Do You Plan Your Practice?

Are you one of those individuals who loves spontaneity and enjoys flying by the seat of your pants?  Or are you always calculating and feel compelled to plan out every activity for which you participate?  Count me in the latter group.  And for those ultra-organizers out there, you understand the trait is both a blessing and a curse because while you’re always organized, others start to expect you to organize them as well.

So for the organizers, a couple tips about practice.  First, you get much more benefit if you have an idea of what you are trying to accomplish and how to get there.  I’ve tried it the other way (just show up and bang balls or chip and putt) and it doesn’t work.  You don’t have to plan out minute by minute or ball for ball, like Tiger Woods (read Max Alder’s April Golf Digest Column), but structure your time according to your objective.  Last weekend after my disastrous opening round on Saturday, I headed out Sunday morning and videoed myself hitting the 58 degree wedge shots that I had struggled with the day before.  I planned what technique I was going to work on and stuck to it.  The film review and planning were great because I uncovered a couple flaws and didn’t have to stew all week on my mistakes.  Thanks to Vetforgolfing51, for suggesting that the best time to practice is as close to after your round as possible.

Second, introduce an element of game simulation into your practice.  On full swing, work your technique, and then play an imaginary nine holes at your home course.  Use different targets and shot shapes on the range.  Don’t get stuck raking balls after a bad swing; move on to the next shot and try to hit the recovery as if you were on the course.  For short game, play nine holes (or 18 if there’s time) of Up and Down.  Drop balls in various lies and use different clubs to go after holes requiring all the techniques you’ve been working on.  Count each hole as a par-2, with a chip or pitch in as the only way to make birdie.  Mark and clean your ball just like you were out on the course and even write your score on an old card.  See how close you can stay to even par.  I usually score about four or five over and it’s a wonderful challenging game to build nerve and technique.  I always wrap up my short game sessions with Up and Down.  Today I was even par through seven and the pressure was intense!  Great stuff for transitioning practice to the course.  I bogeyed #8 but my one-over score was the best I’ve had in years and left me filled with confidence and feeling like my practice time was well spent.

A final word about Tiger’s practice habits.  Yes, the guy is quite anal but he’s been the greatest player on the planet for the last 15 years and you’d be smart to emulate some of what he does.  I’ve been using the Two Tee drill, that he implemented while under the tutelage of Butch Harmon, to practice putting before rounds for the last couple of seasons and it really promotes a solid putting stroke on the short ones.  More advanced players should also copy his use of the Nine-Shot drill to build confidence and add different options to your repertoire.

Got any tips for good practice?  What’s your most effective technique?  Please share!

What Good Can Come From A Bad Round?

Today was my opening day for the 2014 golf season.  🙂 I was going to write a post on the entertainment value  John Daly provides to golf, and about how ridiculous the 90 he shot in the second round of the Valspar Championship was, and how that included an octuple-bogey 12 on the 16th hole, and how that was the 16th time that he’s carded at least a 10 on a hole in his PGA Tour career. . . that was until I carded a 92 today in my season opener.  I did not get the number of the truck that just ran over me but I am still reeling.

We played in brilliant sunshine with heavy wind, and my game was just horrible.  The score was my worst since a 98 on November 23, 2011 and my first time above 88 in two years.  So who’s worse off, Big John or me?  I don’t have the fame, fortune, two majors, and all the notoriety that he does, but he’s clearly worse off.  Golf his his day job and just a hobby here.

Can you find a nugget or two in bad rounds?  Absolutely.  The company of my friends was great and just getting out of the house was wonderful.  With the golf, I only took 28 putts. . . even if it was an artifact of only hitting two greens.  And I managed to shape/place about five or six tee shots using the ball flights I’ve been practicing from the Nine-Shot drill, but that was it.  The irons and wedge game were putrid and I made several rookie mistakes like trying to curve balls playing directly into a strong headwind.

