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What Is Holding You Back?

JB

JB

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Throughout 2018 I have been tracking my data a bit to find out what is keeping me from back to getting to where I was a handful of years ago. Yes, I know time is the biggest thing, but what part of my game. Well I used some Cobra Connect grips over a 12 round stretch and came away with information that I did not expect.

First, putting was the biggest area I need to improve. 3 putting 2 more greens a round (estimate) and missing more putts. I had always thought of myself as a good short game player, but the stats right now say otherwise. Outside of sand play, up and down percentage when missing greens is terrible and to compound that, I am missing 2-3 more greens per round.

Driving has been the best part of my game and combined with both drivers in the bag, I am hitting 67% of fairways, which is a pretty staggering number for me.

I was unsure how I would feel about tracking the stats, but it was pretty eye opening for what I thought I needed to work on, vs what was actually holding me back.

What is holding you back? And are you sure?
 
I never track any stats but just from experience I have to say not hitting greens in regulation and putting are my weaknesses.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk
 
Currently I think there's two things holding me back from single digits:

1) Tee game. I'm simply getting into too much trouble off the tee.

2) Short game not quite sharp enough.

My iron game is pretty good. My putting is excellent. I'm just hitting too many tee balls into places I cannot be, and around the greens while my short game has improved, I'm still leaving myself 7 footers instead of the 3-footer it should be.
 
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wadesworld said:
My iron game is pretty good. My putting is excellent. I'm just hitting too many tee balls into places I cannot be, and around the greens while my short game has improved, I'm still leaving myself 7 footers instead of the 3-footer it should be.
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What's interesting is if you would have asked me going in, what it would be, my answer would mimic yours.
 
What is holding you back? And are you sure?

My swing..Yes

I have taken a few lessons recently. Come to realize my set up was off a bit. Working on it everday.

For me, hitting fairways is critcal. I have been struggling with it. Hopefully my set up correction will help.

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According to my Grint stats, I average 32.9 putts per round, so that need to be lowered I would say to 30. It also say what I know, is that I need to hit more GIR. I can see that one looking back over scorecards, more GIR my scores are better, ( read more consistent).
 
Putting, more specifically the art of reading break.

Yes, I'm sure. It's not that I'm not hitting my putts exactly where I want, because I am. I'm just terrible at reading greens and that's the difference between tap ins and plucking the ball out of the cup.

2nd would be proximity to the hole on approach shots.
 
mental strength, I have a tendency to take stupid decisions and overswing. I'm sure with my swing I could go down, but hey, I get tired and make stupid mistakes.
 
Following!this seems like a very interesting thread
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Keeping my official stats with some sort of golf gadget like Cobra Connect. I'm still in the stone age & make marks on the score card about FW hit, GIR & putts. So either I play Cobra equipment or I wait until other OEM's to come out with the same thing to really analyze my stats more in depth.
 
Wedges, I don’t often get close and my putting is pretty bad. I can 3 putt 4 times in a round.
 
golfinnut said:
Keeping my official stats with some sort of golf gadget like Cobra Connect. I'm still in the stone age & make marks on the score card about FW hit, GIR & putts. So either I play Cobra equipment or I wait until other OEM's to come out with the same thing to really analyze my stats more in depth.
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You can get systems that go on the end of any clubs.
Cobra does happen to include it for no charge however.
 
First is Fairways hit. I need to focus on hitting more. Second is distance to hole on putts. I'm leaving myself too far away from the hole on par or bogey putts to effectively manage bad scores.
 
Honestly, I'm afraid to actually track my stats around the entire course, for fear of realizing I'm poor at what I think I'm good at.

I concentrate on FIR and GIR. My scores are low when my GIRs are high, and my GIRs are high when my FIRs are high. Stats will probably show I need improvements in my chipping and I'm comfortable knowing that without stats telling me.
 
My short game first and foremost. my GIR was at an all time high this year but I am not getting it close enough. I have averaged 37.2 putts every 18 holes. I have found that I read the lines decent but the speed of my putts are awful, either short or long but by feet and not inches. Also not letting a bad 3 putts influence my next couple of shots.
 
