In your opinion what correlates most strongly to improved scores?

[Wormkiller]

In your opinion what correlates most strongly to improved scores?

 

[Just_Brad]

Inhave gone with just any type of playing. Often, all the time, as much as possible.

I think that first major drop in handicap, from 32 to mid teens can definitely be done without fitting, without teaching, without tournaments. Just get out and play.

Why do I feel that way? At one point I got to single digits with very little in terms of lessons, more just by playing as much as possible.

 

[wazzubrew]

I think the short game practice can make the biggest difference, which can happen from playing a lot as well. Lessons would be my 2nd choice.

Mind set and mental clarity are probably #1 for me, though.

 

[MSEASU]

To me these are all ties
Competition
Short game volume
Random practice
Lessons

 

[jjjgolf500]

Increased volume short game practice by a very wide margin for most people imo, including myself. Without an increased volume of short game practice my golf game would be miles apart from what it got to.

 

[jpgolf]

I went with “increased playing.” Add to that avoiding penalty strokes.

 

[War Eagle]

Short game practice and putting. Most golfer dont spend enough time with their wedges and the short game practice time. Add in that most dont spend time practicing putting, when that is 1/3 of your strokes. Give me short game practice time, and extra time working with the putter to lower my score.

 

[drb1956]

I think you can maintain your game better, if you play more often. Playing once a month won't get you there, unless you are a gifted athlete. For myself, I know that if I could play more often, say, every weekend in the summer months, improvement happens, because I become more consistent with my swing, especially off the tee, and all those little things that make up my game. Things like good chipping, pitching, and more consistent putting. Shotmaking becomes more natural, and you are more relaxed playing, knowing you have the confidence to make just about every shot the course throws at you.. Not playing for weeks, leads to inconsistent swings, chipping, and putting. Not being comfortable to make the shot you need does not help improve scores. Playing more often is an advantage to shoot better scores, especially if your game is already fairly sound, and not making the same mistakes over and over! At that point, you might need lessons...

 

[wazzubrew]

I think you can maintain your game better, if you play more often. Playing once a month won't get you there, unless you are a gifted athlete. For myself, I know that if I could play more often, say, every weekend in the summer months, improvement happens, because I become more consistent with my swing, especially off the tee, and all those little things that make up my game. Things like good chipping, pitching, and more consistent putting. Shotmaking becomes more natural, and you are more relaxed playing, knowing you have the confidence to make just about every shot the course throws at you.. Not playing for weeks, leads to inconsistent swings, chipping, and putting. Not being comfortable to make the shot you need does not help improve scores. Playing more often is an advantage to shoot better scores, especially if your game is already fairly sound, and not making the same mistakes over and over! At that point, you might need lessons...

More than once I've completely effed my game by playing too much. When I take time off, I come back and play better. Not necessarily disagreeing with you, just saying.

 

[That post]

For me it directly correlated with the amount of time I spent in the putting and shot game area. Once I made the commitment to spend an hour 3x a week there my scores dropped like a rock.

As soon as I got away from that they ballooned back up again. A good short game is the great equalizer

 

[hedley_lamarr08]

For me it is volume. Obviously a structured controlled range session over a smash session. Purposeful rounds lead to problem solving.

 

[rocullen]

I voted just playing.
When you get to middle teens with handicap, probably short game improvement.

 

[hackitup]

I said lessons. Something about repeating the same actions and expecting different results and the definition of insanity. Assuming playing different courses. Playing the same course you can figure things out for that course but there’s too much fluctuation in scores.

 

[Wormkiller]

I've gone increased playing in competition - being increasingly exposed to the pressure of playing to the full rules, no mulligans, no gimmes, counting penalties, having your score tracked and transparent to others. Having your score marked by an opponent as you play. And most importantly I believe is playing in a consistent format - whether it be stroke play or stableford, on a regular basis, for example weekly.

Casual round formats differ so much. You can play one day with your mates and play preferred lies and 5 foot gimmes. The next round you're playing a best ball scramble. Next round you're playing matchplay not even finishing off holes and taking "expected scores". Next round you might hit multiple balls and play 9 holes after work. Mixing up these playing forms doesnt really give a credible representation of how well you are actually playing against a controlled baseline, in my opinion.

Second I would put having consistent lessons. But ultimately the only measure of improvement that is relevant in this game is your score. Specifically, normalised scores that takes into consideration the difficulty of the course played. Handicap differentials are probably the best objective measure to reference in this respect. And the differentials achieved from consistent competitive rounds are probably the only credible data worth tracking.

 

[TxAggie2018]

It's lessons, IMO. In order to improve your golf swing, you need to find the root cause faults in it, and you will likely need to find different angles to attack them until one clicks. A pro will help with both.

Playing rounds helps you groove things, but doesn't expose root causes.

Driving range practice is kind of like playing rounds on speed mode, while remaining on a really nice lie. Instead of hitting 14 drives, you hit 100 drives. But those 100 drives won't explain why you're pull-hooking some of them, and attacking it with random Golf Digest tips isn't going to lead to long term improvement.

Getting fitted will not fix faults on its own, unless the old equipment is creating a very big fault or the player has pretty small faults.

Playing, practicing, and bagging the right clubs are all good things. They are necessary if you want to improve. But on their own, they're not sufficient. At some point, you need to figure out what you're doing wrong and how to fix it.

 

[CTRosarian]

Course conditions. We had over a foot of rain in September and that has made the course significantly harder by flooding the fairways and washing the sand out of the bunkers. Play has gotten better but scores have not improved due to the harder course.

 

[Hitsnmisses]

Not sure increasing practice , if your practice is fundamentally unsound is best..

A more fulsome answer for me ( as we all learn differently) is continuity , and consistency and increased frequency of play would result in 20 % minimum reduction of handicap . From my current ability to play ( actual ) to desire is about 1:4 differential .

 

[checkered]

I think it takes more than any one, but i chose playing. If you can't apply what you are working on it is hard to get better, imho.

 

[Tywithay]

Playing more often will result in the quickest improvement. There are so many things in golf that require rhythm and feel. That will improve after just a handful of rounds. At some point you'll likely hit a plateau based on your natural ability. I believe lessons (or some form of aid, drills, etc.) are ultimately the only way to truly get better. You can hit 10,000 balls at the range and you may get really good at hitting the ball, but that doesn't necessarily mean you're hitting the ball correctly, and you could further ingrain poor techniques.

 

[Ooo]

Went with more playing but since I’ve never tried to play in a simulator would not have included that. To me that seems closer to a video game.

 

[JonMA1]

Can’t speak for others, but I would go with increased playing time on the course (not so much simulator). Especially true if I use some of those rounds as practice rounds.

 

[TWright971]

This would be my rankings:

Increased playing time (on course)
Increased Short Game Volume
Lessons
Increased Practice Volume - Random practice
Fitting

Left out scrape and hit practice cause I don't think that really helps (actual block practice where you are working on a specific movement over and over can help but it's limited), and competition/tournament play as I think that's not necessary for increased scoring ability (but can see where if you play in a lot of tournaments then it could help with nerves that come with big moments in tournaments).

 

[jbb2388]

I think it depends on where your starting point is but more playing in any form can never hurt

 

[USAF Retired]

For me, it’s increased playing time

 

[Scribble]

IMHO
- short game/ putting practice
- lessons
- playing more
- range time
- competition