How long did it take you to break 100?

[sonicblue]

This thread makes me feel a little better. I just played my 5th full round this past Saturday and shot a 103 (my best ever!). I hit about 9 of 13/14 drives straight about 230 yards and into the fairway (yes, my iron play & short game is not up to snuff) too.

Remember, it takes far less time to drain one putt than kick around four. ;) If you're in such a hurry, just make sure to make the first one!

If you stop and think about, SO SO much of your poor shots will come from one of two things: 1) Not setting a realistic, smart goal for the shot (or just not setting one at all). Haven't you ever gotten done with a shot, usually a poor one, and thought to yourself, "what the hell was I even doing there?" It's easy to go on auto-pilot, just start banging. Resist it. It doesn't take long, just takes discipline, to truly decide what you are trying to do. 2) Losing focus right before the shot or during it. Once you set the plan in #1, don't change your mind! This takes trust. You have to trust that, no matter WHAT you decided in #1, you are MUCH better off just going through with that, than trying to do something else mid-swing. Just about NONE of us are good enough to that, BUT ALSO you're probably making a mistake by changing your mind. Your initial plan, before you got over the ball, was very likely a good one. Decision changes made over the ball are usually driven by doubt. Stick to your initial plan, made with confidence.

[MrSandman]

1) Not setting a realistic, smart goal for the shot (or just not setting one at all).

So true.

One of our friends is a beginner. On one hole, he hit a great shot, he was 155 yards away from the pin, hit it right at the pin, beautiful for his ability at that time. Problem was, while his 7I could go 155 yards, it usually only carried about 135-140 at that time. There was a bunker sitting right in front of the pin. So I asked him: Q: How far do you carry that club? A: I can hit it 155 when I hit it well. Q: I know that, but how far do you carry it? How much does it usually roll? A: It usually rolls about 10-20 yards. Q: So you carry it about 135-140? Then that was pretty much a perfect shot, as it carried about 140 yards, and would have probably gone 155, correct? I then opened his eyes to using the approaches of greens and how he could save strokes by putting it in a nice up and down position rather than hitting a shot that is destined to go in the bunker, even if you hit it correctly. And as a beginner, he wasn't really flying the ball to his distance, he was getting a lot of post carry roll, so how that was very important. He simply was not setting realistic goals for the shot. He had the attitude of, "maybe this will be the 150 yarder that I hole out from the fairway" instead of "how do I get down in the fewest amount of strokes". It wasn't his fault, he did not know that aspect of course management. Now he always uses the aprons when he can't fly it the proper distance (although his ball striking is improved, so now he can fly it the proper distance many times, but it is still important with 5 irons and such).

[$2 Nassau]

Remember, it takes far less time to drain one putt than kick around four. ;) If you're in such a hurry, just make sure to make the first one!

Excellent points. So many times, between the time I am standing behind my ball lining up my shot, to when I actually get over my ball and start my swing (talking what? 5 seconds here?) I completely lose my focus and plan, and just swing away.

[sonicblue]

Yesterday, in my career-low round of 76 (yay!), I had an approach from about 145. Tough green, big wide bunker right in front, shallow green front-to back, pin right behind the bunker, 1-2 club wind in my face. Distance is an 8I for me, I really wanted to hit 7I. A 6I from 150 is humbling, but I did it anyway. I struck it solid and ended up on the back of the green, but I two-putted for my par. :D

[bunkerputt]

I want to second Nassau's point. I didn't start getting down in 2 putts or less consistently until I separated my green reading and line from my speed by lining up my putts. I used to get up to a putt and think something like "Hit it about right there with about this much speed." What would happen is on the backstroke I would have some doubt about my line, pull or push the putt, and hit it completely the wrong speed. Now, I figure out the line, line up my ball and trust it. Then I step up to it, resist the urge to change the line, and focus on starting it on-line with the right speed. With so much less to think about, my line may be slightly off, but my speed is almost always perfect, ending up in tap-in range. Then I can go to the next hole with the knowledge that I'm consistently over-reading the break that day and adjust. The difference in my score was about 10 shots per round, all for making a plan and sticking to it. This technique works on every single shot in golf.

