What’s your worst shot?
Drive for show, putt for dough?
I can’t putt. Ask anyone who has ever golfed with me, and they’ll tell you the same thing. Sure I drain the occasional 30-footer, and generally my putting weight is okay, but I probably also average about 45 putts per round (which, based on my handicap, is half my shots or more) because I lag the long ones to four or five feet and then can’t finish my leftovers.
You’d think that, since I know this factoid, I’d spend more time practicing putting in order to improve that aspect of my game. Well, you’d be wrong, and here’s why.
I’m an idiot, apparently.
You see, I know the old cliché as well as anyone about “Drive for show, putt for dough,” and all that, and yet, I think humans are instinctually drawn to engage in activities they’re good at, which is why when I have enough time to get to a golf course, but not enough time for a round, I’ll hit the range rather than head for the putting green, where I need to spend a ton of time to get a consistent stroke and stop lipping out four and five-footers for par.
I’m interested in hearing others’ perspectives on this.
Do you have a wicked slice off the tee box and but are golden from inside 25 feet, yet spend all your time practicing your short game before your round gets underway? It would make me feel better about my own tendencies if you’d let me know this.
Perhaps you spend your time on the range hitting the particular irons that are already dialed in? Or maybe you just stand there crushing drivers with 280 yards of carry straight down the middle of the range over and over (because that feels like heaven) despite knowing you need to work on your short irons?
Let me know your strengths and weaknesses, and how you practice because of them. If there are those of you out there who practice your weaknesses and leave your strengths alone, I’d like to hear how you manage to do that, too.
Let’s hash it out.
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