I try to plan every session before I start. Otherwise I just default to hitting drivers, and that's not what I need to be doing.

My dad put together a journal system for me a while back and I've been using it ever since. It has a spot for what I want to work on that day, room to write down what actually happened while I was working on it, and a little section at the end where I write down what I learned. The idea is you don't just show up and hit balls — you show up with something you're trying to figure out, and by the time you leave you've either figured it out or you know what you're going to try next time.

My coach Keith is always talking about deliberate practice, the training aids we're using, and making sure I'm actually measuring what I'm doing. The journal is where that lives for me. If I can't write down what I was working on and what changed, I probably wasn't practicing — I was just hitting balls.

The reflection block at the end is my favorite part, honestly. There are four boxes: my win of the day, the leak I want to fix, whether I hit any personal records, and what I want to carry into the next session. It sounds like a lot, but it takes about three minutes and it's the difference between a session that adds up to something and a session I forget by Wednesday.

The exit ceremony

There's a drill at the end of every practice I don't skip. Forty four-foot putts in a row. If I miss one, I start over. That's it.

I hated it when Keith first gave it to me. It's boring and tiring and if you miss on number 38 you have to start at zero. I used to think that was mean. Now I actually kind of like it. It's the one part of practice where there's no negotiating with yourself. Either you're leaving the facility or you're not. Some days it takes ten minutes. Some days it takes forty. Both count.

I don't think of practice as something separate from playing. It's the same thing, just with fewer people watching. The good rounds come out of the days nobody sees.