My journey to consistently shoot 90's!

[MD177]

Xt1ncT-NZ has a great point about your mindset for holes. I have a par 31 course I play quite a bit, and par is not easy. In fact, I've never made part there. I treat every hole as a par 4 (there are no par 5s). Why you may ask? Because it's hard to hit rock hard greens from 220 yards on par 3s.

One thing that has really helped my short game, from about 30-70 yards range, is learning the pitch shot. I have spent a lot of time doing pitch shots at the range. It's always a full pitch shot, never a half or quarter or anything like that. Now that I have a shot I can repeat, I've filled in a lot of that 0-100 yard gap. I may not be close to the pin, but I'm on the green.

hmmmm... I'll definitely be carrying the 56*, A, P this week at the range. I'll probably spend at least 1/2 of my time trying to dial in some distance with those clubs. I've always played the bump & run and was getting comfortable with it, just need to figure out the distance for different clubs. I'm able to get good contact but have a hard time judging how much the ball will run for different clubs. I can use anywhere from 7i to 56* for bump & runs. I've had success on practice rounds but league play, I haven't had good luck.

 

[MD177]

going out today for a round. it's gonna be blistering hot.

 

[MD177]

yesterday's round was alright. it was blistering hot but I managed to shoot a 91. sunk a 30+ft birdie putt on one of the par 5's. lost a few balls meaning drop shots therefore missing 80's. regardless, I'll take a 91 any day, esp on league days.

one thing I have to say is I used 2010 Bridgestone E5's and noticed how much of a nice golf balls E5's are. I'll be using these guys for a few more rounds as I was able to buy 5 boxes on sale for 17.95 from Dicks.

 

[MD177]

btw, here's some pics also.


check out the house on the left

16th Par 3, playing 160 yards but the wind was howling, had to use a 4h and hit it low. the green is less than 20 yards from front to back but it's very wide from left to right. managed to get it on the left side of the hole. 3 putted though. just glad my ball didn't go swimming.

 

[McRock]

That's a nice looking house. The tee shot on that Par 3 looks pretty intimidating, especially with the wind.

91 is a great score on a windy day.

 

[MD177]

That's a nice looking house. The tee shot on that Par 3 looks pretty intimidating, especially with the wind.

91 is a great score on a windy day.

yeah, 91 was pretty good for that course. the course rating and slope is 70.2/126. some of the fairways were tight and some were blind tee shots, dog left or right. with the wind, some of the par 4, I had to play like a par 5.

that tee shot on the 16th par 3 is one of the most intimidating holes I've played at. you cannot go long or short coz water is waiting. distance needs to be right but with the wind, it was really hard to gauge. it was a very nice 4 for me.

 

[lemmiwinks]

Nice round MD and good luck.
I have pretty much the same goal as you for this season.

 

[MD177]

Nice round MD and good luck.
I have pretty much the same goal as you for this season.

Thanks. good luck to you as well. hopefully by end of season, around Oct, I'll be consistently going low 90's. then next season, hello 80's.

 

[MD177]

Practice round tomorrow. Yay!

 

[je_baird]

Another thing I did which helped - I bought Dave Pelz Short Game Bible and it transformed the way I play from 100 meters and in.

Some people don't like it, but I found it really helped. You may be able to get it from a library etc.

I'm also a fan of Pelz's short game bible, and use my own 4x3 system. I carry my spreadsheet in my pocket to tell which club and how much to hit. Full and 3/4 shots are my preference. Last year broke 90, shot an 81 two days ago...getting closer...

Sent From My Droid Incredible

 

[MD177]

Practice round tomorrow. Yay!

didn't end up going today. :crying:

I'm also a fan of Pelz's short game bible, and use my own 4x3 system. I carry my spreadsheet in my pocket to tell which club and how much to hit. Full and 3/4 shots are my preference. Last year broke 90, shot an 81 two days ago...getting closer...

Sent From My Droid Incredible

awesome stuff. really need to find that book to at least see what it's all about.

