Trying to Break 100

[Dave Alvarado]

Two things made a big difference breaking 100 from an uncomfortable long distance:

1. I only missed one fairway. That meant fairway woods and hybrids were in play for second shots, meaning I could advance the ball further than usual on my second shot without as much fear of duffing it (I'm done trying to hit hero FW shots).

2. My wedge work was at its best, so I could come up short of the green and know I was sticking my next shot close.

I don't think I was hitting my tee shots any longer than usual, I was just hitting them all straight. I don't think I realized just how many strokes it was costing me to hit out of trees or rough.

 

[krispyk]

Two things made a big difference breaking 100 from an uncomfortable long distance:

1. I only missed one fairway. That meant fairway woods and hybrids were in play for second shots, meaning I could advance the ball further than usual on my second shot without as much fear of duffing it (I'm done trying to hit hero FW shots).

2. My wedge work was at its best, so I could come up short of the green and know I was sticking my next shot close.

I don't think I was hitting my tee shots any longer than usual, I was just hitting them all straight. I don't think I realized just how many strokes it was costing me to hit out of trees or rough.

Even tho being short I usually kept it in the fairway until I got my new driver. The first few rounds with it I was all over the place and in places that I had never seen before and it made me realize how important staying out of the woods was to keep the score in check. It's hard enough when you can't reach it but then put trees in the way and Oh boy.

 

[Annhl8rX]

I had a strange round today. I ended up with a 103, and it was a very ugly 103. Usually my iron play is what keeps me from completely imploding score wise, but today was the complete opposite. I got off the tee pretty darn well by my standards. I only took one penalty (an OB that was just ridiculous), and hit a few fairways. I had probably three more that were just in the first cut of the rough close to the fairway.

I also hit some good second shots on the longer holes. I hit my 3 wood from the deck four times, and had good results three of the four (the bad one I hit off the toe and only about 60 yards).

I couldn't hit an iron to save my life today, though. I hit them fat, and I hit them thin. On the odd occasion I stuck one well I was way shorter than my usual iron distances. Wedges were no different. 90-150 is usually in my wheelhouse, but I just couldn't get anything going today. I didn't hit a single green in regulation.

I'm always a terrible putter, but today I was even more so. I didn't make a single putt from outside four feet (and missed several inside that range) until the last hole.

All in all it was a round that was both frustrating and encouraging. I don't think I've ever taken fewer than three penalties in a round before, and I stayed out of bad lies. I just couldn't hit a freakin' iron all day!

 

[Hamfist]

I played 9 on Saturday, and 18 on Sunday, pretty much shot my average of 52-56 per nine. I made some bone head misses that cost me lots of strokes.
Been trying out new grips, (overlap, baseball), since the interlock has been causing me pain in my right hand pinky knuckle. (Where the finger joins the hand.) Mixed bag of results. I think the overlap is going to be the winner, I seem to have better consistency and shots with it. The good news is, I roped a nice drive, and second shot for a 10 footer to birdie the 18th on Sunday, ended up making a par. I'll be hitting the range this week to try to solidify the feel of the overlap, then see how this weekend's round shapes up.

 

[Hamfist]

Even tho being short I usually kept it in the fairway until I got my new driver. The first few rounds with it I was all over the place and in places that I had never seen before and it made me realize how important staying out of the woods was to keep the score in check. It's hard enough when you can't reach it but then put trees in the way and Oh boy.

I could probably drop 10 strokes per round if I could just keep it in the fairway from the tee.

 

[sudseh]

I could probably drop 10 strokes per round if I could just keep it in the fairway from the tee.

150,000,000,000% this.

 

[Dave Alvarado]

I could probably drop 10 strokes per round if I could just keep it in the fairway from the tee.

So true. Just keeping the ball in front of you in the short grass is good for knocking on the door of 100. Add in being able to putt and you'll be knocking on the door of 90. I put up that 97 with 45 putts. The ball was just always moving forward and staying in the short grass. I think I only had two duffed shots the whole round and the only bunkers I hit were green side, all of them out in 1.

