Taking a year out to practice

[stevench]

I seem to have reached a bit of a plateau in my game where I very rarely play to my handicap and I feel like I have lost my swing.
I never seem to get the time to practice and the only time I tend to play is in comps and the odd fiddle.
I'm now at the point where once I go out there I feel like I'm not enjoying myself and considering taking a year out to focus on my swing, practice and just enjoy the odd social round.

Has anyone done this and was it beneficial in the long term?

 

[ScienceBoy]

Has anyone done this and was it beneficial in the long term?

Pretty much what I am doing but enforced due to young child.

I go to the range once a week sometimes two. I play a par 3 course every other weekend and slot in social rounds where i can. I do put the clubs away when the clocks change and get them out again in the Spring.

I had lessons last year, 6 in total over the summer. I also played for times.

I broke 90 3/4 rounds, swinging better than ever. I fixed my big swing flaws to the point I came back in +4 gross one round.

So far this year I’ve carried on the practice since March, after a layoff since September. I got right back into practice and playing the par 3.

Had two rounds of 18 now, just over 92 with nothing over a double and then a 34 point round where I didn’t even score on 3 holes.

It’s been brilliant for my game, when I do get a membership again I hope to be in a good place to return to competition play.

 

[IanM]

Didn't do Nick Faldo any harm!

Our club has comps EVERY Saturday... so folk like me who work away all week were only playing competition golf... often, the only balls I hit all week are on Saturday morning in a comp.

That's no good for your game at all.... this year, they relented. You can play in comp times, and you must play same format as comp, but no need to enter it if you don't want to.

Works a treat. Virtually everyone does enter the comp, but you get a choice .

Moral of the story.. do what suits your game and lifestyle, and enjoyment of both!!

 

[garyinderry]

Why not spilt the weeks you actually play and practice.

One week enter the comp.

The next play late in the evening on your own when the course is dead. Hit 4 tee shots, play the best and worst up to the green. Chip from all sides with as many balls as you have jn the bag. Putt a few. Move to the next hole and do the same. Step aside if anyone comes up behind you.


Playing only once a week and repeating the same mistakes is a recipie for poor golf and zero improvement.

 

[pendodave]

Be careful not to forget that golf is not the same as golf swing. You can play good golf with a dodgy swing if you manage it well.

In addition, for me the exercise and the company really improve my weekend/wellbeing in a way that hitting balls on a range could never do.

 

[duncan mackie]

Most people plateau from about their 3rd year through to their 50th.

Practicing doesn't guarantee anything in this context; and I've friends who go to the range every single day that they aren't competing in a match, comp or open who's (relatively high) handicap hasn't moved more than 2 shots either way in the last 5 years of this regime. There are those on here who might also be considered to prove this hypothesis...

Best worse case you come back in a couple of years get handicapped to your new capability and repeat the cycle a year on.

Better by far to rationalise your enjoyment of the game within the boundaries available now.

 

[jim8flog]

I did it once many years ago for about 6 months, Being on the course just became too embarrassing, for every 100 yards forward I was 50 yards right I lost a few balls on the opposite side of the adjoining fairway.

It was pre video days and the pro who I had my lessons with could not see where it was coming from because my swing was so fast.

I finally sussed it for myself after going to the range twice a week every week.

 

[Simbo]

I seem to have reached a bit of a plateau in my game where I very rarely play to my handicap and I feel like I have lost my swing.
I never seem to get the time to practice and the only time I tend to play is in comps and the odd fiddle.
I'm now at the point where once I go out there I feel like I'm not enjoying myself and considering taking a year out to focus on my swing, practice and just enjoy the odd social round.

Has anyone done this and was it beneficial in the long term?

Personally I think it’s a terrible idea, if you want to learn to swim you need to get in the water. You want to be a decent golfer you need to go to the golf course. Maybe you just don’t have the correct handicap for your lifestyle right now. Why don’t you just allow it to go up then when you have more time practice and play.

 

[ScienceBoy]

Personally I think it’s a terrible idea, if you want to learn to swim you need to get in the water.

