We've launched the new forums! Read more here

Trying to Break 100

Status
Not open for further replies.
played a round by myself yesterday. shot a miserable 107. I am becoming increasingly frustrated. I am seriously considering not playing for awhile until I can start taking lessons. Other than 2 fluke rounds this year I have become horribly inconsistent. It seems impossible for me to have 2 good shots in a row. And going to the range doesn't seem to help at all...:at-wits-end:
 
Don't let the frustration take your enjoyment out of the game, you could be doing a lot of things other than golf. I am about to jump on the lesson train, but I am waiting until work slows so I can back up the lessons with practice or I might as well throw the money in the trash.

China Cat>Rider said:
played a round by myself yesterday. shot a miserable 107. I am becoming increasingly frustrated. I am seriously considering not playing for awhile until I can start taking lessons. Other than 2 fluke rounds this year I have become horribly inconsistent. It seems impossible for me to have 2 good shots in a row. And going to the range doesn't seem to help at all...:at-wits-end:
Click to expand...
 
jdjanda said:
Don't let the frustration take your enjoyment out of the game, you could be doing a lot of things other than golf. I am about to jump on the lesson train, but I am waiting until work slows so I can back up the lessons with practice or I might as well throw the money in the trash.
Click to expand...

thats the thing though...I'm not having that much fun playing right now. My current job just doesn't allow me hardly any time for golf. A new employment opportunity has presented itself so hopefully within a week I will be enjoying a dramatically different schedule. I plan on taking 1-2 lessons a week and at least the same in range sessions. I'm not giving up...yet.
 
Keep it up Hawkes. That's how you'll brerak 100. You'll keep getting close and the mental side will becomeeasier and things will click.

CCR - if you're getting frustrated, take some time off or change your focus. I used to get mad at myself when during a round I put up an 8 and feel like I had no shot at breaking 50 for 9. I had to overcome that and learn to relax when bad stuff happens and I started to shoot more 9 hole rounds in the low 50s with some under 50 as well.


Went out this morning. I had 2 water balls on par 3s and hit a driver into another hazard on a par 4 hole that led to an 8. I found when I added my card that I shot a 97. I got a bogey and a dbl bogey on my two par 3 water balls. Never recovered like that before. So i took e almost 2 years from when I first started to seriously break 100 to do it, but I finaly did.
 
I couldn't recommend lessons enough for anyone who's serious about trying to improve their game. I've been playing this game now for about 7 years. After about 5, my game scores had plateaued at about the mid 90's, randomly reaching the upper 80s and often in the lower 100's too. It became painfully clear to me that my flawed banana ball inducing swing had reached its limit in progress.

Last year I took a series of 15 lessons and did also dedicate quite a bit of time to the range and practice video bays at the facility, and I finally got over that hump in my swing mechanics. Now I'm normally in the low to mid 80s, occasionally in the 70s and very rarely in the 90's...

I guess what I'm trying to say is that even if you spend a ton of time at the range, if your swing is in a bad way, you are just reinforcing bad mechanics and really wont improve a whole lot. I sure didn't, and I used to beat balls mercilessly for years. So don't let it get you down, but realize real improvement probably needs a trained eye on your swing to get things right.
 
bortass said:
went out this morning. I had 2 water balls on par 3s and hit a driver into another hazard on a par 4 hole that led to an 8. I found when i added my card that i shot a 97. I got a bogey and a dbl bogey on my two par 3 water balls. Never recovered like that before. So i took e almost 2 years from when i first started to seriously break 100 to do it, but i finaly did.
Click to expand...

congrats bort!!
 
Bortass said:
Went out this morning. I had 2 water balls on par 3s and hit a driver into another hazard on a par 4 hole that led to an 8. I found when I added my card that I shot a 97. I got a bogey and a dbl bogey on my two par 3 water balls. Never recovered like that before. So i took e almost 2 years from when I first started to seriously break 100 to do it, but I finaly did.
Click to expand...

Congrats :clapp:
 
Congrats bort!
 
Bortass said:
Went out this morning. I had 2 water balls on par 3s and hit a driver into another hazard on a par 4 hole that led to an 8. I found when I added my card that I shot a 97. I got a bogey and a dbl bogey on my two par 3 water balls. Never recovered like that before. So i took e almost 2 years from when I first started to seriously break 100 to do it, but I finaly did.
Click to expand...

Woo Hoo!!! That's awesome congrats Bortass!!
 
I guess I should post here since I've never officially broken 100 without playing best-ball in a work outing. I usually play twilight since it's so cheap, so we don't usually get a full 18 in. I've shot a couple 9's under 48, though...so hopefully I'm on my way.