 

[dhartmann34]

I know that feeling.... When I was in high school I actually pulled all the woods from my bag and hit irons all day long. No they didn't go all that far, but I was in the fairway. Even now I hit hybrids and 4 woods a lot.

Have you tried this approach?

I could probably drop 10 strokes per round if I could just keep it in the fairway from the tee.

 

[Dave Alvarado]

One thing I've noticed in general, a lot of people who are wild off the tee and shoot over 100 aren't willing to leave the driver and/or woods at home and just play with irons. It works, but it's not "cool".

 

[rollin]

Two things made a big difference breaking 100 from an uncomfortable long distance:

1. I only missed one fairway. That meant fairway woods and hybrids were in play for second shots, meaning I could advance the ball further than usual on my second shot without as much fear of duffing it (I'm done trying to hit hero FW shots).

2. My wedge work was at its best, so I could come up short of the green and know I was sticking my next shot close.

I don't think I was hitting my tee shots any longer than usual, I was just hitting them all straight. I don't think I realized just how many strokes it was costing me to hit out of trees or rough.

Fwiw if anything I am all for higher percentage shots coming from the FW vs the rough and certainly vs the trees/woods etc. But you mention fw woods and hybrids being in play more often. FW woods (as some would argue) are the hardest shots in golf to make. Of course this refers to hitting them from the fairway and not from off a tee. Playing from the rough does not have to be all that detrimental toward keeping rounds under 100. You mention doffing rough shots and I am not sure what clubs you are talking of but many people will try to play whatever club distance they are for the approach from the rough and when it comes to longer approach shots from the heavy rough very many people are simply not hitting long shots on the green or even much good at all from those situations including myself too. So this too doesn't have to be so detrimental to keeping scores under 100. What I do from a less than desirable rough scenario and from less than desirable distance is to - hit out of the rough with whatever club I feel gives me my best chance to get it out cleanly and closer to the hole and that may very often be a club well short of the actual approach distance.

I'm just not hitting my 4iron, or my 5w and certainly not my 3w from heavy rough and getting it on or probably even close to the green. When at that distance and in a heavy rough situation I take my medicine, hit whatever I feel is the longest club I can manage to successfully hit out of it and advance up the hole more often than not regardless how far I need to go. It could be my 6iron, or 7, or even 8 or even a pw if it calls for it, whatever the case. Then, now play the remaining approach most probably from the fairway and closer in. Sure its an extra shot, but its most often to be a manageable one and works far more often than doffing one and/or sending one errant only to find further troubles.

Take from it what you will, but a lot of ones better (relatively speaking) golf imo can come from preventing further damages than it does from playing into it. Trying to make up from a given scenario by playing what we tend to fail at doing more often than not will most times lead to even worse things vs simply working with what we know we can do and using that instead. basically play to strengths and not weaknesses.

I could probably drop 10 strokes per round if I could just keep it in the fairway from the tee.

Sure, who wouldn't want that? but still a big difference between being errant vs keeping the ball in play even if off the fairway. Being in the rough doesn't have to kill your round for keeping things under100. See my opinion above ^^^^.
Being errant is a whole other thing of course.

 

[Dave Alvarado]

I'm just not hitting my 4iron, or my 5w and certainly not my 3w from heavy rough and getting it on or probably even close to the green. When at that distance and in a heavy rough situation I take my medicine, hit whatever I feel is the longest club I can manage to successfully hit out of it and advance up the hole more often than not regardless how far I need to go. It could be my 6iron, or 7, or even 8 or even a pw if it calls for it, whatever the case. Then, now play the remaining approach most probably from the fairway and closer in. Sure its an extra shot, but its most often to be a manageable one and works far more often than doffing one and/or sending one errant only to find further troubles.

Take from it what you will, but a lot of ones better (relatively speaking) golf imo can come from preventing further damages than it does from playing into it. Trying to make up from a given scenario by playing what we tend to fail at doing more often than not will most times lead to even worse things vs simply working with what we know we can do and using that instead. basically play to strengths and not weaknesses.

