The Drive for 5...

[rkim291968]

Taking 1/2 day off to play a round this afternoon.   Today's goal is to apply what I have been practicing of late - no chicken wing or flipping.   I took video of my swing last night and I hardly see a chicken wing but saw that flipping has made its comeback.   Can't win them all ...

102 on the latest round.  Ball striking was good.  Couldn't find my short game (chipping, bunker, putting).   11 over on 3 easiest par 3 holes!   For consolation of sort,  I par'd the hardest par 3 hole.  No movement on HI.

[DrvFrShow]

Played my first 9 in two months yesterday. In fact hit my first golf ball in two months yesterday on the first tee - 5 iron 200 yds (probably 180 carry and the fairways are pretty baked). It went straight. I birdied the hole. Shot 44 for the 9 with 2 birdies: first hole and eighth hole (163 par 3). I played very tight to ROG. I rolled my tee shot off the 4th tee like 1 ft. abandoned the ball, took S&D;, and rehit. The mulligan score was 42. Reported GHIN 44. New sunglasses with prisms. Yes, they made a difference on the greens - 16 putts.

I'm not even worrying about what my swing looks like anymore. If the ball goes straight and goes where I want that's all that matters.

[Faksakes]

I just came across this thread in the last day or two so I am little behind(not that I haven't been trying to lower my HI)

1.State your Handicap/index and your goal.

My current HI is 30.5.  So I guess my goal would be 25.5.

About 4 years ago I was down to a 28.xx but that quickly went away...  I started this season at 30.8 and was down to 30.1, 2 revisions ago.

- Are you taking lessons, if not how are you going about improving?

I have had two lessons since March of this year.  First to get my swing back on track after winter and the second to work on my driver.

- How much do you practice/play and what is your strategy to improve?

I practice about 2 hours a week(this needs to increase!)

I try to play at least 9 holes a week.  If I am home on the weekends I try to get 18 in. I have 14 rounds in for the year, starting in April.  So I am averaging close to a round a week.

To improve I obviously have practice a lot more and play more when feasible.

My ball striking is always in need of improvement, I am very inconsistent. And at the moment my driver is very bad.  I am hitting it short and slicing it as well.

- Post your past few rounds so we can see where you're at, your strengths and weakness' etc. etc.

You can track my latest rounds here:  http://www.gamegolf.com/player/pecos24

Welcome aboard, seems like you have a pretty solid plan to take off those strokes. May I ask why no lessons? I wish I would have taken them when I was at your HC instead of waiting.

[ChrisPietersen]

I went through a nice jump in my handicap the past 6 weeks. Although it is all unofficial, I went down from about a 39.6 to a 33.5. I won't really have time for golf for a while now, as I'm a university student, but as soon as I get back to it I would love to drop to the mid 20s.

I have the strokes in me to do it, I just need to get more consistent. In my last round I had 10 bogies and a par, but messed it all up with 3 triples and 3 quads with 3 pentalty shots. I finished with a 105. I basically just need to know how to limit the damage as much as possible.

I also have to work on my driver. I've been working my 3 wood into my bag and I would love to work my driver back too.

Lastly my putting need to find form again. I usually average 33-36 putts per round, but as of late I have been going up to 37-38. Would love to get that down to high 20s - low 30s. My problem is distance judgement on different greens.

[rkim291968]

Starting HI was 17.5, 18.6 now, and trending even higher after this weekend's round of 99 and 100.

Trending worse - bunker, putting, chipping, pitching, i.e, the entire short game!

Trending better - iron, hybrid, 3 wood, driver, ball striking distance

Plan for this week  - practice all aspects of golf at least 5 minutes every day leading to this Saturday's regional qualifying net amateur tournament.  Do not skip any area.  Keep all of them fresh in my memory.

[Tgb02]

Been playing a bunch recently and have pretty much stayed around a 15 handicap however my ball striking has been incredible lately. Hit 11 greens the other day but had 7 three putts and shot a 86 which was kind of depressing. Also today shot an 87, I eagled (my first ever!) the first hole and then proceeded to bogey every hole. 17 bogies in a row, had about 8 putts inside 6 feet for par and none fell and I only sunk 1 putt outside of 8 feet and it was a 30 ish foot putt for bogey lol

Good lately: Ball striking, keeping the ball in play, damage control, with this 100 degree Houston weather I have been smoking the ball, hit a 225 yard 5 iron lay up and for my eagle today I hit 3 wood 7 iron into a 505 yard par 5. Hit the 7 iron to about 6 feet!

