot and do some indoor practice at home.

With all the "Can't take it from the range to the course" threads I've seen, I tend to believe the "40%" more than the 80/20 listed above. I'm just a newb though.

[Big_M]

I have barely practiced myself all the way from an 18 cap or so to a 6... HOWEVER... I think both range time and course time will help different things. Building a swing takes practice, not playing type practice either. You have to build a proper swing, and even prectice other things like controlling ballflight and specialty shots. You also need to practice putting and short game. I would make the argument that there needs to be a balance for optimal improvement.

That being said, I enjoy playing and I usually practice in spurts when I want to work on something.

[wrx_junki]

I have been playing 3-4 times a week lately and not much practice. I am definitely getting better score wise but the swing is definitely not improving. I do although spend 1-2 hours a few times a week on the practice green to chip and putt. I rarely goto the golf range but think I need to start going to improve my swing.

[CG031]

You need a balance of both, I'd say 60/40 Range/Short game PRACTICE on the chipping and putting greens.

I read somewhere that Tiger PRACTICED a lot more while a lot of friends/peers were PLAYING on the course...And we all know where he is now.

You DO need to play a lot of golf on the course though to learn how to manage your score, and how to just score the golf ball in general and hit all the shots.

[enduro]

I believe practice on the range is vital. But you must make good use of it. Blindly hitting balls until the bucket is gone won't aid someone as much as taking time with each ball and trying to improve and perfect a certain element of their swing.

I'm more or less a range rat. I try and play as much as possible but I find a lot of delight in practicing and trying to perfect things. Don't get me wrong; I play twice a week usually. But I try and go to the range/putting green/chipping area 4 or 5 times a week.

Most of the time I use a 6 or 7 iron for most of the bucket. I'll mix it up to stay fresh, playing about 3 or 4 shots with every other club, and sometimes I'll go through the entire gamut, but when working on pure swing technique, I like to keep the club constant until I feel I'm adequate in that certain technique before I use it with other clubs. The 6 iron is the perfect club for this I feel.

If I know the course I'm playing the next day I'll "play" 18 holes on the range of that course planning my shots, simulating that course. but that's really more of a mental preparation thing.