Loosing It halfway through 18 holes?...horrible slice?

Just my opinion here...

I love to practice. I go to the range 3 or 4 times a week. I rarely hit more than 100 balls at a time. Why? Because if I have 500 balls to work with, I'm likely not going to take my time with each ball.

On the course, each shot is critical. One has to think the same way about practice balls.

500 balls may be fine for some people..but I would never recommend that as a general rule.

With 500 balls to hit for a practice session, I take exactly the time I need to strike each one and not a second more. I just take a whole lot less time than most people. I do that by eliminating everything and anything that gets in the way of making a good shot and keeping only what allows me to make a good shot. I take the result directly to the course without further thought or complication.

On the course each shot is critical. It is for this reason that practice is so important. On the range, every single ball is a waste no matter how I look at it. Not a single ball will help me score better since I'm not playing. What will help me is to repeat what works extensively until I'm confident that I can do it at will. Since every ball is a waste, I may as well try everything. Which I do.

With all that practice, I've become very accurate with the 8i. I'm so confident with the 8i that I anticipate hitting the flag stick with it on the course as I've done on the range. I could not have done this, did not do this, with the short sessions I was doing before I knew what I was doing.

If this works for you then good for you! Is your handicap dropping accordingly? That's the main thing I guess.

Happy golfing!

Snowman.

I make the distinction between the swing and the stroke. If whatever I do produces proper contact (a good stroke) and subsequently sends the ball to the target, then by definition whatever I do, I must be doing correctly. So, if all I practice is send a ball to a target using a club, then whatever I do to achieve that is the right thing to practice. Unfortunately I agree, many just don't know what they're doing on the range.

In the professional golf world, there is a multitude of examples of beautiful swings and ugly swings with all levels of success. In the current world rankings sits one of the most unorthodox swings ever, that of Jim Furyk. One of the most beautiful swings ever has fallen off the radar, that of Ernie Els.

I could practice swinging the club like Els all day long but if I never strike a ball to send to the target, I'm not playing golf. I could try to swing like Els at the same time as I practice sending the ball to the target but what would be the use if I can swing any way I want and still send the ball to the target? I could say the same thing about imitating Jim but that would be ridiculous. Jim's swing is hardly fashionable.

Is it a function of fashion? Do we need to look good while we swing a club? I contend that we must look good if we can't hit the ball to save our lives.

I used to have this image of how I wanted to look when I swung a club. I got rid of this image real quick when I got a look at how I looked on video. Now the only image I stick with is the one of striking the ball properly in front of my own two feet. Not that I look bad, it's just that I don't look one bit like the image in my mind. Anyway, I know I can produce good results so if what I look like is the result of producing good results, then so be it. I'm not here to dance.

Not because a swing looks good that it works. Conversely, not because a swing looks bad that it does not work. There are things we can deduce from the looks of a swing but the best and only true indication of the quality of a swing is the quality of the stroke and where the ball went. For example, we can deduce if the player was in balance when he swung the club or if he was trying to draw it or fade it or punch it, etc. We can deduce intentions, if you like. But what we can't deduce from the looks of a swing is if it works or not. In order to know that, we must absolutely look at impact and where the ball went.

I prefer to think that the majority of practice should be devoted to the part that is most difficult. In my case, it's the full swing and long game. Popular wisdom wants me to practice my short game more but that would do nothing for my long game which is, after all, the reason I should practice my short game in the first place.

Regarding quantity of practice, I think the two main variables are mental focus and physical control. After a certain number of strokes, it's easy to lose mental focus, at which point you may start to neglect aspects of the setup, alignment, etc. In addition, after some number of strokes, muscle fatigue may begin to cause sloppiness in the swing. I think it's important to practice when physically and mentally sharp.

(Many many years ago, when I took karate lessons, I used to wonder what the point was of repeating drills until we were so tired we couldn't do the techniques properly. The sensei told me some ****ola about determination, will power, etc. Well, I could see the point of doing that sort of thing once in a while, but not as a regular part of the practice. I was, after all, trying to learn karate, and flailing around with rubbery arms and legs wasn't helping. I don't come close to anything like that at a golf practice range, but I have felt that I have sometimes pushed myself to a point of diminishing returns.)

Where I practice, a medium bucket is about 45 balls; a large bucket is about 85. I find that a medium bucket is about right for a single practice session. I take about a minute for each shot, which includes walking away after the previous shot, then walking up to the new shot, the complete setup, etc. I usually bring about three clubs to the range with me: a long club, a medium club, and a short club. As I've mentioned elsewhere, I try to hit three consecutive "quality" shots and then switch to the next club. If I get a bad one, I restart the count with that club. The purpose of doing it this way is to get to a point of confidence but not to feel that I've merely grooved some compensation for a swing flaw by hitting dozens of balls with one club. My reasoning is: If my swing is sound, I should be able to hit three good shots, then switch to some other club, and when I come back to the first club, I should still be able to make good shots. Setup and posture are different with woods and wedges, so it's important to bring both and not feel that I'm stuck on one kind of swing.

