Winter Plan - Need Help to go from 85 average to 77-79ish

[LankyLefty]

Only way to get better over winter is to.... play over winter in some place where its not very wintery.

Seriously you can do a lot of stuff to help yourself out, hit the gym, go to an indoor range ect. ect. ect. but youll still be worse on the other side of winter unless you can play.

Do what you will over winter but your not going to do any better come spring, just better then you would have had you not worked over winter.

[Gresh24]

Originally Posted by LankyLefty

Only way to get better over winter is to.... play over winter in some place where its not very wintery.

Seriously you can do a lot of stuff to help yourself out, hit the gym, go to an indoor range ect. ect. ect. but youll still be worse on the other side of winter unless you can play.

Do what you will over winter but your not going to do any better come spring, just better then you would have had you not worked over winter.

I don't agree with that at all.  That's like suggesting every athlete gets worse in their offseason.  That couldn't be further from the truth.  Offseasons can be very beneficial for a number of reasons, even without true playing or competition.

[rustyredcab]

Originally Posted by LankyLefty

Only way to get better over winter is to.... play over winter in some place where its not very wintery.

Seriously you can do a lot of stuff to help yourself out, hit the gym, go to an indoor range ect. ect. ect. but youll still be worse on the other side of winter unless you can play.

Do what you will over winter but your not going to do any better come spring, just better then you would have had you not worked over winter.

I agree that once spring arrives, short game touch must be re-learned and as a result, Spring scores are inflated. But I do think much can be gained in the off season that can make real improvement possible. It is the perfect time to work on swing changes, in part because you can be less concerned about where the ball is going. I find that the years when I had a trip planned, I needed to be ready to play. The years without a trip, I can work on things all winter knowing that the changes need not be ready for the course for months.

As has been said here, beating balls in a dome will not make you better. Practice with a purpose can. Many good ideas in this thread. Pick drills that help and work on them instead of beating full swing balls. Maybe take a lesson from your pro and work on the changes for months. The pressure of having your swing ready enough to play each week is gone. Hard changes can be made and new positions and feelings can be trained.

I have very high hopes for a few big improvements this winter (I am going to learn to really trap the ball consistently.) I am not willing to mess with things now because I'm playing golf every week. I don't even want to see my swing on video now because I'm playing well and do not want to see things that I should change. If you really do want make a dramatic change in your game, winter work can be a blessing. Winter is a blessing I will try to embrace even as I suffer through February in Chicago.

[xburbx]

wow.  lots of good responses.  in summary, i think i will do the suggested stat tracking for 10 rounds to see where things really are.  i know i score the best when i get up and down the most, but i could be leaving lots of strokes in other places.  it is tedious, but for 10 rounds, i can suck it up.  i do plan on playing some winter rounds with a coat and jeans.  it might not be the most fun golf, but it will keep me in tune.