I saw an episode of Playing Lessons from the Pros featuring Bruce Fleisher on The Golf Channel recently, and he talked about a fun thing he does during practice rounds to make it interesting and competitive. What he does is, on an approach shot, he’ll intentionally miss a green to a certain spot. This allows him to put himself in different random up and down situations, even when he’s playing well. If he’s playing well and not missing too many greens, then his short game isn’t getting worked too much. This is a way to do that. On top of that, if he’s playing practice rounds with others, they can make a game of it: calling their miss and trying to get up and down. It would be easy to devise a point system where a player is docked a point for missing his miss and hitting the green.  That would keep it interesting. I like this little game for several reasons: It’s a fun way to make practice interesting. It’s a good way to

I know I’m always saying how the practice range should be your laboratory and that you should leave the experimentation there. And while I still think that’s important, as I was roaming the fairways Saturday afternoon, I realized that I really need to qualify that thought. What I’m really trying to get across is that if you’re trying to score, then leave the experimentation on the range and dance with who ya brung and all that. Whether it’s serious competition, or just a matter of trying to do your best, you don’t want to be jeopardizing that with untested or inconsistent techniques. At the same time, the course can be valuable for experimenting. My situation is a perfect example. I haven’t posted scores or stats for a long while, yet I’m practicing all the time, and playing around three 9+ hole rounds per week. I tend to go out in the late afternoon and my course is usually wide open then. That lets me mostly have the place to myself. What I’m not doing in

A while back, I referenced one of my favorite golf quotes, a gem by Sam Snead. “Ya gotta dance with who ya brung.” What Sam was telling us is, keep the experiments in the laboratory, and keep your laboratory on the range (or practice green). If you’re playing a round and making an attempt to score well, then the last thing you want to do is be experimenting with new techniques or trying to fix big problems on the course. The only result you’ll have is a higher score. In the off chance that you actually make headway with a problem, you’re likely to lose it quickly because you won’t have the benefit of the repetition that practice on the range or putting green gives you. When you hit that first tee, you should have evaluated your current state of affairs and have a plan of attack for the course that minimizes your weaknesses. If your problems are so bad, as in the case of the shanks, then skip the round and get right to