This is exactly what I'm talking about. I've learned my lesson about not trying to hit a fairway wood off anything that doesn't look like a fairway.

On any hole around 400 yds or longer, I'm generally hitting driver, FW/hybrid, wedge to get on the green. Like you said, if you hit into the rough sometimes the only thing you can do is pull a shorter club and take your medicine. I've had a couple shots out of rough around here that I wasn't confident going after with anything but my trusty 52* wedge in my hand, since it could be used to mow lawns if necessary. I may only move the ball 20 yards, but it'll be out of the rough guaranteed. The downside is, that's no more useful to my round than a penalty stroke. It's better for me to be in the fairway where my second shot can advance the ball 150-200 yards.

 

[wadesworld]

Learning how to manage your game is part of getting better.

I played with a random guy not long ago that had popped his drive up. He was on a steep sidehill, ball-below-his-feet, in thick rough and he pulled 3-wood. He took a mighty lash and succeeded in shanking it 80-degrees across the fairway into a hazard. He complained, "This is why golf is so frustrating. I've got a decent swing, but I still can't keep my ball out of trouble."

I mentioned to him that a 3-wood in that situation might not have been the best idea, but he wouldn't hear it. "Oh, I've hit that shot before." Yeah, once out of 1,000 tries. A scratch golfer in the same situation would have hit at most a 6-iron.

Golf is FAR easier from the short grass.

 

[Hamfist]

Fwiw if anything I am all for higher percentage shots coming from the FW vs the rough and certainly vs the trees/woods etc. But you mention fw woods and hybrids being in play more often. FW woods (as some would argue) are the hardest shots in golf to make. Of course this refers to hitting them from the fairway and not from off a tee. Playing from the rough does not have to be all that detrimental toward keeping rounds under 100. You mention doffing rough shots and I am not sure what clubs you are talking of but many people will try to play whatever club distance they are for the approach from the rough and when it comes to longer approach shots from the heavy rough very many people are simply not hitting long shots on the green or even much good at all from those situations including myself too. So this too doesn't have to be so detrimental to keeping scores under 100. What I do from a less than desirable rough scenario and from less than desirable distance is to - hit out of the rough with whatever club I feel gives me my best chance to get it out cleanly and closer to the hole and that may very often be a club well short of the actual approach distance.

I'm just not hitting my 4iron, or my 5w and certainly not my 3w from heavy rough and getting it on or probably even close to the green. When at that distance and in a heavy rough situation I take my medicine, hit whatever I feel is the longest club I can manage to successfully hit out of it and advance up the hole more often than not regardless how far I need to go. It could be my 6iron, or 7, or even 8 or even a pw if it calls for it, whatever the case. Then, now play the remaining approach most probably from the fairway and closer in. Sure its an extra shot, but its most often to be a manageable one and works far more often than doffing one and/or sending one errant only to find further troubles.

Take from it what you will, but a lot of ones better (relatively speaking) golf imo can come from preventing further damages than it does from playing into it. Trying to make up from a given scenario by playing what we tend to fail at doing more often than not will most times lead to even worse things vs simply working with what we know we can do and using that instead. basically play to strengths and not weaknesses.



Sure, who wouldn't want that? but still a big difference between being errant vs keeping the ball in play even if off the fairway. Being in the rough doesn't have to kill your round for keeping things under100. See my opinion above ^^^^.
Being errant is a whole other thing of course.

Sage words, and great advice. I'm very guilty of not taking my medicine.

