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What is the most important aspect of golf that you think can improve your score?


Lihu
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We had quite a few responses in the importance of distance to amateur golfers. It is really easy for anyone to veer far off topic because there are so many different opinions on short game versus long game and what they feel would improve their own games.

This is intended to be a free for all thread where everyone can share what they think will improve their own games.

I can start off with what I think improved my game and where I still need to improve.

Setting research and statistics aside for a moment, I want to explain what has been significant to me, "Hitting a driver 240 yards and an iron 200 yards is a big deal, because it gives me more confidence off the tee."

These are the most improvements I have made coming from someone who basically had no idea what is my handicap to about a 13 handicap. I will start off by saying that coming down from a 20+ handicap down to where I am today took distance, plain and simple. My short game has actually gotten worse because of all the swing changes I have been making and all the changes I plan to make in the future, as my swing is still a work in progress.

Here is an example of how gaining distance off the tee and with my irons improved my scores.

Scenario 1 (basically me a year ago), where I could only hit 205 yards average off the tee, and hit my longest iron 160 yards. If I were only able to hit my driver 210 yards, and I hit a worm burner only 120 yards on a 370 yard par 4 hole, and my longest iron can only reach 170 yards it puts me at 280 yards. If I thin/top the iron it will only go about 120 yards at most? This would put me 130 yards away from the hole. My only par chance suddenly depends upon a full swing 9i or 8i to get close enough to the pin to putt in.

Scenario 2 (basically me, now), where I can average 230 yards off the tee and hit my longest iron 200 yards.

My worm burner distance is usually about 170-180 yards off the tee (I am capable of hitting 240-250 yards on a decent average shot). How do I get to this 370 yard hole? I can still hit my 3i about 200 yards. That's more than enough to get to the green with a par chance. Now, what if I thin/top it only 170 yards? I'm still only 20-30 yards from the center of the green. This is still a relatively easy up and down. The net result is that it gives me two or three realistic chances at still making a par on this hole.

Anything longer than 380 yards is automatically a scramble situation for Scenario 1. There is no room for error, and if my short game were nearly perfect (not even close before or now), my best handicap would be in the low double digits.

My automatic scramble situation is now 430 yards, not using my hybrid or driving iron. The hybrid and driving iron are used for "rescue" situations. 420-450 yards is typically the longest par 4 hole on a 6000-6400 yard course. The less times you are forced to scramble the better your chances at making bogey or par.

Or course, I would like to be able to drive 270 and hit my longest iron 220 yards. Longer is better in my opinion even if I had to give up 2-3 degrees of accuracy.

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"I'm hitting the woods just great, but I'm having a terrible time getting out of them." ~Harry Toscano

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Ball-striking. Hitting the shot that I intend with the correct direction, curve, trajectory, and distance. That's all......

In David's bag....

Driver: Titleist 910 D-3;  9.5* Diamana Kai'li
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Irons: Titleist 695cb 5-Pw

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Ball-striking. Hitting the shot that I intend with the correct direction, curve, trajectory, and distance.

That's all......


What actions did you take to improve your ball striking? I am hoping to start working on this sometime this upcoming year, and that information could come in handy? :-)

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"I'm hitting the woods just great, but I'm having a terrible time getting out of them." ~Harry Toscano

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For me it is consistency. The last nine hole round I played had three tee shots in which I hit my best expected distance and they were directionally close to my target. That was maybe 3 out of about 10 tee and full swing approach shots. That percentage is just too low. I need to improve the consistency of my full swing ball striking more than anything else.
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For me it is consistency. The last nine I had three tee shots in which I hit my best expected distance and they were directionally close to my target.

That was maybe 3 out of about 10 tee and full swing approach shots. That percentage is just too low.

I need to improve the consistency of my ball striking.

What sorts of things are you planning on doing to rectify the situation? Have you broken down the different aspects that make your tee shots fail sometimes and thought about what makes your good ones good?

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"I'm hitting the woods just great, but I'm having a terrible time getting out of them." ~Harry Toscano

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What is most important somewhat depends on where your ability stands.  Once one is able to make solid contact on a consistent basis and keep one's ball out of severe trouble, the ability to get the ball in the hole from 50-100 yards is most important for scoring.  One has no chance of breaking 100 or even 90 if one in making multiple chips, pitches and 3 or 4 putting with any regularity.

Once one can make contact and is competent within 100 yards, I believe ball striking, driving and the long game becomes more important.  The longer one can hit a ball without getting into severe trouble (i.e. stroke & distance), the quicker one will regularly break 80.

