Why you need to practice the right things

Luchnia

You will never conquer golf.
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Went out yesterday and played another round with a couple buddies. The one guy continuously picks up "new things" during the week that are supposed to fix his issues on the course. He marches off to the range to get it right. I have yet to see anything "get right" with this process he has. He loves golf with a passion and will spend hours watching golf.

He will often arrive at the course an hour early as he did yesterday so he can "work on" whatever it is that he thinks he is lacking in his game. He will hit range balls and drill through a huge bucket of balls. Occasionally he will hit a nice shot and think the "fix" is working. He does not realize that he only hits maybe 1 out of 5 that is any better than his normal shots. Not once have I seen this help him at all.

As a matter of fact, after his range practice yesterday was one of his absolute worst games ever and I could see he had about reached his limit of frustration. It was the most frustration I have seen him during any round. His range practice may be purpose driven, but it is not driven with the right purpose.

I think his range practice is wasting time that could be better served. I would say that yesterday was his highest level of frustration that I have seen playing with him. I try to get him to forget a mishit and move one, but he cannot get beyond that. He actually threw a club yesterday which caught me by surprise. He did joke about it, but I think he had about had it.

In observation I am wondering why some folks cannot see what doesn't work for them versus what does work. I worked with him some a few rounds ago and he was finding what he actually needed and it was working great. I keep emphasizing with him to remember what works and repeat that again and again and again and not add any new "fixes", but for some reason he fails to do that and winds up playing bad.

He mentioned that he wanted to go back and get more lessons because of how bad he was playing yesterday and I think that is good, yet for him, I think he will come back and repeat the process of "fixing" whatever it is that he thinks is wrong. I find the old KISS method is often the best. Just keep it simple and do what works over again. Let the bad go quickly and move on.

I am simply sharing some thoughts here that I hope will help others on their golfing journey. If you have thoughts and would like to share, please do.
 
Get professional help from a PGA pro and commit to working on just one or maybe two things at a time.

For me when I’m not hitting it well I go back to the basics. Posture, ball position, alignment, grip, and tempo. 95% of my time on the range is spent on those 5 things. Most people l see on the range don’t have an alignment or ball position where I could hit the ball consistently well and of course they aren’t using any sort of alignment aid even though they have 13 of them in their bag.
 
Get professional help from a PGA pro and commit to working on just one or maybe two things at a time.

For me when I’m not hitting it well I go back to the basics. Posture, ball position, alignment, grip, and tempo. 95% of my time on the range is spent on those 5 things. Most people l see on the range don’t have an alignment or ball position where I could hit the ball consistently well and of course they aren’t using any sort of alignment aid even though they have 13 of them in their bag.
You make a great point about posture, ball position, alignment, grip, and tempo. Those are indeed key items and from what I see I think his spine (posture) is coming up out of align when he swings. His grip, ball position, stance, all seem fairly good. I need to see it on video and I think I could pinpoint it better. A pro couch could certainly pick it up quickly.

You know interestingly enough, it was early at the beginning of last year that he had three lessons with a former PGA Pro that now teaches and he often talks about those lessons. Didn't seem to help him much at all though. I think he quickly reverted to bad habits.
 
You make a great point about posture, ball position, alignment, grip, and tempo. Those are indeed key items and from what I see I think his spine (posture) is coming up out of align when he swings. His grip, ball position, stance, all seem fairly good. I need to see it on video and I think I could pinpoint it better. A pro couch could certainly pick it up quickly.

You know interestingly enough, it was early at the beginning of last year that he had three lessons with a former PGA Pro that now teaches and he often talks about those lessons. Didn't seem to help him much at all though. I think he quickly reverted to bad habits.


Many don’t have the flexibility to remain in their posture during a golf swing as they age. I had to change the way I swing a couple of years ago after I hit age 50 to take pressure off my lower back.
 
At least he’s not buying new equipment every round to fix things. I can’t tell you why I know that doesn’t work.......
 
Get professional help from a PGA pro and commit to working on just one or maybe two things at a time.

For me when I’m not hitting it well I go back to the basics. Posture, ball position, alignment, grip, and tempo. 95% of my time on the range is spent on those 5 things. Most people l see on the range don’t have an alignment or ball position where I could hit the ball consistently well and of course they aren’t using any sort of alignment aid even though they have 13 of them in their bag.

I asked Michael Breed if he agreed with me that address fundamentals (grip-posture-alignment) made the golf swing. He replied "yes, absolutely".
Next I asked him why he (and other high profile instructors) did not teach same. He replied "students pay for a lesson and don't want to believe basic fundamentals work, they are paying money and want to hear something complicated".
 
Get professional help from a PGA pro and commit to working on just one or maybe two things at a time.

For me when I’m not hitting it well I go back to the basics. Posture, ball position, alignment, grip, and tempo. 95% of my time on the range is spent on those 5 things. Most people l see on the range don’t have an alignment or ball position where I could hit the ball consistently well and of course they aren’t using any sort of alignment aid even though they have 13 of them in their bag.
Very much this. A lot of my range time is use working on the grip and ball positioning/posture etc. Impossible to have a consistent swing if you've not grooved the basics so that they feel natural every time.
 
@Luchnia i know you’re wanting to be a good friend and golf buddy, and you care about the fun you’re friend is having while playing... but it’s obvious from a few of your posts about this guy that he’s not listening.

How about this... bear with me. The next time you play golf with your buddy, don’t say anything about his swing and let him do what he’s going to do. He’s going to notice and ask why you’re not commenting... let him know then that’s you’re not going to help anymore because he’s not taking the help. You’re just out playing to have fun with him. And then remind him that those lessons he had a while back seemed to help... but don’t offer any more assistance.

