Your Breakthrough Moment

[TheGolfingDetective]

My first real breakthrough came last week when I truly felt what it was like to release the club. I broke 100 for the first time, and shot a 46 from the back tees on the front nine (which we played after the back 9). I shouldve shot even lower, had a 40 going into #9, a par three that I tripled. This was after most of my rounds were in the 108 to 120 range. Point is, for the first time I felt that release and had confidance over every shot.

Do you remember your first breakthrough? The first time you felt like a golfer instead of a guy playing golf? Hearing from the more experienced golfers would help a lot of us newer ones.

[dvldog]

I have had a lot of breakthrough moments when I thought I had found "it". Unfortunately, "it" doesn't work the next round.

[GOLFSALOT00]

when i broke 90 i was estatic because i had been shooting low 90's for a while. it felt really good to have your driving,wood play,iron play,and chipping and putting all in sync

[Garthmo]

i had 2 of those breakthrough rounds this year when I finally broke 80 and shot 2 78's. On those days it felt like I had everything dialed in..I had total control over my driver and only missed one fairway and my irons were on and the lines on the green were easy to find. But those were the only 2 rounds that felt like that out of 13 rounds this year.

[beung]

  dvldog said:

I have had a lot of breakthrough moments when I thought I had found "it". Unfortunately, "it" doesn't work the next round.

Don't give up on the "it", take "it" to the range and engrain the "it", assuming "it" is good. You need some time to get the muscle memory to repeat that "it". Once you have mastered that "it" remember to revisit "it" again later on because your body/brain is lazy and only has room for only so many things. You need to remind then about the "it"

I don't think you can expect to have a break through one week and then expect your body/brain to remember what you did if you haven't practised and refined it since discovering it.

[MunkeyGolfer]

My breakthroughs never came as a whole. It was always with one or two clubs at a time. But when it did happen, I felt like a million bucks

[$2 Nassau]

Congrats on a nice round!!

I've had some breakthrough's, and of course some set backs as well.

Last fall I had a pretty big breakthrough in my game that lasted about a month or so actually. Accuracy off the tee and solid iron shots sort of came out of nowhere for me. I shot in the 30's for nine holes twice (39 & 38). Then shot 84 from the back tees on a fairly difficult course. Had couple other decent rounds around that time as well.

Had a small breakthrough last night in my golf league. Just haven't been playing well in that league this year, but finally came through with a +4 39 last night. Pretty easy course, but I've found many ways to screw it up in the past so I am very pleased.

[Dent]

For the year, it was just a couple days ago. I had still been shooting High 70's, but on easy courses, and could never put together a great round, until last week I shot 82 for a decent round at a tough course, and then a day later shot my personal best 73 on a slightly easier course. I also have shot +1, +2, and Even par on 9 holes 5 times this year already.

It made me feel like such a better golfer and that I can actually play this game.

[allin]

My breakthrough moment was when I realized that focusing on how I moved through the golf swing rather than specific positions works better for me. I have improved steadily since that time.

[FortAsel]

My first breakthrough moment? Well, this year at the national u18 teams championship. I was the best player in my team (T15 overall at +33, in a easy course but with very adverse weather conditions: the last 2 days there was rain and wind like I've never seen in my life!!!). It was a 3 day championship, and in the first day I was heading into the last 5 holes 2 over par (no one was expecting this score but me). Unfortunately my nerves got the best of me and I finished +9 for the day. Even tough it could have been better, every one in my team congratulated me and my coach told me that the only thing I had to do better is to have a fixed routine. I felt like I was in heaven... For me this was my first breakthrough moment.

Last week, I had my second: after 4 years playing competitive golf I finally won my first monthly tournament at my home club. I was playing so well that I eventually finished +6 in very breezy conditions. The tournament was in stroke play format and I won it by 3 shots.

I feel like it's just a matter of time until I get to scratch.

[tm22721]

My breakthrough came when I finally found a good instructor who pointed out that bad tempo is the reason for my inconsistency. He said that I should simply let the club drop slowly and accelerate to maximum speed a little after impact. He said that the local golf shop launch monitor can measure my tempo. Or I could buy a radar gun.

He said that his driver, irons and putter had all been clocked at the same tempo (backswing vs. downswing timing).

[Hank]

I've had 2 main breakthroughs in my "career"...

1. When I was 12, I discovered the proper way to putt. I still remember that moment to this day.

2. When I used my r7 Driver for the first time. I went from being unable to hit a driver to hitting it about 275 and straight on a consistent basis.

[Double Bogey]

My true breakthrough was when I realized what visualizing a shot really was. You hear golfers say all the time to "visualize the shot." I guess I never really thought about it that much. The only time I ever did it was on the greens. I would think that most people "visualize" the ball rolling into the hole on putts, to make sure that they are lined up correctly or to "show the line."

