How to balance continuous learning and playing effectively?

[baw1]

Ok, so maybe this is the $64,000 question. I don’t know. Ever since I started playing golf I have had to balance my learning (on the range and with my instructor) with my performance on the course during a round. I want to evolve as a player and develop better swing mechanics (long term goals), but I also want to score low during my current rounds and balancing the two is very challenging.  The challenge being that when learning new/better habits, I always experience a short term setback which can be very frustrating and demoralizing.

 

Curious as to how others deal with this?

[Elmer]

I just recently tweeked my swing, posture, stance, wrists, feet, aim etc...etc...

I did this 1 day after playing and 6 days before I was to play in my league again. I have had little time to practice at the range (when I do the range balls are junk and give you no idea of true distance).
I went out and played with my new swing, which lost me yardage on every club. This meant that I had no idea what club I should hit.
I just continue to play the round I am playing, while incorporating the new mechanics.
All along realizing sometime we need to step back in order to move forward!

[Rainmaker]

What's even worse, I find, is that when I play I tend to slip back into bad habits and then have to *re-break* out of them again. When I'm practicing hard on my *swing* I really don't play much.  I guess that's not the answer you were hoping for, lol.  

When I do play a round during swing changes, I try very hard to not think about what I've been working on . .not to think a lot of mechanical thoughts or make on-course swing adjustments.  After the round, i always practice a bit - that's where I assess what may have been wrong with my swing on the course . . and I feel it helps prevent those bad habits from sinking back in too deeply.   

Edited August 3, 2016 by Rainmaker

[kpaulhus]

From what I have found, if you practice the right way, it eventually becomes your swing and you dont revert back to old things. I used to hit a fade. Now that I have worked on a draw for so many years, I have to try really hard to hit a fade, and it usually ends up going straight. Just make sure you have a club in your hand a little each day and make the motion. You dont even have to hit balls to get it right. One day you will get to the first tee and what you have been working on will come through. 

[No Mulligans]

I take my practice to the course.  Playing 2 or 3 times a week I really think I have no other choice.  If I didn't it would be one day working on the change, the next day reverting to the old pattern.

On the range or backyard net I'll work on one or two things at a time.

On the course I'll try to work on only one thing for the round.  Like today it was laying the club down a bit at the beginning of the downswing.

[Patch]

At some point, imo, most golfers have to quit tinkering with their swings and go with what their past history of learning has taught them. 

I've see it too often where a decent golfer, for what ever reason, would try new things, which only made things worse. Some would get disgusted and leave the game. If they had given their old swing training more time, they probaly would have been better golfers for the long run. 

For youngsters who have plenty of time to tinker, I suppose it's not a big deal. I am at that age now where my practice is just for keeping what I now have working. 

[baw1]

1 hour ago, Rainmaker said:

When I do play a round during swing changes, I try very hard to not think about what I've been working on . .not to think a lot of mechanical thoughts or make on-course swing adjustments.

Yes, me too. Easier said than done of course. I try to just limit it to a single thought. Like "slight pause at the top". I actually am starting to think that it really doesn't matter what swing thought it is. It's the act of shifting the focus away from all the other ~38 thoughts...LOL. Otherwise chaos ensues.

46 minutes ago, kpaulhus said:

From what I have found, if you practice the right way, it eventually becomes your swing and you dont revert back to old things. I used to hit a fade. Now that I have worked on a draw for so many years, I have to try really hard to hit a fade, and it usually ends up going straight. Just make sure you have a club in your hand a little each day and make the motion. You dont even have to hit balls to get it right. One day you will get to the first tee and what you have been working on will come through. 

Thanks for the feedback. This is actually what my instructor says too. That it will trickle into your game. Otherwise whats the point of practice, right? That's why its important to practice the right things. Most of my shots are fades. I am working on developing a draw. Not quite there yet though.