Bad lately: Short game, averaging like 36 putts or more right now and my up and down percentage is probably like 2%, also my wedges have been struggling, I tend to leave all my wedges out right because I just don't close the clubface

Hoping to get these mid to high 80 rounds into the low 80's over the next month by just working on my short game a lot and continuing to hit the ball well.

[rkim291968]

Starting HI was 17.5, 18.6 now, and trending even higher after this weekend's round of 99 and 100.

Trending worse - bunker, putting, chipping, pitching, i.e, the entire short game!

Trending better - iron, hybrid, 3 wood, driver, ball striking distance

Plan for this week  - practice all aspects of golf at least 5 minutes every day leading to this Saturday's regional qualifying net amateur tournament.  Do not skip any area.  Keep all of them fresh in my memory.

... and read LSW.  The boot arrives this week.

[pecos24]

- Are you taking lessons, if not how are you going about improving?

I have had two lessons since March of this year.  First to get my swing back on track after winter and the second to work on my driver.

Welcome aboard, seems like you have a pretty solid plan to take off those strokes. May I ask why no lessons? I wish I would have taken them when I was at your HC instead of waiting.

I am taking lessons.  :)

I wish I would have been able to take lessons when I first started golfing but where I lived that wasn't an option.  I have been taking lessons off and on over the last ten years or so.  It has been very hard breaking my bad habits that I have created over the last 30 years.

[bigwave916]

I am realizing now that although I am working to improve in certain areas, I am now starting to lose strokes in chipping and putting because I've not been focusing on those areas. Shot a 104 this weekend with 40 putts, even had a 3 putt par on a par 5 after leaving my ball 15ft short of the hole for eagle. What a pisser! Stats: Fairways hit: 48% GIR: 16% Putts: 33 Penalty strokes: 1.5 Driver average: 240 Handicap start: 25.5 Handicap today: 22.7.0

[Lihu]

Starting to make headway to push the ball when I want. Just starting. . .

[Faksakes]

I am taking lessons.  :)

I wish I would have been able to take lessons when I first started golfing but where I lived that wasn't an option.  I have been taking lessons off and on over the last ten years or so.  It has been very hard breaking my bad habits that I have created over the last 30 years.

Ah sorry I didn't get that, glad you are getting them now. I'm going through the same thing trying to break old habits.

[Faksakes]

Been playing a bunch recently and have pretty much stayed around a 15 handicap however my ball striking has been incredible lately. Hit 11 greens the other day but had 7 three putts and shot a 86 which was kind of depressing. Also today shot an 87, I eagled (my first ever!) the first hole and then proceeded to bogey every hole. 17 bogies in a row, had about 8 putts inside 6 feet for par and none fell and I only sunk 1 putt outside of 8 feet and it was a 30 ish foot putt for bogey lol

Good lately: Ball striking, keeping the ball in play, damage control, with this 100 degree Houston weather I have been smoking the ball, hit a 225 yard 5 iron lay up and for my eagle today I hit 3 wood 7 iron into a 505 yard par 5. Hit the 7 iron to about 6 feet!

Bad lately: Short game, averaging like 36 putts or more right now and my up and down percentage is probably like 2%, also my wedges have been struggling, I tend to leave all my wedges out right because I just don't close the clubface

Hoping to get these mid to high 80 rounds into the low 80's over the next month by just working on my short game a lot and continuing to hit the ball well.

Hey man my short game was pretty pathetic too. The guy I'm taking online lessons from has a great short game video series that has changed my short game by miles. It's all on sand, pitch and chip shots, no putting though.

I don't know if this is ok on this site (if not mods please delete link) but here is the link to it. I have zero affiliation with Dan other than being a student that's made leaps in his short game from this series. He's never asked me or anyone as far as I know to promote him. I get up and down a lot now. One round this year I got up and down 6 times which for the me of last year would never have happened.

http://dancarrahergolf.com/?page_id=182

[rkim291968]

Quote:

Originally Posted by rkim291968

Starting HI was 17.5, 18.6 now, and trending even higher after this weekend's round of 99 and 100.

Trending worse - bunker, putting, chipping, pitching, i.e, the entire short game!

Trending better - iron, hybrid, 3 wood, driver, ball striking distance

Plan for this week  - practice all aspects of golf at least 5 minutes every day leading to this Saturday's regional qualifying net amateur tournament.  Do not skip any area.  Keep all of them fresh in my memory.

... and read LSW.  The boot arrives this week.