It is harder to improve short and accurate than to fix long and wild.

Brian Kuehn

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Ok ill be the first to sign in on this thread since I like arguing haa.My average drives go only about 215-225 so at 40 im at point where im ok with that distance since im good with 4wd,5wd .Unless the hole is over 400-420 yards then its still in my range and with most the courses we play tournaments on there isn't too many longer than that.There are a few that are longer but play them smart and get a chance at par is key.Its not like every hole is 450 par 4 that you have to smash your drive 270+.When im playing good my scores will be anywhere from 75-79 and that's good enough to compete in flight im in.The most important aspect of my game is striking my irons well and good putting.If im hitting my irons well with good contact and my putting is good from 5ft and in then I can win any tournament even in the next flight up.So in closing its iron play and putting over hitting it farther because even if I was 30 yards closer to the hole it wouldn't make a difference if I mishit iron or 3 jacked the putter.

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[QUOTE]Quote: Originally Posted by Lihu View Post What sorts of things are you planning on doing to rectify the situation? Have you broken down the different aspects that make your tee shots fail sometimes and thought about what makes your good ones good?[/QUOTE] My Evolvr instructor has me working on key #3, inline impact. And, getting my hands deeper towards my right thigh at the point where my club is parallel to the ground on my downswing.
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Right now, it's the ball striking accuracy.   OBs and balls ending up in danger zones are killing me.  They not only screws up the current hole but also extend to the next hole or two.   To help fight the issue, I am doing 1/2 swing drills, and practicing 3/4 shots more.

RiCK

(Play it again, Sam)

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Ok ill be the first to sign in on this thread since I like arguing haa.My average drives go only about 215-225 so at 40 im at point where im ok with that distance since im good with 4wd,5wd .Unless the hole is over 400-420 yards then its still in my range and with most the courses we play tournaments on there isn't too many longer than that.There are a few that are longer but play them smart and get a chance at par is key.Its not like every hole is 450 par 4 that you have to smash your drive 270+.When im playing good my scores will be anywhere from 75-79 and that's good enough to compete in flight im in.The most important aspect of my game is striking my irons well and good putting.If im hitting my irons well with good contact and my putting is good from 5ft and in then I can win any tournament even in the next flight up.So in closing its iron play and putting over hitting it farther because even if I was 30 yards closer to the hole it wouldn't make a difference if I mishit iron or 3 jacked the putter.


Your strategy is to play on the fairway?

I have seen many players much older than you (like 70+ years old) employ this method, but rarely someone as young as you (40 is young for the typical golfer). Is there some way to bridge the two methods? It is impressive seeing all the people who hit their woods from 180 yards and get the ball to land the fringe and roll right to the pin hole after hole.

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Callaway XR16 3W 15 degree Fujikura Speeder 565 S, X2Hot Pro 20 degrees S

"I'm hitting the woods just great, but I'm having a terrible time getting out of them." ~Harry Toscano

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Your strategy is to play on the fairway?

I have seen many players much older than you (like 70+ years old) employ this method, but rarely someone as young as you (40 is young for the typical golfer). Is there some way to bridge the two methods? It is impressive seeing all the people who hit their woods from 180 yards and get the ball to land the fringe and roll right to the pin hole after hole.

Well Lihu,i have tried to get more distance  out of driver and perhaps I need to get fitted for a driver to see what setup would help me and ive been told that im releasing clubhead too early meaning my full power is before impact.Lihu I think you are misunderstanding what I mean by hitting 4wd and 5wd to greens.Its not like every hole im hitting woods into greens.There only maybe 2-4 holes on course where id have to do that.I think I do have a tendency to quit on my swing especially on irons just to keep them straight and scared of hitting offline.You wouldn't believe how many times my irons are dead at flag only to fall short of fringe.(story of my life)

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Besides natural ability to swing the club fast, I do think golfers are handcuffed by their own abilities in terms of distance.

Really the optimal thing would be improve ball striking so that you optimize your own natural abilities.

If you get more GIR's you will have less bogies. If you hit it closer to the hole, you will have more birdie chances. If you can control keys 4 and 5 you can keep the ball in play more.

SV 4 skills, own them!!

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Throw me in the ballstriking camp as well. That's the priority until I start hitting 12 GIR a round or something. Hitting more GIR also means I'm hitting less bad shots. Bottom line, that's what will lower my scores.

