Golf Dreams - When Practice Doesn't Go Well

Well you know the old saying practice makes perfect.  Some days you practice and it doesn't go perfect or get better.  I had one of those days yesterday.

I went to the range and worked on hitting my warm up drills, worked through my drills with fading and drawing the ball, finishing with putting and chipping.   Normally I meet my goals and everything seems to be in place with tempo, rhythm and distance control.

It didn't work yesterday.  My tempo was off, my shots were not going how I wanted them to and my distance was weak.  It is like I didn't have enough energy.

Just to let you know, those days happen also.  When you have that kind of day and it doesn't seem to get any better below are a list of what you can do.

1. When getting frustrated when not working, change to another drill
2. Take a breather and rest removing yourself from the range for a short time
3. Work through it the best you can.
4. If still not working call it a day and start again tomorrow.

Sometime it is better to just stop the practice that isn't working and get back to it at a later time.  It could be that something else is keeping your mind occupied so you cannot use it to control what you are working on.

Until next time, if at first you don't succeed, try try again.......

Following the Golf Dream - Another Day of Practice - 3 hole drill Course Management

Well it has been a couple of days since my last post.

Between the rain, power outage and practice it has been an interesting couple of days.

As I mentioned in my past post, I am recovering from a broken finger so I am easing into my game.

I spent a lot of time on the short game the last two days.   I have worked on the routine presented in the last post.  As I have stated before, the most important part of the game is 150 yards in.

Today, I decided to walk 3 holes after a little warm up on the range to see what else I need to practice on.  I also wanted to see how my finger would do in game conditions.

Even though I warmed up, I still was a little skittish on whether my finger would hurt or not.  I pushed my drives leaving me in deep rough on all three holes.  Being in the deep rough I would have a good test of how my finger would do.  It didn't feel bad, but could feel it.  I also learned that my distance was a little shortened because I was favoring my right hand.

With the first two holes being par 5's I left my self short of the green on my second shot.  The first hole from 10 yards just off the green and the second hole 75 yards short of the green.  Utilizing my chipping drills I have been practicing, I was able to get up and down giving myself 2 birdies.

On the third hole, a par 4, again pushing the drive right and hitting from the rough I left my second shot short of the green again.  I was able to chip to 5 feet and one put to get my par.

What the 3 hole practice and course management has told me, I am still mentally hesitant and concerned my finger will hurt or I will re-injure it again.  I also saw that the work on my short game has definitely paid off.   Because of the work I have done on my short game, I am not concerned over temporary loss of distance with my full shots and missing the green on my approach shots.

Well time to close and spend some time with my wife before we go to sleep.

Until next time, remember perfection is not achievable in golf, but progression is.......

Rainy Day Sunday Cont'd - 5. Working on Swing Balance

The fifth and last item I want to work on when you are stuck indoors is Swing Balance.

Along with everything we have been talking about on the previous 4 blogs they all will help you with Swing Balance.  Without swing balance your golf game can only stay mediocre. 

As talked about in Rainy Day Sunday #3 the swing balance is important which can be worked on everyday whether you are working on the range, course or at home.

You can practice your stance and weight distribution by:

• Establishing a good address with weight distributed evenly on the inside ball of each foot
• slightly bent knees
• Your backside pushed out (feeling like you are resting it on the edge of a stool)
• Angle of your back positioned at about 70 degree

After you feel comfortable with working on your stance above, you can work on the following:

• slowly taking your club back to about 10:30 position
• hold then start your club going down
• working your weight shift feel the change in your feel in your feet
• follow through holding your finish and once again feel your weight shift
• continue this until you find yourself having total balance from start of the swing to finish of the swing with complete weight shift moving fluidly.

I want to thank you for taking the time reading the Rainy Day Sunday's Things To Do Indoors.

If you have any questions please don't hesitate to ask.

If you want to have me provide any information on any other subject I would be happy to provide you the information.

I know the drills and information will assist you working on your game not only when you are indoors, but also when you are at the range or on the course.

My next blog will cover Understanding What You Need To Practice.

Until then, work on your game with a purpose and your game will have purpose.......

Understanding What You Need to Practice

I was talking to a fellow golfer the other day and he asked the question what he should practice the most on his driver or another part of the game.  I asked him why he thought it was important to practice with his driver.  He stated, so he could have more accuracy and keep the ball in the fairway to give him a chance to get to the green better.

I asked him how many drives do you hit in a round.  He thought about it and stated 18.  I explained to him that in reality you only hit 14 drives.  He asked, what happened to the other 4 drives.  I stated that those are par threes.  Most par threes for average golfers are only 150 yards or shorter, therefore, you wouldn't hit a driver.   He stated he never thought of that.

Then I got into percentages.  I stated that the higher percentage of practice should be based the higher percentage of shots that will be taken in the course of a round of golf. 

If par is 72 and you only hit 14 drives that is only 19% of your score.  Even if you hit 18 drives that is still only 25% of your score.  Putting is the highest percentage of your score in golf.  In 18 holes of golf the par for putting is 36, which is 50% of your score.   The remainder of your score after the tee shot is 25-31% depending on the number of drives you consider as 14 or 18.  So what is your area you want to practice most, drives or putts. 

With the information in previous paragraph, you want to spend most of your time on putting, then chipping and pitching and working on 150 yards in which will be at least 75% of your scoring.  Then the remainder of the practice you want to work on is your swing technique, tempo and yardage control.  The least amount of time should be spent on your driver. 

