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I'm 5 months in the game, best score 98. All i can muster up is 101-108, i play once a week on sat. This game is bringing me to my knees. Here is the question, am i expecting to much from my self, am i on the right track? My goal for now is shoot in the 80s.... Any advise....

Patience and practice…

I was in the game a full year before breaking 100, and almost two before I broke 90. Is the once a week on Saturdays all you do? Or can you escape a few times during the week to chip and putt for an hour, and maybe once a week hit a small bucket of range balls?

Lessons and practice -- seriously. Your question is sort of like someone who takes up playing the cello, and who wants to join the philharmonic orchestral. You have a learning curve ahead and lessons will be invaluable. Golf is not like horseshoes (apologies to horseshoe professionals.) The longer you ingrain incorrect technique, the harder it will be to reach your goal. Wrong practice is not going to help much. Admittedly there are autodidactics in golf, but they become better the hard way.

Just last week i've started practing during the week. I was just playing on sat. But i'm hitting the range 3 times a week starting last week.

Here is another way to think about this problem. To shoot bogey golf (90 for par 72), you cannot hit more than 1 bad shot per hole (and that shot can't be so bad that multiple strokes are need for recovery). So a bogey golfer hits 72/90 or 80% good shots. You have to be good to be a bogey golfer. To shoot 80 requires a golfer to hit 72/80 or 90% good shots. Someone who can break 80 regularly is a very good golfer. And it is a lot harder to go from 90 to 80 than it is to go from 100 to 90.

So I would suggest that you ease up on yourself. After only 5 months, your expectations are just unrealistic.

Practice...and make sure to practice the parts of the game where you need it most. Also, learn course management that matches your abilities. Sometimes layup is the best chance to score.

Also, blowup holes happen and can wreck a score (as mentioned above). Here's my card from yesterday

+1 0 +4 +1 +5 -1 +3 +3 +1
+2 +2 +3 -1 +3 0 +1 +4 +1

Two birdies
Two par
Five bogies

9 holes, +3

Two double bogies
Four triple bogies
Two Quad bogies
One Quintuple bogey

9 holes, +27

Inconsistency is what causes high scores. Repetition and confidence tend to lower inconsistency. I know when I practice more I score better. Stick with it. Better to have a reachable goal of regularly breaking 100. When you get there, then you can make a new goal.

Being new to the game, the best thing you can do to get better is get lessons so that ensure you have good fundamentals and a good teacher can even teach you how to get better, what to work on and how to correct problems as they arise. For many new golfers this is the last thing they want to hear, but just a couple lessons (or more) can make a world of difference and allow you to get better faster. Often new golfers such as yourself become frustrated and give up the game because they are not improving at the speed they expect. This is where lessons come in. At 5 months experience the bad habits you have will be much simplier to correct now than if you wait a couple years. Without proper fundamentals practice alone often makes things worse. Even though you can go to the range and try some things and suddenly start hitting the ball well, chances are you do not know why that worked and become vulnerable to bigger problems.

My Dad is a teaching pro and says these are the 7 keys to getting better (Dad has a thing for the letter 'P'):

-Positions - The Fundamentals - grip, feet, club, ball etc. These are the things a pro can help with and these are the most important aspects of the game.
-Parts - Properly fitted equipment, including clubs, balls, etc. Getting what is 'right' for you is important - leave the ego at the door.
-Programming - Course management, confidence and the mental aspects of the game. This will help you improve a lot. Behind 'Positions' possibly the most important for improvement.
-Protocol - Rules and etiquette. Learn them, live them and use them to your advantage.
-Practice - Targeted practice, with each practice swing having a targeted purpose. Practicing the correct things for 15 minutes is much better than the wrong thing for 2 hours.
-Patience - With your practice, your self and with your game. There's good days, bad days and going have mad days (to quote the great Jimmy Buffett).
-Play - This is sum of the other 6 keys. The word refers to the game on the course, but also refers to having fun, which is critical for improvement simply because if you do not have fun you'll be less motivated to improve and keep playing.

For the most part, the 'Positions' key is the one that is the most difficult for new golfers to acquire on their own. Get lessons for this aspect, then concentrate on the other 6 keys to get better and enjoy the game more.

Everybody who posted before is right. You can't expect to be tiger woods after 5 months. But if you want to play better, go out on the course, and just forget everything. When you prepare to swing, take a few deep breaths, and do what you do best. Because you know you can play golf, and thats all there is to it.

Besides lessons, you can search for "golf swing" on Google and find some free instruction videos.

There are two books that I can recommend:

"Five Lessons: The Modern Fundamentals of Golf" by Ben Hogan
"The Golf Swing and Its Master Key Explained" by Noel Thomas

There are several books and videos entirely on the short game, but I have not tried any of them.

Some people have suggested lessons , which is a GREAT idea . If that is not an option for you right now , get a copy of Ben Hogan's "5 Lessons" and go thru the book , page by page and section by section . Don't rush thru it , just take it in piece by piece . Every night , take 15 minutes and stand in front of a mirror and practice some of the moves and sequences described in the book .

The key to rapid improvement is not just the quantity of balls you hit , but the quality of your practice . You want to practice good solid fundamentals , not just hit balls with your old flawed swing .

Realize also that you are likely to get worse for a while before you get better . You must maintain your patience if you want to improve . Good Luck ! -- K.

Thanks everyone for the advice, I will surely keep my patience and keep practing. I'll keep you inform on my progress....

Remember, practice makes permanent. I'd invest in some instruction --- get your grip looked at, stance and address position, and alignment (!). Then, when you do practice, you know what your goal is and have some feel for how to set up to the ball. AND, work on your short game.

here is my biased observation

: here is something that i have never heard of or encountered: person A is not making progress because he spends way too much time and energy on improving his short game, that is, chipping and putting. and then, this is the usual story, one that is lived through by almost everyone in the world prior to a sit-down by a teacher: person B is not making progress because he spends way too little time and energy on improving his short game, that is, chipping and putting. ---- for a beginner/intermediate, the short cut to lowering the score is short game. besides, hitting the drivers into the hazards is no fun anyway:)

work on your short game pitch shot of 20-60 yards so that you can hit solid consistent pitch shots with distance control.

note during the round the following:

1) fairway hit
2) green on regulations
3) putts each hole and per round
4) up and down to save par or make birdies

most of your scores is lost around the green within 60 yards and in.

90% of your practice should be on the short game

putting
chipping around the green
pitch shot of 20, 30, 40 , 50 and 60 yards from the green.

the pitch shot is a short version of the full swing and the impact zone is identical, in other words once you start making solid pitch shots you will discover that your full swing also improves because you are practicing the hitting or impact zone with your pitch shots.

All beginners want to hit there driver, long, mid irons and neglect their short game. The short game not only help you lower your scores the fastest it will help you discover your sweet swing the fastest way.

Just before I play I don't practice with anything over a pitching wedge and my drivers and irons play has improved from my short game practice.