Practice makes perfect....or does it?!

[Achilles]

During June and July I was spending hours every week either playing or practicing (mostly both) and whilst things were definately getting better, I could not put a decent score together, and it all got a bit disheartening.

Since then work has been frantic and I've also been away for a bit so I've done no practice and not been able to play as much. Didn't pick up a club for 10 days last month (it felt like a lifetime), played in a medal and bang, nett 66 and a nice cut. I've since played 6 rounds all of which have been bang on or under handicap. Tonight was the same story. Rocked up with no warm up and shot an 88 (-2) despite a couple of stinking holes - it really was one of those 'what might've been' rounds.

I'm not complaining, just don't know what's going on. Maybe it is a delayed reaction, just in time for the winter

I should be able to play in the remaining qualifiers, just a shame there aren't many of the bu99ers left! Anybody else found that cutting down on playing / practicing has helped their game?!

 

[Mattyboy]

I think not playing or practicing can help (although this tends to be a last resort for me) because:

1) You could be practicing either bad habits or parts of your game that were not your weakest.
But IMO
2) You forget all those bad shots that you hit recently.
and
3) You enjoy it more.

 

[pokerjoke]

Practice does not make perfect,however imo it helps.
Sometimes it doesnt happen over night[like your next round]but maybe a few rounds after,or like you a break.
It probably has something to do with not having too many thoughts running through your head,and just playing.
Keep up the good work,somethings working.

 

[BluenoseGolfer]

I think not playing or practicing can help (although this tends to be a last resort for me) because:

1) You could be practicing either bad habits or parts of your game that were not your weakest.
But IMO
2) You forget all those bad shots that you hit recently.
and
3) You enjoy it more.

Totally agree, I played my best golf after a 3 week break for holliday, I just came home and thought take easy swings and natural swings, instead of 1001 thoughts running through my head

 

[SGC001]

I think a common saying is practice makes permanent.

It's quite common for things you're working on to take time to sink in and improvements can often come in jumps rather than gradually, think of climbing up and plateauing.

Something else to consider is what attitude you were taking onto the course. Rotella talks of a training mentality for practice and a scoring mentality when playing. If you're in training mode when playing (which you may well choose to do at some time) your score could suffer. Has your attitude changed?

 

[Achilles]

Agree with a lot of the points made and think that the lack of pressure and expectation has played a big part. The practice has obviously helped and I won't stop doing it. Will just have to remember this spell in the future whenever I think i'm wasting my time!

 

[granters]

I recently practiced my putting til it hurt i was so fed up with it. The result was some horrific putting, i 4 putted twice from 10 feet in 2 rounds. So i simply stopped practicing a few weeks ago.

My last 2 rounds with the putter have subsequently been the best in years!

I think you can get bogged down with practice at our sort of level. The worst thing we can do is get crammed full of technical mumbo jumbo like i did.

So i'm probably saying practice is good, but you need to have a clear idea of what you want to achieve, and not over do it

 

[HomerJSimpson]

It depends if you practice with a a purpose and work on the right things. If its all about hitting balls then chances are you are just ingraining bad habits

 

[Achilles]

Granters - having a head full of swing thoughts definately doesn't help and that probably was an issue for me. I do feel a lot more comfortable with my swing now, certainly more controlled. I'm hoping it's a case of the swing being more natural now, rather than forced as it perhaps was a few months ago.

Homer - ingraining bad habits is something I've been very conscious of avoiding. When I do work on my game, I never hit more than half a bucket a session, and make sure each shot has a proper set-up.

I keep having to remind myself that 4 months out through injury probably contributed to my scoring woes. Determined to keep everything ticking over through the winter ready for a big push next year.

 

[MashieNiblick]

Works both ways I think.

Sometimes spending a lot of time working on something or honing your swing really pays off. Others it just raises expectations and adds to pressure on the course.

Equally playing after a lay off can result in horrendous rusty swings and lots of duffs, slices and hooks or a nice take it easy approach swinging within yourself and scoring well.

I've experienced all the above and can't fathom it out.

 

[RGDave]

Sometimes spending a lot of time working on something or honing your swing really pays off. Others it just raises expectations and adds to pressure on the course.

I agree. That's the reality isn't it? (Sadly)