>To become good at golf does not mean that you can sit on the driving range and hit golf balls every day until your hands bleed.
I disagree with this part. Fighters learn to fight by sparring with each other in very controlled settings. The first time they have a situation where the other person is trying to hurt them in earnest is in the ring. "Ring rust" (the equivalent to actual course play, playing in front of people, etc.) does play a role but it's a vastly smaller role than the actual techniques which can be learned in isolation.
There was a famous pro golfer who said he used to hit golf balls on the course until he got to the green and then take the ball and move on. There was no reason for him to practice the greens because he could do that elsewhere. Isolated training seemed to work for him.
tl;dr I think you're putting way too much value on playing in front of people and putting all the techniques together. Learning the techniques themselves is the hard part in any sport.
I disagree with this part. Fighters learn to fight by sparring with each other in very controlled settings. The first time they have a situation where the other person is trying to hurt them in earnest is in the ring. "Ring rust" (the equivalent to actual course play, playing in front of people, etc.) does play a role but it's a vastly smaller role than the actual techniques which can be learned in isolation.
There was a famous pro golfer who said he used to hit golf balls on the course until he got to the green and then take the ball and move on. There was no reason for him to practice the greens because he could do that elsewhere. Isolated training seemed to work for him.
tl;dr I think you're putting way too much value on playing in front of people and putting all the techniques together. Learning the techniques themselves is the hard part in any sport.