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Trying To Break 90 Club

shot 89 on a par 70 course today. Could have been a lot better if I hadn't been OB three times off the tee :angry:. Short game was also hurting me a bit... need to practice more I guess. I'm getting there. breaking 100 regularly was so much easier for me than breaking 90 regularly. That's not to say getting under 100 was easy because it wasn't... but it happened a lot faster. It's frustrating for sure, but I'm having a blast trying to get there!
 
92 today with a 10 and two triples.... I need to stop blowijg up
 
88 today on my par 72 home course. Technically under 90 two rounds in a row... but I played a set of tees up today because I was playing with some real hackers :). That takes the course rating down 3.5 strokes or so. Doesn't feel like a victory. Maybe if I hadn't made double on the 18th (again!) then I'd feel better about the 86. As it is... 88 is ok I guess.
 
First foray into this thread; went 47/51 yesterday for a 98. Three bad triples really cost me and I didn't convert enough par chances. Ball striking was good though. Feel like I'm getting closer.
 
On my quest to break 90 by the end of the season, been in the mid to low 90's for the past few weeks. Shot a 93 (46/47) at Blue Heron GC, even had a birdie on a nice 270 yd par 4 where you gotta clear 200+ yds of hazard to hit the fairway. Mark my word I will do it!
 
I figured I'd join this thread. Have been playing for years and used to shoot in the low 80's consistently. Took a break, now 90's are common. The best I have done in the past couple years has been a couple 91's. Hoping my preparation for the Gauntlet will help me get there. Playing 18 on Tuesday, then 9 on Wednesday this week. Hoping I can get below 90 on Tuesday.
 
I was breaking 90 pretty consistantly, then I had a hand issue and had to get cortizone injections, as i injured my hand... and then got back into golf.

Since my hand issue, I've not hit a straight drive, in as long as I can remember. Putting, and lag game is my jam. Chipping, and driving for some reason still agitates my hand. I know i'm gripping it wrong. But, I'll see this friday, I'm going golfing in the DC area.
 
Managed 42/43 for an 85! Not quite a season best, but it's only two off. Interestingly, I was trialling the Apex Pros so apart from 2 occasions, I left the driver and the hybrid in the bag - maybe that's the way forward...

Iron play was generally very good, although the odd haphazard long iron when I tried to hit the ball too hard rather than trusting the distance. Short game continues to improve, and I was really happy with my putting. Overall, made 3 birdies, 4 pars, 5 bogeys and annoyingly six stupid doubles. Must learn to avoid fairway bunkers. Still, generally very happy :smile:
 
Veryslowsnail25 said:
Managed 42/43 for an 85! Not quite a season best, but it's only two off. Interestingly, I was trialling the Apex Pros so apart from 2 occasions, I left the driver and the hybrid in the bag - maybe that's the way forward...Iron play was generally very good, although the odd haphazard long iron when I tried to hit the ball too hard rather than trusting the distance. Short game continues to improve, and I was really happy with my putting. Overall, made 3 birdies, 4 pars, 5 bogeys and annoyingly six stupid doubles. Must learn to avoid fairway bunkers. Still, generally very happy :smile:
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My take from reading this thread is the way to break 90 more often is focus on safer play, don't be heroic after you've had a bad drive, and limit the double/triple/quad bogeys. It's really a math game. For every score over a bogey, you need a par or better to offset it. If I cut my doubles and triples to say 1 or 2 per round, I can come up with at least 3 pars and bogey the rest. Doing that means swing easier and not trying to kill the ball, so I avoid OB.


Now, to break 80 I think you have to improve your ball striking and short game to make good shots, but 90 seems to be about just limiting terrible shots.
Saying that and doing it are entirely different matters in my case. :banghead:
 
Sowega said:
My take from reading this thread is the way to break 90 more often is focus on safer play, don't be heroic after you've had a bad drive, and limit the double/triple/quad bogeys. It's really a math game. For every score over a bogey, you need a par or better to offset it. If I cut my doubles and triples to say 1 or 2 per round, I can come up with at least 3 pars and bogey the rest. Doing that means swing easier and not trying to kill the ball, so I avoid OB.


Now, to break 80 I think you have to improve your ball striking and short game to make good shots, but 90 seems to be about just limiting terrible shots.
Saying that and doing it are entirely different matters in my case. :banghead:
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Yep, that all rings pretty true. The driver's still at best 50/50 and I think I just have to limit myself to a few specific holes where it really can't go that wrong. Either that or get better with the driver...
 
very true. playing each shot with the mindset of minimizing risk should lead to an under 90 score pretty regularly. For me at least, it comes down to duffed shots. if I don't duff any, I'll be under 90 pretty easily. but, I seem to find a way to duff at least 4-5 shots per round. sometimes more. worse, the odd mishit that doesn't qualify as a duff but puts me OB or in a water hazard. that stuff adds up. the strokes never come the same way from round to round, but they come nonetheless.
 
