Starting to maybe have a break through, maybe?

[Jeremie Boop]

So recently I've started having a much more consistent game with 2-3 holes per 9 that really screw up my score. My question is this: Is this the beginning of breaking through and starting to play well or just me being lucky on the other holes?

Prime examples are last night and tonight. Last night front 9 at one course I had 4 holes where I was 3-4 over due to an ob, a lost ball and a failed lay up attempt. Then the first approach shot after each of those were pretty much fails. Tonight I had 2 holes that were +4, one was just a bad tee shot followed by several other bad shots and the other was a lost ball/with a provisional that still ended up in some trees after I failed to draw the ball. The second shot was a failed punch out, 2nd punch out attempt ran through the green then chipped on and 2 putt. Everything else for the 9 tonight was clicking pretty well, had 1.8 putts per green, 56% GIR and 43% fairways. I was only 25% for scrambling though which did cost me a few strokes.

I've been having some really good contact with the ball and when I miss greens I'm typically pretty close to them. So, is this a sign that my game may be coming together or am I just having a lot more "good compensation" holes?

*edit*

I know that anything would be a guess probably because I don't have any new videos uploaded yet, but I figured maybe it's possible that based on the information there could be some educated guesses at least :-)

[isukgolf]

Jeremie since I am in similar boat ... I'm voting break through ... Been taking lesions, on the range I am King ... On the course save a couple holes like you just describe I am par or bogey ... Striking the ball solid and on target, but still trying to get distance down ... So I am just short or long, but I am "there" ... So I again say - Break through! Keep after it!

[Strandly]

Breakthroughs for me have always been some specific swing related thing I've realized on the driving range, not anything related to a round or my score.

So far I've had what I consider 2 significant breakthroughs-- the first one being the flat left wrist thing that I got a handle on last summer.  It wiped out a huge part of my slicing problem.  The second breakthrough I had early this spring and was bending my left leg/squeezing the nerf ball with left foot thing.  That let me coil up easily and had the side effect of making it very hard to lift my head early.

If I tried to use my course scores to evaluate breakthroughs I probably wouldn't end up counting these things because my scoring hasn't changed much (so far) from last year.  And the reason for that is that since I seem to be hitting the ball further and straighter I've dropped down a club in many situations and now I'm fumbling around trying to re-learn distances, etc.

Anyway, to have a breakthrough I think one needs to be able to point to some concrete thing that has improved multiple aspects of their game rather than a simple hot streak.  Is there something new you learned recently that you can point to as a reason for the improved play?

[Jeremie Boop]

There was a few aspects I worked on or noticed made a change in my ball flight/striking. I didn't mention them because I was more curious if only having a few bad holes over consistently struggling was indicative of a possible breakthrough or just a lucky streak of compensations.

[Hammer 4]

I would say break through...ya gotta stay Positive. You only get lucky so often, any more than that, and I believe your on to something...Good Luck

[inthecup]

I am not the guy that dropped his handicap in one summer, I look at golf as a journey.

Here are some things I have learned through out my journey.

As you improve your misses go straight(er) they are just short.  Hitting one OB or into big trouble happens much less.

As you improve you stop taking hero shots because your confidence in getting up and down improves.  An example would be if you are in the trees and in jail trying to bend one out and advance it significantly becomes less important than getting to a good lie that gives you a look at the green.  Once you are in trouble play for bogey and if you hit the putt you par it.

As you improve you don't hit driver on a tight 350 yard par 4.  You have a comfortable 200+ yard alternative and can hit a green from 150 to 130 pretty consistently.

As you improve you have lots of 1 putts for par because your short game gets you close when you miss the green.

With an 18 handicap you are in a position to see these kinds of changes.  You get to the end of a round and there are a hand full of pars, a bunch or bogies a few doubles and no triples or more.  No three putts.  You add it up and you are in the mid 80's.  Throw a birdie or two in there and limit the doubles and you are in the low 80's.  The feeling at the end is low drama, not what just happened.

Enjoy the journey, keep your front wrist flat and get your hands in front of the ball at impact the rest will come after that.

Good luck!

Bill

[Jeremie Boop]

I am not the guy that dropped his handicap in one summer, I look at golf as a journey.

Here are some things I have learned through out my journey.

As you improve your misses go straight(er) they are just short.  Hitting one OB or into big trouble happens much less.

As you improve you stop taking hero shots because your confidence in getting up and down improves.  An example would be if you are in the trees and in jail trying to bend one out and advance it significantly becomes less important than getting to a good lie that gives you a look at the green.  Once you are in trouble play for bogey and if you hit the putt you par it.

As you improve you don't hit driver on a tight 350 yard par 4.  You have a comfortable 200+ yard alternative and can hit a green from 150 to 130 pretty consistently.

As you improve you have lots of 1 putts for par because your short game gets you close when you miss the green.

With an 18 handicap you are in a position to see these kinds of changes.  You get to the end of a round and there are a hand full of pars, a bunch or bogies a few doubles and no triples or more.  No three putts.  You add it up and you are in the mid 80's.  Throw a birdie or two in there and limit the doubles and you are in the low 80's.  The feeling at the end is low drama, not what just happened.

Enjoy the journey, keep your front wrist flat and get your hands in front of the ball at impact the rest will come after that.

Good luck!

Bill

You pretty much described how I am right now. I'm averaging less than 2 putts per green recently due to couple of changes from some threads here. My missed greens are normally close enough to give a good chance at chipping close enough to 2 putt bogey and I am getting those par saves where I used to be lucky to walk away with doubles. Some very small mistakes cost me 4 strokes which would have put me at +5 instead. 2 duffed chips and 2 putts that didn't make it but were dead on line. I'm so much more calm and relaxed when I'm playing now because I know I have the shots to recover and get back on track.

[Jeremie Boop]

Had a slight relapse to bad habits yesterday, I think it was partly to do with rushing to get done quickly because I had somewhere to go. On the last hole and last shot *great place for it to happen * I realized that I wasn't keeping my left wrist flat at impact. I really focused on that and hit 2 beautiful shots because I decided I may as well just take a couple swings since the round didn't matter anyway. First shot got unlucky and clipped a tree branch at the apex of it's flight so I dropped another ball aimed a bit left, same swing perfect flight with baby draw 9 iron carry for about 155. I think it's time to just start hitting the range and being a stupid monkey doing flat left wrist drills until it's not something I have to think about.

*edit* I went to try to look at the 5SK video thread but for some reason the videos don't seem to work, I'll have to check back later or maybe @iacas will get a chance to let me know some drills in the meantime.