How to Become a Single Digit With a Short Drive?

[Themightyoz]

Is there anybody in the group who has a short drive say 230 yards or less but regularly scores in the low 80s or high seventies. I'd love to hear your strategy.  Or better yet golf with you and have you tell me your strategy.

Edited July 30, 2024 by Themightyoz

[iacas]

230 is PLENTY far enough to get down to mid single digits.

[klineka]

Couple things. 

First, the strategy doesn't really change based on driving distance alone. The number one goal regardless of how far you hit it is to advance the ball as far as you safely can and prioritize nGIR and GIR.

Second, what yardage do you typically play from? 230yds probably won't cut it playing from the tips at my home course (~7,500yds) but would be perfectly fine from 6,000yds (or even more)

[billchao]

53 minutes ago, Themightyoz said:

Is there anybody in the group who has a short drive say 230 yards or less but regularly scores in the low 80s or high seventies. I'd love to hear your strategy.  Or better yet golf with you and have you tell me your strategy.

230 is plenty long enough to get to single digits. Just need to manage your misses and avoid big numbers. There's nothing unique about the strategy there to score well.

[GolfLug]

2 hours ago, Themightyoz said:

Is there anybody in the group who has a short drive say 230 yards or less but regularly scores in the low 80s or high seventies. I'd love to hear your strategy.  Or better yet golf with you and have you tell me your strategy.

Yours truly. Play 6,400 yards or less. Keep it in play. Red stake penalties not too bad but OBs will kill you. Have a reasonable chipping/pitching game that gets you on the green regardless of how far from the pin. 

[Themightyoz]

2 hours ago, klineka said:

Couple things. 

First, the strategy doesn't really change based on driving distance alone. The number one goal regardless of how far you hit it is to advance the ball as far as you safely can and prioritize nGIR and GIR.

Second, what yardage do you typically play from? 230yds probably won't cut it playing from the tips at my home course (~7,500yds) but would be perfectly fine from 6,000yds (or even more)

My home course is 5800, I usually play upto 6300

[iacas]

19 minutes ago, Themightyoz said:

My home course is 5800, I usually play upto 6300

Then the ratings won't be super high (at 5800), so shooting in the low 80s won't even do it for you.

But, again, yes, you can get down to a 5 or even lower hitting it 230.

[Themightyoz]

25 minutes ago, iacas said:

Then the ratings won't be super high (at 5800), so shooting in the low 80s won't even do it for you.

But, again, yes, you can get down to a 5 or even lower hitting it 230.

Yeah I know the math isn't in my favorites at that home course but I play a lot of other courses too so there will be other chances.

[woodzie264]

I am also a shorter driver of the golf ball (240-ish), but a few years ago I dropped from a 16 down to a 9 within a couple of months of reading LSW. Now I’m not that great (fluctuating between and 8-9HCP) but I rarely play more than 20 rounds/year (only played 4-5 times this year) and my swing is far from pretty. My point is: my experience was that getting to a single digit was more about strategy than swing mechanics & playing a lot. As others have said (@billchao @GolfLug), it’s about minimizing the bigger numbers via simply advancing the ball in play and avoiding a lot of doubles and triples.  Some of that goes back to Harvey Pennick’s LRB quote “never follow up a bad shot with a stupid one,” but LSW changed my approach to the game and to practice focus through better understanding of separation values/ skill values, ultimately making big differences in my scores.
 

Granted I did make some swing changes suggested in the book based on 5SK (5SK.com) and Iacas’s & the guys’ patient swing critiques on the MySwing thread, but I feel like I made the biggest/quickest improvement from game & course management suggestions in the book. Admittedly, all of that will only take you so far…thus @iacas and the members of this site spend a lot of time and real estate discussing swing mechanics and the involved physics because they care to be the best they can be. 

[Themightyoz]

These are my numbers this year so far.  I have room in the bag for one more club.  What gap would be most important to fix.  Also the main thing I would say I need to fix is proximity to the hole on approach shots and short game shots.  Chips and bunkers I have improved massively on, but wish I could get closer to the hole for the first putt when I'm too far off the green to chip without flying it a fair ways.  Any tips there would be appreciated.

Edited July 31, 2024 by Themightyoz

[klineka]

7 minutes ago, Themightyoz said:

These are my numbers this year so far.  I have room in the bag for one more club.  What gap would be most important to fix.

My first thought is either the gap at 200yds or the gap at 90yds.

I wonder if something like a mini driver might cover that gap at 200 for you? But then again I don't know if you have enough speed to justify anything lower lofted than a 4w especially off the deck

What are the lofts of your PW and GW?

[Themightyoz]

6 minutes ago, klineka said:

My first thought is either the gap at 200yds or the gap at 90yds.

I wonder if something like a mini driver might cover that gap at 200 for you? But then again I don't know if you have enough speed to justify anything lower lofted than a 4w especially off the deck

What are the lofts of your PW and GW?

PW is 45
GW is 50

[bkuehn1952]

17 hours ago, Themightyoz said:

Is there anybody in the group who has a short drive say 230 yards or less but regularly scores in the low 80s or high seventies. I'd love to hear your strategy.  Or better yet golf with you and have you tell me your strategy.