[sonicblue]

I want to second Nassau's point. I didn't start getting down in 2 putts or less consistently until I separated my green reading and line from my speed by lining up my putts. I used to get up to a putt and think something like "Hit it about right there with about this much speed." What would happen is on the backstroke I would have some doubt about my line, pull or push the putt, and hit it completely the wrong speed. Now, I figure out the line, line up my ball and trust it. Then I step up to it, resist the urge to change the line, and focus on starting it on-line with the right speed. With so much less to think about, my line may be slightly off, but my speed is almost always perfect, ending up in tap-in range. Then I can go to the next hole with the knowledge that I'm consistently over-reading the break that day and adjust. The difference in my score was about 10 shots per round, all for making a plan and sticking to it. This technique works on every single shot in golf.

You've got it!!! Congrats!

[topspin4hand]

Thx (also to Mr. Sandman for those points). I can't wait to go out and try again to break 100. Subconsciously, I was more realistic yesterday with my drives. I hit the first 6 straight and into the fairway. Then some swagger creeped in (I finished 8 holes in 41 strokes), and the next 4 or so drives I got too confident and tried to kill the ball and guess what? I lost every single @#*! ball in the deep stuff. Lesson learned there.

To stay on topic, I'd be curious to what part of people's games carried them across the 100 threshhold. I'll guess putting but you never know.

Remember, it takes far less time to drain one putt than kick around four. ;) If you're in such a hurry, just make sure to make the first one!

[bunkerputt]

Keeping shots in play with reasonably solid ball contact and getting in the hole in 2 putts or less worked for me. I can't imagine hitting over 100 if you do those two things.

[sonicblue]

If you plan out a hole so that you can reasonably make a 5 on every single one, you'll shoot 90. Some plans will go wrong, but others (par 3's) you should be able to beat that number. It takes humility, but this goes back to Sandman's advice. Very few people will continually make good shots if they're always hitting from trees, thick rough, drop zones, etc.... Plus, you're getting very little practice at the shots that good golfers get (e.g., 160 yard approaches from the fairway).

[MrSandman]

To stay on topic, I'd be curious to what part of people's games carried them across the 100 threshhold. I'll guess putting but you never know.

1. You need to be able to strike the ball solid enough to get around the course. You don't need to be a great ball striker, you can actually be a relatively poor ball striker, but you need to be able to get it off the tee 180 yards, and put your second shot 150 yards, to get you to 330 in two.

