My Club Championship

[Bagger Lance]

Don't get me wrong, I hit many great shots. The kind that burn into your visual and sensory memory. The kind that are talked about after the round. The kind that absolutely confirm the ball was struck perfectly. Many more good than bad. Just not enough of them.

A three day tournament tests every element of your game including your character. You put everything into the fire to see what burns and what comes out pure. You won't find a hot fire on the range.

Thanks guys. I'm motivated baby!

[spike]

Bagger....thanks for that. And know this...you and others on this forum have helped me gain a much more clear insight to propelling the pill. Thanks man.

If I may, can I ask what the percentage was between playing golf and playing golf swing? I don't mean to open a can of worms here but I've had experiences where I've done both with great success. I've also had experiences where playing golf swing did not. Hope ya don't mind.

spike

[Bagger Lance]

If I may, can I ask what the percentage was between playing golf and playing golf swing? I don't mean to open a can of worms here but I've had experiences where I've done both with great success. I've also had experiences where playing golf swing did not. Hope ya don't mind.

spike

Spike - Great Question. I moved this thread into a forum where it makes sense to discuss this.

I'm a certified range rat. Probably spend over 90% of my time on the range and 10% on the course. It may be a higher ratio because I live two blocks from the clubhouse range. Its easier to peel off an hour a day for practice time, or maybe shoot a swing video than carve off 4 for a round.

I'm a single digit HC but lately its rising. In my opinion, the challenge with a lot of TGM knowledge is that its tempting to tinker.

A few months ago I commited myself to reversing the ratio and spending more practice time around the greens.

[12 piece bucket]

Spike - Great Question. I moved this thread into a forum where it makes sense to discuss this.

I'm a certified range rat. Probably spend over 90% of my time on the range and 10% on the course. It may be a higher ratio because I live two blocks from the clubhouse range. Its easier to peel off an hour a day for practice time, or maybe shoot a swing video than carve off 4 for a round.

I'm a single digit HC but lately its rising. In my opinion, the challenge with a lot of TGM knowledge is that its tempting to tinker.

A few months ago I commited myself to reversing the ratio and spending more practice time around the greens.

Stinker . . . here's a thought . . . how about purchasing a net for your "tinkering" mechanics practice . . . . and spending your hour at the range playing shots rather than mechanics. Use more of your range time to really practice like you play. Go through your routine change targes and clubs. Practice at a slower pace . . . the game is SLOW between shots so try not to hit and rake.

[drewitgolf]

Stinker . . . here's a thought . . . how about purchasing a net for your "tinkering" mechanics practice . . . . and spending your hour at the range playing shots rather than mechanics. Use more of your range time to really practice like you play. Go through your routine change targes and clubs. Practice at a slower pace . . . the game is SLOW between shots so try not to hit and rake.

Bucket,

Much wisdom in this post. The reason why golfers CAN'T take it from the range to the course, because they never take it from the course to the range. At least fifty percent of your practice should be as you have described.

[Hennybogan]

Bagger,

If it were easy, it wouldn't be nearly as much fun when you succeed. Lots of good info already. I'd like to post a bit about getting ready for the club championship or your personal major.

I don't see any problem with being a range rat if that's what you like to do. I quit playing in '99 but continued to hit balls on days I could not fish. On the rare days I did play (one year the only rounds I played were at Kingston Heath in Austrailia and a couple of great unknowns in England), I was happy if I hit it pretty well and broke 80. Now, I've got the bug again, and I'm trying to be more balanced in my approach.

If you want to play better in the club championship, more time on the course and more tournaments (that are not as important to you) will help. You do not have to change your pattern for the year, but it would help leading up to the big tourney.

The concept is called tapering. Working less on your swing and playing more golf in the period leading up to the big day. If your club isn't too crowded, you can warm up briefly and go and play 3 or 4 holes in the same time you would use for practice. Adding one extra round a week for the month before the event would help as well.

I work on my swing everyday, and I don't have any events coming up other than a grudge match this weekend. I find myself working more on my all around game because it is in my head to play better. I'm lucky that I have a place to practice and then go play a few holes every couple of days. I'm constantly testing my action and the adjustments I'm making on the range by playing a few holes.

