Last week I reported the results of my first round since starting this experiment. After reflecting on the results, I thought I would share some observations.
First, I feel that we should have been playing actual golf the entire time. Practice is one thing, but as Ben pointed out, playing has a different energy and feel to it. Without playing it’s hard to understand how effective the practice truly was. For example, when practicing Ben and I have become very efficient with chipping onto the green from 50+ feet. When playing, we were both hesitant and left chip after chip short. I know that all the practice will eventually show up within the game, but that lack of confidence was a direct result of not playing.
Ball striking and clubs selection: When hitting practice balls on the range, the distance of each shot and the action of the ball is very different from playing with real balls on the course. When playing last week, several times I used the wrong club for a particular shot. These shots resulted in either being short of the green or hitting into obstacles. As the round went on I became less and less confident with my choices. This showed up time and again as I would hit a second shot with the right club and would hit a much better shot. Again, I feel this will auto correct with playing more frequently, but could have been prepared for much more efficiently.
Putting: I was efficient with my putter. Not amazing, but better than average. My lag putts were very good, but I did have 3 putts either lip out or stop one roll short of going in. We haven’t practiced putting anywhere near the amount we have chipping and I thought it showed for me. Moving forward, I plan to do more chipping drills where I finish the shot with my putter in order to simulate playing more effectively. On a side note, Ben nailed several long putts and except for the last hole putted much better than I did. He usually wins our putting competitions, but I plan on getting extra practice while he’s away this week to close that gap.
Overall, as I stated before, I feel that we have been highly successful. I think moving forward we can be more efficient with our practice and create effect strategies to improve on our weaknesses as they show themselves while playing.