Things I need to work on:

endurance - I'm about 100 lbs overweight, and I get fatigued pretty easily if I don't have water in large quantities, gatorade, and a snack on the course.
putting - Way too many 3 putts.
aggressiveness - linked to putting. I don't putt often for the back of the cup, and leave it short quite often. On longer putts, I'm often content just to get it within 4 feet, and I should probably be shooting for within 2. Same for approach shots, I often wind up short because I'm not playing aggressively enough.
swing - reading 5 lessons by Hogan and my swing has been steadily improving. I'm topping the ball way less and have cut back my slice significantly. This has probably been the greatest thing I've done for my golf game in a long while.
flexibility - I'm contemplating yoga to get my flexibility up. Lower back issues have proven problematic but they seem to be abating slowly but surely.
 
Welcome to our club, bmckenna.

bmckenna said:
I guess I should post here since I've never officially broken 100 without playing best-ball in a work outing. I usually play twilight since it's so cheap, so we don't usually get a full 18 in. I've shot a couple 9's under 48, though...so hopefully I'm on my way.

Things I need to work on:

endurance - I'm about 100 lbs overweight, and I get fatigued pretty easily if I don't have water in large quantities, gatorade, and a snack on the course.
putting - Way too many 3 putts.
aggressiveness - linked to putting. I don't putt often for the back of the cup, and leave it short quite often. On longer putts, I'm often content just to get it within 4 feet, and I should probably be shooting for within 2. Same for approach shots, I often wind up short because I'm not playing aggressively enough.
swing - reading 5 lessons by Hogan and my swing has been steadily improving. I'm topping the ball way less and have cut back my slice significantly. This has probably been the greatest thing I've done for my golf game in a long while.
flexibility - I'm contemplating yoga to get my flexibility up. Lower back issues have proven problematic but they seem to be abating slowly but surely.
Click to expand...
 
bmckenna said:
I guess I should post here since I've never officially broken 100 without playing best-ball in a work outing. I usually play twilight since it's so cheap, so we don't usually get a full 18 in. I've shot a couple 9's under 48, though...so hopefully I'm on my way.

Things I need to work on:

endurance - I'm about 100 lbs overweight, and I get fatigued pretty easily if I don't have water in large quantities, gatorade, and a snack on the course.
putting - Way too many 3 putts.
aggressiveness - linked to putting. I don't putt often for the back of the cup, and leave it short quite often. On longer putts, I'm often content just to get it within 4 feet, and I should probably be shooting for within 2. Same for approach shots, I often wind up short because I'm not playing aggressively enough.
swing - reading 5 lessons by Hogan and my swing has been steadily improving. I'm topping the ball way less and have cut back my slice significantly. This has probably been the greatest thing I've done for my golf game in a long while.
flexibility - I'm contemplating yoga to get my flexibility up. Lower back issues have proven problematic but they seem to be abating slowly but surely.
Click to expand...

Yoga will help you out alot I think. I need to get back into it myself.

Putting: I'd start to work on this. The biggest thing is to work on your speed and you want to sink the putt regardless of distance. I tend to average just under 2 putts per hole in a round. It helps alot when you start to 2 putt from 30 feet.

Approaches: Instead of aggresive, club up more,unless this is what you meant. If you have GPS, start using it to see how far you really hit your irons. My 5 is my 150 club, IF I hit it good. So I tend to use it if I'm 144 or so out. If I happen to hit it real solid then it'll go 160 and all bets are off. I dont hit it that solid enough times to up my yardages though.
 
bmckenna said:
I guess I should post here since I've never officially broken 100 without playing best-ball in a work outing. I usually play twilight since it's so cheap, so we don't usually get a full 18 in. I've shot a couple 9's under 48, though...so hopefully I'm on my way.

Things I need to work on:

endurance - I'm about 100 lbs overweight, and I get fatigued pretty easily if I don't have water in large quantities, gatorade, and a snack on the course.
putting - Way too many 3 putts.
aggressiveness - linked to putting. I don't putt often for the back of the cup, and leave it short quite often. On longer putts, I'm often content just to get it within 4 feet, and I should probably be shooting for within 2. Same for approach shots, I often wind up short because I'm not playing aggressively enough.
swing - reading 5 lessons by Hogan and my swing has been steadily improving. I'm topping the ball way less and have cut back my slice significantly. This has probably been the greatest thing I've done for my golf game in a long while.
flexibility - I'm contemplating yoga to get my flexibility up. Lower back issues have proven problematic but they seem to be abating slowly but surely.
Click to expand...

