Practice Obstacles

This week has actually contained some half decent weather, so I’ve been out practising on 4 of the last 5 evenings.

In general, I quite enjoy practising most types of shots under the right conditions. The problem is that the right conditions aren’t always possible.

My club is in a fairly landlocked area, there isn’t any additional land available as far as I see it. Even if there was, the need and demand for housing means that any land for sale will be snapped up by the highest bidder, in most cases a developer. There is no disputing that a golf practice facility is not the prime, or most profitable, use of spare land in the Greater London area. There has been some talk about rejigging the course in a smart way that opens up a 250 yard area that could be utilised as a proper ‘practice area’, however this is probably some years away if indeed it ever happens. The only facilities currently available are some nets, a couple of mats, and a chipping green.

The chipping green is fine for practising the short game, but it’s so cramped that if there are two people already there practising then you have no chance. For a practice session hitting shots of more than 50 yards, the nets are no use, as you can’t see where the ball is going, what distance it ends up at, and how it reacts through the air. Hitting from a mat is marginally better than nets, as although you can see where the ball is going, the reaction of the ball is different, and the feel you get when hitting a shot is dulled. Also, hitting a lot of balls from mats, in a similar way to hitting off of hard ground, can alter the loft of a club over time. This is a reason why you should get the loft and lie angle of your irons checked every year.

So whilst nets and mats are perfectly fine for warming up, if I want to properly practice, hitting balls off of grass is the only way that the practice will be productive. The only option available is to go into the rough on the hole that runs by the chipping green, and hit balls from there. This in itself has 3 problems. Firstly, if the course is busy, you have to stop for 5 minutes every 10 minutes to let groups play the hole in peace without me firing practice balls over their collective heads. Secondly, hitting out of rough is not a direct simulation of a course scenario of hitting from a fairway. Thirdly, practising from grass involves creating a lot of divots. If you are practising on a course, rather than a bespoke practice ground, this can have an effect on the long term health of the area being used. I try to accommodate this last one by only hitting from places where people playing the course will not be hitting from, so they don’t have to hit from where I have been practising, and also by always replacing all divots I take (as everyone should always do, whether it be on a fairway or in rough, in competition or socially).

This week has been fairly quiet on the course, as it’s only the start of April, give it another 6 weeks and finding a space to practice will be a mission in its own right. I’ll get on with it as I will make it my drive to practice, regardless of the obstacles. It is just an eye-opener when I visit other courses and see the wonderful practice facilities the vast majority of them have available to their members.

Having hit about 500 balls on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday, I decided to practice putting tonight. This is another area that unfortunately is a problem. Firstly, I have to make a confession. I hate practicing putting. It is so boring and repetitive. It sends me to sleep after a couple of minutes. At least with everything else there can be variation, hit some wedges followed by 4 irons followed by bunker shots followed by tee shots. With putting it is just putt after putt after putt after putt. If anyone knows any drills to make putting practice even moderately interesting, please use the comments at the bottom of the post to let me, and the rest of the internet, know. Having made that confession, there is another reason why putting practice can be awkward. I practiced for about 10 minutes tonight then had to give up, as the greens were so bobbly that I didn’t have a clue whether I was doing things right or wrong. I could hit a perfect putt from 4ft and it would snake all over the place and miss the hole by several inches. I don’t want to dwell on this as it’s a sensitive topic in the golf club, and has been for several years now, but the bottom line is that the greens are not very good when compared with other courses in the area. I heard a county player call it ‘lottery golf’ a couple of weeks ago, which is a fairly accurate summary. In a remaining optimistic / straw clutching manner, I hope that when I start playing other courses in tournaments next month, I will appreciate the smooth greens more than my fellow competitors, as it will be a welcome relief to trust my skill, rather than luck, on the putting greens.

I have a coaching session tomorrow, followed by a game on Sunday. With the confidence I have gained this week, both from practising regularly and from re-reading the Rotella book to reaffirm my mental game, I’m hopeful I’ll be a 3 handicap again sooner rather than later.


Edit; In case anyone looks at the hit counter at the bottom and wonders why it has gone down, this is because I am now counting visits, instead of pageloads (e.g. one person may load several pages whilst visiting, this should count as one visit instead of a separate visit for each page they view).