I learned to do that on every shot. It did increase my routine about 5 more seconds per shot, but I am liking the results much more.

[ECT]

This is my 4 year golfing and I've had several breakthroughs....

Finally got the putter that I had been lusting after for 3 years....it makes me feel so confident over the ball and thus I putt better....enjoy putting too!

A couple of weeks ago I started scoring in the mid to high 90's.

Last weekend I walked the front and had 5 pars....it felt easy and relaxing. Everything felt in sync....I didn't even have to think about much about hitting or how I was gonna hit the ball. I just hit the darn ball and it went where I wanted it to go. I decided to ride the back 9 (wrong!) and was rushed in putting my cart away. The owner came up and told our group we were behind so I felt rushed since the 10th. The entire back 9 I felt rushed and didn't do so well and only managed 1 par....oh well....maybe this weekend I'll have another breakthrough....

[TCCcaddie]

I just had my breakthrough moment. I was at the driving range and hit every club beautifully. I wasn't hitting a bad shot, and its due to a radical new thing im trying, practice. Ive been practicing more and i think i could drop down to a 6 handi by the end of the summer if i keep practicing the way i am.

[sonicblue]

No offense to the OP, but if you had never broken 100, you had no business being on the back tees (unless this was some little executive-type course).

My breakthrough moment #1: about two years ago, decided to play 3-wood off the tee one day. Started E after four holes, rare for me at the time. My partner came over and physically removed the driver from my bag, wouldn't let me hit it. I played the front in 34; 8 pars and a birdie. I played the back in 43, and that was only because I lost two balls in the darkness. I realized at the end, how "easy" that day was. That is, with the exception of just one hole where I dropped a PW to a foot, all I really did was keep myself out of trouble. I didn't bomb and shape drives, I didn't throw darts to pins, and I didn't chip in by the handful. I vividly remember missing one fairway and catching an itchy sidehill rough lie. I dialed down my expectation, took plenty of club and just threw one up somewhere on the green, two-putted for par. It changed my course management game forever.

My breakthrough moment #2: After reconstructing the above round in my head, I realized how much of my scoring was ACTUALLY due to holing an obscene number of lengthy-for-my-skill-level putts. Yes, I gave myself every chance in the world from tee-to-green, but the fact is, even that good play will leave you 6-footers by the bunches, and true scoring means making those putts.

I believe, deep down, most of us amateurs fear putting, like it's some conspiracy against us. Because of that, we strain the rest of our game. We try to bomb our drives on par 5's, we chase sucker pins on our fairway approaches, clench our teeth on greenside shots, etc.... If we would just cut ourselves some slack when getting to the green, and then BELIEVE in ourselves once we get there, I think we'd find much more enjoyment and much better scoring.

[golf_junkie27]

I've had a few.

1) Breaking 100-This happened when I realized that I should stop trying to kill the ball with the driver. Everything goes wrong, you lose confidence and balls, too. I also realized how much easier it's to play from the rough and fairway as opposed to between trees and over a cart path.

2) Breaking 90-Using more and less club- Understanding the conditions of the course and impact of weather.

3) Consistently in the low 80s- Better course management and taking my medicine. For me, reality is that every hole is not a hole to shoot at pins. Pars are good, heck, even some bogeys are good, too, especially when you're not feeling confident.

I'm reading "Putting out of your Mind" by Dr. Rotella. My putting sucks, right now. No, I don't three putt. In fact, I've only done so three times in the last fifteen rounds. However, I am missing too many makeable birdies because I'm concentrating on speed, line, touch...everything but actually making the putt. It's a shame, too, since so many better golfers have told me to concentrate on making the actual putt.

The best feeling on the course, though, has been getting compliments on my bunker and iron play. It makes all the work I've put in feel worthwhile.

[tyko]

Congrats to the OP and everyone else! I love reading about things like this because, to me, that is the best part about golf. I haven't had a breakthough in so long it's sad. As a kid, I could really see improvement (scoring breakthroughs; significant handicap drops; etc.). For the last 10 years or so, improvments are so much more subtle (and I've actually gotten a bit worse ) My one and only swing breakthrough came when I was about 13 or so. Some dude on the driving range told me to hit down on the golf ball on every shot except drives. My game was different overnight.

The great paradox of golf is that when you are a 20 handicap, you want to be a 10, when you are a 10, you want to be a scratch. The fun, though, is not in being a scratch, it's in the process. It's so much cooler to hear about someone breaking 90 or 80 for the first time than it is to hear about a +1 shooting 65 because the +1 usually acts as though it's expected. The dude who just shot 79 for the first time is way more excited.

A former college teammate of mine gives lessons now. He was so inspired by people reaching milestones that he decided to switch over to lefty so he could experience it again. I guess I'm just saying to treat these breakthroughs as the big deals that they are because the lower your handicap gets, the less you'll notice them.