2. It should not take you more than 3 shots to get down from 100 yards in. This is key. It requires a few things: a) consistent putting; b) consistent pitching/chipping; c) feel/touch/experience. Once you have an ability to get teh ball 180 off the tee, 150 off your second shot, you should be able to break 100 from on a reasonable course. And this ball striking goal is pretty easy to do when you think about it, and is really a low expectation. If you are able to advance the ball 330 on your first two shots, You will be no more than 100 yards from the pin from the White tees. If you are able to get down in 3 from 100 yards like clockwork, then you are making 5's (bogeys) all day, and if you make 18 bogeys on a par 72, you shoot a 90, which gives you a 9 stroke cushion (half the holes) where you could actually mess up and cost yourself a shot. Now here is the tough part: Being able to get down in 3 from 100 yards on a regular basis. Of course putting is important, but just as important is your pitching ability. - You need to know your distance with your wedges. Practice your distances at the range, or on the chipping/pitching area. If I'm 50 yards away, I know that is a 70% 60 degree, or a 60% 56 degree, or a 50% 52 degree. Remember how far you bring the club back to make the ball go 50 yards, or 30 yards, or 75 yards (your follow through should be similar for all of the shots) (think a pitch shot on Tiger Woods video game, your backswing length controls the distance) - You need to work on accuracy. You don't have to be pinpoint if your goal is only to break 100, you really only need to hit the center of the green (you should be able to two putt from the center of the green at a high percentage) Distance is more important than accuracy (you will usually be reasonably accurate, within 10-20 ft of the hole on either side, it is the distance that can be tough to get down) - A good idea is going to the range and firing at flags inside 100 yards, spend hours doing this. Spend as much time, if not more, practicing pitches from 30 yards, 50 yards, 60 yards, 75 yards, 90 yards. Get good at this. This is easier to become "adequate" at than it is to hit a 5 iron. Learn your wedge distance as well as you know your 7I and 9I distance. When I'm on the course, and I have a 35 yd pitch, it doesn't matter if I'm using my 52, 56 or 60 degree wedge, I always think of the 35 yard flag at my local range that I hit hundreds of balls at with ease. I never worry about a 50 yd shot, I always know what it requires, and know that I'll at least make solid contact (sometimes I have an improper pre-shot idea, but the contact is always consistent). - You need to get comfortable with how your ball lands on the green, what happens after it hits, does it roll, does it stop, are you hitting into a hill, down a slope, etc... This will come with practice, and is very difficult to master. But if your goal is breaking 100, then it is easy to become adequate. Also: - You need to be able to two putt from 30 feet, which will require you to be able to make 4 or 5 footers without fear. Learn to become "automatic" (even if only in your own mind) from 5 feet and in. Moral of this long winded story: If you can be within 100 yards with a reasonable lie on your second shot on a par 4, you should make bogey. No excuse not to. Double should not be acceptable, and triples and quads should never even enter your mind. In another thread we're discussing good practice techniques. I mention not to fear the chip n putt courses. Do you go to pitch n putt courses? If not, try one out. You should be able to get around a pitch n putt in no more than 54 strokes (3 per hole). If it takes you 60 shots to get around that course, then you know where you need to continue working. If you are able to get around a chip n putt in under 50 strokes, you'll probably be closer to shooting in the 80's than in the 100's, provided your ball striking is "adequate".

[sonicblue]

With all due respect, Sandman, I'd offer a different approach. Just to pick one thing - no one struggling to break 100 will make a lot of 4-5 footers. They just won't. I know we're not supposed to talk in "negatives," but I'll point out what someone trying to break 100 needs to eliminate:

1) OB drives, and I know you hit a lot of them. If you play properly, "hitting 3 off the tee" is two full strokes, and we all know you probably found OB because you were playing Hercules, and that mindset probably has you throwing a couple other shots in the drink throughout the day.

2) Flubs: sticking an 8I or wedge in the ground, or flat-chunking that bump and run. Not only is it a completely wasted stroke, it's usually indicative of two things: complete doubt, or utter strain.

I think this is the paradox a high-handicapper faces. They don't want to play like a high-handicapper (taking 5W off the tee, laying up on par 4's), they want to feel like they're playing like a low-handicapper. BUT, those ideas of what a low-handicapper plays like are probably distorted!

Low handicappers aren't swinging their driver for all they're worth, they're generating speed through fundamentals. They're not throwing darts at pins, they're planning smartly and their misses don't look like misses, because they're so comfortable getting up and down. When you play like a high-handicapper for even a little while, you'll realize these things, and then open up the road to better scores.

[albatross]

With all due respect, Sandman, I'd offer a different approach. Just to pick one thing - no one struggling to break 100 will make a lot of 4-5 footers. They just won't. I know we're not supposed to talk in "negatives," but I'll point out what someone trying to break 100 needs to eliminate:

Really good points. I'm a high-handicapper and this is how I feel out there.

[MrSandman]

Fair enough, sonic.

They need to be able to hit the ball adequately. But if they can get to within 100 yards of the green in two, they should be able to make 5's all day. If they can't, that is the best thing to practice, in my opinion, to lower their scores.

I guess I should have said:
Getting down in 3 from 100 yards in is the best way for a high handicapper to lower their scores, provided they know how to keep their full shots in play.