Welcome to the club. I dropped about 60 lbs over the last year, mostly through eating smaller portions often, and a very small dinner portion, and dropping as much sugar from my diet as I could. Just take it a few days at a time.
 
congrats bortass thats awesome!
 
jdjanda said:
Welcome to the club. I dropped about 60 lbs over the last year, mostly through eating smaller portions often, and a very small dinner portion, and dropping as much sugar from my diet as I could. Just take it a few days at a time.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the tips. I've been working on changing my eating habits a little bit at a time...I just need to get more active (and golf is a fun way to do that). 8 hours a day at a desk doesn't do much towards helping that area, heh.

As for putting, I started putting a line on the ball to help me line up and help my stroke, and working very hard at not pushing my putts to the outside, which was a big problem before. I'm starting to get better on my reads...I think the biggest problem with my putting is that I used to have no touch, and cream the ball past the hole on anything outside of 8 or 10 feet...and now I've gone the other way (more timid) as I've started to develop a better stroke.

The problem is, if I hit a solid shot, I can get 160-165 with carry with an 8 iron. Last time out, I did this on a level shot (i.e. not downhill), and skirted it through the opening at the front of the green. Problem is, my swing isn't solid enough to be confident that I'm going to hit solid always (and most of the time I don't), so I usually select the right club but come up short. Maybe it's more that than being "aggressive." Reading Hogan's 5 lessons has fixed a lot that was wrong with my swing, though...and I'm only halfway through, heh. Hopefully things keep going up from here.

Also, I'm trying to be more cerebral about my play than before...at least thinking about things like laying up, hitting my hybrid off the tee instead of a driver if I'm not sure if I can carry a hazard, that type of thing.
 
bmckenna said:
The problem is, if I hit a solid shot, I can get 160-165 with carry with an 8 iron. Last time out, I did this on a level shot (i.e. not downhill), and skirted it through the opening at the front of the green. Problem is, my swing isn't solid enough to be confident that I'm going to hit solid always (and most of the time I don't), so I usually select the right club but come up short. Maybe it's more that than being "aggressive." Reading Hogan's 5 lessons has fixed a lot that was wrong with my swing, though...and I'm only halfway through, heh. Hopefully things keep going up from here.
Click to expand...

At this stage we all have this problem, I play to my average distance, but as you've experienced when I catch one clean it is 20 yards past the green. I am trying to close the yardage gap between an average and a good swing.
 
jdjanda said:
At this stage we all have this problem, I play to my average distance, but as you've experienced when I catch one clean it is 20 yards past the green. I am trying to close the yardage gap between an average and a good swing.
Click to expand...

I totally agree this is a problem I have as well. I just never know if I am going to hit a clean and solid shot. I always hope so but there is just no consistency in my game yet either.
 
I guess I play this a bit differently. I assume I'm going to hit the ball clean and use that expected distance when selecting my club. If I mishit it, I can adjust on my next shot. I guess I would rather be 10 yards short of the green than over it.
 
For the longest time, I used to apporach shots to the green with a bit a fear, always worried I would launch it over the green. This stuck in my mind and cause worse problems cause I would alway either shorten my downswing or slow down or not follow through. A couple of months ago when playing with a good friend he looked to me and asked so what if I hit it past the green, just hit it back over just like I was hitting itfrom short of the green. This relaxed me a bit and now I use rough average distances I get with my clubs to select the club I hit with and I used the distance to the front of the green to measure it and swing away comfortably. Funny thing is while I have hit a few shots past the hole, it almost always stays on the green. I guess what I am saying is just relax and hit the ball, trust the club to do as it is designed.
 
bmckenna said:
Thanks for the tips. I've been working on changing my eating habits a little bit at a time...I just need to get more active (and golf is a fun way to do that). 8 hours a day at a desk doesn't do much towards helping that area, heh.

As for putting, I started putting a line on the ball to help me line up and help my stroke, and working very hard at not pushing my putts to the outside, which was a big problem before. I'm starting to get better on my reads...I think the biggest problem with my putting is that I used to have no touch, and cream the ball past the hole on anything outside of 8 or 10 feet...and now I've gone the other way (more timid) as I've started to develop a better stroke.

The problem is, if I hit a solid shot, I can get 160-165 with carry with an 8 iron. Last time out, I did this on a level shot (i.e. not downhill), and skirted it through the opening at the front of the green. Problem is, my swing isn't solid enough to be confident that I'm going to hit solid always (and most of the time I don't), so I usually select the right club but come up short. Maybe it's more that than being "aggressive." Reading Hogan's 5 lessons has fixed a lot that was wrong with my swing, though...and I'm only halfway through, heh. Hopefully things keep going up from here.

