I did it!!!!!

Ok I know that this is not a big deal for many of you out there, but it is huge for me. One of my goals for 2011 is to finally break 100. My low score at my club is 102. Today, the 2nd to last round for me in 2010 I shot a 93!!! 46 on the front, and 47 on the back. No others which is another first for me and 3 pars. What is interesting is I always hear how the pros aim for a really small target on the green and at our club we have tarps on the back third of the green and the pins in the front or the middle. I never hit a tarp. I find that hard to believe myself but it is true.

So do I cross the goal off or do I have to do it again next year???

Big congrats!

Now that you've achieved that goal in 2010, I think you have to up the ante for 2011!

In addition to the 3 pars, what were some other notables about the round that got you into double digits for the first time?  What improvements to your game allowed you to get below 100?

Good question. The past couple of weeks I have been watching that 12 nights of golf academy and just picking up tips and images. Today I wanted to focus on two things - 1) Keeping my head down and watching the club hit the ball and 2) Accelerating through the ball. I noticed that I got a little more distance and my chips were much better. Normally on chips I have a tendency to slow down the swing through the ball. This time I took a shorter backswing but accelerated through the ball. That helped me tremendously.

I managed the course a little better. A perfect example was on hole 9. I hit my drive in the fairway and left myself 150 to the green. Now the green has a creek that runs in front of the green and down the left side. Instead of trying for the green I hit a gap wedge that landed before the creek, chipped on and two putted for bogey. Normally I go for the green and you know what happens there - go in the creek, get mad, and get double or triple bogey.

The image of accelerating through the shot combined with watching the ball helped me a ton.

I went to post my score in the handicap system and I get met with the message "this score is much lower than normal, hit post again to submit".

I think that next years goal should be to break 85.

It won't be but so hard to do if you'll work on your chipping and putting.  Play little games on the practice green where you chip say three balls at a pin and then go putt them in. You'll be practicing scoring.   Also, pick a flat spot on the green and practice 5 foot straight putts.  Set a goal of 8 in a row that you have to make before you can quit.  That way, you'll be building a little pressure on yourself as you get close to 8.  If you miss, start over.  Once you made 8, see how many you can make.  As you get better, increase the number that you must make.  I start at 12 and have made 30 in a row on several occaisions and can often make 20 - 25 before I miss.   Before long, you'll be extremely good and will have a lot of confidence in your short putting.

Just working on this will turn what has been three shots into two and in some cases, two shots into one.

I think breaking 85 is pretty unrealistic since this is the first time I have gotten lower than 102. That would be a pretty dramatic drop. I do like those games though. I will incorporate those in my practice routine. I normally do take 3 balls and try to see if I can get up and down from various areas on the practice green. Kind of my version of round the world.

I honestly think you can do it.  I'm not saying all the time but, I think you can do it at least once next year.

Congrats.  That's a big drop from 102 to 93.  Sometimes it all comes together like that though.  Not saying this will happen, but I hope you aren't crushed mentally if you go out next time and shoot a 115.  That's golf for ya.

I do not for one second expect to break 100 on Thursday. Yesterday a ton just came together at once, some of which I hope to duplicate. My only focus will be on the shot at hand, and trying to manage the course as best as I can. Even though I shot my best score by a mile, there were a few shots that I left on the course. A couple of shots that I topped when I pulled up (a common mistake for me). I only hit four fairways, though my misses were much closer than normal and I hit only one GIR. Safe to say I scrambled pretty well.

Congratulations.  Great accomplishment.  Course management goes along way to breaking even 90.  As you noted, a good short game also helps

Thanks so much. I am going to keep practicing that short game. I count anything 75 yards and in as chips. I am sure that is not supposed to be the technical distance, but that is what I do. With "only" 17 chips and 31 putts + 1 bunker shot from that distance that is 49 strokes for 18 holes or a 2.72 stroke avg to get in from 75 yards. I figure that is pretty good and I should keep practicing with my goal to be sub 45 from that distance for next year. My last full round before this it took me 60 shots and I shot 112. My average from that distance per round is 56 shots and my average score is 106.2 it looks like sub 50 will be a good key to helping me break 100 more consistently.

Keep in mind while I count anything 75 yards and in a "chip" most of those come from much closer usually since I do not hit greens in regulation at all. Does anyone else look at this stuff, or do I have too much time on my hands?

Congrats!  I also broke my 100-cherry (so to speak) earlier this year.  Unfortunately, it hasn't happened again, but I know I can do it.  Next year my goal is to break 90, so I agree with the poster above that 85 shouldn't be too terribly difficult, given that you practice a fair amount.

Congrats to you as well. It just does not seem logical that I can even think about breaking 90 right now. If I can hit in the 90s consistently then I can think about it. Doing it just once tells me that I do have the ability since I did not bounce off of trees or hit other lucky shots. As I posted earlier, I did not hit many fairways, and I only hit one green. There is tons to improve upon. Since the weather is looking good I am going to play Wednesday and Thursday instead of just Thursday.

Update since I played today. I should be father of the year for this one...

I played today with my 11 year old son. It was 59 degrees when it started but cloudy out. I told him to wear slacks instead of shorts and he gave me a fit. I was not going to back down so he wore slacks with a short sleeve collared shirt.

Anyway we start off from 10 today and I shoot 47 on that 9. I honestly left another four or five shots out there. I was hitting more fairways and I was hitting the sweet spot more (probably related). I really felt comfortable for the 2nd straight round.

We get to our 10th hole (hole number one) and I double bogey that hole but I get up and down from a bunker on 11 for par. At that time my son decides he is too cold to continue. I put on a happy face and tell him "no problem" and we head home. I posted the 9 hole score for my handicap.

A question for you all is what should of I posted? Did I do the right thing but just posting the 9 hole score?