Started a concerted playing program in April -gone from a 25 to a 15.6 - What Next?

Alright fairly new to the board, so a little backstory - 50 years old..played golf recreationally before kids 25 years ago and got down with no lessons to a low 90's shooter...stepping away from the game for family other than a couple of rounds a year, my game deteriorated to where I was shooting in the 110s and a 25 handicap. Last April I decided to recommit myself to the game, deciding to practice after work and then began playing quite a bit although most are only 9 holes. Since April, I've played 29 rounds but only 9 of those have been full 18 holes. As of today my handicap has dropped from a 25 to a 15.6, which was my target goal for the end of the year.

During this process I moved forward to hitting from the white tees, as the driver/3wood off the tee has been my biggest problem. I've now got to where I'm hitting my driver mostly straight but still only 235 when struck well but some 170-200yd shots are still mixed in. I have a large hole in the top of my bag as I've never been able to hit hybrids well, I'm just a hooking machine with them. So I'm left with my 6 iron to hit second shots for par fives or long approaches to the green. When struck well I hit the 6 175 and poorly struck shots are 150 yards. I've done much better with my short game as I've eliminated, most three putts, but up and downs for pars could still improve. Most of those times I end up walking off with bogey. During my last three 9 hole rounds, I shot 44, 42 and 44 and lost only one ball. Unfortunately, I didn't have any birdies during those rounds although just missed a couple inside of ten feet.

I need a new plan now that I've reached my original target of 15. I think my next goal is to break 85 my low round for 18 and to shoot for a 12 handicap. Or an alternate goal would be to maintain a similar scores to what i've been shooting while transitioning back to the Blue tees. I feel like I have at least a moderately repeatable swing and think now is a time I could benefit from a series of lessons with our club pro.

Any thoughts on which areas of the game I should focus my attention on to reach the next level?

Excellent work! Tangible golf improvement like you've achieved is hard. I would continue to put in the hard work but I think you should look into those lessons you mentioned. You obviously have some talent and the drive to improve so get your pro involved. You just might sail right past that 12 you're looking at.

Congrats on the improvement!

I think that I would stay at the same tees to lock in that consistency and work on lessons with the driver/3w.

Yes, Excellent improvement.

I'm assuming your 6 iron average is upper 160's. You mention a 3 wood but no average off the deck. Do you use a 5 and /or 7 wood? What is their average?

I guess what I'm asking is - what is the gap or hole in your bag (that you mentioned)? AND, do you really feel that the gap is hindering your improvement?

If you're having problems with your hybrids and you are good with irons, have you tried a 3, 4 or 5 iron?

I would also be interested in reading what you did (concentrated improvement). I did the same thing this year but would love to hear how others approached it.

Dave G said:

Yes, Excellent improvement.

I'm assuming your 6 iron average is upper 160's. You mention a 3 wood but no average off the deck. Do you use a 5 and /or 7 wood? What is their average?

I guess what I'm asking is - what is the gap or hole in your bag (that you mentioned)? AND, do you really feel that the gap is hindering your improvement?

If you're having problems with your hybrids and you are good with irons, have you tried a 3, 4 or 5 iron?

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Thanks for the reply, the hole in my bag is everything between the 6 iron and the driver. 6iron probably averages 165, but when struck well is 175. I have a 5 iron but I don't really seem to hit it any further. Before I started, I was fitted for some newer irons as I thought my old 1999 ping i3s could use some updating. Was fitted into some Ping g400, but the fitter knew I was going to be buying second hand, so we found a set of Ping Gs in my specs. Same goes for a used Titleist 917 driver and a used 818 hybrid that just came in yesterday. I'm waiting for the proper swing weight to arrive in the mail to set it up and go try to tame my historical hooking with hybrids.

As far as the rest of the upper end of the bag, I have a ping g crossover 4 iron, that at times I can hit pretty well off the tee, no so great off the deck and a Callaway XR 4 wood. It's this hole and maybe some sand shot work that I'm hoping the lessons can address.

