Wasting Practice Time

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Sometimes I just need to air a minor rant. Wasting practice time is one of those things that boggles my mind.

I’ve done posts in the past about making the most of practice time. There’s lots of information here and across the web and in books and TV programs about practicing effectively. Dave Pelz likes to say, “practice doesn’t make perfect, practice makes permanent.” I agree but I’m not even talking about those ways that we can make practice time provide maximum benefit.

Let’s approach this from another angle.

Life in the 21st century can be pretty hectic. Yes, certainly a lot of that is self-imposed. We take high-pressure jobs, give ourselves longer commutes, and work longer hours in search of the almighty dollar (or whichever currency that might be if you live outside of the U.S.).

Parents put their kids through a virtual wringer of activities and sports and other things that place a lot of demands on their time. When I grew up, in the summer, we went outside and played. Now, there are year-round sports, art/music/dance classes and recitals. The list goes on.

For a lot of people, golf is a luxury. Maybe not as much a financial luxury as a luxury of time. Being able to find the time can be tough for people.

I completely understand that. I also understand that finding time to practice regularly is an impossibility for many people. Chances are, if you’re reading this, you’re a player that takes the game somewhat seriously (in a passionate, fun way, I hope), and I also expect that most of you practice with more regularity than the average player. In fact, I had a poll that showed that 87% of you practiced at a driving range or practice green in the past 12 months.

Hopefully, you do take steps to make sure your practice time is useful and productive. I implore you, though, please don’t take time out of your busy life to “practice” if you’re just going to waste it.

I can feel you wondering where this is coming from, so let me get to that.

Earlier this year (March 24th according to the dated note on my iPhone – I’ve been sitting on this one for a while), I was at my course putting in some work at the practice green.

There was another guy there stroking practice putts. I happened to notice that he was putting while carrying on a cell phone conversation for at least 20+ minutes.

All I could do is cringe as I watched this go on and on and on and on and on. It’s not like he was using a headset or something. The whole time, he was cradling the phone between his shoulder and cheek.

As I said from the top, I completely get the busy life thing. And it wouldn’t have been so frustrating if it was a couple of different calls like, “honey, pick up milk on the way home” or “daddy, are you coming to my dace recital tonight” types of calls. No, this was just an inane social call.

In fairness, maybe it was a friend or relative he doesn’t see much and the call was personally important. Hey, I get that. But in that case, put the frickin’ putter back in the bag and have a seat under a shady tree and enjoy the conversation.

Standing there putting for 20 minutes while on the phone did absolutely nothing for his game. It was too long ago for me to recall whether he was warming up before a round or whether he was there on a practice session.

Either way, it doesn’t matter because he was accomplishing nothing with that 20 minutes. Actually, he may have been accomplishing less than nothing because unless he’s going to be cradling his phone between his shoulder and cheek out on the course then he’s probably grooving a feel that’s going to seem foreign when it counts.

It saddens me enough when I hear people complain about the state of their games because they don’t have the time nor inclination to spend time practicing. Golf should be fun, no matter what your skill level is. But, it’s that much worse when I see people do stuff like this in hopes of playing better when it’s just a waste of time when time itself is increasingly more valuable than it used to be.

This guy could have gotten just as much result by sleeping next to his putter in hopes of transferring some positive energy to it. He certainly wasn’t grooving a repeatable stroke, getting a feel for the speed of the greens, or working on his in-game level of concentration.

I feel for those of you that just don’t have the time to practice. Show up and play and have a good time if that’s the best you can do. But if you’re going to practice, I implore you to make it count or you’re quickly going to start wondering why you bother putting in the time. Otherwise, you might as well just skip practicing and catch up on the phone with an old friend.