How to become a more consistent golfer?

[clubmaker15]

How can I become a more consistent golfer? Does anyone have any general advice? Can anyone suggest any positive-working practice drills? I hit a decent amount of Fairways(50-60%), 35-40% GIR's, and average 1.8 putts per hole. Thanks

[DavidFehertysBike]

Course/game managment. Im not a consistant ballstriker, either. But i get by on making good decisons and savvy around the greens. I dont overcompensate for bad shots, they will happen. I find trying to overcome a bad shot with a great one often gets you into more trouble.

If you got 180-200 out from the green after a bad tee shot and a ho-hum lie in the rough, you dont always have to pull a hybrid or long iron and take a wild hack at the green like i see alot of players do. Sometimes its better to just pull a wedge or short iron and get out with a bogey if you can. Beats double or triple doesnt it?

[lolzzlolzz]

A complex question with a simple answer! To become a more consistent golfer, you need to develop a more consistent swing! Drills may superficially help, but in the end nothing will work better than analyzing each aspect and fundamental of your golf swing and improving it.

[itzzzberny]

pre-shot routine makes a big difference. remember to always go through it.

[TCCcaddie]

Like lolzzlolzz said a more consistent swing is very important. I just rebuilt my swing last year and its taken a while but I am starting to play better golf than i have ever played. It also take alot of practice. You need to find the swing that works for you, it might be the one that you have now, and practice it about 3-4 times a week for about an hour. Practice is the key to making the swing that you want to be repeatable everytime you play.

[tm22721]

I have approached the problem of consistency in two phases.

First by breaking down the swing into manageable pieces that can be mastered individually through practice and repetition. Setup, takeaway, transition, weight shift, pivot, impact position.

Then gradually put the pieces together through more practice and repetition until you achieve fluidity, feel and consistency.

This is a multi year process for me principally because I started late and find the golf swing to be so counter intuitiive and unnatural.

[$2 Nassau]

I urge to read "Golf Is Not A Game Of Perfect" by Bob Rotella. A quick easy read that goes a long way to building confidence and a strong mental game, which leads to consistency. I just read it recently and it has completely changed my approach to the game.

[FortAsel]

One thing that helped me a lot was to have a pre-shot routine. That way Idon't get nervous and every time I go to hit another shot, I know it's just another shot

[beung]

How can I become a more consistent golfer? Does anyone have any general advice? Can anyone suggest any positive-working practice drills? I hit a decent amount of Fairways(50-60%), 35-40% GIR's, and average 1.8 putts per hole. Thanks

With stats like that you should be better then your index states.....

If you hit 35% of the greens, which is 6 per round, and you have 1.8 putts per hole you would have on average about 6 pars per round, not too bad. Which leaves 12 holes where you missed the green, for the sake of arguement you made bogey on everyone of those, you would only be 12 over at the end of the round. So if your index is 18, then on one of your better rounds you have somewhere in the neighborhood of 3-6 doubles or worse? Do you have alot of 6, 7 and 8 on your scorecard? If you have lots of blow up holes then I would say it probably comes down to lack of concentration. Pre-shot routine is probably the best ways to make the transition from fun golf time with your buddies to serious golf time for that 20-30 sec during your shot. Once your shot is done the "golf" part of being on the course is basically over.

