Trying to Break 100

This is more or less what I did last season, being my first full season. I limited the misses by choosing shorter clubs for tee shots and honing my skills with limited amount of clubs. I was actually scared of using driver as I had two-way misses and lot of lost balls. This season I started without driver and my buddy was twisting my arm to use a driver. Guess what, the work done with shorter clubs paid of and translated to driver as well. Now I'm banging driver every time I can.

Take the clubs you are comfortable with and play you. Not anyone else. Until you're comfortable with longer clubs, play stress free and fun golf with clubs that find the fairway. I got the same remarks from my buddies: "it's not fun to play without a driver". It depends on definition, but for it's far more fun to keep the ball in play than hitting errant shots with a club I cannot handle.

Excellent advice! It's hard to do at times (for me at least) - when I play with better players (which is basically all the time) I seem to unconsciously try to do what they're doing. I think focusing on the clubs you hit straightest & best, and working to get better is one of the best things one can do to improve scoring.

And getting some lessons & practicing to get better - that's also key. Hamfist I think can testify to that. I certainly can.
 
And three b******t lip-outs.

Yeah, that's the first time I've had 3 putts literally circle the drain. Golf is hard.

I lost a few strokes just to unfamiliarity with the course (which I liked aside from hole #15).

There are a couple more reasons for my optimism at lowering my scores this year:

1) There were a few longer iron shots that went absolutely dead straight at the flag & flew the distance I chose. 5 & 6 iron shots are becoming scoring opportunities, which never was the case until this year. My best shot might have been a 6 iron from 150 to an elevated green that hit 2 feet from the pin & led to an easy par.

2) Short game improvement - chipping and pitching is generally allowing me to get the ball closer to the hole.

There is still a tendency for me to turn 1 bad shot into 2,3,4. If I can learn to forget the real stinkers when the happen, and stay focused and relaxed, the lower scores will come.
 
Will it work? I'm not sure, but am going into this with a positive attitude. I'll be going to the range tomorrow morning to go through my 5 full swing WITB, do a simulated round, and get in a groove.

It's been driven into my head for years to pull as much club as possible - as long as it doesn't include a high degree of risk. For those who can control it, driver off the tee makes sense on most holes. It wasn't until joining this forum that I was exposed to the alternate opinion of using the driver sparingly and, in some cases, leaving it at home. This advice came from many, including very good, low single-digit players here. It doesn't apply to everyone, but it works for those who are still trying to develop a better driver swing.

It's a small sample, but when I shot a 96 on a 6,000 yard course recently using a 190 yard 3h as my longest club it became obvious that keeping the ball in play trumps distance. It simply forces me to develop better accuracy with mid and long irons when left with longer approach shots. That in turn, forces me to become better around the greens.

Will I ever get down to the mid teens playing this way? Probably not. But 90's golf sure beats the hell out of the self-abuse brought about by errant driver shots. In the meantime, I might get another driver and try to develop a more dependable swing, put it in the bag but leave it alone on days when I'm not feeling it.

If nothing else, the current WITB has brought about more confidence in playing a shorter, off the tee game.

Good luck Dave.
 
Thanks guys. I'll plan to report back, good, bad, or ugly :)

I'll always been a pull the driver guy and it generally has worked out ok. The problem this year is that I can't control it very well. I actually hit 54% of fairways with driver last year!

Dave
 
Headed out for a round later today.
Just gonna try to have fun and focus on making good contact.
I managed a 42 on the back 9 of this course early this Spring, but shot 51 there the last time, so something between those is my only goal. But I'll do my best not to get worked up about it.
 
Just a quick follow on what I was saying about driver yesterday. It seems to take me a while to get going with it - where In the past, I was very comfortable going from the start with it. In fact looking at my SwingU stats my all time FIR is 55 percent (most of those shots with driver). For the Last month I’m at 45 but...I took a big jump the other night by hitting the 3 and 5 a little.

For the last year I’m way down.

So as I said maybe I’ll tee off with the 3 or 5 for a few holes then go driver on longer holes or as I warm up.

