Perfect balance?

How often do you play? How often do you practice? What has been your handicap at the end of the past three years? Three simple questions to which I'd appreciated your honest answers. The reason I am asking is that I am currently torn. I can be quite devastatingly brilliant at times on the driving range, never on the golf course. I need to find a perfect balance (if such a thing exists) between range, heath and putting practice and actually playing the game for real. As a beginner there are still technical issues I am working on and that is for the practice ground. However, I recognise that every time I play that is important practice as well.

So what in your opinion is the perfect balance?

Comments:

Homer
I know you’re into your Rotella books and one of the main things he teaches is to trust your swing on the course. The range is where you work on the technical aspects and the course is where you put the work into practice.

Its hard to decide how much of anything is too much. It depends on family and work committments, what you want to work on and how much you want to play on a full 18 regularly.

For me I try and go to the range once in the working week and play in club competitions at the weekend. If I play on a Saturday and have a bad round I might work on the weaker points on the Sunday. In the Summer I’ll probably have two evenings of practice, a couple of full rounds or nine holers and a couple of days rest.

If you are having regular lessons why not chat to the pro and draw up a realistic practice schedule and some drills to work on and also get a structure to what you need to address in lessons in some sort of order i.e short game and putting, bunkers, pitching, mid irons and then up towards woods with perhaps a swing MOT somewhere in the middle

Tiger
The swing is definitely in there I think its just a matter of confidence on the course. I think playing a few longer courses with par 4’s will help. Hit a great shot to about 175 yards with a 6 iron and minimal roll but it was off the green. However, had I hit that same shot onto the fairway I’d be delighted. When I relax and trust the swing, I more often than not get good results.

In terms of practice, chipping, chipping and chipping. My next lesson is in a fortnight so if the swing continues to improve I’ll use a lesson for that. If not I’ll keep plugging away with the practice.