Also, I'm trying to be more cerebral about my play than before...at least thinking about things like laying up, hitting my hybrid off the tee instead of a driver if I'm not sure if I can carry a hazard, that type of thing.
Click to expand...

What are you playing for a ball? You want a ball that feels good off the putter and that you can get some feel with. I 've been playing TF Gamers for the last 2 seasons. They are cheap enough, $20/dozen and I can putt with them. I had switched to NXT and my putting got worse. So I went back to the Gamers and my putting came back right away.
If you are playing a distance ball you may be putting a rock, which can mess with your touch.

I know what you mean about your irons. What you want to do is play them at your average distances, not at your best distances. That's why my 5i is my 150 club even though I have hit it between 160 and 175 with a high draw, not skulled. I try to factor in what would happen if I hit my club well. For example if it's a back flag at 155 and i have trouble behind the green, I may hit a 6i just so I don't pure a 5i and get in the junk. If things aren't bad behind the green I'll use the 5i.
 
Played 9 yesterday and posted an impressive 55!!!! Ouch,

Played a different 9 this morning and shot a 47.

The big difference was tee shots. I had 2 good ones yesterday but hit some pop ups with the driver. Today I hit 1 low hook but other then that the driver was solid. I even drove through the fairway 254 yards today. There's a hole that's a par 5 that I always would hit driver on and slice it over the trees guarding the corner. My insta slice disapeared recently and there is OB about 210 off the tee and it's uphill. So today I hit 3w instead. I'm now worried that if I hit the driver good i may be OB since the last 2 times I hit driver on that hole I came between 4 and 10 yards of going too long.
 
Bortass said:
What are you playing for a ball? You want a ball that feels good off the putter and that you can get some feel with. I 've been playing TF Gamers for the last 2 seasons. They are cheap enough, $20/dozen and I can putt with them. I had switched to NXT and my putting got worse. So I went back to the Gamers and my putting came back right away.
If you are playing a distance ball you may be putting a rock, which can mess with your touch.

I know what you mean about your irons. What you want to do is play them at your average distances, not at your best distances. That's why my 5i is my 150 club even though I have hit it between 160 and 175 with a high draw, not skulled. I try to factor in what would happen if I hit my club well. For example if it's a back flag at 155 and i have trouble behind the green, I may hit a 6i just so I don't pure a 5i and get in the junk. If things aren't bad behind the green I'll use the 5i.
Click to expand...

I've been trying to find my average distance, which seems to vary day by day based on the course conditions, my conditions, and my energy level as the course goes on. I've been good about playing a club longer when I start to get fatigued, which keeps me on a decently even keel, since I don't feel I have to put my full effort into a swing to achieve the desired results, trying to learn how to adapt to a round as it plays out.

As for balls...I'm still working through whatever I had left in my bag from a few seasons ago, mostly junk balls I inherited from my dad when I got the clubs. I'm finally almost up to playing some decent stuff...I think I've got a few Nike One Platinum in the mix and some Pro V1's in the "reserve" pocket of my bag. I'm trying to play through the ones of these that aren't in such good condition, since I'm still losing balls fairly often...they're mostly old Top Flites and some other brands that elude me at the moment. As for my personal supply, I've got a double dozen of Nike Mojo, a box of Titlest...DT Solo maybe? It's old-ish and red...a box of Callaway Diablo Edge and Top Flite Gamer V2 that I just picked up...maybe a dozen Pro V1 practice balls, if memory serves. I think that's about it. I had heard good things about the Callaway and the Top Flite so I picked them up relatively cheap with some Bing cashback off Callaway's site the other day ($15/doz). Suggestions welcome on ball selection...something cheap, preferably, but I'm not opposed to spending a few extra bucks.
 
The TF Gamer has been comapred to be in about the same ballpark as a Pro V1 just alot cheaper. Now I'm not saying it's as good as a Pro V1 but it has similar characteristics.

I'm not about to play a Pro V1 cuase of cost. I can normally get 9+ holes out of a ball but sometimes I only get 3. I don't mind losing a ball that is less the $2 ea.
 
This post isn't for me, but it is for my wife. She just broke 100 (she shot 97) on a course that isn't our home course! She was pretty excited about it, first time she has done that on a different course. I think that was the 4th time she managed to break 100. She normally is in the 102-108 range. She will also be "bringing it" to the Fall outing! :beauty:
 
rbelbin said:
This post isn't for me, but it is for my wife. She just broke 100 (she shot 97) on a course that isn't our home course! She was pretty excited about it, first time she has done that on a different course. I think that was the 4th time she managed to break 100. She normally is in the 102-108 range. She will also be "bringing it" to the Fall outing! :beauty:
Click to expand...

That's awesome!! Please tell her congratulations from me.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top