87 today (best round on this course!) 44-43. Only one double bogey, 4 pars. Close to being a super round with a several putts that were right there.
 
For me the key to breaking 90 is to avoid big penalties.

I had interesting 9-hole round yesterday. I shot 43. However, I feel like I played some of the best golf of my life from a ball-striking perspective. I was playing with 2 high-school golf team girls, who were probably both shooting in the high 30's. All in all, I hung with them through most of it. I shot 43 on the front despite a double and triple. I should have broke 40. What stopped me? Bad decisions. On hole 1 I had water right and OB left, coming out of the rough. I was hitting a 5-iron and it was likely to go beyond where the water stopped on the right unless I really shanked it. But I lined up down the left center of the fairway and ended up pulling the shot, sending it OB. I should have either lined up down the right side of the fairway, content with the knowledge that even if I pushed it, the ball should not have been in danger of hitting the water, or I should have laid up with a shorter club. Even though I would have had a longer shot into the green, my chances of hitting it so poorly I would make triple would have been quite small.

On hole 8, I had to layup in front of some water on the right and I chose the club that would get me as close to the water as possible. However I think my worry that it could be too much club if it went too far right caused me to pull it left into the edge of the junk. With no backswing I barely advanced the ball. Disgusted by that, I left my approach short. Disgusted by that, I slid my club right under my chip shot and left that short. Etc, etc. Had I chosen a club which did not have a chance to reach the water, I think I could have swung with more confidence and even though I would have had a slightly longer approach, I think the chances were high that I would have made bogey at worst.

It's little decisions like that that make the difference between a 91 and an 85.
 
baldguy said:
very true. playing each shot with the mindset of minimizing risk should lead to an under 90 score pretty regularly. For me at least, it comes down to duffed shots. if I don't duff any, I'll be under 90 pretty easily. but, I seem to find a way to duff at least 4-5 shots per round. sometimes more. worse, the odd mishit that doesn't qualify as a duff but puts me OB or in a water hazard. that stuff adds up. the strokes never come the same way from round to round, but they come nonetheless.
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The duffed shots are so annoying to me. I am good for at least 3 shots a round that are just non-competitive. Either a topped drive that goes 30 yards, or a shanked tee shot on a par 3, or a fat pitch shot that goes 10 yards instead of 50. It's one thing to slice a drive and be in the rough or mis-hit an iron into a water hazard. But to mess it up so bad you don't even give yourself a chance is beyond frustrating. I'll be sailing along hitting the ball decent and a duff will arise. ugh.
 
Sowega said:
The duffed shots are so annoying to me. I am good for at least 3 shots a round that are just non-competitive. Either a topped drive that goes 30 yards, or a shanked tee shot on a par 3, or a fat pitch shot that goes 10 yards instead of 50. It's one thing to slice a drive and be in the rough or mis-hit an iron into a water hazard. But to mess it up so bad you don't even give yourself a chance is beyond frustrating. I'll be sailing along hitting the ball decent and a duff will arise. ugh.
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This.

I know the feeling.
 
Veryslowsnail25 said:
Managed 42/43 for an 85! Not quite a season best, but it's only two off. Interestingly, I was trialling the Apex Pros so apart from 2 occasions, I left the driver and the hybrid in the bag - maybe that's the way forward...

Iron play was generally very good, although the odd haphazard long iron when I tried to hit the ball too hard rather than trusting the distance. Short game continues to improve, and I was really happy with my putting. Overall, made 3 birdies, 4 pars, 5 bogeys and annoyingly six stupid doubles. Must learn to avoid fairway bunkers. Still, generally very happy :smile:
Click to expand...

Sowega said:
My take from reading this thread is the way to break 90 more often is focus on safer play, don't be heroic after you've had a bad drive, and limit the double/triple/quad bogeys. It's really a math game. For every score over a bogey, you need a par or better to offset it. If I cut my doubles and triples to say 1 or 2 per round, I can come up with at least 3 pars and bogey the rest. Doing that means swing easier and not trying to kill the ball, so I avoid OB.


Now, to break 80 I think you have to improve your ball striking and short game to make good shots, but 90 seems to be about just limiting terrible shots.
Saying that and doing it are entirely different matters in my case. :banghead:
Click to expand...

I agree. My scores are going down towards the low 90's and it's mostly because I'm avoiding trouble (penalties, blow-up holes, etc. Eliminating triple bogies & snowmen. I am definitely hitting the ball better, but it's not like I'm making a bunch of birdies or lots of GIR's - it's mainly damage control.

My goal is to shoot bogey golf & try to put it in close a few times to squeeze in some birdies. I think it will happen soon (if I don't run out of summer - a definite possibility).
 
Shot a 46/48 for a 94 today. On the back nine, I hit two sand traps & took four shots to get out (they were very wet & I definitely need more practice in these conditions). Also had 2 penalties (hit into water hazards), so I feel like I'm getting pretty close to the sub-90 breakthough.