 

[sudseh]

Fwiw if anything I am all for higher percentage shots coming from the FW vs the rough and certainly vs the trees/woods etc. But you mention fw woods and hybrids being in play more often. FW woods (as some would argue) are the hardest shots in golf to make. Of course this refers to hitting them from the fairway and not from off a tee. Playing from the rough does not have to be all that detrimental toward keeping rounds under 100. You mention doffing rough shots and I am not sure what clubs you are talking of but many people will try to play whatever club distance they are for the approach from the rough and when it comes to longer approach shots from the heavy rough very many people are simply not hitting long shots on the green or even much good at all from those situations including myself too. So this too doesn't have to be so detrimental to keeping scores under 100. What I do from a less than desirable rough scenario and from less than desirable distance is to - hit out of the rough with whatever club I feel gives me my best chance to get it out cleanly and closer to the hole and that may very often be a club well short of the actual approach distance.

I'm just not hitting my 4iron, or my 5w and certainly not my 3w from heavy rough and getting it on or probably even close to the green. When at that distance and in a heavy rough situation I take my medicine, hit whatever I feel is the longest club I can manage to successfully hit out of it and advance up the hole more often than not regardless how far I need to go. It could be my 6iron, or 7, or even 8 or even a pw if it calls for it, whatever the case. Then, now play the remaining approach most probably from the fairway and closer in. Sure its an extra shot, but its most often to be a manageable one and works far more often than doffing one and/or sending one errant only to find further troubles.

Take from it what you will, but a lot of ones better (relatively speaking) golf imo can come from preventing further damages than it does from playing into it. Trying to make up from a given scenario by playing what we tend to fail at doing more often than not will most times lead to even worse things vs simply working with what we know we can do and using that instead. basically play to strengths and not weaknesses.



Sure, who wouldn't want that? but still a big difference between being errant vs keeping the ball in play even if off the fairway. Being in the rough doesn't have to kill your round for keeping things under100. See my opinion above ^^^^.
Being errant is a whole other thing of course.

For all of these tough shots, I pull out my scor 55°.

 

[Dave Alvarado]

Learning how to manage your game is part of getting better.

I played with a random guy not long ago that had popped his drive up. He was on a steep sidehill, ball-below-his-feet, in thick rough and he pulled 3-wood. He took a mighty lash and succeeded in shanking it 80-degrees across the fairway into a hazard. He complained, "This is why golf is so frustrating. I've got a decent swing, but I still can't keep my ball out of trouble."

I mentioned to him that a 3-wood in that situation might not have been the best idea, but he wouldn't hear it. "Oh, I've hit that shot before." Yeah, once out of 1,000 tries. A scratch golfer in the same situation would have hit at most a 6-iron.

Golf is FAR easier from the short grass.

Also so true. My scores dropped a ton when I stopped trying to take hero/ego shots and started playing smarter. "I'm X yards from the hole and this club goes X yards, so I should play it" is so rarely true.

The more I learn about how to get out of trouble, the less I take that approach. It's not uncommon for me to wander into the trees with a hybrid, 8i, and wedge in my hand if I don't know what kind of trouble I'm in.

 

[rollin]

This is exactly what I'm talking about. I've learned my lesson about not trying to hit a fairway wood off anything that doesn't look like a fairway.

On any hole around 400 yds or longer, I'm generally hitting driver, FW/hybrid, wedge to get on the green. Like you said, if you hit into the rough sometimes the only thing you can do is pull a shorter club and take your medicine. I've had a couple shots out of rough around here that I wasn't confident going after with anything but my trusty 52* wedge in my hand, since it could be used to mow lawns if necessary. I may only move the ball 20 yards, but it'll be out of the rough guaranteed. The downside is, that's no more useful to my round than a penalty stroke. It's better for me to be in the fairway where my second shot can advance the ball 150-200 yards.

I do applaud you if you are hitting woods of the deck (from the fw) with more success than failure too. They are not easy shots for most people and still for me are more often not a good result. It may not often be a drastic result but certainly less often are those shots what I intended. I only attempt woods off the deck when the situation allows enough room for error because I know its a fairly low percentage of success shot for me. And those situations do occasionally arise but more often than not I'll hit a club I know I have a very good chance of advancing close to the green without the risk of not knowing where my wood may end up even when I'm coming from the fairway like for example on a par5 2nd shot or even after a poor short drive on a par4.