 

[MD177]

yesterday round looks like it'll happen today. Yay! was a little bummed yesterday that I wasn't able to play.

 

[MD177]

yesterday's round was awful! good thing it was a practice round. we started on the back 9 and apparently, the back 9 is like target shooting. not warming up along with trying out my new Mizuno MX-1000 didn't help either. the MX-1000 are different than the 09 Burners. I cannot pinpoint what it is yet but I'll definitely not be using the MX-1000 this Saturday's league play. anyway, after the back nine's 53, I didn't really care what my score was on the front nine. ended up shooting a 49 so total was 102. yikes!!! at one of the Par 5, I hit the water hazard twice, ended up carding an 11 on that hole. I'm hoping that I do much better on Sat. btw, course rating was 70.4 / 133.

 

[McRock]

That seems like an awful lot of slope, that had to have added to some of the difficulty. We all have those bad rounds. I've been shooting right at Bogey for the past month, give or take a few strokes. But on Memorial Day, I played a course, and lost 9 balls. Shot like a 104. It was not the norm, it was just a bad day. Next time out I shot Bogey again.

don't let the bad rounds get you down. Keep us posted on your progress!

 

[jbellard]

This is an awesome goal, while I consistently play in the 90's I am trying to get my game into the 80's and hopefully into single digits by the end of the year. I'm looking forward to seeing where how you end up at the end of the year.

 

[MD177]

That seems like an awful lot of slope, that had to have added to some of the difficulty. We all have those bad rounds. I've been shooting right at Bogey for the past month, give or take a few strokes. But on Memorial Day, I played a course, and lost 9 balls. Shot like a 104. It was not the norm, it was just a bad day. Next time out I shot Bogey again.

don't let the bad rounds get you down. Keep us posted on your progress!

yeah, I'm not really discouraged. I'm over the round. I know there's a few things I wanna work on before Sat.

I forgot to say that the greens on this course are very fast, fastest I've played on.

also found out that after the round that Bob Seger and his wife were right behind us. we actually crossed paths on one hole. my ball went right by the path and one of their balls went right also. didn't really recognized them, but I thought that was cool.

This is an awesome goal, while I consistently play in the 90's I am trying to get my game into the 80's and hopefully into single digits by the end of the year. I'm looking forward to seeing where how you end up at the end of the year.

Thanks. I will definitely keep you guys posted.



just saw the update on our league. playing on the Blue's now. course is 6624 yards with course rating 72.2/137. it just got harder. LoL

 

[MD177]

I've been working on the 56*, A, & P the past two days and I'm getting comfortable again hitting them solid. I remember when I was pitching/chipping good, I'd spend my time with 1 large bucket just on those clubs. when I thought I was getting better, I started doing bad again. hopefully, I don't forget to keep practicing this very very important part of the game. I'm pretty decent with the driver, woods, and long irons so I will be spending more time on short game (100 yards and in) and putting. I have Thurs and Friday to work on the game a little more. I'm gonna take out the putter tonight and practice on the carpet. I know it's not the same but at least I'll get to practice my routine and hitting the ball solid from 10 - 15 ft.

 

[Mardin]

Good luck with your golfing, and here's a quick tip.

When I started getting close to breaking 90 I used the following mind-set. Treat every hole as a par 5. That way ifnyou get 5 for every hole it's a 90. a 4 on a par3 is a birdie, and 4 on a par 4 is also a birdie etc etc.

When I started really concentrating on this I went from a 23 to a 13 quite quickly. Also, as another post mentioned - short game, short game and more short game!

That is a really awesome tip that I will have to follow. I am also in the same boat. I've broke 100 a bunch of times this year. It's a big confidence boost to shoot in the 90's, and I hope to stay there and go back to the 100's. So far this year I shot 96, 93, 99, 97, 97, but I have 5 other rounds in the 100's and I really don't want to go back to shooting in the 100's like I always used to. It's demoralizing when you shoot in the 90s one week and shoot in the 100's the next. I'll be following you on your quest every step on the way.

