Course Management Strategies to Break 90

[gjunkie57]

Play up when playing a new course.  I can shoot sub-90 from the mens tees now because I learned to score playing the senior tees. I just change my club selection on the second shot to set up my approach into the green.  

[CarlSpackler]

Never try the hero shot. Learn how to punch out safely and take your medicine. 

[iacas]

34 minutes ago, CarlSpackler said:

Never try the hero shot. Learn how to punch out safely and take your medicine. 

Learn to hit the shot between the hero shot and the super safe one. A lot of golfers are too conservative when in trouble.

[burr]

And for this shot, I have found that my 3iron using a ' 9 o'clock to 3 o'clock ' swing will achieve results very consistently, mostly 100 yards advancement thru small openings and under branches (since it is by far not a full swing).  Only reason I have the 3 in my bag but I'll need it for this reason a couple times a round.  (and this is because I love hitting the big 'D')

and to add my 2Cents, I'm around bogey golf.  I have discovered that about the only thing keeping me at this level is time on course.  If I had time to play more (or physically could play more without pain), I'm sure the strokes would lower.  A major factor for the bogey golfer is penalty strokes. Eliminate penalty strokes and (just mathmatically) scores lower.

Edited September 15, 2019 by burr

[David in FL]

32 minutes ago, iacas said:

Learn to hit the shot between the hero shot and the super safe one. A lot of golfers are too conservative when in trouble.

Agree.

 Some people are too ready to simply punch out sideways, when they could, almost as easily, advance the ball 60 yards down the fairway.   60 yards could be the difference between a wedge and a 5-iron for the next shot...

[MaestroFarceNugget]

1. Solid, repeatable contact with irons, 100 percent of the time. Ball first, ground second, and hit through the ball. Can't hit fat or thin at all, must be solid every time. Hitting through the ball is key.

 

2. Consistent shot pattern. Draw or fade, whatever, hit a curve and play for it.

 

3. Short game. Get up and down at least 30 percent.

 

4. Two putt often, few 3 putts.

Edited September 16, 2019 by MaestroFarceNugget

[Shindig]

13 hours ago, iacas said:

Learn to hit the shot between the hero shot and the super safe one. A lot of golfers are too conservative when in trouble.

 

13 hours ago, David in FL said:

Agree.

 Some people are too ready to simply punch out sideways, when they could, almost as easily, advance the ball 60 yards down the fairway.   60 yards could be the difference between a wedge and a 5-iron for the next shot...

Big yep on this to go with these two.  Learning how to find a safe way to advance the ball has helped me quite a bit.  I am periodically told by others I hit a brave recovery shot, and I think it was just as difficult as the playing out sideways, sometimes easier.  

[Lihu]

20 hours ago, burr said:

A major factor for the bogey golfer is penalty strokes. Eliminate penalty strokes and (just mathmatically) scores lower.

What I’ve found is the major issue with bogey golfers is “distance”. If you had more choices in club selections that go over 200 yards, that helps quite a bit.

[Marty2019]

I think you have to work on everything, but for sure spend a lot of time on driving.   That's where most average golfers get in the most trouble- either hitting their drive into a hazard, or not hitting far enough to give themselves a shot at par.  

Secondly, lag putting.  Don't three putt. 

 

[MarvChamp]

1 hour ago, Lihu said:

If you had more choices in club selections that go over 200 yards, that helps quite a bit.

 

12 minutes ago, Marty2019 said:

not hitting far enough to give themselves a shot at par.  

At soon-to-be age 74, arthritic and working diligently to return to bogey golf, these great remarks describe my current game. My drives are 180 carry, 200-210 if roll. So, I have worked on owning the 2nd shot. Not there with my 5-wood, but the 3 hybrid iron is close so I am getting on the par 4's in 3 and par 5's in 4. Diligent work with putting has helped reduce those bad 3 putts substantially. Still a work in progress (like me). Great topic! Best, -Marv

[phillyk]

19 minutes ago, Marty2019 said:

Secondly, lag putting.  Don't three putt. 

I’m scratch and I still 3 putt once a round. GIR is king, then its nGIR. One thing I noticed with some of my students is they don’t even know what lines to take the ball off the tee. Play to the safer side of the landing area. Don’t try to actively avoid rough. It’s not usually long enough to where it’ll hurt you. 

[rehmwa]

Hi greens - do what it takes prior to that to hit greens.  this also gets you closer to greens when you miss greens.

 

[CarlSpackler]

On 9/15/2019 at 9:59 AM, iacas said:

Learn to hit the shot between the hero shot and the super safe one. A lot of golfers are too conservative when in trouble.

True. I want to advance the ball as much as possible, but stay out of trouble. 

[Marty2019]

On 9/16/2019 at 8:41 AM, phillyk said:

I’m scratch and I still 3 putt once a round. GIR is king, then its nGIR. One thing I noticed with some of my students is they don’t even know what lines to take the ball off the tee. Play to the safer side of the landing area. Don’t try to actively avoid rough. It’s not usually long enough to where it’ll hurt you. 

GIR is king if you want to break 80, but I think if you want to break 90, usually the biggest problem is driving the ball in the fairway with some distance.  That's just my limited personal observation.  The tee shot costs 90-ish players more strokes than anything.  

[Lihu]

On 9/17/2019 at 10:45 AM, Marty2019 said:

GIR is king if you want to break 80, but I think if you want to break 90, usually the biggest problem is driving the ball in the fairway with some distance.  That's just my limited personal observation.  The tee shot costs 90-ish players more strokes than anything.  

GIR is king if you want to score lower, in general, but you’re right that bad tee shots cost bogey players the most. That’s because they can’t generally hit anything to the green from even mild trouble.

Players who hit longer have more opportunities to make up for bad shots.

[Hugh Jars]

Came across a YouTube guy called Just Your Average Golfer. I find it really interesting his perspective of playing the percentages with his course management. Advocates working on the short game a lot.

Here is a typical video of his

On 9/4/2019 at 11:09 PM, iacas said:

Golfl Sidekick is pretty terrible, really.

Want to break 90?

Hit it better. Follow the GamePlan ideas in LSW.

The end.

Pretty consistent theme I’ve picked up from you is you’re quick to arrogantly right off other approaches just to promote your own, which coincidentally you benefit from financially. Hardly impartial. Not a good look. 

[Hugh Jars]

From experience playing with others, and my own game, and from statistics I’ve seen the overwhelming tendency for a handicap golfer is to miss short compared to any other miss. Most higher handicap golfers will determine club selection based on hitting a club pure, when in reality they rarely do. Under pressure hitting it fat is a more likely outcome.

Therefore it makes sense to err on the side of clubbing up on most occasions as opposed to assuming you’ll hit it pure. It will also encourage not trying to hit the ball hard and staying loose in the swing.

 

 

[Marty2019]

26 minutes ago, Hugh Jars said:

From experience playing with others, and my own game, and from statistics I’ve seen the overwhelming tendency for a handicap golfer is to miss short compared to any other miss. Most higher handicap golfers will determine club selection based on hitting a club pure, when in reality they rarely do. Under pressure hitting it fat is a more likely outcome.

Therefore it makes sense to err on the side of clubbing up on most occasions as opposed to assuming you’ll hit it pure. It will also encourage not trying to hit the ball hard and staying loose in the swing.

 

 

 

You make a very good point, but I think one other reason a lot of golfers have a tendency to hit it short instead of long is because on most courses, short of the green is safe and over the green is disastrous.