Is playing golf like riding on a bike?

[jenhaoyen]

I always wonder if i get really good at a certain level and I don't practice for a while, could I still hit the ball straight?
It's kinda like riding a bike, once you learn how to ride that bike correctly, you don't need to ride the bike everyday. Once you hop on to that bike, it's sailing smoothly.

 

[wanole]

I always wonder if i get really good at a certain level and I don't practice for a while, could I still hit the ball straight?
It's kinda like riding a bike, once you learn how to ride that bike correctly, you don't need to ride the bike everyday. Once you hop on to that bike, it's sailing smoothly.

I play my best when I lay off time. Usually 3-4 months I can come out hitting the ball just as well. The chipping is a different matter.

I think with me it's mental. When I lay off I don't really expect much, so I don't get as upset with bad shots and I also don't get all mechanical. I just swing. When I play say week after week for a while I expect to shoot close to even so I get more upset when I don't.

I played golf with a guy when I was in HS. He was say 30 and he would play once every 6 months and shoot near scratch. I was always like how does he do that. No I understand.

 

[Jim Kobylinski]

Once you find a pattern you like and don't tinker much you should be able to repeat it pretty easy. However your putting, short game, and wedge game will take a hit

 

[jenhaoyen]

Once you find a pattern you like and don't tinker much you should be able to repeat it pretty easy. However your putting, short game, and wedge game will take a hit

that's saying if you don't compensate too much on your swing right.

I find that chipping and putting stays with me, maybe because I use to play basketball in school and I'm really good at picturing how to make the shot.

 

[Jim Kobylinski]

that's saying if you don't compensate too much on your swing right.

I find that chipping and putting stays with me, maybe because I use to play basketball in school and I'm really good at picturing how to make the shot.

Even compensated ones; if you groove it, it will most likely stay with you. Also u may think that the chipping and putting stays with you but if you kept stats you would probably see that it has degraded. Even like basketball; if you don't practice your moves you won't just "have them" when you come back right away. It will be off until you groove it again.

Similar thing tends to happen to pool players as well; you end up just missing shots just by a little because you haven't been playing/practicing enough to put just the right amount of english on it. "Feel" leaves you when you don't practice imo, no matter the sport.

 

[ggsjpc]

I guarantee you if you haven't riden a bike in a long time, the first few seconds are scary. After that it starts to come back but even the turning is different till you get used to it again. I think golf is very similar.

 

[jenhaoyen]

I guarantee you if you haven't riden a bike in a long time, the first few seconds are scary. After that it starts to come back but even the turning is different till you get used to it again. I think golf is very similar.

i haven't rode a bike in years, and i was just jumping on to it last tuesday. I wasn't scared, i was doing bmx tricks jumping up and down the stairs. FUN TIME. Snowboarding and skateboarding are the same to me. Once i'm up there i'm fine. Golf is different, if i dun play for a long time it's so simple to me. Once i start to play and get addicted to it, i start to think about all these technical things and thus impair my golf swing. Now i'm just trying to relax and swing my pattern. I feel like golfing and playing pool is the same to me, if i start to think alot i won't be able to make a good shot at it.

 

[Bigwill]

I find that chipping and putting stays with me, maybe because I use to play basketball in school and I'm really good at picturing how to make the shot.

I'm like this. I played a ton of basketball in my younger days,too. Who knows...

I know guys who won't touch a club for months, then they come out tee to green like they played last week. But they'll chip and putt like 100 shooters. I'm completely opposite. The first thing that comes back for me is putting and chipping. And if I don't practice before the round, it only takes me a couple holes before I get comfortable. Long game? Takes all season...

 

[birdie_man]

I think you've got the right idea jen. At least you are in the ballpark. (per-se) Though at the moment I am not sure to what degree. [you can relate biking with golf]

I still have a ways to go but I don't "lose it" anymore like I used to.

My body is trained and I know much more WHAT I am doing now. (as an entire motion, as a sequence of moves, or maybe even more specific then that if I stop and think about it)

It helps a lot I think if you know exactly how to setup the same (and well) every time. And also exactly what you do to "hit it." The "athletic move" in the downswing.

For me it is "step on left foot/left shoulder up."

Knowing how to make a good backswing (for you) so you can easily put the club on your desired downswing path is important too.

 

[Brian Manzella]

Like riding a bike?

On the range, golf is almost exactly like throwing or catching a football, baseball, shooting and dribbling a basketball, riding a bike, etc.

But on the course?

Some folks play great when they lay off of golf fro a while. To me, that means their IDEA of golf is better than their APPLICATION was.

So, that would seem to mean I would be a very good player after a layoff.

Ah....no.

Here are two quotes from the world's most quotable man, Don Villavaso.

"Nobody owns this game."

"You need to play and practice everyday."​

 

[birdie_man]

I've always got the feeling that a lot of what Phil Mickelson's into seems forced. (for him)

I think he shot his 59 (with a 10 footer for 58 on the last hole) coming straight out of a multiple-month layoff.

 

[Bigwill]

"You need to play and practice everyday."[/INDENT]

No wonder my game is where it is after 8 years. I'd love to be able to do this for a month, just to see how much I'd improve.

 

[JRJ]

how about softball

the swing itself has a lot of elements of fast pitch softball

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKL56jCzluU[/media]

focus on the legs; crack the whip