I recently completed a program of speed training. It was a 24 session program that took me about 8 weeks to complete. It’s something I enjoy, and distance is always a good thing to add. My game does not need an influx of distance, but I had few options over the winter. Temperatures are rising, and I’ve been able to hit some balls outside. Upon completing my assessment, I decided I was done with speed training for a little bit, and I’d start the “cruiser” program to hopefully maintain my speed through the season.
The next day, The Stack released a new protocol designed by Martin Borgmeier. It promised some unique ideas to help build and understand speed. In terms of rabbit holes, this one was perfectly shaped for me. I tweeted Sasho “Just when I thought I was out, they pulled me back in” and Wednesday was my return to speed training. My pivot towards actually translating the speed I had built into distance on the course lasted less than 24 hours.
As I’ve spent time writing here, I have become more self aware. Last year, I’d probably have justified this decision with a variety of excuses that wouldn’t stand up to scrutiny. Golf is a hobby and I don’t have to answer to anyone on how I spend my time. Except for myself. Normally, I’d just chase what interests me, but if I actually want to improve, I need to make sure I am working on areas where I can make tangible improvements. This requires that I assess what I am doing, and change course at appropriate times.
Golf requires a number of discrete skills, and we have different routines to improve at them. In an ideal world, we’d identify the low hanging fruit, put in the work to improve and then move on to the next thing. In reality, we are never really done working on something. As we improve the gains become marginal, and our time would be better spent working on something else. My speed training is a fairly good example. I still have a ton of potential for speed gains, but unless I’m gaining strokes with my driver, the added speed is useless. Just chasing swing speed alone does not make me a better golfer.
When I look at most people practicing golf, it’s an issue I see. I know some guys who have been grinding their short games for years, and it’s come at the expense of their approach game and driver. But they’ve gotten into a routine with what they practice, and they are going to grind their short game until it’s “perfect”. Perfect here is a code word for forever. I beat one of these guys in a match after he hooked a drive OB on 18. He probably has a missed putt on an earlier hole haunting his dreams. It’s easy to get into a practice routine, especially when you see improvement in an area. The important part is to not get fixated on one concept, but keep an eye on your entire game.
Working on putting has given me a better perspective on practice as a whole. I have spent a ton of time in the past few years grinding my putting. Despite my attempts, I did not fall in love with the process. The upside of working on something I did not enjoy was I could view my practice with a critical eye. I quickly identified the things that did not seem to work. I’m currently working with a putting coach, and it’s been eye opening. The time spent on my putting has been beneficial, but the biggest win has been trying to fix the actual issues I have with putting. I don’t particularly enjoy putting practice, and it forced me to be more efficient with my practice so I’d actually see benefits from the time spent on the putting green.
I am still focusing on the process of improving, but I view my results with a more critical eye. Mostly because I don’t enjoy the process! I am looking forward to pivoting away from putting practice, so I am focused on improving as quickly as possible. Ultimately, I think the important thing is to keep a focus on the big picture. We aren’t going to master any part of the game. We can see continual improvement just working on one small portion, but it comes at the expense of the whole.
We need to be able to pivot out of routines, especially when it comes to practice. Better is the goal, not perfect. We need to constantly assess where we are, where we want to be and what we need to do to get there. It’s easy to get fixated on one aspect of our game. I think the best way to combat this is to track advanced stats (strokes gained is my go to metric) and make sure we are identifying where we can make the biggest gains.