Taking it to the course?

[bkoguy07]

How do you guys effectively take your game to the course? I spend 2 days on the range practicing a week and I went out for a round the other day, and played terrible. Couldn't hit driver well, ball striking was diminished and inconsistent. Short game was ok. Now I usually only play once every month or 2, but hit the range twice a week and more practicing my short game. When I used to play more (1 or 2 times a week and still go to the range) I was noticing significant improvement. I recently started working on deeper hands and I've been hitting ropes on the range with every club and been pretty great overall. But when I got out there, I never felt comfortable and felt a little nervous and out of place. I was thinking about practicing maybe a little less and going out for practice rounds a little bit more should help. How do you guys generally "practice" and go out for rounds?

[sean_miller]

I warm up, practice my swing. hit balls with a few different clubs, then just throw a bunch down in whatever like the land in. I gut my way through those, then hit a few more visualizing a course estimating actual fairway and green dimensions. When I visualize a golf hole overlayed on the range, I'm usually not striping it as well as I thought. That's the feeling I take to the course - reality.

[mcgriff]

I am the guy at the range that you secretly have a chuckle about when you bomb your 300 yard practice drive. I am awful in practice. Just like any other sport, I hit the practice field trying to improve what I failed at the previous game. I will try to duplicate the really bad shots I had and fix em. Some sessions I do try to hit perfect target shots. Most sessions I really concentrate on fixing what is broken based on what I did the round previous.

I don't practice for the next round, I practice for the last round.

[The Road Dog]

I've only recently learned the correct stance and swing for me, that is the one I can replicate and get good distance consistently. So I practice aiming at the range which is what I struggle with on the course. When on the course I now understand that all my aiming cues from the range are gone and I'm struggling to remember how to aim for each different hole and the various shots. But when I get off game I go back to the basic swing stance and that seems to work. Oh and two more things are course management and club selection, I try to slow down and think through those two items on the course.

[JML22]

warm up putting chipping and irons
whatever way i'm hitting my irons/driver i hit it like the entire round
fixing stuff on the course = blowups

[Uber$winG]

How do you guys generally "practice" and go out for rounds?

I knew a kid who played on the Gateway Tour when I was living in Colorado, and he gave me some advice to which I still adhere when it comes to practice…

He said that there are essentially two kinds of practice on the range: one is practicing your golf swing; the other is practicing your golf game. The first one is more about working on the mechanics of your swing. That is to say, you are consciously working on, and are ostensibly aware of, things like takeaway, maintaining your lag angle, getting to a sound impact position, and the like. The second one is all about practicing real course situations. Instead of spilling a bucket of balls in front of yourself – play just one ball at a time (with the rest of the balls out of sight when addressing the one ball). Go through your pre-shot routine, pick a target and hit that target. For example, let’s say you miss your target twenty yards right, but it’s hole high (concerning the target anyways) – now you are left with a twenty yard pitch shot to the target (of your choosing) twenty yards away. Of course it depends on the practice range, but you can practice shots from the rough, shots from either above or below your feet, uphill and downhill lies, and the numerous other situations in which we tend to find ourselves. The key point relative to this kind of practice is to put yourself in a situation where you have to make the shot you want to make - with just one swing. In this respect, you are only limited by your imagination. Regarding the second scenario, I bring a course yardage book (or scorecard) with me in order to help visualize the imaginary hole that I am going to play. Keep a practice scorecard that denotes the kind of shots with which you have trouble, and work on those types of shots in the mechanical practice sessions.

[Zeph]

I take whatever I practice on the range to the course. I rarely ever play golf anymore without a swing thought. Not that I got 3-4 swing thoughts at the same time, it's usually just one or two. Taking what I work on to the course is very useful. I hit the ball better and usually score better, and my swing change progress faster.

Whatever I'm working on, I know it is right, I don't just try out random stuff. Don't do that on the range either actually. I got a goal all the time when hitting golf balls, being on the range or course. If I keep doing that for a while, things will start to get into my muscle memory.

[Chief Broom]

To the OP I'd suggest simply playing more on the course. Practicing is great but if that's the majority of what you do you'll no doubt find it awkward when you actually play a round. Regardless of how you practice at the range it's pretty much impossible to replicate the experience of actually playing. The rhythm is different. You may not be pounding balls at the range, but in play you can go a pretty long time between shots, and lets face it when playing you're stuck playing wherever and whatever your previous shot leaves you. Then throw in all the complex lies and stances of playing a real course and the experience can be very different. I'd say maintain your current practice schedule but strive to work in at least 18 holes a week. If time is a consideration consider breaking that up into 9's.

[ks8829]

I practice putting and chipping prior to going out to play a round, during the week, I will practice putting and chipping at least twice for about 1 - 2 hours and I play at least once a week.

[Koth]

The second one is all about practicing real course situations. Instead of spilling a bucket of balls in front of yourself – play just one ball at a time (with the rest of the balls out of sight when addressing the

After reading this I went to try it on my daily lunch break visit to the driving range, and it was actually pretty fun. I didn't have any old scorecards on hand, so I just tried to hit targets. I usually ended up hitting my 3-wood to within 50 yards and then following it up with a wedge, but the idea of only having one swing to get the ball there was interesting.

[tshapiro]

No matter what your level, nerves will always be a part of the game. Practice allowing yourself to loosen up as part of your pre swing routine. This is critical to feeling comfortable at setup and being able to complete your backswing. Make sure you know when you complete your back swing. For me, my left shoulder touches my chin. Nerves will shorten your backswing and it's all downhill from there. The 3 primary swing thoughts I bring to the course are to stay loose, finish my backswing, and to start my downswing with my left hip while letting the club drop to an inside position.