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Single Digit Handicappers - tell us how you got there!

I got there by playing a lot of golf and tourneys. You will get there.
 
Low Handicappers, what advice would you give High Handicappers?

Low Handicappers, what advice would you give High Handicappers?

As a player who bounces around in the 4-6 range I'm better than 80 to 85% of the people I tee it up with most of the time. I don't give advice unless asked, but I'd recommend most of these guys to lose the 60 degree wedges, trust me it is hurting more than it is helping and for them to chip with a 50 or 52 degree wedge for he most lofted shot but to use a 7,8 or 9 iron when it is possible. The bump and run chip will help them shave 4 or 5 shots most rounds.
The 14 plus cappers I play with are not the straightest drivers so they then miss more greens as a result requiring them needing to get up and down more often, I've watched them turn pars into bogeys and doubles time after time.

This is coming from a below average chipper IMO :act-up:
 
I'm a high handicapper and I have to say, the bump and run shots around the green have done more to shave strokes off my game than anything else. I rarely hit chip shots now.
 
Don't hit more than you have to from the tee.
Play the percentages.
Play to your strengths.
 
Practice your short game religiously. Most times the mid to high handicapper can get around the green in 2 shots. A killer short game will see your scores plummet.
 
Merged with a similar thread.
 
After reading through the other thread(s) on the same topic, I have learned that short game practice is the best way to improve my scores.
 
blugold said:
After reading through the other thread(s) on the same topic, I have learned that short game practice is the best way to improve my scores.
Click to expand...
It's funny you comment on this....I heard a factoid that Phil M ranked 140+ in GIR from 120 and in for the past two years. He won twice but that stat is staggering to me. Here is man that has one of the best wedge games in history and is out of the top 10 in the world in a category he has excelled at. I know the percentage points are small between 140 and 100 or 50 but still, it goes to show if you want to be great the short game will need attention. Below average on tour leave at 140 in the world
 
Tadashi70 said:
It's funny you comment on this....I heard a factoid that Phil M ranked 140+ in GIR from 120 and in for the past two years. He won twice but that stat is staggering to me. Here is man that has one of the best wedge games in history and is out of the top 10 in the world in a category he has excelled at. I know the percentage points are small between 140 and 100 or 50 but still, it goes to show if you want to be great the short game will need attention. Below average on tour leave at 140 in the world
Click to expand...

Would be interesting to see where he ranked in the tournaments he won.
 
Not that I am now, although I hope (plan) to be single digit this summer. As a kid I played once or twice a week May through October with my dad for most of my tween/ teen years. I was a pretty tall athletic kid and like like most kids I was flexible so, I could generate a lot of speed and bomb it pretty well, even 20-30 years ago when I still played persimmon and eventually plain metal woods along with my old Ping Eye irons. I also had a golf temper and would get upset with myself with bad shots/holes and that usually ruined what may have been a good round. I didn't know enough or maybe care enough at the time to nip it in the bud myself, so while I was about a 14 hdcp for most of my teen years, I never did improve much past that. My dad was cool and didn't push me about it either since we always enjoyed the time together. Somehow the summer I was 17 or 18 I ended up without a summer job, I was getting into cycling as well, so most nice days I would ride my bike the 20k to the club, change and either play, or grab some range balls and practice on the range, chip & putt. Other than my usual 2 rounds with my dad each week, I maybe got in 1 or 2 extra rounds each week and maybe 5-8 hours of practice in each week. In July and August of that year I went from my 14 hdcp to a 6. I will admit it felt really good to be at that level for those few months. I could make the ball do what I wanted it to do almost at will, with only an occasional bad shot. School stopped further progress, but I'm sure I would have continued to lower it another few points had I had more of that sort of free time.Fast forward 20 years without picking up a club and I'm over 40 now trying to get back into golf. 2 years ago I felt a bit lost although I still had good club speed. Last summer I outlined a weekly structured routine, bought a range membership at my old club and GPS'd the pin locations on the range. Four or five times a week, first thing in the morning before going to the office I would go for 60-90 minutes to the range/ putting green and went from what I imagine would have been about a 22-26 (usually shooting low-mid 90's) to a 12hdcp. Managed to actually play a game once every 10 days or so on average. Golf.com (I think) had the workbook I based my practice on. I switched a few things around, but it was pretty good. Long story short - it can be done. It can be fun at the same time.
 
Tadashi70 said:
It's funny you comment on this....I heard a factoid that Phil M ranked 140+ in GIR from 120 and in for the past two years. He won twice but that stat is staggering to me. Here is man that has one of the best wedge games in history and is out of the top 10 in the world in a category he has excelled at. I know the percentage points are small between 140 and 100 or 50 but still, it goes to show if you want to be great the short game will need attention. Below average on tour leave at 140 in the world
Click to expand...

It is because he is rarely in the fairway, lately he has been hitting the ball out of the rough, from behind, over and around trees, etc. He hits the most unbelievable shots out of terrible lies and still gets the ball on somewhere if not very close.
 
For me, what got me down to single digits was 2 things.
1. Stop trying the hero shot.
2. Hit better approach shots.

1. The hero shots I was trying to hit could be anything from trying to reach a long par 5 in 2 with a driver off the deck, to hitting a 200 yrd low running 5 iron that needs to hook out of deep rough from a grove of trees. 98 % of the time, those shots don't work and would cost me more than one stroke.

Now I play smarter, take my medicine, make the best of the hole with what I have to work with.

2. Better approach shots. This was key thing that really helped my handicap to go down the most. I've always been pretty long off the tee and a decent chipper and putter. But....when you are constantly having to 1 putt for par, you are doomed...at least I was. Now that I have worked on the approach shots, I am getting more chances at birdie putts and a lot more tap in pars.
 
For me, the biggest difference was definitely putting. At the beginning of this season, my average score was about 105 and had 40 putts a round. After one summer, my average score is now anywhere from 78-85, with 30 or fewer putts. It's amazing how those putts add up!
 
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