How to become a more consistent golfer?

How can I become a more consistent golfer? Does anyone have any general advice? Can anyone suggest any positive-working practice drills? I hit a decent amount of Fairways(50-60%), 35-40% GIR's, and average 1.8 putts per hole. Thanks

By Lucius Riccio, Ph.D. Golf Digest May 2006 To break 80 is to reach golf's holy grail. Those who've done it can walk you through their first time shot by shot, and those who haven't, well, they'll forever hold out hope. Strangely, with all this fixation on getting it under 80, there's not much information out there on what, mathematically, a player has to do to accomplish it. Is it longer drives or fewer putts, sharper irons or better greenside play? To answer these and other stats questions, I started a golf research company 25 years ago called The Golf Analyzer, and began collecting data from rounds played by all types of golfers, from 30-handicappers to U.S. Open winners. Now, after analyzing more than 20,000 holes played, I'm going to tell you what it takes to shoot 79. Of all the statistics in the game, only two really matter when it comes to determining score: greens hit in regulation (example: you hit a par-4 green in two) and putts. Breaking 80 usually goes with reaching certain benchmarks in these areas. To help you get there, Shelby Futch, who heads the Golf Digest Schools, has provided some quick tips (below). My job is to show you the numbers. Most golfers think putting is the biggest factor in scoring, but greens in regulation (GIRs) are much more important. So important, you almost don't need to look at anything else to predict your score. The most useful score-analysis tool I've developed, called "Riccio's Rule" and first published in Golf Digest in 1987, predicts score based on GIRs: Score = 95 – 2 x GIRs. The chart below, based on this rule, shows how GIRs relate to score: Here's a quick way to remember the effect of GIRs on your score: "Three greens break 90, eight greens break 80, and 13 greens break 70." That prediction is fairly accurate for any single round, and within one stroke about 90 percent of the time when you take the average of four or more rounds. So that's our first part: To consistently break 80, you should average eight or more GIRs. Take a few recent scorecards, or record your next few rounds, and average your scores, then average your GIRs. Compare your results to the chart at left. I bet you're right at, or very close to, where the chart says you should be. But if you score better than your GIRs would predict--say, you hit four greens but average 83--you probably have an extraordinary short game. You need to focus on hitting more greens. If you score worse than your GIRs would predict--say, you hit seven greens but average 85--then your putting is weak, or you tend to have blowup holes, which throw off any system for predicting score.

Beung: My index is lower than what it says. I have shot 80 and 82 in my high school golf tournaments and shot +1 back-to-back days in school matches. I usually make 3-5 doubles per round which KILLS my scorecard. I am working very hard on making par or bogey from tough spots and limiting those mental mistakes that cost me strokes. I know I need to work on my short game, but all of my good rounds started with hitting fairways, which led to hitting greens, and making par or bogey at worst.