Range or 9 holes?

[SiberianDVM]

Well, I played 9 holes this evening and had fun. Pulled out my 905T and hit it just as bad as ever.

Bogey, bogey, PAR, bogey, bogey, double (ouch), double (ouch), bogey, PAR (with a chip in) for a smooth 45.

What I got from tonight was: driving sucked except for the 1st hole, wedges and chips were good, I need a hybrid 5 iron, and maybe a 6 hybrid as well. Putting was as dismal as ever.

Tomorrow is putting practice, the day after that is driving practice.

Meanwhile, off to eBay I go in search of more Nickent hybrids.

 

[gwlee7]

Doc, instead of spending all of tomorrow's practice just putting, practice "scoring".

Start by chipping 3 balls at a hole and then putt all three of them out. Do this to where you have chipped at least 15 balls. See how many of 15 you got up and down. Remember that number and then try to beat it the next time.

Next, practice putting to the fringe of the putting green. Sart in the middle and putt to the fringe seeing how close you can get to the fringe without touching it. Slowly add length to these putts until you are putting all the way across the green. This is a great way to develop feel for lag putting,

Finally, find a straight 5 foot putt on the green and see how many in row you can make. Pick some number that you must make before you can quit. I use 12 but you may want to use a smaller number until you start to build more confidence in your putting. This keeps a little bit of pressure on you as the 10th or 11th putts start to get interesting. If you miss before your "number" start over. Regardless, you will make a ton of them and you will start to feel much better about your short putting. Also, once you have made your number, keep going to see what your personal best can be. I have made 35 in row before but usually average around 20.

These three exercises will increase your ability to score and you will see fast improvement your score.

On days that you "have" to go to the range, be sure to go through some sort of pre shot routine on most if not all of your shots. Pick very specific targets and try to tell yourself what your intention is on every shot. Try very hard to not just beat balls,. That always does more harm than good.

You will win some in your flight this year!!!!

 

[Bubble Head]

I am not the persone to listen to as you are far better at this game that I. But I like playing with a goal. Right now, I am working on my 21 and 25* hybrids. I hit them from the tee box, without a tee, so that I get more practice hitting them off of grass. My course is usually not crowded, so I frequently play solo. I will also hit serveral shots to get more practice.

 

[Fourputt]

If it were me, I'd work on my short game (which I do anyway), and play the course, even if only 9 holes. I can't hit a long iron for anything, so I don't have any in my bag. I have 2 hybrids instead, clubs which are far more versatile than the irons they replaced, and then I carry a 5W as my only FW wood. So my advice is work on the short game, replace those clubs that you are uncomfortable with... there's no reason to carry what you can't hit. And play as much as possible on the course....

 

[Pa Jayhawk]

For me it is a matter of whether you are a member and can play for free. I would take the 9 holes in that case in a heart beat. It is free. You can mix things up like playing with just 1 or 2 clubs to learn different shots and see how they apply in real life. Playing irons and stuff off the tee on par 4's and 5's really makes you realize how important accuracy is over distance where you may find you actually have a better score on occasions with just one club than with all 14. When I started doing nine holes, playing with one club, and trying different things is when I first started noticing improvement in my game, mainly because of course management. For me, if I were paying, I would not be happy with only playing 9 and would probably opt for the range as I would probably have more focus on what I want to practice. Where not paying, you know it is a practice session and you can mix it up.