Path to improvement: How to divide range practice and playing?

[Chris Stewart]

I picked the game back up pretty seriously in February. At that time, I was able to get out to the range at lunch and work on specific things and on the weekends get in 9 or 18 holes of play. I can't really practice like that now given the temperatures and my inability to shower/change after lunch each day. :-) Recently I joined a "twilight club" where you have free play after 5pm and/or 2 large buckets of balls each night. Thus far, I've only played 9 holes each time out and haven't used the range privilege as of yet. I have this mental block of feeling like if I can get out on the course, I want to get out on the course. Before, I had no option, it was either range at lunch or nothing. From February through April, I was on the practice range over lunch at least 3 times a week working on 5SK and overall ball striking. Since April, I've been on the range 3 times total but my frequency of play has gone up a lot. Currently, I play 9 holes twice a week, and 18 every other weekend or so. I've continued to improve since my practice sessions stopped, but maybe not as much as I would have had I continued to work in both. So it got me thinking, what kind of ratio do you use for practice and playing? Even though I'm calling it playing, it's certainly still practice, just not as repetitious or drill oriented. I need to get over the idea of if I can play, I should play, and maybe use one of my weekly outings for range/bunker/chip/putt practice only. Or, set up a night where I take a bucket of balls first and focus on drills then immediately play 9 holes to focus on play and score/results.

[dsc123]

For the best chances of improvement, I think it should something like 2:1 favoring practice.  But that's really hard during the playing season.  I'd say 1:1 is a good goal April through October.  I'm probably closer to 1:8 favoring playing right now and trying to get back to practicing more.

I'm talking hours, not occasions.  So 1:1 means an hour or two at the range on a weeknight, a good 2-3 hour practice session on Saturday, and a round on Sunday.

I was doing that for a while but lately have been playing on both saturday and sunday, going to the range once a week at best, not even hitting balls before I play.  Trying to get back to going to the range on a weeknight.  I'd be satisfied with 1:2 right now.

[dpgator33]

I rarely go to the range, but I've gotten a lot better lately. Here's what I did.

1. Made a simple practice mat for $25 worth of supplies

2. Bought the Izzo smooth swing tool to work on my worst habit - turning my left wrist and a chicken wing follow through

3. Started making videos of my swing and really working on breaking them down

4. Practicing EVERY DAY! - even if it's just 10 minutes of swinging at air, working on grip, feel, breathing, whatever

5. Practice more if I can - typically it's just hitting wiffle balls off the mat, or just watching my swing over and over in a mirror or a reflection,      trying to feel and look and natural and fluid and easy as possible

6 Taking a full day off of practice, preferrably two, before playing a round.

7. Not thinking about anything that happened during the week when playing.  My swing on the course is quickly starting to feel like my practice swing without thinking about it, and my shots and scoring are showing that work paying off.

[nevets88]

I practice on the course. If I have the round to myself, I'll pay 2 off the tee, 2-3 on the approach, work on pitching and chipping all while focusing on the swing, not the score.

[mdl]

I wonder about this too.  I can only afford to play one full round a week, so my ratio hours of practice:playing is probably something like 1:1, though maybe even higher if you count dry swings during the day.  My best golf buddy works tons so rarely practices at all but plays both days most weekends.  Obviously no practice isn't the way to go, but there are times when I feel I'd get a lot better if I could play more too.  The few times where I've gotten to play like 3 rounds in a week I've felt SO much more in control by the third round.

For myself, given other constraints on time spent, if I had the money I think I'd aim for something like 2.5 rounds a week plus 2-3 practice sessions of 1+ hours, which would come out to something like 1:4 hours practicing:playing.  But if you can only play once a week like me, then obviously you don't want to spend only 15-20 minutes each week practicing, so then you want to practice as much as possible, given you can't replace any of that practice time with time on the course.