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Trying to Break 100

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I made that post and then saw a Trackman Teaching Series video on partial wedge shots. The guy was using a 60*, but the instructor had him switch to a 56* for the same shot to get the dynamic loft into an ideal range which brought his spin up from around 5k rpm to 7k rpm and made a more controlled shot that stopped faster (shot was at 50 yards).

http://www.thehackersparadise.com/f...Trackman-Teaching-Series-Spinning-Your-Wedges

So now I'm going to do some trial and error work with my 54 and 58 wedges. I may use my 58* around the green for shots up to 10 or 15 yards, but switch to the 54* for partial shots from 10-15 out to 85 yards if I'm going to get better trajectory, control, spin, and results.
 
been paying religiously for a few months now and I've been hitting 104 consistently for a few rounds, but today i managed to finally break 100, with a round of 99 :joy: the only thing i changed was on the shortest par 4's around 340 i used a 5 iron off the tee, then a medium short iron to lay up before the green, and then chip on with a LW, on these holes i managed to knock off 5 stroked compared to my average on these holes, so glad I've reached this mile stone in my vary short time playing, I hope you guys can break this soon and move on with your games.
Happy playing guys :golf:
 
adamlewis45 said:
been paying religiously for a few months now and I've been hitting 104 consistently for a few rounds, but today i managed to finally break 100, with a round of 99 :joy: the only thing i changed was on the shortest par 4's around 340 i used a 5 iron off the tee, then a medium short iron to lay up before the green, and then chip on with a LW, on these holes i managed to knock off 5 stroked compared to my average on these holes, so glad I've reached this mile stone in my vary short time playing, I hope you guys can break this soon and move on with your games.
Happy playing guys :golf:
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Knowing your game, and playing within it is called "really smart golf". Which is a term I don't hear bandied about when it comes to my game, LOL.
 
Hamfist said:
Knowing your game, and playing within it is called "really smart golf". Which is a term I don't hear bandied about when it comes to my game, LOL.
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you might only have to change one thing about your game and still see massive improvement, i made changes but the had a negative effect, so then i didn't bother with them and looked for others that might improve my score.
 
Played up a tee box today (gold). Plays at 5300. Went 46/47 for a 93. 32 putts, one three jack (last hole too). All iron shots were either fat or thin today. 8/14 FIR though.

Playing without fairway woods, so I have a significant gap between my driver and my 4h. But, it is keeping me from swinging for the fences and just trying to concentrate on making good contact. Not a fan of the topped shot which returned a couple of times today ... I'll deal though. Going to try to work at least the 7W back into the rotation, or maybe go with the Cleveland 5W Mashie. Haven't made up my mind yet.
 
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Played 18 today and shot 56/56. Was very pleased to be back in the 50s - had shot 52, 54 and then 66 last week. so I wanted to get back in the fifties again to feel like the swing changes I'm making from taking lessons are "real" and really work.

Today made it clear that they are real and they do work. The guy teaching me said he could shave 20 strokes off - and he's shaved 10-12 in three lessons. So I'm very pleased.

Only one blow up hole (and did I ever make a mess there!) but some good bogeys today, esp one on a Par 5 that just eats me alive usually. It was a good round and enjoyable golf for me.

And my driver is still in timeout. Soon he's going to be replaced with a 54 degree wedge I think!
 
adamlewis45 said:
been paying religiously for a few months now and I've been hitting 104 consistently for a few rounds, but today i managed to finally break 100, with a round of 99 :joy: the only thing i changed was on the shortest par 4's around 340 i used a 5 iron off the tee, then a medium short iron to lay up before the green, and then chip on with a LW, on these holes i managed to knock off 5 stroked compared to my average on these holes, so glad I've reached this mile stone in my vary short time playing, I hope you guys can break this soon and move on with your games.
Happy playing guys :golf:
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apparently giving to your local church helps your golf game! who knew?!
 
Sooooo close! Shot a 101 today. Mishit some wedges from having the ball too far forward in my stance, put myself in bad situations in the rough, etc. But, playing again tomorrow, so, onward and upward!
 
Shot a 52 on the front, then the beer and the darkness took over and I stopped trying somewhere around 12. Played ok. Took an 8 on a par 3. That was unpleasant. Stupid water. Other than that I thought I played pretty well, played the smart game mostly. My driver refused to cooperate, slice is back in a big way. Made a great putt for par on the 9th. All in all it was better than work and I had good company.


