Trying To Break 90 Club

I realize this is only a partial round but Im posting it here because had I played 18 and kept this going to would have broken 90 for only the second time this year. This was from the back tees too. My club is having a scramble today called “The Toughman” and I was getting a practice round in for it. You and partner must hit from back tees and the holes are places in the slopes on the greens. Its scramble but you have to write down your combined score for the par 5’s. This will be my first time playing in it so it should be interesting to say the least. The Mavrik Max performed well for me today and the putter was not terrible either.

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That’s superb! One of the best things about this thread is the positives (and the negatives) and the great thing is that everyone is finding positives in their poorer scores and elated with their better scores, which for me is the secret to success at any sport. Got to let the poor aspects slide whilst still learning from them. They’re always going to happen, just need to mitigate for them and try to make sure the poor shots are fewer and farther between and it’ll happen eventually. We are all great at being extremely harsh on ourselves.
 
After a couple horrible rounds, I’m back under 90.
Back nine my draw got a bit loose and became a hook, causing a couple penalties that hurt bad.
Lots of 2 putts today, wish a few could’ve dropped for birdies.

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Going to try and play this week - weather will be warm but possible rain
 
Good weather in central california this week. Low 60's with afternoon sun. Might even wear shorts out there. Had a pinched nerve in my neck the past week. Couldn't hardly turn my head in either direction. Feels like its just about gone away now. Have a round planned for tomorrow.

Might head out to the range today since I haven't been there in a couple weeks. I usually go once a week. We'll see if I still have the good mid iron game. I've been happy with it lately.

The driver has never been the issue with me. Its been one of the more consistent clubs for the past couple years. Its the long and short games that give me the most trouble. Any club from 6 and longer is an adventure. The short game has improved but its still a work in progress.
 
I technical broke 90 with an 89 a couple months ago but it was a par 71 so I’m counting yesterday as my official entry into the club. Shot an 87 on the par 72 singing hills course in San Diego.

Every part of my game was at least good yesterday and my putter was on fire. I must have drained 5-8 1 putts all from 8+ feet. The course fit my game as I’m a long but wild driver and this course was tree lined fairways but otherwise open so didn’t need any drops. Awesome day, I love this game!
 
Went out to the range this morning. Hit off the mats. People say hitting off the mats can affect your game on the course. I don't know about that. My local range has both mats and grass. The mats have monitors to tell you distance, launch angle, ball spin, etc. I had 6 straight sessions on the mats for a month. The last two rounds on the course have been my best. My mid irons are better than ever now. I feel like the mats are making me work harder for good contact hits. You know if the contact is not good with the mats. The ball flight might not look so bad, but you can definitely feel if its a mishit.
 
I technical broke 90 with an 89 a couple months ago but it was a par 71 so I’m counting yesterday as my official entry into the club. Shot an 87 on the par 72 singing hills course in San Diego.

Every part of my game was at least good yesterday and my putter was on fire. I must have drained 5-8 1 putts all from 8+ feet. The course fit my game as I’m a long but wild driver and this course was tree lined fairways but otherwise open so didn’t need any drops. Awesome day, I love this game!

Nothing wrong with breaking 90 on a par 71. Breaking 90 is breaking 90. Well done.

I was battling hard trying to break 80 all season and finally managed it three weeks ago. Followed it up with a 78 today on a par 71 course, pretty cold, blowy and very soft underfoot.
 
Went out to the range this morning. Hit off the mats. People say hitting off the mats can affect your game on the course. I don't know about that. My local range has both mats and grass. The mats have monitors to tell you distance, launch angle, ball spin, etc. I had 6 straight sessions on the mats for a month. The last two rounds on the course have been my best. My mid irons are better than ever now. I feel like the mats are making me work harder for good contact hits. You know if the contact is not good with the mats. The ball flight might not look so bad, but you can definitely feel if its a mishit.

Yeah, I can’t get the feedback I need at the range. It’s usually those horrible rubber tees over here too, we have toptracer at a few ranges, but they’re retro fitted and most of them the range is too enclosed for it to perform well. Even in the swing lab at our club, the simulator doesn’t give you correct info. There’s nothing like being on the course.
 
Nothing wrong with breaking 90 on a par 71. Breaking 90 is breaking 90. Well done.

I was battling hard trying to break 80 all season and finally managed it three weeks ago. Followed it up with a 78 today on a par 71 course, pretty cold, blowy and very soft underfoot.
Congrats on 78! I’m already thinking of trying to break 80, gotta keep this momentum going.
 
A driver that worked, a couple birds and no penalties got me an 83 today. My brother and I had perfect conditions, cold, overcast and an empty course, it was as good as golf gets.
 
been a while since i sniffed 80's. came pretty close today. 47/44. made a bad triple on fairly ez par 4 369 yards. short sided myself on the approach. went in the bunker with 3rd and then 3 putted.
 
Yeah, I can’t get the feedback I need at the range. It’s usually those horrible rubber tees over here too, we have toptracer at a few ranges, but they’re retro fitted and most of them the range is too enclosed for it to perform well. Even in the swing lab at our club, the simulator doesn’t give you correct info. There’s nothing like being on the course.

Yes, there is a big difference between the course and the range mats. My 7 iron has been around 135 off the mats. Its more like 150 on the course. Since I already know the course distance its no big deal. I just feel like I have to focus a lot more off the mats for clean hits. When you see the ball flight it doesn't look so bad but you definitely know it was mishit so you focus a little more for that good contact. I feel its made my course game a little better. Since there is grass in front of the mats I can tee up the driver without using the rubber tees.
 