So yesterday after working all day and running errands I decided to go hit a medium bucket of balls (around 70 balls maybe). Had some hits and misses with irons. Hard time getting into a groove. I think I was tired and unfocused. So I decided to pull the 3W and hit the last 12-15 balls off tee. Had some really nice hits. And straight.

Work is killing me so going to see if I can get some stuff done this morning and may go see if I can get in 9 holes later, A)to get out of the house and B) to experiment with the using the 3 and 5 off tee more for a round. Be interested to see if I can keep it in the fairway, how much distance I give up, and how all the pros and cons balance out.

I wish Swing U offered a bit easier club tracking etc. But it’s what I’ve used for a while and keeps some key stats like FIR, GIR, putts, so on...right now it does enough that I don’t want to switch up...

On that note however: What do you guys use - if anything - for scoring/GPS/stats??


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The quality of my golf this season so far is not exactly "stress free". I have been using driver almost exclusively off the tee and have suffered badly with only 28% fairways hit and of the 72% misses, 30% have been penal misses where I'm in bad rough, have tree trouble, OB, etc... It is a terrible way to play golf.

Last time out after a rough first 5 holes I put the driver away and hit good tee shots on 6 and 7 with hybrids. I'm confident I will be in less trouble with the hybrid.

This Monday I will embrace the Golf Sidekick "Way of the Playa" approach to breaking 90 or 45 in my case.


The basic approach is:

1. A club that goes STRAIGHT, 160 yards OR MORE off the tee -- CHECK, 19H
2. A solid pitching game inside 70 yards -- MAYBE CHECK
3. Your two favorite clubs from inside 150 yards -- CHECK, add 1 extra with 6 iron, 8 iron, pitching wedge also add a longer club (25H)
4. A consistent two-putt and a solid short putt -- MAYBE CHECK
5. One club to chip with around the greens -- CHECK, 52W

You'll notice there's no reference to other long clubs. The basic idea is to have a max club you feel comfortable attacking greens with and then beyond that club split into two more manageable shots.

My WITB will be: (I'll bring the full bag, but plan to not use most of them)

1. Tee - 19H (~ 175-180)
2. Max attack club - 25H (~155-160)
3. Approach 6i (~130-135)
4. Approach 8i (~110-115)
5. Approach PW (~90-95)
6. Chip/pitch 52W (don't plan full swings)
7. Putter
8./9. Par 3 dedicated clubs: 22H (~165-170), 7i (~120-125)

Yeah, I know my distances suck are not impressive. I'm using fairly traditional lofts though so 6 iron is 30* and 4* gaps to 46* PW for whatever that is worth.

Course plan:

#1 (375 uphill)): 19H - 8i - PW
#2 (480): 19H - 25H - 6i
#3 (315): 19H - 6i
#4 (170): 22H
#5 (475): 19H - 25H - 6i
#6 (310): 19H - 6i
#7 (325): 19H - 25H
#8 (120): 7i
#9 (370): 19H - PW - PW

Will it work? I'm not sure, but am going into this with a positive attitude. I'll be going to the range tomorrow morning to go through my 5 full swing WITB, do a simulated round, and get in a groove.

Dave

Sounds like a great plan. I’m backing off driver a bit myself for now and will be implementing number 1....

Good luck with your plan! Keep us posted.


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Just a quick follow on what I was saying about driver yesterday. It seems to take me a while to get going with it - where In the past, I was very comfortable going from the start with it. In fact looking at my SwingU stats my all time FIR is 55 percent (most of those shots with driver). For the Last month I’m at 45 but...I took a big jump the other night by hitting the 3 and 5 a little.

For the last year I’m way down.

So as I said maybe I’ll tee off with the 3 or 5 for a few holes then go driver on longer holes or as I warm up.

So yesterday after working all day and running errands I decided to go hit a medium bucket of balls (around 70 balls maybe). Had some hits and misses with irons. Hard time getting into a groove. I think I was tired and unfocused. So I decided to pull the 3W and hit the last 12-15 balls off tee. Had some really nice hits. And straight.

Work is killing me so going to see if I can get some stuff done this morning and may go see if I can get in 9 holes later, A)to get out of the house and B) to experiment with the using the 3 and 5 off tee more for a round. Be interested to see if I can keep it in the fairway, how much distance I give up, and how all the pros and cons balance out.