1. Pick up a copy of Lowest Score Wins, read it and follow the recommended strategy.

2. Play courses from tees that allow you to score better. It is hard to score consistently when most par 4 holes are: driver, 4-wood, wedge.

3. Maybe adopt an interim goal of scoring under 90 on a regular basis, assuming the "26.0" index or handicap is accurate. Starting at "26" is a long way from "9." One eats an elephant one piece at a time so give yourself manageable interim goals.

4. You live in an area where playing golf 12 months a year is impossible. Have a plan and routine to keep practicing in the off season

My personal "strategy" involves a couple of elements that may or may not fit your approach.

• Stay in reasonably good physical shape
• Play courses that are not so long and/or difficult that I have little hope of scoring well
• Play and/or practice a lot
• Don't attempt shots I don't have, and stay out of penalty areas, bunkers and deep rough (playable rough is fine).

I suspect that you are a lot younger than I, so you have the benefit of time on your side. Best of luck with your quest to improve.

 

 

[p1n9183]

The scratch golfer model for course rating purposes hit the ball 230 carry and 250 total, so you are just 20 yards short of that. 
Mark Brody said that 20 yards less of the tee is around 1 stroke a round for a tour pro, for a 10 handicapper it could be 2...3 strokes? you have plenty of distance to shoot constantly in the 70's. Work on your dispersion. 

I regularly play with a couple of old friends that used to be scratch golfers in the past, even one of them was a good pro back then. Today they all hit it around the same distance as you but score in the high 70's and the ex pro is always around low 70's. They are not long anymore because of age (65/70) but they are still pretty accurate. 

 

[Themightyoz]

1 hour ago, bkuehn1952 said:

1. Pick up a copy of Lowest Score Wins, read it and follow the recommended strategy.

I found a copy here in Cdn dollars online so it's on its way

1 hour ago, bkuehn1952 said:

2. Play courses from tees that allow you to score better. It is hard to score consistently when most par 4 holes are: driver, 4-wood, wedge.

Agreed.  My 4 wood tends to get a lot of love unless I can hit that elusive draw or lay up to 85 yard pitch distance.

1 hour ago, bkuehn1952 said:

3. Maybe adopt an interim goal of scoring under 90 on a regular basis, assuming the "26.0" index or handicap is accurate. Starting at "26" is a long way from "9." One eats an elephant one piece at a time so give yourself manageable interim goals.

Yes that is the goal right now that I have yet to be able to get to.

My top 5 rounds this year are all between 91 & 94 so the chances are there just need less putts and less chunked shots from when I get too tired and don't shift my weight enough. 

1 hour ago, bkuehn1952 said:

4. You live in an area where playing golf 12 months a year is impossible. Have a plan and routine to keep practicing in the off season

My personal "strategy" involves a couple of elements that may or may not fit your approach.

• Stay in reasonably good physical shape

I got a TPI screen recently and have a workout just have to do it, thats the hard part 😄

1 hour ago, bkuehn1952 said:

• Play courses that are not so long and/or difficult that I have little hope of scoring well

For sure

1 hour ago, bkuehn1952 said:

• Play and/or practice a lot

Yeah working through this

1 hour ago, bkuehn1952 said:

• Don't attempt shots I don't have, and stay out of penalty areas, bunkers and deep rough (playable rough is fine).

I suspect that you are a lot younger than I, so you have the benefit of time on your side. Best of luck with your quest to improve.

 

 

Many thanks, I am 40, but was asked to play in a 50+ event last month.  Thankfully not quite there yet.

10 minutes ago, p1n9183 said:

The scratch golfer model for course rating purposes hit the ball 230 carry and 250 total, so you are just 20 yards short of that. 
Mark Brody said that 20 yards less of the tee is around 1 stroke a round for a tour pro, for a 10 handicapper it could be 2...3 strokes? you have plenty of distance to shoot constantly in the 70's. Work on your dispersion. 

I regularly play with a couple of old friends that used to be scratch golfers in the past, even one of them was a good pro back then. Today they all hit it around the same distance as you but score in the high 70's and the ex pro is always around low 70's. They are not long anymore because of age (65/70) but they are still pretty accurate. 

 

Thanks.  I know Brody preaches distance as king regardless of resulting lie off the tee,  THat much said I am comfortable losing that stroke, but need the putting to be good from anywhere.  The lag putts uphill and downhill are what I find the hardest.  Thanks for the encouragement 

[iacas]

42 minutes ago, p1n9183 said:

The scratch golfer model for course rating purposes hit the ball 230 carry and 250 total, so you are just 20 yards short of that. 
Mark Brody said that 20 yards less of the tee is around 1 stroke a round for a tour pro, for a 10 handicapper it could be 2...3 strokes? you have plenty of distance to shoot constantly in the 70's. Work on your dispersion. 

It's Broadie, and…

32 minutes ago, Themightyoz said:

I found a copy here in Cdn dollars online so it's on its way

Hmmm. I don't see an order. 🙂 

[Themightyoz]

16 minutes ago, iacas said:

I

Hmmm. I don't see an order. 🙂 

I found it on a CDN used book store page.