Practicing at home
We have all heard the adage “practice makes perfect”, and as much as I wanted to, I always found it difficult to get into a regular practice routine. Time and time again other things would cut into my planned sessions.
Perhaps, because the sessions were focused on a particular area of the game instead of just hitting balls, there never was enough time to pack the gear, drive to the range, warm up, go through practice drills, and return home again. Therefore, twice weekly (Mondays & Thursdays) became once weekly, then twice monthly turning into once monthly and in the end, whenever it happened.
Needless to say, although still being able to “keep it in play”, the short game totally disappeared. Then in 1998, after throwing always 8 or 10 strokes on my way to shooting an 80, decided “why bother playing if you are not going to spend the time practicing” . I walked off the course that November day and lost interest in the game until my grandson rekindled the flame in the late Spring of 2014.
When I started back, deep in my memory was the ghost of that last round played. With a renewed interest in the game, it was obvious that a lot of practice time was needed to even figure out what a 67 year old swing would look like, let alone developing the muscle memory to repeat that swing on a consistence basis.
Therefore, a top priority became to set up a home practice area that could provide the opportunity to work on the game without the hassle of trying to get to a driving range on a regular schedule. Initially, the focus was on functionality, however, it soon became apparent that quality would be the main criteria in creating a practice area for daily use. After doing a bunch of research over a couple of years, the following is my current configuration; Pro Putt 18′ by 8′ practice green and chipping platform; 5 STAR GORILLA Perfect ReACTION Golf Mats – 5′ x 5′; and Rukket SPDR Portable Driving Range.
