nwgolfr
New member
Hey guys and gals,
I wanted to share a recent experience with what I feel like is a serious breakthrough in my golf game. Maybe somebody who has gone from a 90's shooting down into the 70's can chime in, as I guess this is both a comment and a question.
Figured I would share my story on how my game "clicked," and got me under 90, finally......
I've been swinging a golf club since I can remember, had a very natural swing from a young age, was consistently shooting 95-105 on a variety of courses. Even during the summers that I would play 20-30 times, I couldn't lower my scores. This seriously went on for almost 7 years. I thought I struggled with the shanks, swing was off, yeah yeah....Took about 5 years off after highschool, only playing a couple times a year.
This season, I wanted to take the time to pick up golf again, and try to get past the 90 that was always so close, yet so far. In 3 months, I've taken my previous low-round average of 95, and knocked it down to 90. My high score this summer is a 95. Low - 84.
For me, part of fun golf is playing nicer courses, which around here tend to be in the range of 125-137 slopes, par 71-72. I even shot a legitimate 86 at a very difficult course around here which I had never played before...with two blow up 8's. Again - this is my first summer breaking 90.
So, what changed?, I actually took the time to step back and analyze my strengths and weaknesses. On my scorecard, I was very careful to count every single stroke (no, no gimmies, no drops uncounted, no friendly strokes). You will never get better if you lie to yourself like that, and as I did for years. See, in reality, I WASN"T shooting 95-105 previously, because guaranteed there were at least a few unnaccountable strokes left out every round.
Here comes the important part. Break down your strokes directly after the hole, and log your score. Then break it down into -
1. #Strokes to 100 yards or less
2. #Strokes 100 yards and in
3. #Putts
4. #Penalties
By simply doing that, it opened me up to a whole new way of thinking about my golf game. After my first two scorecards of the summer yielded an accurate 92, and 90 (on Away courses), I went through and broke my scores down accordingly, as I showed above. It revealed something kind of interesting. In both of those rounds, I hit 12 of 18 fairways with my driver. My putting was decent, yielding only two or three triple puts. Almost all of my extra strokes were coming from my unforced errors in the fairway, putting me OB or in really risky situations. This got my very inspired to go lower, and it felt realistic.
This is where my game (and practice) really changed. Understanding my miss, and instead of fighting it, working on it, and WITH IT. If I go hit 10 balls at the range before hitting the course, and they feel good but all of them are going a bit left - I'm NOT going to touch that on the course. I'm going to set myself up in a safe spot, so if I hit my typical straight iron shot - its safe. If it goes a bit left, I hit target (or vice versa). This has also helped me understand WHY I miss the ball, based on face angle and swingpath, and lie.
At this point, it's become natural for me to reflect on my rounds and really look at the numbers closely - the last round I played I shot an 86, with 10 strokes of unforced errors, and 9 of 18 fairways hit. I'll need to keep working on chipping due to duff chips, but for the time being I can see lower numbers coming.
I wanted to share a recent experience with what I feel like is a serious breakthrough in my golf game. Maybe somebody who has gone from a 90's shooting down into the 70's can chime in, as I guess this is both a comment and a question.
Figured I would share my story on how my game "clicked," and got me under 90, finally......
I've been swinging a golf club since I can remember, had a very natural swing from a young age, was consistently shooting 95-105 on a variety of courses. Even during the summers that I would play 20-30 times, I couldn't lower my scores. This seriously went on for almost 7 years. I thought I struggled with the shanks, swing was off, yeah yeah....Took about 5 years off after highschool, only playing a couple times a year.
This season, I wanted to take the time to pick up golf again, and try to get past the 90 that was always so close, yet so far. In 3 months, I've taken my previous low-round average of 95, and knocked it down to 90. My high score this summer is a 95. Low - 84.
For me, part of fun golf is playing nicer courses, which around here tend to be in the range of 125-137 slopes, par 71-72. I even shot a legitimate 86 at a very difficult course around here which I had never played before...with two blow up 8's. Again - this is my first summer breaking 90.
So, what changed?, I actually took the time to step back and analyze my strengths and weaknesses. On my scorecard, I was very careful to count every single stroke (no, no gimmies, no drops uncounted, no friendly strokes). You will never get better if you lie to yourself like that, and as I did for years. See, in reality, I WASN"T shooting 95-105 previously, because guaranteed there were at least a few unnaccountable strokes left out every round.
Here comes the important part. Break down your strokes directly after the hole, and log your score. Then break it down into -
1. #Strokes to 100 yards or less
2. #Strokes 100 yards and in
3. #Putts
4. #Penalties
By simply doing that, it opened me up to a whole new way of thinking about my golf game. After my first two scorecards of the summer yielded an accurate 92, and 90 (on Away courses), I went through and broke my scores down accordingly, as I showed above. It revealed something kind of interesting. In both of those rounds, I hit 12 of 18 fairways with my driver. My putting was decent, yielding only two or three triple puts. Almost all of my extra strokes were coming from my unforced errors in the fairway, putting me OB or in really risky situations. This got my very inspired to go lower, and it felt realistic.
This is where my game (and practice) really changed. Understanding my miss, and instead of fighting it, working on it, and WITH IT. If I go hit 10 balls at the range before hitting the course, and they feel good but all of them are going a bit left - I'm NOT going to touch that on the course. I'm going to set myself up in a safe spot, so if I hit my typical straight iron shot - its safe. If it goes a bit left, I hit target (or vice versa). This has also helped me understand WHY I miss the ball, based on face angle and swingpath, and lie.
At this point, it's become natural for me to reflect on my rounds and really look at the numbers closely - the last round I played I shot an 86, with 10 strokes of unforced errors, and 9 of 18 fairways hit. I'll need to keep working on chipping due to duff chips, but for the time being I can see lower numbers coming.