@quickretirement123 posted a great thread about taking ownership of his swing. His post got me thinking about what ownership means, and therefore what non-ownership, or renting a swing might mean. This is not about mirror work, or videos, because that's all a MUST for me. It's more general than that.
The owner of a car is careful about upkeep, cleaning bird dew off the paint, avoiding pot holes, keeping it clean, etc. Any little thing drives them nuts. But if we rent a car, we don't care so much because we don't own the car, someone else does. So how does this relate to owning a swing?
I argue that someone else owns the range swing, and some else owns the course swing. One guy "rent's out" the "other guy's" course swing. The "other guy", who actually plays on the course, has to deal with the rental swing guy. The rental swing range guy has it easy. He can hit bad shots and it doesn't matter. There's no score. There's no embarrassing moments. And despite all of his half-hearted attempts to "visualize being on the course", the rental swing range guy might get a little worked up, but in the end he's not the one who will play on the course when it counts. Worse, the range guy stands on flat ground. He has another 100 balls to hit if he's having a tough day, or experimenting. There's no pass/fail.
Then the rental swing range hands over instructions to the "owner of the course swing guy". The range rental swing guy tells the Owner to WATCH OUT.....DON'T SCREW UP WHAT WE LEARNED!!!
So to me, true ownership of a swing takes place on the course. There's no do-overs. The internal pressure to hit a good shot is immense. Like carry over water, missing the trees, avoiding a giant trap, don't go OB, etc. This is precisely why folks should practice all the shots on the course that they practice on the range, forget score, handicap. Honestly, nobody really cares. They only care about how they play.
I see far too many folks practice shots on the range, then get on the course and say "I'm not ready to hit that shot on the course". When will they be ready? They will be ready when they are OK with a bad shot on the course, and they stop renting their swing out to a guy who doesn't have to actually endure the pressure of the course.
Great analogy and advice, @GolfLivesMatter!!
Good thoughts @GolfLivesMatter !
I think we all can identify with you on this.
Another part of this for me is the difference in the way (or how well) I play by myself vs how I play with my group. My best performances come when I'm playing alone...not worrying about what my score will be, but just focusing on the process for each shot. So, if and when I'm able to bring that same level of confidence and relaxation to my group game, I will be breaking 80 more often than not (assuming my theory is correct). But I will add, if not for @Tom Saguto and SnT, I would not have ever gotten this far!😀