When to Stop Throwing Rounds and Start Practicing?

I recently picked up disc golf seriously in January.  Since then, I have completely geeked out on the Internet, especially since rounds are hard to come by in the winter.  Of course, the great stuff I am finding on the Internet is training videos and talk of practice.

Okay, okay I get it.  I need to practice - but I just started.  I like the game of disc golf more than throwing across a football field...  Okay, so does everyone else, but I've played a total of 8 or 9 rounds in my entire "career".  Besides, how will I know what to practice if I don't know what my current (lack of a) game is?

So how many rounds did you play before really concentrating on practicing?

[Steve]

Start practicing whenever you want to start winning. I shouldn't be hard to figure out where your lacking. Always practice putting.

[Charles Isaac]

Blake good post.

I usually practice with 5 differing tee throws. Then I will go to my worst good throw. Then I have 5-7 upshots. Then I putt at least 2 -5 from every upshot assuming it is not inside 10ft. I normally throw two rounds a week with other people, at that time, no do overs.

I have a place in my basement to practice putting with an Innova Disccatcher basket. Here I can putt from 0 to 23' 2"

[eric beich]

my suggestion would be to see if anyone has a weekly mini nearby and go sign up in the rec division and then make some friends and find a few people you can get along with that play at least once or twice a week,weather permitting, and play rounds with them.
they are likely going to be better than you, and you tend to get better when playing with people who are better than you, and I know most of the rounds I play during the week with different groups of friends I consider to be "practice" anyways.

good topic and welcome to your new addiction :)

[Zach Ellerbrook]

Thanks. I actually have that in mind, but I can't start league play until a few weeks after Easter. It seems so far away.

[Sean Johnson]

Here's the thing about practice: you can get a ton of throws in a short amount of time. An 18-hole round might take an hour or two, and you get 18 drives. In practice, you could throw 18 "drives" in five or ten minutes. Part of golf is getting to know the course, and playing with other people, but a big part of learning is nothing more than repetition.

[Scot Lambert]

Never ever stop practicing and always throw rounds! They shouldnt be mutually exclusive. As others have said...you know the part of the game you need to work most. And the importance of putting is impossible to overstate. Im going on two years and I still dream about the game many o nights. Welcome.

[Brad]

I practice driving and up shots before I play. If I am meating someone to play at 2 than I will be there at 1 or 1:30. Putting is a hole different monster. If you want your putting to improve the more you practice the better you will be.

[Tha Big Hamm]

If you want to become a better player, play with better people. I played with the same group and we all got OK togather but thats it. I sucked it up and started playing sunday doubles and man, all my improvement came in a huge wave. Grips, Stance, putting, disc choice. All from watching . Not to mention, nothing will train your nerves better than someone else relying on you to hit a put for the both of you. If you want to correct individual issues, go in a field but man, i hate to disagree with some of these guys but, that bad thing about field practice alone is you might be practicing something the wrong way. Then not only are you wasting time but you are not progressing. Hope this helps. Welcome aboard. Oh one last thing, i can tell you always when my driving game starts to get crappy, i clean all the drivers but 1 from my bad and replace them with Mids, fixes me back up then i can go with the drivers again.

[Zach Ellerbrook]

I like the doubles idea. I'm looking forward to league play in the spring, but the doubles league meets during church. I'll have to figure something out. I'm also going to enter every tournament I can afford for the same reasons, and the hang for sure. I'm sure I can find some different players through the scene.