play good score with wrong basic!!!!

[kohtp]

i have been playing golf for 1 1/2 years with score in the range of 90 with best score 85. let's me introduce myself. Fundamentally, i am lousy golfer despite my scores in the sense :

1. grip is wrong - strong grip on right hand.
2. takeaway - clubhead pointing anyway ....
3. downswing - casting, out-to-in & etc.
4. impact - flipping, right hand not bend....

you may argue my score should, by theory, stay in range of 100. luckily my driver save me with 250 meters to 270 meters.

recently, i went for pro lesson. On the first lesson, the pro slap me with all my wrong basic and revamp it. Lately, i have been playing with score in the range of 85. Hopefully, it can go down below 80 by end of this year.i am glad i change.

i did notice a lot of golfers can play good score yet with wrong basic. So how you rate yourself?????????? Good score or Good golfer?????

[iacas]

I like to think I'm "Both."

Welcome to The Sand Trap.

[who00knows]

I like to think I'm "Both."

I would also like to agree, my problem is being inconsistent. I havent been playing quite long enough to hit it like I want to every time yet, but the fundamentals are there.

[Rafcin]

don't think you can be good scorer w/o good fundamentals. Even if you bring the argument of the Senior Tour (geez, some fugly swings are out there ) - very rarely you can recover it with pure talent. Idea is simple - get the face square for 0.01 sec when the contact happens and get the face on the proper height - here is a good stroke. You don't need backswing, grip, stands etc. to do that. The purpose of the fundamentals is that once you have them - these two things happen much, MUCH easier...

[Rickins]

Can you score well without good "basics"? Sure you can...on a hole...maybe two. (Even a blind squirrel...)

Your stroke must be repeatable! That's where the basics come in. A bad stroke that, somehow, works well is rarely a repeatable shot. If you don't know where it came from, lots of luck, 'cuz that's what you're going to need.

Rick

[Rafcin]

... A bad stroke that, somehow, works well is rarely a repeatable shot....

Tell it to Allen Doyle (No 12 on the Champions Tour money list). 7th in driving accuracy, 20th in GIR. His swing has NOTHING to do with ANY fundamentals one can learn from any PGA Teaching Pro

I guess what I'm trying to point out - there are talented people, with amazing hand-eye coordination, who can repeat 'their" swing even if it's not the "perfect" swing. It seems to be less and less the case - all the newcomers are pursuing the perfect swing and they all look picture perfect (ok, maybe except for Jim Furyk!), but the "old" masters - i.e. Trevino, even Palmer and Jack - did manage to find "their" swing - it CAN happen. Is it likely? Nope

[Rickins]

...but the "old" masters - i.e. Trevino, even Palmer and Jack - did manage to find "their" swing - it CAN happen. Is it likely? Nope

Quite true but I'd put Trevino, Palmer and Nicklaus in the "rare" category in the annals of professional golf, wouldn't you?

Ironically, young Arnold Palmer was able to accomplish the near-impossible feat of distracting Ben Hogan on the course with his ability to recover, sometimes spectacularly, from bad shots. (Hogan, of course, didn't much care for Palmer to begin with and Arnie's shot-making abilities only fueled Hogan's frustration.) I think there's a difference between "unorthodox styles" and "bad fundamentals" where the former, in my opinion, belongs to those rare individuals who manufacture a swing all their own to accomplish what you've earlier suggested about squaring the clubface at the proper height on a consistent basis. I thought it amusing when one of the European players, referring to Jim Furyk's accuracy off the tee in the President's Cup, stated that it was pretty hard to beat someone who hit "30 out of 28" fairways. Whatever gets the job done... Rick

[Newbie lady]

Well I am at the opposite end to you, I have played just over a year and had many lessons but my best score so far is 95 :( My technique is extremely good apparantly but I just need to get out there more and really improve my shortgame. This game is very hard, I am obviously not a natural.

[Rickins]

Well I am at the opposite end to you, I have played just over a year and had many lessons but my best score so far is 95 :( My technique is extremely good apparantly but I just need to get out there more and really improve my shortgame. This game is very hard, I am obviously not a natural.

