Drilling vs. Scrimmaging

[iacas]

I think they're right - that most people assume that better players should just play more, but I do a LOT more drilling myself than I do playing, and when I do play, I do okay. When I go through periods where I play more, I actually play worse.

This isn't to say that beginners or higher handicappers should play more often - they may just be baking in some bad habits - but for them it's still a bit less important to drill, and scrimmaging (playing) is acceptable at higher rates.

[Hardspoon]

I voted "yes".  I probably would have voted for "I don't know", if Erik didn't throw in the "chicken" thing.  (smart)

I play, on average, a little less than once a week, and practice (dedicated, proper practice) about 1 hour each week.  At my level (eg, I suck), that's probably a pretty good balance.  During the winter, it's much more weighted to practice, as I have access to a heated range, and can practice on days that are too cold to play.

Would I get better faster if I played less and practiced more?  Meh...probably, but I'm considering "proper" includes enough playing time to actually enjoy golf, rather than just another chore.

[dennyjones]

I'm the ultimate hypocrite.  

I coached soccer at one of the highest state levels and was and still am a firm believer in teaching individual skills (drills) over scrimmaging.  The European soccer clubs that have junior teams develop their players at a young age with drills and small sided games.   They are very successful in their endeavors.  

I, on the other hand, don't take the time to improve my skill set (drills) as I should.  I hit the driving range at least once per week but play more often.  

[billchao]

I voted yes. I play as much golf as I am able to time-wise (about once a week), but I spend additional time during the week drilling. I enjoy it.

I've found that playing more often in the past did not make me a better player. Yes, some weeks I would get the timing of everything just right and have some pretty good spurts, but I would also have some pretty bad swings in scoring, too.

Drilling more than I play has slowly brought my index down over the last two years and even now when I have a bad round, I'm scoring better than I used to. I notice the difference when I don't get to practice the way I want because that's typically when my game is off and I'm out on the course searching for a feel to right the ship.

[No Mulligans]

I spend some time pretty much every day either practicing or playing.  My intention is to practice at least twice for every time I play.  Sometime I go astray though because of friends and/or wife wanting to play and I'll play several days in a row.  But overall I probably end up at more than twice as many practice sessions as rounds played.

At the range I've got a self imposed rule, before I hit the first ball I decide on what I'm specifically practicing.  For example "head steady" or "weight forward" etc.  Putting I stick pretty much to the same routine, 3 feet, 6 feet, 9 feet, and then lag putting from 20, 30, 40, 50 feet.

I voted "yes".

[Grizvok]

I'm at a pretty good balance for my handicap level I think which for me is playing 18 holes roughly 3-4 times a month while spending 3-4 hours a week on dedicated practice at the range. My practicing habits have been getting better because I've been getting more specific by receiving a lot of good feedback and really narrowing down what it is that needs work with my swing.

[Shindig]

My practice routine is in flux as I aim to get better at practice ... and also I'm at the end of my summer so I'm playing a lot more than I probably will once my schedule gets back to normal.  So right now, yes yes yes and no no no, but maybe not in that order.   There's also the issue that in the past few years I've had several periods of significant stoppage or limited golf. 

Sadly, for me, the honest answer is probably the last one. 

[b101]

I have voted 'Yes', but I do think there's another distinction that is important. With golf, more than probably any other sport I can think of, it's very easy to kid yourself that you're practising efficiently and 'drilling', when actually, you're just beating balls on the range. Maybe this is because it's the only sport I've ever properly practised - football kind of came pretty naturally (to a certain level), but we've seen examples of people starting at hours of three foot putts or hitting driver only for an hour, convinced that it'll get better, rather than really working on the mechanics or putting themselves in situations.

Whether it's effective or not, my plan is to do a 50/50 split whenever I'm doing long or short game practice between work on technique and then applying that with one ball to something situational, either an up and down game, creating mental fairways and tracking my score or finding the toughest putts that I can on the greens. 

If you were to create another option of 'Yes, but I could do both better', I think I'd go for that one 

[boogielicious]

In a normal year, I would say yes. But injuries have really cut back on playing and drilling. I like to practice and I play better when I can work on things.