Alright, now that we’re really getting into “the season” (although it never ended for me), I’m going to try implementing an actual practice plan. Big change for this plan is to play less real golf. That may seem strange, but I’m on the course pretty much every morning for at least nine holes, so I’m going to take 3 of those days and dedicate to swing work in the range/practice area instead. This will include speed stick training and at least once a week hitting a driver as hard as I can as many times in a row as I can (plus general short game work, etc.)
I’ll circle back here to let you all know how it’s going!
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Yeah, sadly, I think this is the way to real improvement… I drive my cart to the club and then go to the simulator work on my path… the siren song of golf is always loud!
I do think it’s important to play some real golf occasionally, just to make sure the stuff you are practicing is transferring. It can also be a nice reward to play well after grinding for a few days.
Oh, I’ll still be playing 3-4 days a week. That probably counts as a bit more than “occasionally” 
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Cory, please keep us updated. I love your plan because I’d much rather play than practice. Because of my wrist tendonitis, I’d rather incur trauma playing than ball-beating. 
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I believe you will reap some unbelievable benefits from this plan. Whether you beat your brains in on a simulator or just at the range. I wish I would have focused even more with mid and long irons, I was taught to focus on the clubs 42* to 51*. I beat my brains to the tune of tens of thousands balls 300-400 a session working on one specific club for weeks and even months at a time to ingrain the swing, and limit overall dispersion of those scoring clubs for what is now decades. Golf is a funny game, and I believe you will find, over the course of time, although not every shot is perfection, the shots you practice over and over and over will lead to complete confidence under stress, that for instance 100 yds out for instance you can pull the trigger mindlessly. I found focusing on a specific club and varying shots to have my practice sessions be fun with a specific club alleviated the boredom. But the end result of a finely tuned specific plan is going to show incredible results in the end. My suggestion is you can’t learn the whole bag all at once, but you can learn to truly gain an advantage by “mastering” your confidence level with 3 or 4 clubs. I just found it easier with short clubs. Good luck and I’d really like to hear about your results, but I’m really confident I know what those results will show over time
Several years ago, I had opportunity to sit down over a couple cups of coffee with the womens golf coach at Ohio State. One thing she offered, is that when she was on LPGA, she’d ask to caddie to club her so that her subsequent shot was from 100 yards. She’d practiced that shot so that it was mindlessly comfortable for her.
I asked her about “coaching up” incoming players. She did some, but not much of it. Her feeling was that if a players swing was good enough to earn her a D-I scholarship, there was a danger of ‘overcoaching’. Her coaching emphasis was on two things. The first was short game, short game and short game. The other was course/game management. Quite often you need to make something out of nothing. Par is your friend.
Seems like her and I were taught by the same people. I know my distances with 42*-51*. Everyone on here seems to not believe me when I say I can execute shots with those clubs really mindlessly to a high degree of accuracy to the borderline of excellence. The rest of the garbage in my bag IMO is exactly that garbage…average to above average. I know I allow get crappy swing thoughts in my head when I pull a mid or long iron or I have to pitch from 20 - 50 yards UGH!. The only way to overcome that is to beat your brains in and I never did that to a consistent basis like I did with those 4 short irons and 2-3-4 ft putts…I used to be endless. I just put it in my mind, I was not ever going to be beat in a match on what I thought I could truly control. I was average to below average with distance, I know my shot shape with irons, but the longer the club, for me more possibilities of things to go wrong, I did a personal study of my game and found that 70% of the full shots I executed on the course was 120yds and in and then around and on the greens, were with those 4 clubs and a putter. I think I have said on other areas my approach to course management…if I’m off the grid I assess and if I cannot execute the hero shot to at least 95% success rate I’m pitching out and not allowing +2 into the equation if I execute what I know how to execute. Look we all get doubles or worse, but if you do your best to take it out of the equation…you can lower your score alot! We play a ton of match golf, I would purposely lay back to 15, pull the 46* and know I could stick that iron, in a 10yd circle or closer, 90% of the time. You can mentally beat someone down doing that. Distance wasn’t my thing…keep it on the grid and get it to where I was on better than even turf with an opponent. When we have scramble tourneys on the home front, I have my choice of partners… BTW, don’t get me wrong, I can pitch the ball on a green from a short distance consistently, just with nowhere near the accuracy I would like, hence the use of the word garbage. I guess I feel that 15ft circle on a third shot sux only because reality says u are only going to make like 10% or less of those putts trying to save par should I screw up that mid iron from 180!
Yeah, interesting. We have a very short (long story) par-4 ninth hole, 291 yards or so. It’s bounded by red-staked heather on left and right as well as tree lines on both sides. If I flush a driver, I still have to feather a 60* into the green. Way too many “gotta haves” for my skill level. Finally, in the last month of the season. I accepted ‘what is’ and would hit 4I - 5I to 100 - 110 yards. From there I’d take a mindless GW-PW into green. It resulted in a lot more pars and a much better frame of mind sailing into back nine. Other golfers in my group play it differently and with good results, but I’ve got to play to my game.
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exactly right, Play your game.