I wish Swing U offered a bit easier club tracking etc. But it’s what I’ve used for a while and keeps some key stats like FIR, GIR, putts, so on...right now it does enough that I don’t want to switch up...

On that note however: What do you guys use - if anything - for scoring/GPS/stats??


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Regarding the tracking/GPS stuff: I don't formally track anything but scores, # of putts and GIR and I don't even really stay on top of those last two stats as I should.

However - I do informally track my drives by simply assessing approach shots. For example when on the tee box I'll assess the hole by figuring yardage and determining something like "A 230 yard drive will yield me 9 iron distance to the center of green."
If I end up having to pull a 7 iron I know I was well shy of a good drive, if I pull a 56 wedge, I know I clobbered it. At the end of a round those approach club selections leave me with a pretty good feel of my driving distance and accuracy for the day.

I use the free version of the hole 19 app to keep track of scoring, putts and GIR. If I ever get into the low nineties consistently I'll probably upgrade to their paid version which includes much more tracking of stats and distances.

And - if and when I finally am able to upgrade to a set of fitted irons, I'd like to include the Arccos system.

I currently subscribe to the "I'm not playing well enough to spend money on that stuff" school of thought.
 
On that note however: What do you guys use - if anything - for scoring/GPS/stats??


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GolfPadGPS. Very intuitive, tracks clubs and other statistics.
 
I started subscribing to SwingU a couple years ago and it does offer some cool features for fairly cheap. So I'm not sure I'll jump to something else until this year's subscription runs out...thanks for the ideas though guys...I'm always looking for options!

On a side note...found a used Clicgear 3.5+ this morning via Facebook market....so that's awesome. Looking forward to getting out now!
 
Shot a 52/45 97 (31.2) this afternoon on an easy course at 5500 yards. Putting was off and it cost a few strokes. Hit 50% fairways and 28% GIR. Only 2 penalties and both were from the 8i. Made good contact with the 3h for the most part.
Fun round.
 
GolfPadGPS. Very intuitive, tracks clubs and other statistics.

Golfshot is what I use. It’s pretty good.


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Got out today with @KY Golfer and @The Milk Man Played from around 6400. I hit the ball more solid than I have all year. Short game sucked but I still carded a 95. Had a few stupid penalties and was hitting everything left which I never do. That kinda screwed me. But it was nice to have a solid ball striking day. Gives me something to build on
 
Got out today with @KY Golfer and @The Milk Man Played from around 6400. I hit the ball more solid than I have all year. Short game sucked but I still carded a 95. Had a few stupid penalties and was hitting everything left which I never do. That kinda screwed me. But it was nice to have a solid ball striking day. Gives me something to build on
95 from 6400 yards isn’t easy. Nice round!
 
95 from 6400 yards isn’t easy. Nice round!

Thanks! I’ve been struggling mightily with the driver all year and a fellow forum member gifted me a new one. I made a shaft change and drove the ball better than I have since late last year
 
Thanks! I’ve been struggling mightily with the driver all year and a fellow forum member gifted me a new one. I made a shaft change and drove the ball better than I have since late last year

How do you like the G400s?

Dave
 
How do you like the G400s?

Dave

I like them a lot. Hit a few way out on the toe that still carried and stopped on the green. I hit them well enough that @KY Golfer told me he’d kick my ass if I switched, lol
 
 
Well I headed out this afternoon for nine. Went with my plan of leaving the driver alone for a bit. Hit a nice straight drive one 1 with the 3W. Nothing fancy but don’t think I lost enough distance to care. Second shot was way offline and right. Left me behind a tree. My options were to go straight back out to fairway which would leave with a lob wedge approach. Or lob over/thru tree toward green. Went for that option. Almost cleared the tree but it got knocked down. Not really a “hero” shot as I was not going to be on the green either way (without clearing the tree). Anyway. Green side play stunk and I tripled it. Gross.

Second hole had another nice hit with the 3W. Just off fairway. Finished with a bogey here.