True to my word, today, I squeezed practicing as many aspects of golf in 90 minutes (putting, chipping, pitching, bunker, punch shot, ball striking) range session.  Most time was spent on ball striking.   The idea is to keep working on specific area without losing touch with other areas.    I will do this for everyday until this Saturday's tournament.

Read up to 40 pages of LSW.   My 1st take on it is in the LSW thread in Reading Room forum for those who are interested in.

[Fairway_CY]

Unfortunately, life kinda took over for the last month and I haven't had time to even touch a club.  I've been spending the better part of the last month running around for work and trying to entertain my kids during their summer break.

The last time I touched a club was on the final round of my last tournament on 6/21... until yesterday.  I decided to squeeze in some time to play yesterday since I have another 2 day tournament coming up this weekend.  I went to a course that I pass often, but I've never thought to stop and play.  I'm kinda disappointed that I went there instead of to my normal 'home' course.  The place was an absolute mess.

I couldn't tell if I was in the fairway or rough for most of the day.  The greens were like putting on thick carpets.  The bunkers were essentially cement.  It was just a poorly maintained course.

Still... it was golf.  I only managed to get in 13 holes (I had a pair of twosomes in front of me that both had newer players in the groups), but it was enough to get a feel for things again.

I started out poorly (double - triple - double - double - double) but by the time I got to the 8th hole, I had somewhat of a rhythm going.  I ended up posting a 51 on the front side and then I shot 4 over on the 4 holes I played on the back side, including hitting my last 3 greens in regulation.

I don't know if it's because of not swinging a club in awhile or what, but the fade with my driver has returned... which is actually kind of a comforting thing.  I had been standing on tee boxes for the last few months not knowing if I was going to turn one over and hook it or if I was going to hit it straight.  Now, I'll have to see how things are going on the range Saturday morning before I tee off.

CY

[pecos24]

Hopefully I am headed in the right direction.  I had my best 9 hole score I have had all season even though I really struggled with my irons, I guess avoiding those penalty strokes must account for something. http://www.gamegolf.com/player/pecos24/round/480172 My best diff is about ready to drop off so hopefully I can duplicate last nights round next week.   I hope to play a round while I am in Washington over the weekend. But a new course probably won't yield a good diff, we'll see.

Here are my last 20 scores plus the 9 I played last night. ( I keep track on a spread sheet since the program the Montana GA does not display very clean for combined rounds)

[Faksakes]

Well I couldn't get out to play this week but I git the range twice. Still sucking the club wayyy too far inside. This has been a big sticking point for me and a major hurdle. I was practicing my swing at home with those whiffle balls and think I had a breakthrough. I had unconsciously been restricting my hip turn. I think I read somewhere years ago that it somehow created more stretch and power. It justbecame part of my swing to the point I didnt know I was doing it. So I tried making a nice hip turn and it was so much easier to hing the club up. I filmed it and sure enough right on plane! Can't wait to go hit some now.

[Salte]

Starting HCP: 18

Goal: 13

Latest change 17.5 -> 16.3

Shot 95 last Sunday (HCP 17.4 -> 17.5). Driver was ok for first 9, then pretty bad for back 9. Approach play was pretty bad. Main focus is still driver, secondary focus putting (had 39 putts, so lots of room for improvenent).

Today I carded 43 on the front nine of my home course (slope 143) which reduced my HCP to 16.3. Driver was not good (only one fairway, and also lack of distance) again, working on a couple of new changes that so far only have brought me one step back. Putting was also below average (19 putts). The rest was good, my hybrids in particular saving me on a few occasions after short drives. Also played with my new G30 irons today for the first time. They felt great and added almost 10 meters to every club (compared to my old Wilson Staff DI9).

[Faksakes]

Starting HCP: 18 Goal: 13 Latest change 17.5 -> 16.3 Shot 95 last Sunday (HCP 17.4 -> 17.5). Driver was ok for first 9, then pretty bad for back 9. Approach play was pretty bad. Main focus is still driver, secondary focus putting (had 39 putts, so lots of room for improvenent). Today I carded 43 on the front nine of my home course (slope 143) which reduced my HCP to 16.3. Driver was not good (only one fairway, and also lack of distance) again, working on a couple of new changes that so far only have brought me one step back. Putting was also below average (19 putts). The rest was good, my hybrids in particular saving me on a few occasions after short drives. Also played with my new G30 irons today for the first time. They felt great and added almost 10 meters to every club (compared to my old Wilson Staff DI9).

Great job getting the cap down. Once you get your driver in line you should be able to hit your goal. Post a swing vid if you get a chance.