In the mathematical scheme of things, Drives are the only constant in the game.  You see, there only 14-18 holes to which you would probably hit your driver.  So you will not hit less than 14 and no more than 14 shots with your driver (not including par threes).  That is the only constant in the game.  You cannot go up or down it stays 14.  The rest of the game is what truly determines your score.  If you had a 400 yard hole and you hit a 1 iron 200 yards that gives you 200 yards left and you hit the 1 iron again.  You will either be on the green or close to the green depending on your accuracy.  So you have to either chip close and one putt or two putt for a par.  Any additional strokes is what makes your score add above par. 

With all this being stated above it comes down to the game of golf is a mathematical percentage that determines how close your score will be to par.  Mathematics determines what you need to work on and how you need to play the game.  The old saying of 10% skill and 90% mental is truly not an understatement.

I know that is a lot of math, but, I just wanted to get the point across that golfers should spend most of their time putting, chipping, and working on 150 yards and less into the green. 

The other practice should be on swing technique, tempo, and balance. Not smacking the driver over and over on the practice range. 

Until next time, go to the range and practice area with a purpose and your score on the course will get better........

Rainy Day Sunday Cont'd - Things To Do Indoors 3. Working with your Swing

The third area I want to work with you is your swing. 

This will be a little more difficult indoors unless you have a high enough ceiling and plenty of room that you won't break your wife's (or husband's/Mom's, or Dad's) special glass pieces or TV.  If you have a garage and you can move your car into the rain to give it a good washing then that is probably what you want to do and you can kill to birds with one stone so they say.

There are a couple things you can do indoors to work with your swing but I believe the most important would be working on your tempo.

If you can get your tempo to be consistent and smooth then you can apply it to every club you use and it will help lower your score on the course.  Golf is about tempo and timing.  If you have that in place then you can easily observe the distance each club carries the ball in the air and you can have easier determination on what club you will use for each situation.

To work on your tempo the following is what you need:
  

•  have proper posture

• feet at least shoulder width apart, spine angle about 8 degrees (depicted on left of picture to right). 
• knees slightly bent

• back spine straight at angle below.

• Balance.  The weight of your body should be reflected on the inside ball of each foot. 
• Rhythm.  this should be smooth going in your back swing as going through to your finish.
• Tempo.  This is the movement like a grandfather's clock pendulum going back and forth.

What you want to do while indoors is to make sure all these are being done correctly.  This will allow you to work on tempo of your swing to keep it consistent throughout all shots.  Get to know what this feels like so you know when your tempo is off. 

Of course you don't have to wait until you are stuck in doors to work on this you need to work on tempo all the time.

Tempo is not enough, all though, with tempo and balance you can have a few swing quirks that can be hidden.  Follow my blog and later you will find swing techniques on helping improve distance and power without swinging hard.

Until then, with a smooth and steady tempo, your game can become consistent no matter what level player you are.......

Rainy Days Cont'd - Things To Do Indoors 2. Putting

The Second area of interest you can do indoor I want to cover is putting.

Putting you can do just about anywhere.  Putting is 50% of a par 72 score.  Think about it, if you consider two putts a hole per round a par for the greens, then you have a total of 36 strokes which is half of the par of 72.  Therefore, 50% of your game is putting.

With that being stated you want to practice putting as often as possible.  There are many drills out there that you can work on so I will just cover a couple that you can do in your living room.  I recommend that you use carpet that isn't shaggy, a rug that is relatively smooth, a smooth linoleum floor, or a putting pad when practicing indoors.

Drill one working on tempo and speed control:

•  Place a marker (size of quarter) on the floor of your living room carpet, rug (if smooth enough to simulate a putting green), or putting pad.
• Place another marker 1 foot behind first marker
• Place ball at least 6-8 feet away from the marker.
• Stroke ball attempting to roll over first marker while not letting it roll past second marker.

Drill two consistent short putts:

• Place marker on carpet.
• Place ball 2-3 feet away from marker.
• Stroke ball to just go over marker with firm stroke stopping just past marker.

This drill will build confidence on short putts with a firm, consistent stroke so when playing in that $2 Nassau you won't miss the much needed putt.

These drills are good to practice on putting green at any range or golf course.   Both will help in building confidence with your putting game.

There is no time limit to practicing putting either indoors or outdoors.  Since it is 50% of your score you want to spend as much time practicing as possible no matter how good you think you get.

Next we will work on the third thing you can do indoors - Practicing swing tempo and technique.

Until then keep your head down and listen for the putt to drop in the hole instead of looking for it......

Rainy Days continued... Five Things You Can Do Indoors

Well it is another Rainy Day, I guess it really hasn't stopped.  Been raining now for about three days.  Fortunately, it has only been raining and not storming.

You just got your game the way you want it, or, close enough that you are feeling good about your swing and scoring.  You get a long delay for unknown reasons or it is just raining for several days that you cannot get on the course.

Here are five things you can do inside:

1. Keep stretching so you can stay flexible.
2. Practice putting on carpet or indoor putting pad.
3. If you have a room or garage that is safe to swing a 7 iron, you can practice your swing and work on your technique.
4. Chipping Drill Indoors
5. Work on Your Swing Balance.

Over the next few days we will go over all five of these tips.

So until you can get back on the course keep these in mind to once you do you won't miss a beat....