Got this theory

[In_The_Rough]

Practicing is where the improvements happen but not necessarily the practice ground. I'd rather play 5 or 6 holes and hit a couple of balls than spend hours on the practice ground.

I went to the club at 4 yesterday and went out and played 6 holes, hit one tee shot on every hole then played 4 balls from various yardages inside 100yds then did a bit of chipping round the green from different lies and distances. If you're gonna tell me an hour and a half on the practice ground would have been more beneficial I'll have to disagree.

If you're working on swing changes you need repetition which the practice ground is good for but if you want to get better at golf, you need to play the course.

P.S before last year I used to spend ours on the practice ground and my handicap was going up. Last year I didn't use the practice ground at all and my handicap has come back down again.

Maybe not for you as you are a lowish handicap anyway with dare I say it a repeatable swing. For a higher handicapper like I was when I undertook a new regime going on the course all the time and just slicing it into the trees all the time or skulling balls across the greens like rockets and then going away and not practicing and going and playing a another round a day or two later was IMO opinion a total waste of time and a good walk spoilt as there was no consistency in my swing or chipping basically anything could happen. I sat down and thought about what I wanted to get out of the game and was I happy with being a total hacker who was lucky to break 100 on a good day or did I want to become a Golfer. I decided the latter was the better option. 2 rounds a week less and 2 sessions at the practice ground instead soon started to take effect and my scores started to drop. As I could stand on the tee and have a rough idea where the ball was going to end up. I will agree though that being on the course though is the only place to learn when to hit what shot and what club to hit so from a course management point of view then yes I agree. Unless you have a repeatable swing then hoping to get better by playing on the Course is not the way to do it

 

[HomerJSimpson]

Maybe not for you as you are a lowish handicap anyway with dare I say it a repeatable swing.

As his partner lets just say repeatable wasn't a word you could use on Sunday. I agree with your point though and glad that the hard work you are putting in is beginning to wrok and you are enjoying it more.

 

[Toad]

My wife rarely complains about the amount of golf I play.
I'm lucky in my work that I can do what ever hours suit me so plenty of time during the week for golf, as Steve says drop the kid off at school 09:00 then out to course for 09:20 pick up from school at 15:00 so plenty of free time during the day.

 

[In_The_Rough]

As his partner lets just say repeatable wasn't a word you could use on Sunday. I agree with your point though and glad that the hard work you are putting in is beginning to wrok and you are enjoying it more.

Oh dear!! Still everybody has their bad days at the office. Thanks for you comments. Been a lot of hard graft and pain though just to get where I am now. If I can get rid of my slightly over the top movement at the start of the downswing I will be laughing. Didn't used to have that it crept in while I had my 3 month lay off with injury last year.