Interesting round yesterday. Only one par. But only two doubles. And the biggest thing. No triples! A very solid 91 for me. It was the steadiest I've ever played. At one point I had 9 straight bogeys. One was a 3 putt. The rest were two putts. I didn't hit many greens in regulation but I was in easy chipping range to get on the green.

The biggest problem yesterday was the putting. Missed too many in the 6 foot range. Coulda easily shot in the mid 80's. A few lags were bad too. Had 4 three putts overall. Both doubles were 3 putts.

The biggest improvement was the hybrids. I changed the swing path to be more shallow on the backswing and it make a world of difference. Only one was hit too far behind the ball and that was on a hill with an upward slope. That shot is always tough for me. Other than that they were clean contact hits.

I was extremely happy with the round. It felt so much easier to play when you're not shanking so much. My chips were mostly good. Didn't miss any greens on them and I was chipping most holes. I wasn't in one putt range often, but when that first putt is par every time I ain't complaining.

And then there is the driver. Technically I only hit 3 fairways. But the ball was in the first cut on all but one hole. Good lies on all of them. And I still made the green with a par putt on that one bad one. A very good driving day for me. A very good day overall. Lately my scores have been in the low 90's. I feel that elusive 89 is coming soon.
 
So close on Saturday. Haven’t stopped thinking about what I need to do to fix.

I know what I need to work on to get there.

First and foremost I need to get better at chipping inside 40. My less than 50 yard feel is terrible. I have way to many crappy chips and flubs. I also do not have near enough up and downs. I have at least one flub a round.

I’m not getting enough putts made inside 8-10. Maybe one a round if I’m lucky. Not sure if my expectations are correct but I feel like I should have at least one every round and more like 2 or 3.

Third I just need to be smarter on the course. I rush too much and don’t slow myself down after bad shots. I’ve improved on this but still need work.

The first two are practice and time. I can do that. The third I could do tomorrow. Just need to take a breath and make sure it is part of my preshot routine.

This years focus was getting the ability to scoot around the course and shoot in the 90s. I did that. Driver is consistently in the 220-240 range. I’m feeling much more comfortable striking inside 160. I expect to give myself a chance at a chip and a putt inside that. Even inside 200 I’m pretty confident I’ll be near the green. A year ago that was maybe inside 125-135 to feel like that.
 
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To break 100, 90, 80, 70..etc. You have to understand your game very well but also within capacity. You have to set yourself up for the shots you know you can execute. Put the driver away, lay up sometimes, keep the ball in play, and most importantly sometime you just have to take your medicine and chip out in the fairway instead of threading a 2 inch gap between the trees!

I love the goal though! Keep striving you got this!!
 
Third round in the 80s yesterday. Shot 87.

12/14 fairways and 7 one putts. Only had one GIR but I’m generally pretty bad at getting GIRs.

Can’t wait to get out again and see if I can shoot in the 80s again.
nice!
 
To break 100, 90, 80, 70..etc. You have to understand your game very well but also within capacity. You have to set yourself up for the shots you know you can execute. Put the driver away, lay up sometimes, keep the ball in play, and most importantly sometime you just have to take your medicine and chip out in the fairway instead of threading a 2 inch gap between the trees!

I love the goal though! Keep striving you got this!!
Good post. When trying to break 90, it's not so much about how many birdies you get on your scorecard - it's more about how many doubles (or worse) you keep OFF the scorecard! Trying those hero shots or low percentage recovery shots for birdie or par is going to hurt you a lot more than playing it safe and just settling for the bogey.
 
Third round in the 80s yesterday. Shot 87.

12/14 fairways and 7 one putts. Only had one GIR but I’m generally pretty bad at getting GIRs.

Can’t wait to get out again and see if I can shoot in the 80s again.
Once you do it they tend to keep coming.
 
I know I am close. My last round had an inexcusable triple and a couple doubles that were due to poor chipping. I know that is where I can get my most shots back. I have had at least one triple and 2-3 doubles each round that should have been relatively easy up and downs or at wort bogeys where I flub a chip, or two, and then end up not close to the hole and two putting. Or a bad chip that results in a 3 put. I am talking 10-40 yards where I am not going over any obstacles and have open shots to the pin.

Last round was especially frustrating. Hit 9/13 fairways and had 35 puts. I only hit 7 greens but had easy up and down shots on most of them. Both holes where I had long approach shots where I needed an up and down to bogey I did it.
 
Still steady with a respectable 93. I started good the first 5 holes at 3 over par. Then had trouble with triple on number 6 and a double on 7. Bogeyed the par 3 8th and doubled the 9th to finish the front 9 at 47. No pars on the back 9 and no triples. Had one double bogey on the final hole to finish 47/46.

I'm really liking this new me out there. Not many breakdown holes and very steady getting close to the green. Not a lot of ups or downs in my game lately. I will take that over the breakdowns I always seemed to have several times a round earlier in the year.

I would say the improvement has to be in irons up to the 7. Although I don't know why I can hit the 7 so well but not the 6. About ten years ago I bought these higher lofted clone clubs to see if I could hit them better. They were Ping clones. I dug out the 31 degree to replace the 6 iron. Hit that one much better than the 6. Its a lot better than choking down on the 4 hybrid. So for now I think I solved the 6 iron distance. Might invest in a newer hybrid in that loft.

I would say one big change for the better on the irons is making sure the club head follows through directly at the target. I kind of exaggerate the club head by literally pointing it to the target on the follow through. Really helps keep it straight with that. Been doing that on the hybrids too. I haven't had a problem with the driver so I'm not changing anything there. If it ain't broke.
 
I’ll be hoping for this tomorrow!
 
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