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Does anyone else hate to practice?

I enjoy practice time, but just don't seem to have the time nowadays.
 
I LOVE to practice. When I was younger, I played more than I practiced - a lot more, and I never got much better. Now, I practice more than I play and I've dropped 14 shots off my index in 12 months. I'm kind of stuck right now, but I'm starting to feel like another breakthrough is right around to corner.

I feel for you guys with limited facilities. I'm very fortunate to have great facilities at my club. We have a dedicated short game area with 4 greens, 5 bunkers and 125 yds of room. We've got a nice grass range with 2 ends (one for lessons, the other for practice), 3 practice greens, and finally 3 different courses. I know, I know. :banana:

If I didn't have these facilities, I would do the shag bag and school yard thing. That works very well too.
 
I like to practice, I use a public course w/ real grass, they have a chipping & puting green also but no bunker.
 
I also enjoy practicing. If I'm just going to the range without a round in sight, I'll bring whatever clubs I need to work on. For example, if I'm having trouble with my 8i, I'll just bring maybe my 9i, 8i and 7i to get work on just those irons. Another day I might just take my drivers and fairway woods to work on. I don't like to schlep my whole bag of clubs around all the time. However, if I'm planning to play, I'll take my whole bag and after warming up, I'll pretend I'm at that particular course and 'play' the round (with a lot of mulligans, of course!).
 
I don't particularly care to practice. I would much rather play.Practice is a necessary evil if one wants to improve. The second you find frustration or fatigue setting in. Take the bucket and your sticks and go home. Practice another day. Play range games helps me. Also going through a pre-shot routine helps to get the mind right also get a rest between swings. If your range has you hitting from mats I would only practice driver,3W and hybrids that day. Mats kill my elbows when hitting irons. Try some of the things people are suggesting, some may work for you.Good luck!
 
Lately I've had an easy time keeping my range sessions fun. Mainly because in recent years I've had a hard time dragging my regular golf buddies to the course, so getting to the range is a bit of a treat. But eventually it always does begin to get boring. Having an ipod is always my first way of keeping it interesting. Some disagree and call it a distraction but I guess I'm just not that hardcore about it.

I also try to concentrate on just a couple of clubs each session. Perhaps I'll only take a driver, 3I and 5I. Next time I'll bring the hybrid and short irons. That way I'm always working with a difference shot.

I actually got stuck at the range for 3 and a half hours last week. There was a 3-4 car accident in front of the place I go just before I arrived. I sneaked in as the police were alternating lanes of traffic through the crash zone. Then people got impatient and started doing u-turns, smashing into each other, driving into ditches, etc and it turned into about 8-10 accidents, so the whole road go shut down for the afternoon. Fortunately I had checked out a TM Supertri to demo that day. I got a loooooooong preview of that one. Best place I've ever been stranded in my life.
 
Only two things I dislike about practice. The cost and hitting my driver. Love hitting PW through to the putter. Sounds like you have a great set up with the range balls JB!
 
living in southern ny state It isnt always so easy to practice, but this is the first year out of 5 that breaking 100 some what consistently has happened about 2 out of every 3 rounds I am going to bowl at least every sat this winter has nothing to do with golf except keeping myself active so startup next year is not so tough and I am buying a boomerang putting system so I can practice putting constantly over the winter.
 
I don't care much for putting practice. But the rest I like.
 
I can't possibly practice enough. Just love it. There are so many shots to practice, how can you ever get bored? I could spend all afternoon just working on trajectories or switching back and forth between draws/fades.

The only thing I can't do it hit a bunch of balls real fast. The little muscles in the forearms get tired and coordination drops. I can see how people get frustrated and quit if they sit there firing balls off as fast as they can hit them.
 
I hate that I can't practice shots that really hurt my scores. Sand shots seem like an impossible thing to practice, there are never any good places to practice, and even if you find one, it's going to be different than the sand you're in on a course.
 
Love it. Can't get enough. Just me and a large bucket or two. Don't have to worry about who is ahead or who is behind, ready golf, blah blah blah. Just a matter of hitting it pure.
 
I hate it also... and I think it is purely psycholgical.

When I am at the range, I have a grip it and rip it mentality, trying to hit it as far as possible and doing so caused me to develop bad habits.

A large bucket of balls is about $10-12 dollars where I live. So instead, I spend the extra $2 or $3 and play 9 holes somewhere. and depending on the course, day and time, I can get 18 for that price. I get the same amount reps, the reps are productive, and get lies, angles, and shots that I can't duplicate on the range. And I have a real target to aim at as well so every shot means something and has a purpose. Much more productive use of my money.

I will visit a short game area from time to time to work on bunker shots but that's about it.
 
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og512 said:
I hate it also... and I think it is purely psycholgical.

When I am at the range, I have a grip it and rip it mentality, trying to hit it as far as possible and doing so caused me to develop bad habits.

A large bucket of balls is about $10-12 dollars where I live. So instead, I spend the extra $2 or $3 and play 9 holes somewhere. and depending on the course, day and time, I can get 18 for that price. I get the same amount reps, the reps are productive, and get lies, angles, and shots that I can duplicate on the range. And I have a real target to aim at as well so every shot means something and has a purpose. Much more productive use of my money.

I will visit a short game area from time to time to work on bunker shots but that's about it.
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I can't agree with you more!!!!
 
I find the hardest part is to take what I practiced on from the range to the course. I do love to practice and it is a great way to decompress from work.
 
what's practice?
I feel that's what I do every time I play a round.Practice for the next.
 
paul.palmer said:
I find the hardest part is to take what I practiced on from the range to the course. I do love to practice and it is a great way to decompress from work.
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jefffann said:
what's practice?
I feel that's what I do every time I play a round.Practice for the next.
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I always found that i can take what I learned from a round and carry it over to the next but never any carry over from the range. I tinker with my shot and set up all the time and then all of a sudden something clicks and I get desired result on the course and its good reinforcement to carry over to the next round.
 
Had a good practice session today. Driving range and the green. Felt pretty good after I was done.
 
I enjoy practice because I can get outside of myself and really work on things without the pressure of the shot "counting" against a score.
 
I wish I hated practice. I feel like I enjoy it to the point where I might do it too much. I have a season pass to my local range and while I definitely get my moneys worth, I think I get in "beat ball" mode too much at times. I try to put myself in scenarios but it just isn't the same. I love it though. I can spend 4-5 hours at my practice facility. They have a short range that is completely free. It has three greens that you can pitch to. I hit a bucket on the regular range, a bucket on the short range and then I head to the putting green.
 
I used to live within a mile of a great driving range. It was grass, never crowded and cheap. I would go an practice for 2 hours whenever I wanted to. Since then, I moved into a city and find myself lazy with practice. I figure if I'm going to make the effort to give up my parking spot, i should be playing a full round.

Now the practice I get is before a round, also known as a warmup.
 
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