Know when to train

I do this every day.  There’s nobody out there telling me I have to stay until closing time or that I need to be at the course by 8am every day; it’s all self regulated.  For some, this might be a problem as it leaves the door open for slacking off, for others the problem is not having someone to tell you it’s time to hang up the sticks for the night and go home to rest.  I think I fall much more in the latter group.

I’ve never had a problem wanting to practice.  Sure, there have been a few times when my mood was sour and it felt as if I would never learn whatever it is that I was trying to learn, but that’s a rare occasion, especially over the past year since I really hit my practicing stride.

I’ve learned a bit more about how I learn and have come to better understand how to pace myself.  This really is a marathon and if you push too hard at any specific point then it could slow you down in the long run.  But, if you lag behind for too long you’ll never catch up.  You need that fabled turtle pace: slow and steady wins the race.

Today was a good example of this.  I’m working on some great stuff that I am positive will immensely help me down the line, but it’s very different than what I have been doing so if my mind starts to wander from the task at hand and reverts to my old habits I’m not learning anything and am actually hindering the progress that I had made that day.  So, when adopting a completely new swing thought (or learning anything in life, really) it’s important to practice correctly, much more so than cramming in as many hours as possible.  It’s a blend of quality and quantity where the quality should be the leading factor on when you stop for the day.

I only put in 4 hours of practice today, but it was a good four hours.  I’m focussing on a few new things.  First is my pivot: to not sway my hips back in the backswing and to turn my hips keeping them on a level plane instead of dipping them.  Second is my wrist:  to keep my right wrist (I’m a lefty) flat at the top of the backswing instead of cupping it as I had been doing, this will help me keep the club face square at impact.  Third is my starting move of the downswing:  to power the swing with my glutes instead of my quads, this is the stronger way of attacking the ball.  Fourth is grip: to put less pressure on the club so I can generate some more lag through the swing.

That’s a lot of new stuff and after about 4 hours of practicing I felt the quality of my concentration lessening and I knew it was time to stop for the day.

The other benefit of stepping away is that your brain needs time to absorb what you are doing.  If you are learning something new, try it out for a while and then step away and allow yourself time to assimilate what you are learning.  I’m always amazed at how much I’ve learned in my sleep, it’s pretty awesome!  Practice for a while, sleep on it and then go back out there and I can almost guarantee that you will have a better grasp on it the next day.  Do this for a few days and it will start to click more and more.  Eventually, whatever you are trying to learn becomes second nature.  Just give it time, but also give yourself some time away.