Finding Time for Practice

I want to improve my golf, but lately I have struggled find time to practice. I find myself at the first tee on my weekend round without having worked on my game since the previous outing.

After a couple of bad rounds in a row, I figured it was time to try something new.

My favorite practice for the full swing is to hit balls at a driving range with a launch monitor such as Toptracer. I like using the practice session to check my club distances and to work on my tee shots, one of the weaknesses of my game.

The problem is that I need to drive half an hour to get to the nearest driving range, so I need two hours to practice in this way.

So last week I tried some mini practice I can do at home. I swung the weighted club for a few minutes and chipped into a target net on my lawn. This helped me get more back on track last round, so I am going to use this approach as the season winds down and we move from fall to winter.

I have been hitting the Divot Board

-- an efficient way to get feedback on your ball striking even when you cannot hit balls.

Any practice is better than none, even if it means just rehearsing your grip or putting on the carpet.

I will dust off the golf drills in my books and magazines and see what happens.

I know I really should play more often, but even if I can't I am determined to improve.

Optimism is key to golf, and I'm not giving up on pursuing my goal of getting my handicap to single digits.