Another "Yea" vote for lessons! I'd never taken lessons early on and it took me over three years to

ever post a score below 100. Good technique will win out in the end. Years ago, a young man joined our threesome and played from the "tips" while we played from the "whites". He had as beautiful a swing off the tee as I'd ever seen and either tied me in length or outdrove me with awesome accuracy on nearly every hole, which, at the time, I considered very commendable. That said, there weren't more than three strokes separating us after 18 holes because his short game was mediocre at best. By my estimation, the young fellow blew 10 strokes due to poor chipping, pitching and putting. It was like watching two different players, frankly. You know what you need to work on, which is a whole lot better than not knowing where to even start. Good luck. Rick

[kohtp]

As a newcomer to this game, i would say basic is far more important than score. Build a strong fundamental that will last long.

I really get rid off today 85 next day 95. First nine 42 second nine 50. It is inconsistency.

[Rickins]

I really get rid off today 85 next day 95. First nine 42 second nine 50. It is inconsistency.

As a newcomer, 42/50 is a respectable score to post, in my opinion. Excellent to have a goal but remember that even professional golfers can post a good score one day and a bad one the next. Also remember to keep a positive attitude even if you are having problems. Hard to play good golf when you're mad at yourself about a bad shot. You can start to force errors into parts of your game where there aren't any problems.

Did you struggle, from time to time, with each part of your game or, was there a specific area of your game that was inconsistent? Is your course management good? Did you take chances where you shouldn't have? (Sometimes we tend to think a shot was "bad" when, really, it was just simply "foolish". ) Best of luck... Rick

[kohtp]

I think my course management is really bad. My approach shot always without fail attack pin. All sort of problems come - bunker, rough , top ball & etc

The another situation i face the score is very good halfway through 18 hole, aiming for breaking my personal best. Yet the ending score is depressing.

Probably i give myself too much pressure. Focusing on too much the score

I remember a friend told me to lower expectation & go for fat green or lay out for another shot. you may have a better score. Don't you agree? Personally i don't buy the idea. Attack! Attack! Attack!

[LarryK]

First, the good news: If you have only been playing a year and a half and are already shooting in the upper 80s and low 90s with all the swing problems you describe, you are doing TERRIFIC!

As for your course management, your own words describe the problem. You attack the pin no matter what but often wind up in the bunker or rough....and yet you still want to "attack, attack, attack,". Are you by any chance related to Phil Mickelson?

You dont want to buy what your friend tells you about shooting for the fat part of the green or laying up, but the next time you are standing in that bunker, ask yourself "Would I rather have this 30-foot bunker shot to the pin, or would I rather have had a 30-foot putt?"

How you answer that question will tell you what shot you SHOULD have tried.

[iacas]

Buy and read (and then re-read) "Golf is Not a Game of Perfect". K? Course management and the need to "attack" (or not) all rolled into one. Plus, y'know, that mental side of things...

[Supermariodave]

Using great pros as examples of how bad technique can be copied by amateurs is just crazy.These guys have more talent in their big toes than all of us put together.Basically,any swing can be grooved in with enough practice,and the players mentioned above,particularly Trevino can then go onto become a great champion.

But if you are as talented as them, i.e you haven't the natural ability to square the club at impact,then you have to fall back on the comfort blanket of sound mechanics,or you won't reach your full potential.Your talent will see you through,but if you haven't got a lot,then you will stop improving.

imho

ps Trevino could sense his plane midswing,and just THINK the adjustments coming down,its just pure unadulterated talent,and as I say,to then extrapolate that and argue that poor basics are ok for less talented golfers is just daft.At impact though,Trevino was pure class,hence why he coluld drive onto a dime form 250 yards.

[kohtp]

Shall go for the book as recommend "Golf is Not a Game of Perfect".

As far as course management and mentality strength, i am idoit. Whenever i bomb a 280 meter - 300 meter, i always take out my fairway wood or rescue club and go for two on par 5. you bet out of n time, i hit once on the green.

Let's discuss mental, i hit two over on hole number 5. Calculating i may hit below 40. I start ...... My final score on first nine 45. What a fool.

Stupid as stupid does.

[Rickins]

Let's discuss mental, i hit two over on hole number 5. Calculating i may hit below 40. I start ...... My final score on first nine 45. What a fool.

You've called yourself an "idiot" and a "fool" in this post. Actually, all you've done is made mistakes, like all of us do. It happens.

Stop the negativity. You're not an idiot or, a fool. Concentrate on correcting the mistake(s). Concentrate on good shots...one at a time. Rick