Bill

“By three methods we may learn wisdom: First, by reflection, which is noblest; Second, by imitation, which is easiest; and third by experience, which is the bitterest.” - Confucius

My Swing Thread

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Scenario 1 (basically me a year ago), where I could only hit 205 yards average off the tee, and hit my longest iron 160 yards. If I were only able to hit my driver 210 yards, and I hit a worm burner only 120 yards on a 370 yard par 4 hole, and my longest iron can only reach 170 yards it puts me at 280 yards. If I thin/top the iron it will only go about 120 yards at most? This would put me 130 yards away from the hole. My only par chance suddenly depends upon a full swing 9i or 8i to get close enough to the pin to putt in.

I was at your scenario 1 above when my HI peaked at 12+, like yours now.   This was achieved on a long course, too.    I.e, I got to 12 HI with a good short game.   I think with your long game now, you can easily get to single digit HI golf if you can improve on your current short game.

RiCK

(Play it again, Sam)

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For me, two areas come to mind that need my utmost attention:

1. Full wedges - leaving too many really long lag putts from the easy 80-110 yd layup range.

2. Chipping - just can't get the easy greenside chips to easy putt range often enough - leave too many in the 6-10 ft range, when I'd like to see them in the 3-4 ft range.

Getting both of these areas  tightening up would take a lot of pressure off my lackluster putting, so they are my top priority going into 2015

John

Fav LT Quote ... "you can talk to a fade, but a hook won't listen"

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Quote:

Originally Posted by Lihu

Your strategy is to play on the fairway?

I have seen many players much older than you (like 70+ years old) employ this method, but rarely someone as young as you (40 is young for the typical golfer). Is there some way to bridge the two methods? It is impressive seeing all the people who hit their woods from 180 yards and get the ball to land the fringe and roll right to the pin hole after hole.

Well Lihu,i have tried to get more distance  out of driver and perhaps I need to get fitted for a driver to see what setup would help me and ive been told that im releasing clubhead too early meaning my full power is before impact.Lihu I think you are misunderstanding what I mean by hitting 4wd and 5wd to greens.Its not like every hole im hitting woods into greens.There only maybe 2-4 holes on course where id have to do that.I think I do have a tendency to quit on my swing especially on irons just to keep them straight and scared of hitting offline.You wouldn't believe how many times my irons are dead at flag only to fall short of fringe.(story of my life)

The hole after hole comment was aimed at the older gentlemen and some of the ladies I have played rounds with.

I just don't feel like forcing yourself into a scrambling situation is all that good even on one or two holes. At my handicap, it probably makes almost no difference, but I have played easier setups like 5800 yards or even ~5000 yards and can come a few strokes of shooting par (scratch golfers usually shoot 10-12 under). On those courses, it is really nice to be "over-powering" the course rather than "catching up".

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"I'm hitting the woods just great, but I'm having a terrible time getting out of them." ~Harry Toscano

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What is the most important aspect of golf that you think can improve your score?

Full swing mechanics, it's not even a close call.

Yours in earnest, Jason.
Call me Ernest, or EJ or Ernie.

PSA - "If you find yourself in a hole, STOP DIGGING!"

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Quote:

Originally Posted by Lihu

Scenario 1 (basically me a year ago), where I could only hit 205 yards average off the tee, and hit my longest iron 160 yards. If I were only able to hit my driver 210 yards, and I hit a worm burner only 120 yards on a 370 yard par 4 hole, and my longest iron can only reach 170 yards it puts me at 280 yards. If I thin/top the iron it will only go about 120 yards at most? This would put me 130 yards away from the hole. My only par chance suddenly depends upon a full swing 9i or 8i to get close enough to the pin to putt in.

I was at your scenario 1 above when my HI peaked at 12+, like yours now.   This was achieved on a long course, too.    I.e, I got to 12 HI with a good short game.   I think with your long game now, you can easily get to single digit HI golf if you can improve on your current short game.

As far as distance is concerned, you can also start a myswing thread and get some help improving your mechanics.

I still have a lot of work on my long game. Basically, I still have 1 key on the course and magically hit the ball on the face where I want it. I need to take out some of this "magic", and get better swing mechanics. I also need a much much better short game as well. It really sucks. Blech.

Well that's a battle for another day. . .

:ping:  :tmade:  :callaway:   :gamegolf:  :titleist:

TM White Smoke Big Fontana; Pro-V1
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Ping i20 irons U-4, CFS300
Callaway XR16 9 degree Fujikura Speeder 565 S
Callaway XR16 3W 15 degree Fujikura Speeder 565 S, X2Hot Pro 20 degrees S

"I'm hitting the woods just great, but I'm having a terrible time getting out of them." ~Harry Toscano

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