Now, when I say that 45 balls is about right for me for one session, I only mean that by the time the bucket is empty, I feel I could easily hit some more quality shots, but I don't need to. When it's a large bucket of 85, if I only practice full swing strokes, by the time I'm near the bottom of the bucket I feel sloppy and my mental focus is diffused. I do sometimes get a large bucket, but when I do, I reserve nearly half the balls for pitching and chipping.

I don't necessarily limit myself to a single practice session per day, though. But if I have a good session with a medium bucket, I find it's a good idea to do some putting for a while, or do something else. Then maybe I'll do another session later in the day, when I'm fresh again. Granted, I don't always feel fresh during a round of golf, but I want to feel fresh when I'm practicing.

The other thing I recently discovered, and described elsewhere, is that immediate video feedback is a wonderful way to enhance the quality of practice.

__________________
Todd
Philadelphia, PA
USA

The reason the pro tells you to keep your head down is so you can't see him laughing. ~Phyllis Diller

As it relates to the subject of this thread which is losing it halfway through 18 holes, perhaps the original poster did not have it to begin with or what he had was not as solid as he thought. He could look at some technique to help him and that's fine but without practice, no technique will fix the lack of practice. With the extensive practice I've done, I've gotten some solid skills with certain clubs that I know I can count on at any time from now on. Without that practice, I would not have that skill and confidence and would probably continue looking for the better technique.

I also asked the original poster if he was strong enough or lost focus or if he got tired or hungry because I went through all those things at some point and the result was always that I lost it halfway through 18 holes. The solution to this is to get stronger, eat well and consider a round of golf as if it were a training session in the gym. That's also how I consider a practice session because after all practice is training.

Dear Martin Levic,

Okay, Mr. I hit 500 balls a day.....I am dying to know......What is your handicap???

500 balls. Thats almost 6 rounds of golf in one session. Fullswings also. No putt strokes or chips. Thats a lot of golf.

I took 42 "full" swings in my last round (36 putts, 12 chip/pitch, 3 pens) so that is nearly 12 rounds!!!

thank you..see when i do practice (i am no longer a member i just take about 20 balls and hit from 100 yards out from a hole or practice hitting under trees with punch shots etc. but when i practice i dont think im practicing the correct things sometimes..and they become bad habbits...

and yesterday when i played with my friends i was even slicing my chip shots very bad...as in im litterally 30 feet out and the ball is landing about 40 feet to the right of my target and only moved 10 feet forward...its getting very annoying!

i wonder if i could just take about 100 balls out and just constantly change from sandwedge to about my 4 iron through and through up and down the fairway one night...might loose a couple though lol!

Hello xiggy.
Are you actually slicing the ball or is it just going to the right? The reason I ask is : with as much loft as on a wedge from that short distance it would be difficult to slice it that far. Most people aim slightly left of the target with a wedge. The club face will be square to the target but the feet will be turned to an open position to the left of the target. If it is truely a slice I would work on getting the clubface closed and swing path.
Good luck.

well guys first off quick bickering....jk its helping a lot...and why i say that playing holes is practice...because...going out and playing holes is good practice for instance punch shots...hitting out of the sand (we do now though have a sand trap at our driving range)....and also offers much more of a chance to practice odd putts and very hard chips (large gap with a small amount of green to stop it on)....and it has payed off...i hit fine and im amazing at short game and getting out of a bad situation and a great recovery is key in golf....because there is a way to stop it from happening ...but never 100%

and about my iron swing...i was hitting wrong because i wasnt dropping my shoulder...so it was making my iron swing more flat because that shoulder restricted my swing from going any higher so i couldnt strike through the ball i was more or less striking from a bad angle which caused a slice...thanks for the tips though

and when i was hitting wrong..i mean it litteraly did slice ..it went to the right off of the club AND sliced...and went about 30 feet right of my target...your jaw would drop if you saw me hit like that..and it has made me kind of loose confidence when i swing now because im afraid of loosing my good swing and having to do it all over again....and my local driving ranges are still closed because of rain (i live on 2 golf courses)

I don't have a problem with hitting 500 balls - I think I'm fit enough though I think I'd be knackered. I can see Martin's argument about grooving a movement through repitition. The issue for me would be price.

My local range is £3.70 for 53 balls (why the hell is it 53 balls? How random!). 500 balls accordingly would cost £34.90, pro rata, or $70 USD. How much would everyone else pay for 500 balls?

I think 50 practice ball an hour is about right, so for me 500 would be a day and night shift

We have been down this road many times regarding practice making perfect and perfect practice making perfect. My intrinsic feeling is that many people practice but are not able to understand what they do wrong, this leads them to groove the wrong things. If they can be shown what is right and wrong then they have a chance to groove the correct things.

There it is then, that's my view.

I have been having similar problems, but found the shoulder turn to be the main cause, confusion in the turn from the driver to the sandwedge.
too flat, too steep?. I get over that by holding the club I am about to use out at chest height and swing it from side to side, I then bend over holding the club just above the ball and swing it from side to side and that is my shoulder turn.