Dave G said:

I would also be interested in reading what you did (concentrated improvement). I did the same thing this year but would love to hear how others approached it.

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My youngest daughter who is middle school decided in March she wanted to join her middle school golf team having never played before. That was the in I needed as mom, signed her up for some kids group lessons three days a week after school for 1.5-2.0 hours a day. I became the go to parent to take her to the lessons. While she was practicing, I decided stay and work on the range and short game area at our club. I did this probably for a month before even trying to play again, initially using my old clubs. I completed my set of fitted new to me clubs, driver, irons, wedges, putter and now this hybrid over the past 8 weeks, waiting to find something in my spec on 2nd swing or ebay.

I really focused on 7 iron, putting and my driver. Ideally, I was wanting even just a consistent 200 yard straight drive that would remain in play. I was losing far to many shots and golf balls off the tee and I knew I could save a great many shots just by eliminating penalties and punch outs. The other big piece was no three putts, I still average probably one a nine, but I also makes some one putts. I really put some time in practicing lag putting.

I think a big thing that helped me was swallowing the pride and moving up to the whites because it actually put my 6 thru wedges in my hand for approach shots. This is helping my confidence in hitting those approach shots instead of having 190-200 yards left into every green. It has also made the game fun again. We have three courses at our club, playing the whites averages out about 6000 yards. Shifting back to the blues increases things to about 6,400-6500.


i'm a firm believer in everyone needs a goal. I have no delusions of being a scratch golfer, but I would love to get where I can consistently shoot in the low to mid 80s...ideally from the regular men's tees. At that point, I don't think I'd be too self conscious to play with better players. Getting to around a 12, I think would accomplish this and allow me to take advantage of some standing offers to play some nice courses that I've passed on to this point because I wasn't comfortable enough in my game.

brianmk24 said:

Congrats on the improvement!

I think that I would stay at the same tees to lock in that consistency and work on lessons with the driver/3w.

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Thanks, that was my line of thinking as well....It looks like you're currently at where my ultimate goal might be of a 10 handicap. I know shaving off the 5 shots will be much harder from a 15-10 than shaving off the 10 shots I've lost to this point.

Chipping and putting is where you need to work on now that you've dropped your handicap. By now you know how to hit the driver, 3 wood & irons and by all means continue to practice those clubs. Chipping & putting is where you save strokes. Learn to get the ball to the hole chipping with various short irons. Practice putting from 10 ft & closer. On long putts, work to get them inside 3 ft.

Chipping & putting.

Like you, I'm new at this as well. That said, I'll tell you a story. For me it wasn't hybrids, it was fairway woods. Couldn't hit one to save my life. I was so bad with them that I shied away from even practicing with them. My instructor told me to at least give them a try. He advised that every time I used my hybrid to drop a second ball and use my 5 wood. Now it didn't happen over night but it did work. My 5 and 3 woods are now used without a second thought.

Like all clubs, start with the highest lofted hybrid. Eventually you'll come to love the club and loose that hole in your bag.

My other piece of advice is to post a question about your problems with the hybrids to Panda on the swing section of this forum.

And finally, what's this c**p about not being good enough to play with others? IMO once ANYONE is shooting low 90 - high 80's they should have absolutely nothing to worry about.

You mentioned:

"I've done much better with my short game as I've eliminated, most three putts, but up and downs for pars could still improve. Most of those times I end up walking off with bogey."

That's how I made the jump from 15-ish down to my all-time low of 7... went from almost never getting up-and-down to EXPECTING to get up and down.

One short game drill made all the difference for me:

At least twice a week I would go to the chipping/putting area, drop 5 balls, and try to get up/down from just off the green with all 5. No cheating, I have to chip or pitch all 5 balls and make all 5 putts. I can't do anything else that day on the range until I get up/down with all 5.

Did that for a couple months and it worked like a charm. Missing a green was no longer cause for alarm. At this point I'd almost prefer a chip from just off the green to a long putt.