JB said:
You can get systems that go on the end of any clubs.
Cobra does happen to include it for no charge however.
Click to expand...

I have one with my SkyCaddie Links GT but it's not very user friendly. After I tag each club, I have to remember to touch the club to the watch Before I play each shot, so it recognizes which club I'm using & when. That's a pain in the A**!
 
Arccos tells me my biggest deficiency is driving the ball.

My second biggest deficiency is approach accuracy.

If you had asked me, I would have told you my biggest issues lie in the short game-but the data indicates otherwise.

I also "feel" like I drive the ball pretty well---and I'd say when I'm on it is a strength---But the data tells me I'm off way more than I'm on.

Data is humbling!

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk
 
I have never tracked my stats, but I can say with a fair amount of certainty that it is my short game. In order, I'd say:

1. My chipping is mediocre. I can have stretches of good chipping, but I don't consistently give myself good opportunities to get up and down.
2. My lag putting is inconsistent, especially on greens I'm not that familiar with.
3. I don't consistently put the ball close enough to the hole from about 80 yards and in.
 
Two things for me, the biggest just being too inconsistent on my approach shots. I've been pretty good off the tee, and my short game is the strongest part of my game*, but lately I just can't find any consistency from the fairway.

The second is that asterisk on my short game, I just can't read greens like I used to. Playing greens I know, or getting a read from someone else's putt, and my putting, like the rest of my short game, is pretty good. Playing on greens I don't know, I can have misreads that just have me scratching my head wondering how I saw it so different. A real eye opener was having a good caddie when I played Pebble beach. He would give me the line, and several time I was seeing something WAY DIFFERENT, but following his advice I was by far the strongest putter in my foursome (we were all using caddies).
 
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Having Arccos/Cobra Connect for basically all of last year was eye opening for sure. I used to consider myself a solid iron player and a terrible putter but the stats don't lie. Even though I hit 52.5% of greens in regulation my approach hdcp is at 7.2 with an average distance to the pin of 67.2 ft. Putting hdcp is 2.6 with 66.7% 2 putts and only 6.7% 3 putts. Now I will admit I didn't use Arccos for every round played because I like to listen to music on league nights. I also deletd a few rounds where the El hosels crept in and got really bad.

Whats really holding me back is my brain and my body though, this year has been tough on both for a variety of reasons.
 
Consistency, like most who play a fair amount and don't often score as well as they think they should.
 
jdtox said:
Having Arccos/Cobra Connect for basically all of last year was eye opening for sure. I used to consider myself a solid iron player and a terrible putter but the stats don't lie. Even though I hit 52.5% of greens in regulation my approach hdcp is at 7.2 with an average distance to the pin of 67.2 ft. Putting hdcp is 2.6 with 66.7% 2 putts and only 6.7% 3 putts. Now I will admit I didn't use Arccos for every round played because I like to listen to music on league nights. I also deletd a few rounds where the El hosels crept in and got really bad.

Whats really holding me back is my brain and my body though, this year has been tough on both for a variety of reasons.
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Kind of crazy how the stats are showing something that we thought was different. I have really enjoyed learning more.
 
Game golf is my gadget of choice and as some other's have mentioned it's been eye opening to see where I'm leaking oil....

Irons- GIR- 31% for the year- bleh puke gross etc
Scrambling- 15% for the year- bleh puke gross etc
Putts per hole- 1.9- not terrible but not where I would have thought

Fairways- 50%- not great but a definite improvement over last year.

The data doesn't lie and I'm happy to have it show me where I need to focus.
 
Pretty much everything other than my tee game. Unfortunately it changes almost every round. Some rounds I hit my irons well, but putt badly, other rounds I putt well but approach play is terrible. Some days my short game is terrible. Really my only consistently good thing this year was my tee ball.
 
JB said:
Kind of crazy how the stats are showing something that we thought was different. I have really enjoyed learning more.
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Agreed. A little tip Jose shared with several of us at the Morgan Cup last year regarding putting that was helpful. He said to look at your average distance the pin when on in a GIR and practice that distance. It really helps to eliminate the dreaded 3 putt.
 
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