This routine forces me to "get out of my head" (a place too easy to be on the range) and simplify things so they work in the real world. I've been studying the swing for twenty something years and at various times I have felt amazing on the range and completely lost on the course. I spent last fall working on compression and FLW without playing much. I went out to play with my player before Q-school, and he laughed at my inabilty to hit any type of soft shot around the green. It does not mean I was working on the wrong thing, but I might have been overdoing it some. I had also changed my game: I kept good driving but gave up good long irons and picked up good short irons. It turned out that I was trying to create more axis tilt when I already had too much.

By the time we played in Atlanta, he said he thought I would be better than I had ever been once I got more used to my new pattern. I used to not hit any really bad shots but not a lot of close ones either (and I played everyday). With better alignments, I hit many more weavers (where you bob your head from side to side to see which side of the pin you are on), but I'm still getting some of those stuck between swings type of shots.

When you maintain your swing but don't change it, you often know how to fix the bad miss on the course. When you improve your swing, you may change the miss and not be able to fix it even if you understand it. It takes time and experience to sort it out.

I have a buddy who is an amateur tournament golfer. He loves to hit balls and try to perfect his swing but he wants results too. He stops filming video leading up to bigger events and just works on contact, shape, ball flight, routine, etc.

My advice is to let this one go. In the coming year, test your swing and the changes you are making throughout the year by putting it under pressure to make sure you are headed in the right direction. I understand dragging another one over to get the perfect feel, but once you have it, try to make little piles on the range while going through your routine. Play more events so you get used to the way your body reacts to pressure.

It takes time to develop trust in a new pattern. It takes time to get enough repetitions to make the move automatic. You have to learn the lessons, like the one you learned about adjusting your pattern on day 2, to be able to apply them faster the next time. When asked by his sons why he did not get upset at a bad shot, Caude Harmon said (paraphased), "I know what I did wrong, and I don't do that very often." It takes a lot of study to know the whys and hows and a lot of practice to get to where you don't miss very often. It sounds like you are on the right road, just not as far along as you would like to be. Welcome to the club.

HB

[danny_shank]

Bagger your club championship experience sounds much like my own.

I played in mine a few months back. It was my first big comp since i started playing golf again, after a lay off while i was at uni.

I hit the ball very well in practice but couldn't take it to the course. Had a couple of big misses to the left and right in the first few holes which destroyed my confidence and ended up resorting to 3/4 punch shots to keep it play. My course sounds much like yours, accuracy of the tee is all important, you can forget about finding it when you hit it in the rough. Just when i thought i was getting it back to respectable the long par 4 9th was the last nail in the coffin. Hit a three wood out of bounds to the right off the tee, then hit a second three wood in the left rough, my third ball followed my second with a two iron. Scrambled a twelve in the end, I certainly had a hard time keeping up beat after that.

It's strange i used to flip it like crazy with little compression, but at least i could score!

[Bagger Lance]

Stinker . . . here's a thought . . . how about purchasing a net for your "tinkering" mechanics practice . . . . and spending your hour at the range playing shots rather than mechanics. Use more of your range time to really practice like you play. Go through your routine change targes and clubs. Practice at a slower pace . . . the game is SLOW between shots so try not to hit and rake.

Makes sense pokechop, but my course is hilly canyon style. Short but very tight. Target golf on every hole. Most shots are uphill, downhill, sidehill so my plan is to just walk 9 a few mornings a week before work and do my practice on the course. Side benefit is the workout.

I like the net idea for mechanics but my lightbulb moment this weekend was competitive heat. The intent of playing my absolute best with others doing the same for a prize. Putting each stroke to that test is what its all about and doing it on the range or even in a casual practice round is hard to duplicate. Its a combination of mindset and environment. The intensity level gets jacked up, but also have to stay relaxed and have some laughs between shots.

I've worked the imperatives and essentials for years now. Its time to let them out for some hard playing time. I'll be back to tinkering when I've made some significant scoring breakthroughs.

[neil]

Go for it Bagger ,I've gone in the opposite direction since I left England and couldn't play for over a year-that was 5 years ago and had to start from nothing.
You just need a few competitions

[Seanmx]

Practice at a slower pace . . . the game is SLOW between shots so try not to hit and rake.

Very good point. Hitting balls too fast on the range becomes like Geoff Ogilvy described as like throwing rolled up paper into a trash can. Once you get the first one the rest are easy as you get into a rhythm.

For what it’s worth when I practice I try to not hit the same club more that three times in a row and when hitting my irons I try and hit a “Ben Doyle” basic motion chip with a little pivot, then an acquired motion pitch, a punch and then a full shot. To me this is to mimic what happens on the course where you rarely have two full iron shots in a row.