By Lucius Riccio, Ph.D. Golf Digest May 2006 To break 80 is to reach golf's holy grail. Those who've done it can walk you through their first time shot by shot, and those who haven't, well, they'll forever hold out hope. Strangely, with all this fixation on getting it under 80, there's not much information out there on what, mathematically, a player has to do to accomplish it. Is it longer drives or fewer putts, sharper irons or better greenside play? To answer these and other stats questions, I started a golf research company 25 years ago called The Golf Analyzer, and began collecting data from rounds played by all types of golfers, from 30-handicappers to U.S. Open winners. Now, after analyzing more than 20,000 holes played, I'm going to tell you what it takes to shoot 79. Of all the statistics in the game, only two really matter when it comes to determining score: greens hit in regulation (example: you hit a par-4 green in two) and putts. Breaking 80 usually goes with reaching certain benchmarks in these areas. To help you get there, Shelby Futch, who heads the Golf Digest Schools, has provided some quick tips (below). My job is to show you the numbers. Most golfers think putting is the biggest factor in scoring, but greens in regulation (GIRs) are much more important. So important, you almost don't need to look at anything else to predict your score. The most useful score-analysis tool I've developed, called "Riccio's Rule" and first published in Golf Digest in 1987, predicts score based on GIRs: Score = 95 – 2 x GIRs. The chart below, based on this rule, shows how GIRs relate to score: Here's a quick way to remember the effect of GIRs on your score: "Three greens break 90, eight greens break 80, and 13 greens break 70." That prediction is fairly accurate for any single round, and within one stroke about 90 percent of the time when you take the average of four or more rounds. So that's our first part: To consistently break 80, you should average eight or more GIRs. Take a few recent scorecards, or record your next few rounds, and average your scores, then average your GIRs. Compare your results to the chart at left. I bet you're right at, or very close to, where the chart says you should be. But if you score better than your GIRs would predict--say, you hit four greens but average 83--you probably have an extraordinary short game. You need to focus on hitting more greens. If you score worse than your GIRs would predict--say, you hit seven greens but average 85--then your putting is weak, or you tend to have blowup holes, which throw off any system for predicting score.

[clubmaker15]

Beung: My index is lower than what it says. I have shot 80 and 82 in my high school golf tournaments and shot +1 back-to-back days in school matches. I usually make 3-5 doubles per round which KILLS my scorecard. I am working very hard on making par or bogey from tough spots and limiting those mental mistakes that cost me strokes. I know I need to work on my short game, but all of my good rounds started with hitting fairways, which led to hitting greens, and making par or bogey at worst.

[GOLFSALOT00]

1 word practice

[beung]

Beung: My index is lower than what it says. I have shot 80 and 82 in my high school golf tournaments and shot +1 back-to-back days in school matches. I usually make 3-5 doubles per round which KILLS my scorecard. I am working very hard on making par or bogey from tough spots and limiting those mental mistakes that cost me strokes. I know I need to work on my short game, but all of my good rounds started with hitting fairways, which led to hitting greens, and making par or bogey at worst.

Ok, it just kind of threw me off a little.

Anyways, besides the obvious tips like practise, preshot routine and such, it looks like you keep some data about your game since you know your fairways, GIRs and Putts. The only other thing might be how you approach each shot and the game as a whole. I am not sure how you are in terms of the mental aspect but for me my big scores always come with a lack of focus and not playing the smart shot. Play for your misses not your good shots. Going for shots that require me to hit near perfect shots usually result in extra strokes. If you play a draw/fade play shots where a straight shot is ok and enough draw/fade would result in a great shot, not the other way around. Don't play to the final score, or even to the hole. Play each shot seperately, don't let the score effect how you play your current shot. Don't use your current shot to make up for a bad previous shot. Countless times have I seen my playing partners try and hit a 3w out of the rough because they shanked or duffed their drive - don't let the one bad shot lead to 2-3 additional strokes on that hole.

[ks8829]

practice, practice and more practice

putting, chipping approach shot within 50 yards and within 100 yards.

Your iron play from 150 yards and approach shot from 200 yards.

having the right equipment for your game, hybrids instead of long irons, 2 putting and eliminating 3 putting, allowing boggies and eliminating double boogies.

just my 2 cents

[ks8829]

Focus on fairways, greens and number of putts per round and record this information on your score card so you can focus on the weak part of your game.

Practice from putting backwards, meaning just off the green, 5 yards off the green, 10 yards off the green, etc.

A confident putter and getting up and down is the key to consistent play.

You can scrap it out there and if you can get it up and down 80% of the time from around the green you will be a consistent golfer.

80-90% of practice should be the short game.

10-20% practice
100 yards approach shots
150 yard approach shots
200 yard approach shots
Driver

Finally make sure you have the right equipment, for example hybrids instead of long irons.