Third hole is long par 3. Hit the 3W again. Looked like it hit the ground and might run to green but kicked right. Thought it was in sand. Barely missed. (See photo)...that grass is a steep hill into sand. I had to chip up to the green and I used my 58 and knocked to about 3 feet. Par.

5ac5ca61f4e695c2eaf88ee9e0b03db2.jpg



Hole 4 another solid rip with the 3W. Finally pulled driver on the par 5 and ripped it about 220 on the right side of fairway.

I won’t bore you with all the details but I kinda wonder if I should have gone back to driver as I fell apart with the 3W after this with a couple bad misses right. Dogleg hole went to the 5W and ripped it dead ahead. Ninth hole I went back to driver and ripped it just left of FW. Lob wedge away. I hit lob up to elevated green and hit just short - kicked off to the side. Wound up with a bogey (was hoping to par after that drive and JUST missed on the approach).

Shot a 48 which was a couple strokes worse than Friday’s 46. But I do think I like the FW off the tee for a few holes. Then shift to driver. Not sure how I fell apart so bad with the 3 but was glad the 5 worked as usual on that dogleg.

Anyway. Had a lot of decent shots today just kinda suffered on a couple holes with the short game. Missed a couple putts i should have made too (though only one 3 putt).


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How do you like the G400s?

Dave
I like them a lot. Hit a few way out on the toe that still carried and stopped on the green. I hit them well enough that @KY Golfer told me he’d kick my ass if I switched, lol
He hit them very well today. He hit them better in his one round today than any of the other 6 sets (not joking) he's used in the year I've been playing with him.

It was nice to see him hit some solid iron shots, as well a drivers. I know he works hard on his game and it was cool to see it pay off.
 
He hit them very well today. He hit them better in his one round today than any of the other 6 sets (not joking) he's used in the year I've been playing with him.

It was nice to see him hit some solid iron shots, as well a drivers. I know he works hard on his game and it was cool to see it pay off.

Who is counting, right? :)

Dave
 
Shot a 106 today. Had some good shots, had some stinkers. Birdie’d a par 5, which was nice. Had a par. And a couple of 8s to return balance to the universe.
As an aside, I got my old G15 seven wood back from a friend, and was crushing it today. (Mostly.)
 
I played 49/53: 102 yesterday. I am quite satisfied about my play at the moment. There were only 4 holes I messed up badly, made triple or worse. Except for those holes, I played par-bogey-double levelling on bogey. I haven't analysed the blow up holes that much, mainly bad shot leading to a difficult shot leading to penalty. Coulda/woulda/shoulda do a lot to eliminate bad shots and following incidents, but it is what it is, golf.
 
Shot a 106 today. Had some good shots, had some stinkers. Birdie’d a par 5, which was nice. Had a par. And a couple of 8s to return balance to the universe.
As an aside, I got my old G15 seven wood back from a friend, and was crushing it today. (Mostly.)

How much distance do you get on the 7W? Were you teeing off with it? I found with my 3W yesterday, I was averaging 180-ish plus. Never reached 200 I don't think, but probably ranged from 175 to 190.

I should have measured my 5W shot on the dogleg...looking back at the hole on GPS, I think I hit it about 190. I may actually use it next time out for a few holes in lieu of the 3...get warmed up, then go Driver. If I could get that iron swing to translate over from the range, I'd be leaving myself in pretty good shape on some holes....I will say I made some good contact yesterday, just a little errant with aim or not getting a good rotation thru impact at times (I'm getting old...I probably need to cheat a little and open stance a touch).

If I can get loose and start hitting the driver 220ish or more for the remainder of a round...I'll give up the distance the first handful of holes. When I really get going on driver I can probably go 235-250 on the LONG end...I'd say a solid driver shot is 200-220 for me right now (so averaging 210-215ish if not a little better once I get loose). I think I can gain some distance back...just recovering from shoulder/incorporating some swing ideas....not always conducive to consistency, right now. I've never been a big hitter, though...which is why I don't mind slipping back to a fairway wood off the tee for a few holes if it's best for me. And it's why after playing nine, I went to the chipping/putting green for another half hour....my greenside play was bad (of course it was good after the fact, in practice, as was putting). Golf...am I right?
 
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