I just figure that my short drive cost me a stroke and deal with that knowing I still have a great chance at bogey and a possibility of par by hitting my higher percentage clubs successfully more often. I may make up for the short drive with a once in a while good 3wood off the deck but most times its not happening so I play to my strength with a different club. Nothing worse than going from bad to worse imo. Sure I sometimes can also screw up the smart play too and that stings horribly LOL but the amounts of times I screw up one vs the other is not even close. One way is more often than not a liability while the other way more often than not is an asset. I know you seem to agree with me and sorry to ramble but ramble is what I do but its cool to talk about this stuff and share how we all think.

 

[wadesworld]

I just figure that my short drive cost me a stroke and deal with that knowing I still have a great chance at bogey and a possibility of par by hitting my higher percentage clubs successfully more often. I may make up for the short drive with a once in a while good 3wood off the deck but most times its not happening so I play to my strength with a different club. Nothing worse than going from bad to worse imo. Sure I sometimes can also screw up the smart play too and that stings horribly LOL but the amounts of times I screw up one vs the other is not even close. One way is more often than not a liability while the other way more often than not is an asset. I know you seem to agree with me and sorry to ramble but ramble is what I do but its cool to talk about this stuff and share how we all think.

I once asked in frustration in a thread here somewhere, "Why is it that I can sit on a driving range and hit 50 9-irons within a 20-foot circle, but on the course I can't hit a 30-yard wide green with one?" This discussion highlights a good point: where is the place on the course most like a driving range, where I have the best chance of duplicating one of those 50-shots? The fairway.

 

[Dave Alvarado]

I do applaud you if you are hitting woods of the deck (from the fw) with more success than failure too. They are not easy shots for most people and still for me are more often not a good result. It may not often be a drastic result but certainly less often are those shots what I intended. I only attempt woods off the deck when the situation allows enough room for error because I know its a fairly low percentage of success shot for me. And those situations do occasionally arise but more often than not I'll hit a club I know I have a very good chance of advancing close to the green without the risk of not knowing where my wood may end up even when I'm coming from the fairway like for example on a par5 2nd shot or even after a poor short drive on a par4.

I just figure that my short drive cost me a stroke and deal with that knowing I still have a great chance at bogey and a possibility of par by hitting my higher percentage clubs successfully more often. I may make up for the short drive with a once in a while good 3wood off the deck but most times its not happening so I play to my strength with a different club. Nothing worse than going from bad to worse imo. Sure I sometimes can also screw up the smart play too and that stings horribly LOL but the amounts of times I screw up one vs the other is not even close. One way is more often than not a liability while the other way more often than not is an asset. I know you seem to agree with me and sorry to ramble but ramble is what I do but its cool to talk about this stuff and share how we all think.

Yeah, I'm not afraid to hit a 5W off the deck. I was carrying a 3W, but launch monitor testing showed I wasn't hitting that club any better than a 5W, with more chance of getting the 5W up in the air. So now the top of my bag is Dr, 5W, 4h. I recently added a 5h and am having good luck with it, and it gaps to my 6i better.

I've caught crap for it here, but if I can't hit a club I'll leave it out of the bag. Right now I'm gaming 12 clubs because those are the 12 I can trust.

Dr, 5W, 4h, 5h, 6i, 7i, 8i, 9i, PW, 52*, 56*, Pu.

 

[Dave Alvarado]

I once asked in frustration in a thread here somewhere, "Why is it that I can sit on a driving range and hit 50 9-irons within a 20-foot circle, but on the course I can't hit a 30-yard wide green with one?" This discussion highlights a good point: where is the place on the course most like a driving range, where I have the best chance of duplicating one of those 50-shots? The fairway.

That's part of it, the other part is that on the driving range it doesn't matter if you miss. On the course it's hard to replicate your driving range swing.

 

[rollin]

I once asked in frustration in a thread here somewhere, "Why is it that I can sit on a driving range and hit 50 9-irons within a 20-foot circle, but on the course I can't hit a 30-yard wide green with one?" This discussion highlights a good point: where is the place on the course most like a driving range, where I have the best chance of duplicating one of those 50-shots? The fairway.