 

[MD177]

That is a really awesome tip that I will have to follow. I am also in the same boat. I've broke 100 a bunch of times this year. It's a big confidence boost to shoot in the 90's, and I hope to stay there and go back to the 100's. So far this year I shot 96, 93, 99, 97, 97, but I have 5 other rounds in the 100's and I really don't want to go back to shooting in the 100's like I always used to. It's demoralizing when you shoot in the 90s one week and shoot in the 100's the next. I'll be following you on your quest every step on the way.

Thanks Mardin. I appreciate the support. good luck with your quest also. I see you sneaked in a 93 in there. hope, we both consistently hit low 90's and maybe dip in high 80's this year.

 

[kildaire]

I started playing this game in March and needless to say was shooting 130. I took a few lessons, got new clubs and go to the range or course at least 3 times a week. But the very best thing I did was get a book called Ben Hogans; The 5 Lessons. In 3 months I am now shooting in the 90s and I see so much of my progress coming from the instructions Ben Hogan's book teaches. I seriously can't reccomend this book enough best $12 I have ever spend. Good Luck.

 

[MD177]

I started playing this game in March and needless to say was shooting 130. I took a few lessons, got new clubs and go to the range or course at least 3 times a week. But the very best thing I did was get a book called Ben Hogans; The 5 Lessons. In 3 months I am now shooting in the 90s and I see so much of my progress coming from the instructions Ben Hogan's book teaches. I seriously can't reccomend this book enough best $12 I have ever spend. Good Luck.

sounds good. might have to look for the book.

thanks for the suggestion.

 

[Mardin]

Thanks Mardin. I appreciate the support. good luck with your quest also. I see you sneaked in a 93 in there. hope, we both consistently hit low 90's and maybe dip in high 80's this year.

My 93 came on a fairly new course a few weeks back. The course is about 5 years old so they don't have the massive tree lines like an older course, they planted a bunch of little trees throughout the course that need time to mature. It was a great course and it has a lot of potential. It was nice and open which is good for me since I have been suffering from an awful slice.

 

[MD177]

shot a 95 yesterday on the course that had 72.7/137 rating. it is my best round out of 5 rounds this year. I told myself that day that if I shoot a 95, I would be very happy. so funny sometimes you get what you wish for. with my handicap, I ended up with a net 63, which was 9 shots away from the 2nd place. I was very very happy for yesterday's round. atm, I'm 20 shots ahead for the league. so 1st place overall and 2nd place on what we call FAST D cup (similar to FedEx cup). I'm only behind by 33 points.

lastly, I cannot forget the best shot of my short golfing journey. Par 3, playing around 180 yards against the wind. hole location on the back left where OB was waiting if you hit it way left. for safety, I aimed right, even that was kinda dangerous for me since I tend to slice the ball and there was water on the right. took a 3h, aimed, and hit the shot. I actually pulled it and I thought it was a goner. watched the ball very closely and was so happy that it landed on the fringe left of green. what I didn't know/realize was the green was sloping left to right. I was relieved to see my ball end up on the green. first GIR of the round (14th hole). I wasn't exactly sure where my ball ended up since it was a slight uphill and we couldn't see the hole from the tee. to my surprise as we drive up to the green to see a ball inches away from the hole. my group was joking around that good thing I didn't make a hole in one coz I would've had to buy everyone drinks. I told them I wished I did get a hole in one. I wouldn't have mind buying a round. that would've been so awesome to get a hole in one in league play.

anyway, sorry for the long detailed update. let's just say that I was very very excited. LoL

Thanks for reading.

 

[McRock]

Wow. Nice shot! Golf has so many 'unpleasant surprises' sometimes, it's always nice when golf rewards you with a good surprise!

 

[MD177]

Wow. Nice shot! Golf has so many 'unpleasant surprises' sometimes, it's always nice when golf rewards you with a good surprise!

Thank you.

I don't mind seeing a surprise that awesome every few rounds or every round. LoL.