Sent from the magic know everything box in my pocket
 
Sunday, was a beautiful day, on a nice, tough course with pop-in-law, his brother, and my bro-in-law. course-wise, the only downer was the had aerated all the greens, so putting was tough. It's not an easy putting course in the best conditions, so I'm using that as my excuse.

Carded a 112, but felt I played better than the score would indicate. Hit my driver and 3W pretty well, irons were about a 6/10, wedges were either real nice or real not-nice. I'm still hitting quite short (but really straight) with the Pings, but am learning the distances. On the first hole, a par 5, I hit a nice drive, a nice 3 wood, and a sweet 9 iron from about 90 to within 10 feet of the pin. And promptly 3-putted. Shapes of things to come.

The overarching thing was, I had a great time with my in-family. Lots of laughs, and my brother-in-law and I beat the old guys to pocket our $1.00.

There was one negative thing: watching my brother-in-law just CREAM the ball with every club. and feeling "distance-envy".
 
It will come along. Keep plugging away.
 
Forget the distance envy Hamfist, it will cause you more problems than you would want - if you are striking the ball well, and fairly straight, then don't worry about how far anyone else is hitting it

Concentrate on what you are doing and, like JB says, the rest will fall into place
 
As the others have mentioned ... distance envy will only get you into trouble. I deal with it as well, but have found that distance WILL come as your game improves. My instructor said it's just a matter of having a swing you can trust, and us high handicappers are not there yet. When I was driving it really well earlier this summer, I had several that went past 240, and my farthest that hit 269! Usually I'm in the 210-220 range ... but I was at a point where I was really feeling well about my swing and was putting more gusto into it. Alas, it was fleeting. :)

But, there is a decent golf game hidden deep inside all of us ... it just takes a few rounds/lessons/what have you to manifest. Once it does, you'll be amazed.

Plus, I'd rather be short and in the fairway. I've noticed that even when I'm barely pushing my drives 200 yards but I'm in the fairway, I score better than when I'm 220 and I'm struggling with a slice all day. So I'm working on my accuracy as opposed to my distance.
 
The distance may come, or it may not, but my game will be my game. It was not frustrating,per se, but pulling out my 3 wood for a second shot while he's pulling a short iron for an approach caused me envy.
 
Deuce, I'm really liking the Cleveland Classic. I hit this driver probably the best of the last 4 I've tried.
 
Hamfist said:
Deuce, I'm really liking the Cleveland Classic. I hit this driver probably the best of the last 4 I've tried.
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Glad it's working out for you. For some reason I developed a case of the rights with it, so I benched it and am now gaming a JetSpeed. Now my miss is mostly left. Dang weird game sometimes!
 
Hawk said:
I will join your club! No shame in it, especially if you are working on improving your score. I'm confident I will break 100 this year. This will be my first full season of golf and I can already see improvement.

My biggest challenges:

1. Distance/Accuracy off the tee. I spent last year fighting a giant slice with my driver and took lessons to correct it. I now can put the ball out there 200 with decent consistency, but I let negative thoughts screw me up some times. My miss is usually a topped ball to the left. At times I can get anywhere from 25 to 50 more yards out of my drive. If I have a short tee shot it can really mess up my hole. I get in recovery mode and suffer for it.

2. Short game. I can always screw up a good hole with a couple of bladed or fat pitch shots from inside 70 yards.

3. Three putts. I have trouble hitting that 2nd, close putt from and it can kill my score.

4. Par 3's. Some of my highest scores come on the par 3's. I think it's because I get all psyched up about hitting the green and pull up. The ball trajectory ends up looking like a throw to first base.

5. Alignment. I second guess my aim and end up hitting straight shots left or right of the target.

5. Negative thoughts or swing thoughts. Thinking too much = bad shots.

Glimmers of hope:

1. I've learned that I don't have to hit a driver on every hole. I play on a fairly short course and if I play to a comfortable distance I am much better off.

2. My chipping has improved dramatically since I went back to the basics.

3. I make better contact with the club than I ever have.

4. My first putt is better than ever. I can pick a good line and judge distance pretty well.

5. Course management. I attribute much of my skill with CM to this site. JB spoke about playing to a distance and it really stuck with me. Example: Last year on par 5's I would use a 3W for my second shot. Now I break down the distance into two easy iron shots. Works well if I execute the shots.

Anyway, this thread is a good idea and I was thinking about starting one too. Good luck to everybody and make sure to let us know your progress!
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Reading your challenges is like reading my own golf bio written by someone else. While I do like to feel unique, it is nice not feeling alone with this and it gives me great hope that improvement is not only possible but likely.
 