Well.....a 9i is hardly a 3,5wood. It's great u have good success with the wood shot off the deck. But we must remember the fairway is still mot the range. Firstly the shots now count and so the mental pressure plays games with us whether we think so or not for most people. Secondly we have far too many changing stance variables even in the fairway. Uneven, sloped up, down,sideways,etc,etc. It's alot different than the range for many reasons imo and is partly why your 9irins work better there imo. If I plyed the way a good portion of my range sessions go I'd be single digits lol..
I hope we are not getting off topic with this latest discussions but imo it does all fit when taking about trying to obtain sub 100 rounds

 

[BuckeyeMark]

Well.....a 9i is hardly a 3,5wood. It's great u have good success with the wood shot off the deck. But we must remember the fairway is still mot the range. Firstly the shots now count and so the mental pressure plays games with us whether we think so or not for most people. Secondly we have far too many changing stance variables even in the fairway. Uneven, sloped up, down,sideways,etc,etc. It's alot different than the range for many reasons imo and is partly why your 9irins work better there imo. If I plyed the way a good portion of my range sessions go I'd be single digits lol..
I hope we are not getting off topic with this latest discussions but imo it does all fit when taking about trying to obtain sub 100 rounds

Let's be honest - we don't count shots on the driving range (at least most don't). So when we say "I hit 10 good ones today on the range and now I just shanked that one - why is that?!" what we really mean is "I hit 20 shots on the range, but after shanking one I'd just drop another one and forget about it so I ended up with about 10 good ones that I remember and I forgot the bad ones." It doesn't cost to hit bad on the DR so we don't remember it (or mark it down).

 

[BuckeyeMark]

I could probably drop 10 strokes per round if I could just keep it in the fairway from the tee.

That points to the importance of keeping a few stats. Grab an extra scorecard for just your score. Use a line for Fairways Hit, Penalties, Sand, Shots from 100 yards, and Putts.

You'll learn in a HURRY where your game is really the weakest. I've been telling people I'm a decent putter. Um, no. Added up and taking waaaayyy too many putts to get around. And that's one of the easiest parts of the game to work on - don't even have to go a range.

Keep your stats! You'll learn your game.

 

[Hamfist]

That points to the importance of keeping a few stats. Grab an extra scorecard for just your score. Use a line for Fairways Hit, Penalties, Sand, Shots from 100 yards, and Putts.

You'll learn in a HURRY where your game is really the weakest. I've been telling people I'm a decent putter. Um, no. Added up and taking waaaayyy too many putts to get around. And that's one of the easiest parts of the game to work on - don't even have to go a range.

Keep your stats! You'll learn your game.

I'd been doing that earlier this season, but have slacked off. will be taking it up again this weekend.

 

[InTheRough]

Or you guys could buy the Game Golf hardware unit and we could relive the agony of our rounds together. This also keeps track of all your stats for you. I'll tell you there is nothing like reliving that double par; seeing that 270 yd drive down the center of the fairway on a short par 5 leaving you with just 140 yds to the green melt away with two chili dips and a skull and end up with a double bogey.

I've learned my game - it's inconsistent. Oh, why am I in this thread with a 22.4 HC? I'm playing to a 30+ HC right now. I haven't broke 100 since mid July.

 

[Hamfist]

Or you guys could buy the Game Golf hardware unit and we could relive the agony of our rounds together. This also keeps track of all your stats for you. I'll tell you there is nothing like reliving that double par; seeing that 270 yd drive down the center of the fairway on a short par 5 leaving you with just 140 yds to the green melt away with two chili dips and a skull and end up with a double bogey.

I've learned my game - it's inconsistent. Oh, why am I in this thread with a 22.4 HC? I'm playing to a 30+ HC right now. I haven't broke 100 since mid July.

What is this "270 yard drive down the center of the fairway" of which you speak? It is not familiar to me.