He might get the hint and seek out help. He might not. Either way, y’all might have more fun playing.

Just a suggestion Andy not intended to hurt feelings or anything.:)
 
Your friend needs to understand practice doesn’t make perfect. That’s a false statement that is way over used. Only perfect practice makes perfect. I am guilty of this sometimes as well. He should see the instructor that works well for him and quit being stubborn about it.
 
If I hit a large bucket before a round I’d play terrible. I buy a small bucket and rarely finish it before I head to the course. Before my round I hit for 2 reasons. First is to warm up. Second is to see how my ball flight is for the day.

a large bucket if honestly working on my game is going to take me closer to 90 minutes. My instructor prefers a medium bucket. Getting tired while practicing or working on things can be counter productive. At least for me.
 
If I could get some of my regular golf buddies to just fix their ball position they would improve. So many bogey golfers play the ball too far forward in their stance. One of my buddies is taking lessons over the winter from our head pro and he has finally fixed his ball position and is improving. The basics are so important and they don't come without serious conscious effort for 95% of golfers.
 
If I could get some of my regular golf buddies to just fix their ball position they would improve. So many bogey golfers play the ball too far forward in their stance. One of my buddies is taking lessons over the winter from our head pro and he has finally fixed his ball position and is improving. The basics are so important and they don't come without serious conscious effort for 95% of golfers.

I think if one asks the average player shooting 90 about his grip the player will reply "my grip is good". If one asks the same player about his alignment he will reply" my alignment is fine".
Yet when a Tour pro has an off day ball striking the first thing he checks is his grip and alignment, because he knows that address technique fundamentals influence the entire golf swing. So , when a swing is faulty the problem can be traced back to an address technique fault.
 
Practice is much tougher on seniors than actually playing because in playing, you're not hitting one shot after another in immediate succession.
At this stage of my golf life, once the season is underway, my practice is essentially playing the game.
This is not to disparage practice, of course. It just gets harder for older players.
 
@Luchnia i know you’re wanting to be a good friend and golf buddy, and you care about the fun you’re friend is having while playing... but it’s obvious from a few of your posts about this guy that he’s not listening.

How about this... bear with me. The next time you play golf with your buddy, don’t say anything about his swing and let him do what he’s going to do. He’s going to notice and ask why you’re not commenting... let him know then that’s you’re not going to help anymore because he’s not taking the help. You’re just out playing to have fun with him. And then remind him that those lessons he had a while back seemed to help... but don’t offer any more assistance.

He might get the hint and seek out help. He might not. Either way, y’all might have more fun playing.

Just a suggestion Andy not intended to hurt feelings or anything.:)
Good advice and much appreciate.
 
If I could get some of my regular golf buddies to just fix their ball position they would improve. So many bogey golfers play the ball too far forward in their stance. One of my buddies is taking lessons over the winter from our head pro and he has finally fixed his ball position and is improving. The basics are so important and they don't come without serious conscious effort for 95% of golfers.
I think you are 100% on the money with this. I remember last year after doing all the various things that would "fix" my problems, I simply started paying attention to my ball position and setup. Made all the difference for me.

I had to realize I don't have a "pro-honed" swing that I can really move the ball anywhere I want it and still hit it well. On the days I am striking well, I could probably hit the ball in a 6 inch area forward or back, de-loft/loft, etc., and hit it well, but those days are not the norm for me.

One guy I play with has his ball so far forward in his stance it is ridiculous. He hits terrible shots. He doesn't realize his ball position either. He keeps thinking it is in the right place for him and when I point it out he realizes that somehow he has moved his position.

The other day on a drive I noticed that the ball was near the outside of his left foot. Yes, the outside! I was wondering how in the world he could even hit it, which he did not hit it well. Thank goodness he has caught on to this and trying to be more aware of it and make the correction when it happens. I don't want to help him too much cause he has a powerful swing and out drove me twice the other day. :ROFLMAO:
 
There's so much bad information out there it's no wonder people fall into this trap, and it's costly to take lessons so many try on their own and become this type of player, constantly searching for the magic swing thought that doesn't exist.

Not much you can do, lessons are the only fix but lessons only work for those who have what it takes to stick to the program and do the work, not sure your friend is that type of person.
 
When I am practicing, I practice with a purpose, and I believe this has helped me a lot.

You can only concentrate on one thing at a time. So I concentrate on that one thing, to the exclusion of all others.

For example, I may practice hitting a draw. That is all I work on. I do not pay attention to distance, spin rates, blah blah. I will just concentrate on hitting the draw, and trying to do it with every swing. Once that is dialed in, move on to distance or whatever.
 
Practice is much tougher on seniors than actually playing because in playing, you're not hitting one shot after another in immediate succession.
At this stage of my golf life, once the season is underway, my practice is essentially playing the game.
This is not to disparage practice, of course. It just gets harder for older players.
But part of the problem there is when people define "practice" as going to the range and just beating balls like a machine gun (which I'm guilty of at times too). You (the generic 'you', not you particularly) could have a good, quality session hitting far fewer balls - work on alignment, break the swing into pieces and work on them individually, take time between shots to work on grip, posture, stance, think about each shot and have a particular target rather than just flogging balls out into the grass, etc.

It's usually counterproductive when I fall into the trap of just dumping a large bucket of balls and swinging away - I wear myself out quickly and then the only thing I'm working on is digging holes in the range, spraying balls everywhere, reinforcing bad habits and 'improving' the blisters on my hands.
 
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