9 fairways hit; 6 near-GIR's (1 legit). Only 30 putts - I rolled in a few bombs & generally hit a lot of solid (if not spectacular) shots.
 
TripleThreat802 said:
This.

I know the feeling.
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Same here. I'm good for 5-7 worthless iron shots a round, mostly from a stupid mistake. Like not shifting my weight forward or swaying.

Right now though, my driver is killing me. Luckily my short game has improved to counter it. Before, my driver was consistent and my short game was really killing me. It would be nice to have each area come together in a round.
 
I actually was gunning for 100 this year but my game has improved so much that 90 is definitely in my crosshairs. My last 4 rounds are 98, 94, 93, 95, and I can't putt to save my own life. I thought my most recent round was going to be the one, playing bogey golf going into #9, when my freaking back went to hell on my tee shot (4 iron which I topped). Not sure if I topped it because of the back pain or topping it caused the back pain, but I wound up taking a double on a short par 4. However, that was still a 46 on the front which I had never taken less than a 49, so it was a decent start.

Unfortunately it took about 3 more holes for the motrin to kick in. Took a double on the par 5 10th, and a freaking snowman on one of the next par 4s. I parred enough holes to salvage a 49 on the back but boy was it frustrating.

Biggest difference this year is less wasted shots during the round (mishits like crazy fat shots and hozel rockets), and my driving has been so much better even from earlier in the season. Like I was saying, if I could putt worth a damn I'll break 90 very soon. One less bucket at the range replaced by 30 mins on the practice green seems like the obvious solution to this haha.

Sent from my XT1080 using Tapatalk
 
misery does indeed love company. it's comforting to hear that others struggle the same way I do. if I could take my driver game from one round, my irons game from another, and my short game/putting from yet another round... I'd probably be in the 70s without breaking a sweat. I occasionally can do all things well. Just never at the same stinkin time :at-wits-end: :banghead:
 
baldguy said:
shot 89 on a par 70 course today. Could have been a lot better if I hadn't been OB three times off the tee :angry:. Short game was also hurting me a bit... need to practice more I guess. I'm getting there. breaking 100 regularly was so much easier for me than breaking 90 regularly. That's not to say getting under 100 was easy because it wasn't... but it happened a lot faster. It's frustrating for sure, but I'm having a blast trying to get there!
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You layer pretty well by my book. Those greens are tough on GIRs.
 
Grins said:
I agree. My scores are going down towards the low 90's and it's mostly because I'm avoiding trouble (penalties, blow-up holes, etc. Eliminating triple bogies & snowmen. I am definitely hitting the ball better, but it's not like I'm making a bunch of birdies or lots of GIR's - it's mainly damage control.

My goal is to shoot bogey golf & try to put it in close a few times to squeeze in some birdies. I think it will happen soon (if I don't run out of summer - a definite possibility).
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I think quite a lot of it is just pure confidence as well. For example, we have one hole that's an island green for a par 3 at 160 yards. SI 6. My mentality for this hole has always been the same as when I took penalties in football (soccer); I just step up and convince myself that the water isn't coming into play and that my shot will find the green. I've had a load of friends play the course, and pretty much 75% of them have found the water at some point, whereas I've never hit in and probably find the green 60% of the time. Curiously, probably my second highest par three success rate is on this hole...
 
Went out at 6:45 am & shot 95. Just took forever to get loose, and only hit 3 fairways on the front nine, but 6/7 on the back. Unfortunately I hurt my forearm on #17 (long par 4) and took an 8. The thing I take home from this and the last few rounds is that my typical round is 94-95, and in June it was 105-108. I think the next goal for me is to start hitting approach shots closer & start eliminating the extra pitch/chip shots: I didn't hit any GIR, but came close 8 times (short pitch/chip) and was on the fringe 4 times.

If I could hit the green on half of those shots, that would take me pretty close to sub 90 rounds. And my putting was a little off today (35 putts & 3 three-putts - mainly because I babied 3 short putts instead of rolling it confidently & firmly at the cup).

Maybe I'll do some putting practice while my arm heals...
 
Sowega said:
The duffed shots are so annoying to me. I am good for at least 3 shots a round that are just non-competitive. Either a topped drive that goes 30 yards, or a shanked tee shot on a par 3, or a fat pitch shot that goes 10 yards instead of 50. It's one thing to slice a drive and be in the rough or mis-hit an iron into a water hazard. But to mess it up so bad you don't even give yourself a chance is beyond frustrating. I'll be sailing along hitting the ball decent and a duff will arise. ugh.
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UGH!!! This is so me. And usually those horrid shots lead to terrible lies / situations that cause 2-3 more shots to recover.
 
To eliminate duffed shots I usually go up a club and swing smoother. Lots of the times the duffed shot is caused by me trying to force a in between yardage that I may only hit 1 out of 10 times.
 
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