In many ways I agree.

The best option is a hybrid as suggested earlier. Limit yourself to one competition round a month, use the other weekends to build momentum to the next competition.

 

[Qwerty]

if you want to learn to swim you need to get in the water. You want to be a decent golfer you need to go to the golf course..

This..All Day..With Bells on.

 

[the_coach]

I seem to have reached a bit of a plateau in my game where I very rarely play to my handicap and I feel like I have lost my swing.
I never seem to get the time to practice and the only time I tend to play is in comps and the odd fiddle.
I'm now at the point where once I go out there I feel like I'm not enjoying myself and considering taking a year out to focus on my swing, practice and just enjoy the odd social round.

Has anyone done this and was it beneficial in the long term?

as been spoken to already 'practice' only really beneficial if the practice is on the correct lines - need to know exactly what the practice should entail to improve - practice makes permanent & that can be a huge obstacle to any kind of improvement
if the feeling is that the 'swing has been lost' then just hitting balls unlikely to help in the long run

also as has been said playing & scoring well on course is not about just 'playing golf swing'

taking a year out to practice - honestly - would be the worst thing possible

but having good structured pga tuition supervision over that 'year' both off & on course would be the ways to go

 

[HomerJSimpson]

Not a great idea in my opinion. You need to be able to make a score even when not playing well and you can only do that by being on the course. The other concern would be if you work that hard on the practice, but without regular checks from a professional you run a very hard risk of introducing and grooving some bad habits, which may be difficult to shift at a later date. As I've learned from bitter experience, golf is played on a course not a range

 

[Deleted member 21258]

You say you are not enjoying it, simple answer stop doing it and do something you do enjoy doing.

If that is practise to improve matters do it. If it means don't play in comps don't do them.

 

[patricks148]

Can't really see the point, i play the game for enjoyment most of all. if you don't want to play stop if you are not enjoying it.

practice is all well and good, but as others have said you need to be able to get it round when you are not playing well sometimes. Hitting balls on a range is all well and good sometimes but no substitute for playing on a course.

 

[Deleted Member 1156]

I seem to have reached a bit of a plateau in my game where I very rarely play to my handicap and I feel like I have lost my swing.
I never seem to get the time to practice and the only time I tend to play is in comps and the odd fiddle.
I'm now at the point where once I go out there I feel like I'm not enjoying myself and considering taking a year out to focus on my swing, practice and just enjoy the odd social round.

Has anyone done this and was it beneficial in the long term?

We play golf for fun, if you are going to get more fun on the practice ground than out on the course then crack on.

 

[Orikoru]

Sounds like taking the fun out of it to me. By all means have a couple of weeks off the course if it's not going well, but if you're not playing at all for a year then what are you practising for? Hitting some balls at the range isn't really proper golf. If I wasn't playing golf at the weekends, then I wouldn't bother practising either.

 

[Captainron]

There is no way you should take a year out to practice. Get i the course as often as you can and put the lessons/tuition into play.

Not everyone gets better at golf when they practice or have endless lessons (As demonstrated specatacularly by a long standing forumite) so don't beat yourself up about not improving at the same rate you did years ago.

If you are really frustrated take a few weeks off (although to waste the weather would be a shame).

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

I'm in the process of 'fixing things' and continuing to play - mostly in comps at weekends but grabbing holes by myself in the evenings. I have accepted that the fixing process will take time and so I have accepted that I will probably have 5 or 6 +0.1s in a row but I am confident that after that things will turn around. Off 8 h/cap my last 3 rounds have been 97 (25 over), 88 and 87 (yesterday) but I am not that bothered as I can feel the changes I am working out starting to come to fruition.

By playing comps I am allowing my handicap to go up and it will be 9 before things turn - but that's OK - gives me an extra shot for when things do change for the better. In accepting the 0.1s I feel no pressure to score...I can just work on the changes - and enjoy the knock.

 

[stefanovic]

Better to take the rest of your life off as you will never beat the game of golf.
Think of how much time and money you will save!!