Keep it up guys and girls !! I can totally relate to most of these posts... I was trying to break 100 last year and now I'm trying to stay in the 80's... Golf is a beautiful game but so frustrating sometimes !!
 
I must confess that I have broken 100 five times out of my last 10 rounds but I am currently trending the wrong way. So I am back into the "Trying to Break 100" mode. I first went under the century mark on Aug 8th of this year. I play mostly from the white tees at a 69.2/124 5808 yard course. I practice sometimes from the ladies tees to use hybrids or irons from the tee.

My scores from newest to oldest are:
104
99
104
103
100
91 "Hole-in-One"
99
103
96
97 First time getting under one of the goals I set for this year.

The biggest thing that is killing my scores right now is the Driver. I started slicing the ball again and it leads to either re-hitting off the tee or punching shots out from the trees. Some of these holes is like a broken record by playing the wrong side of the treeline all the way to the green or always landing in the same crappy areas with really no place to go. My game isn't good enough to take strokes off the board so it really makes it hard to recover from that nonsense a couple of times a round. I play them as they lie and count everything whether it be a whiff, shank, dribble, or whatever crap I can throw out there. Things start adding up in a hurry! In this time frame I have been mixing clubs up in the bag or changing lofts with them. I also got away from using the driver so much and started using clubs that I was reluctant to use in the past on dog leg holes or laying up to get better landing spots for my second shot. I am not a big fan of hitting from downhill and side hill lies. I waste a shot or two a round with a uphill lie around the green because I haven't got it into my thick skull that I am adding even more loft to the club. I think as my iron play has become much better, my driver play has gone South. My last round I had two tee shots where I actually hit the ground six inches behind the ball and squibbed some garbage a few yards off the tee. So I guess I better get this swing figured out with the driver or it will be out of the bag because right now it just isn't getting things started in a good way on a hole.

Another thing is I have to cool it with letting this stuff get to me while I am playing. Usually nothing good come from it and it takes a couple of holes to simmer down and start playing bogey golf.
 
srx700xxx said:
I must confess that I have broken 100 five times out of my last 10 rounds but I am currently trending the wrong way. So I am back into the "Trying to Break 100" mode. I first went under the century mark on Aug 8th of this year. I play mostly from the white tees at a 69.2/124 5808 yard course. I practice sometimes from the ladies tees to use hybrids or irons from the tee.

My scores from newest to oldest are:
104
99
104
103
100
91 "Hole-in-One"
99
103
96
97 First time getting under one of the goals I set for this year.

The biggest thing that is killing my scores right now is the Driver. I started slicing the ball again and it leads to either re-hitting off the tee or punching shots out from the trees. Some of these holes is like a broken record by playing the wrong side of the treeline all the way to the green or always landing in the same crappy areas with really no place to go. My game isn't good enough to take strokes off the board so it really makes it hard to recover from that nonsense a couple of times a round. I play them as they lie and count everything whether it be a whiff, shank, dribble, or whatever crap I can throw out there. Things start adding up in a hurry! In this time frame I have been mixing clubs up in the bag or changing lofts with them. I also got away from using the driver so much and started using clubs that I was reluctant to use in the past on dog leg holes or laying up to get better landing spots for my second shot. I am not a big fan of hitting from downhill and side hill lies. I waste a shot or two a round with a uphill lie around the green because I haven't got it into my thick skull that I am adding even more loft to the club. I think as my iron play has become much better, my driver play has gone South. My last round I had two tee shots where I actually hit the ground six inches behind the ball and squibbed some garbage a few yards off the tee. So I guess I better get this swing figured out with the driver or it will be out of the bag because right now it just isn't getting things started in a good way on a hole.

Another thing is I have to cool it with letting this stuff get to me while I am playing. Usually nothing good come from it and it takes a couple of holes to simmer down and start playing bogey golf.
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You are playing at a tough course. Are you taking any lessons?
 
I have taken some in the last few months with the local club pro. About a month ago was with woods, hybrids, and long iron (4i) off from the deck. A few weeks before that was when I was having driving problems (no distance) and I was hitting the ball high with no roll out. It was a baby fade that would be right center of fairway or just into the right rough. They were way too high for my taste and I tried teeing them up lower and setting the loft to 8.5 degrees. I was going in to that lesson with the hopes of hitting a draw or piercing drive. I actually did hit some draws out on the course. My driver distance went up by about 30 yards or so according to my Game Golf stats. The miss would be a pull but it always seemed to happen on holes where it went 250 to 260 yards but was playable. It may sound weird but I seem to hit the ball better out of the rough than on the nice fairway. I'm a sweeper with irons and the ball must be tee'd up when in the higher grass or I know I have to go down and get with some authority. The driver was manageable back then but right now is downright scary. A couple of things he kept preaching was my alignment, club face at address, and me bailing out with my lead shoulder during the swing. He wanted my left shoulder staying in the shot.