I kind of saw this coming because we moved opening day up from tomorrow when D.C. is supposed to get another round of snow and ice.  Saturday is usually practice day with Sunday being game day and I felt completely unprepared out there.  In fact, past rounds moved to Saturday without the benefit of a prior day’s practice have yielded similar results.  At least J.D. gets to practice before game day.

I’m not too worried about the bad start because it was the first round after a four month layoff imposed by a particularly brutal winter, and it was played in very difficult conditions.  The good news is that there’s nowhere to go but up and we’ll be back at it next weekend!

BTW:  I’m keeping 2014 season stats off a new page on the blog’s main menu.  Check back anytime to see my latest metrics.

So I’ll probably head out in the cold tomorrow before the snow starts to try and correct some of the short game problems experienced today.  They will be hard to live with all week if I don’t fix them.  Finally, I can take some encouragement from past history because back in 2011, I followed up that 98 with a 70 in the very next round.  Weird, but here’s hoping history repeats itself.  How was your opening day?

Sunday Is Opening Day!

What do you look forward to most about your opening day of the golf season?  This year’s round is about three or four weeks later than my traditional opener as the bad weather has been prohibitive.  Honestly, I’m just glad to get out.  My opening round is usually one of the most enjoyable of the year because there’s no mental baggage buildup.  Just a clear head and go.

There’s a fair amount of angst this time because of the off-season work I’ve been doing with the Nine-Shot drill.  I’ve used it over the past six weekend range sessions and am comfortable moving the ball in both directions off a mat with my irons.  Haven’t focused on tee shots or hitting off grass yet, and last weekend I first tried to play a simulated round shaping shots and found it a bit uncomfortable.  Transitioning from “hit it and hope” to a serious dedicated effort at better course management will probably take time, but I’m attempting this because it’s the right thing to do.  Actually, I am chomping at the bit to battle test it; good or bad and with opening day in mind, I actually worked in some putting practice last weekend.  I couldn’t hit water from a boat; it was just awful, so I’m not going to concern myself with score too much and will focus on taking the correct mental approach towards shot placement, and hopefully shaping a few as desired.

We all want to improve and at the end of the day, if you keep practicing the same way and getting the same results year after year, doesn’t it makes sense to change your approach?  Doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results sounds something like Einstein’s definition of insanity.

I will be adding a new menu section to the blog starting this week to provide transparency into my scoring and performance metrics and I’ll trust you’ll send me feedback if you spot some trends good or bad.

Hope your season is a great one; let’s get it on!

Hit Rewind On The 2014 Season Kickoff

The weather in DC has been bad this winter but I’ve been able to get out every weekend for the last four to practice my swing and a bit of short game.  Last weekend I managed to get myself thrown off the practice green at my local muni when the greens keeper spotted me chipping and putting on a partially snow covered surface; OOPS!  Today was different with everything open I got in a couple hours of good practice, but alas old man winter is scheduling a visit of 8-12″ on Monday.

I’ve been careful this winter not to make the mistake of 2012 when I read the Stan Utley short game books and changed too much during the off-season and came out like a basket case in the spring.  Only fundamentals are on the 2014 pre-season practice plate, with a focus on shot shape controlled through alignment and ball position, and attention on maintaining a consistent pace with the putter and crisp contact on chip shots.

I actually feel a little ahead of the game, but the pending snowstorm has got me bummed because in late February, I’m used to dedicating time to play and practice, but the off days have given me the opportunity to watch more golf on TV.  A couple random musing from today’s PGA Tour Honda coverage:  There’s a reason Brendon de Jonge doesn’t win; that over-the-top swing is ugly and needs a fix.  It’s a mystery how he finished 10th in GIR last season – weird.  Also looks like Rory McIlroy has his act together – finally.  Looking for a big year from him.

Finally, check out this inexpensive little device that just came in the mail.  It works great and the video does it justice.  http://www.amazon.com/review/R1N63DN32MM9PJ?ie=UTF8&videoPreplay=1 You can attach your iPhone and clamp it right to your golf bag or any stationary structure for instant on course slefie video analysis!  Looking forward to my first film session after the white stuff melts.  How’s your winter practice coming?