Putting an ‘Edge’ to Practicing

[Albo]

As an aside do you always practice alone?
If you have someone you practice with you can have competitive games in practice, 9 hole putting challenge loser buys the beers type thing, that will give some consequence to your shots, I’m pretty sure it was Harrington who used to have a bet with his caddy when he was practicing that he could get x amount of chips in the hole, if he did it was like £10 per chip the caddy had to pay, if not Harrington paid for lunch.

 

[BiMGuy]

Putting practice should be about pace. Get good from inside 10 ft. Then be good at lagging from 20 and 40.

 

[Slab]

We are all different but I never did what you are thinking about.

If my putt doesn't go in, so be it.
If the ball doesn't fly straight, so be it.
I just enjoyed practicing.
You may enjoy putting pressure on yourself.

But at the end of the day, it's just a game, a hobby, a past time. Not even the best in the world get it right all the time.
Just go out, enjoy the excercise, the scenery and the company.
A wise man once said "don't forget to smell the flowers.

Yeah my social & non counting comp golf is all very relaxed but I do put a smidgen of pressure on myself (mostly when on/around the first few greens) when its a more serious counting round and it can affect my swing

So I need to deal with that, and there's really only two ways, (1) eliminate the self imposed pressure during the round or (2) introduce that pressure into my practice

I reckon (1) is easier said than done (couple of pints maybe!) so I figured why not reverse it and try to add pressure into practice

 

[Slab]

Tee shots/approach shots - Pick 4 clubs and hit 20 shots to a target (changing club every shot). Write down approx. how many yards you miss the target either left or right on each shot. Remove the 2 worst outliers, then add up the 18 remaining yardages which is your score (the lower the better!). Try to beat it next time to improve your dispersion. You can do this with D/3W/Hybrid/4 iron, and also with irons, e.g. 6/7/8/9 and have a scoring target for each set of clubs.

Short game - try the Dave Pelz short game test detailed here. You can do it all or just elements of it and keep a score. Repeat it as many times as you like and try and beat your previous scores.

Putting - play 18 holes of simulated putting. Write down 18 random putt distances e.g. 40', 3', 18', 54', 9' etc and play as if you're on the course. Score as low as you can, and compare your results over time.

Your post and post #18 have some good 'games' to try out, thanks. Just need to figure out how to play these practice challenges with pressure. Beat your PB on the short game area just doesn't do it for me because its not a real measure
I mean there's no meaningful penalty or reward when i'm practicing, nothing to get that wee stomach churn/blood flowing that can happen on the course when least expected, that can and will screw up my takeaway/backswing

Crows post scratches the surface re a penalty to a charity (although since that's a nice thing to do anyway its not really a penalty per say)

I might go for a reward of some totally frivolous golf purchase if I can achieve xyz

 

[Slab]

As an aside do you always practice alone?
If you have someone you practice with you can have competitive games in practice, 9 hole putting challenge loser buys the beers type thing, that will give some consequence to your shots, I’m pretty sure it was Harrington who used to have a bet with his caddy when he was practicing that he could get x amount of chips in the hole, if he did it was like £10 per chip the caddy had to pay, if not Harrington paid for lunch.

Good point, most of it is solo (7am -8.30 before work) so no-one there to complete with. I might have to find a like minded soul with something at stake
I do practice with my wife once a week and we do a putting game but she's pretty new to golf so...