I don't setup to play the slice so they go into places that makes it so I am playing catch up the rest of the hole. Sometimes that is when I get my game face on and play pretty decent.

My setup routine is off the tee is:
Driver on the ground - ball tee'd halfway to top of driver
Feet a little over shoulder width apart (too far and I scuff the ground hard behind the ball - if I try to "kill it")
Feet flared out
Ball with left heel and tips of toes aligned straight to target. Eyeball with holding club over feet. I do notice that my first initial alignment without any aids has me pointing quite a bit left of the target so I have to move every time.
Club aligned slightly in closed position to target.
Sometimes a little too quick on the back swing when things are going astray.

So with all that, I have to be coming outside to in something wicked and I'm not realizing it. Today I am going back to the stiff shaft and will be putting down alignment sticks for my feet and maybe another for a swing path heading a little to the right.

The course is very hilly so it screws with your swing and distances. It also is a lefties paradise because with all the dog leg holes to that side. If they tucked the tee boxes to the left then I'm basically screwed out of the gate or have to hit my highball for the trees that jut out into the fairway. That is why I need to be hitting draws because there is only one hole on the course that a right hand person can lick his chops at.

We'll see what today brings!
 
Played like crud today. Was playing bogey golf through the first 6, but then went 11 over for the last three holes. How did I manage that? Slicing my tee shot on 2 of those last three (and taking two penalties in the process), topping my second shot on two of the last three holes, and generally making poor contact with my irons. 17 putts on the day and my short game was helping me save bogeys on four of the holes, but swinging anything over an 8i was not good. I'm calling up to schedule a lesson for Thursday. I can't go through #YourProto with Wilson Staff not being able to trust my 7i. That's just pathetic.
 
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srx700xxx said:
I must confess that I have broken 100 five times out of my last 10 rounds but I am currently trending the wrong way. So I am back into the "Trying to Break 100" mode. I first went under the century mark on Aug 8th of this year. I play mostly from the white tees at a 69.2/124 5808 yard course. I practice sometimes from the ladies tees to use hybrids or irons from the tee.

My scores from newest to oldest are:
104
99
104
103
100
91 "Hole-in-One"
99
103
96
97 First time getting under one of the goals I set for this year.

The biggest thing that is killing my scores right now is the Driver. I started slicing the ball again and it leads to either re-hitting off the tee or punching shots out from the trees. Some of these holes is like a broken record by playing the wrong side of the treeline all the way to the green or always landing in the same crappy areas with really no place to go. My game isn't good enough to take strokes off the board so it really makes it hard to recover from that nonsense a couple of times a round. I play them as they lie and count everything whether it be a whiff, shank, dribble, or whatever crap I can throw out there. Things start adding up in a hurry! In this time frame I have been mixing clubs up in the bag or changing lofts with them. I also got away from using the driver so much and started using clubs that I was reluctant to use in the past on dog leg holes or laying up to get better landing spots for my second shot. I am not a big fan of hitting from downhill and side hill lies. I waste a shot or two a round with a uphill lie around the green because I haven't got it into my thick skull that I am adding even more loft to the club. I think as my iron play has become much better, my driver play has gone South. My last round I had two tee shots where I actually hit the ground six inches behind the ball and squibbed some garbage a few yards off the tee. So I guess I better get this swing figured out with the driver or it will be out of the bag because right now it just isn't getting things started in a good way on a hole.

Another thing is I have to cool it with letting this stuff get to me while I am playing. Usually nothing good come from it and it takes a couple of holes to simmer down and start playing bogey golf.
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There's no shame in putting a club into "Time Out". If you aren't hitting the driver well, then tee off with a "comfort" club, be that a 3-wood, a driving iron, or a 5 iron. I used to play a 3 iron off the tee all the time. Then I moved to a driving iron, then to a driver. Then back to a 3-wood that I liked hitting, then back to a driver that I found that worked for me. If the driver isn't there on any given round, I'll pull the 3-wood out for a tee shot without any hesitation.
 
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