[klaymon]

I started playing seriously/regularly in October of 2007. My first 18-hole, sub-100 round was a 97 on January 31, 2008. About 2 weeks prior to that, I had two 9-hole rounds that were 48 and 47.

[meenman]

Not that it is SUPER important, since even if you got 101 you were in position to break 100 last time out Mr.Meen, but DID you break 100? A bogey for 99 on the last hole gives you a good chance, but a bogey is DEFINITELY NOT guaranteed for those of us that dont shoot at least 90, since a bogey average is a handicap of 18. So did you hold it together for the last hole not counting the 8 you hit into the woods off the tee box to start with?

Yes I did make it - which surprised me because at that point I felt pressure for the first time on the course.

Now to try to turn this debate civil - maybe sandman and sonics ideas will work for others but I will explain why I dont feel it would work for me. I am basically a *driver retard* - I could improve my scores a little by moving up but it wont help my long term game. My par 3s are solid (in my opinion) - about 48% par / 48% bogey and 4% double or triple- i have my clubs for the 150-190 yard distance on those and can tune out the hazards and hit straight or over them. My #1 nemesis used to be hole 1 - basically a very skinny fairway with trees straight ahead and water winding from in front of me, all along the right side up to the pin. This hole used to be a guaranteed 8-10 for me. I put away my driver, hit my 2 hybrid twice and I am now either going par or bogey on this hole. Very hard to break 100 when you start with a 9. I feel my putting and chipping (at my home course) are decent (not great) for my experience. I generally putt about 34 times a round - a couple 3 putts but a couple more 1 putts. My problems are all driver related - I could move up and hit my hybrids to lower my score for now - but it is never going to help my driver issues. I downsized from a sumo 2 to my current titleist 975D and it has helped but I still have days where I am real off on 5-6 holes with it (stroke and distance penalties add to a score real fast) My other issue is hitting when I am facing downward on a hill - I need this issue to come up more to work on it. My high scores are generally due to 2-3 blow up holes (you know the holes that you cant understand why you dont par them everytime) If I move up I am taking my problem club out of my hand - but I need it to greatly improve. My handicap has dropped 9-10 in the last 6 months and 15 in the past 9 (I just decided one day I was taking up golf and really sucked). Every 2 weeks it drops a bit more so I am making progress. Honestly I play golf to tune out the world for 3.5 hours at a time. My scores do not bother me or anyone else because I am not holding up play. Actually I probably get more annoyed at the liberal use of the foot wedge and mulligans that my partners always seem to believe in. Now if you guys have other suggestions for me other than hitting the range more (of course everything always goes straight there) I would be more than happy to hear them.

[BeaSt]

I started at the age of 6 but didnt seriously get into golf until i was around 10. But after i seriously got into the game id say it took me around a month or so.

[MrSandman]

I could improve my scores a little by moving up but it wont help my long term game. .......

meenman, that last post is a fair post, and if Driver is your issue, then you need to work on that (although if you're not breaking 90 on a regular basis, than it is not just your driver that is the issue, and you could improve on a lot of things.)

I just want to make something clear, as the quote I highlighted in your past post makes me think you are still head in the clouds here: NOBODY IS SAYING YOU SHOULD MOVE UP TEES TO IMPROVE YOUR SCORE FOR THAT ROUND!!! We are saying that you should play a short course to improve your scoring ability, not improve your score for that particular round. You don't keep your score from those short courses, except to monitor your practice improvement. You don't post those scores, you don't brag about those scores at the bar, nobody cares about those scores but you. Stop acting like we are saying you should move up tees to artificially inflate your ego. That's not what anybody is saying. Seriously, after all this debate, and you seem to have enough time to get some rounds in, find a 5,000 yd executive course near you, play it 3 times in a week, try to shoot in the 80's (not just break 100), and see what happens. Report back to us, let us know how you scored on those courses, and then let us know how you scored over the next two weeks on your regular course. Why not do it? It won't hurt you at all.

[meenman]

meenman, that last post is a fair post, and if Driver is your issue, then you need to work on that (although if you're not breaking 90 on a regular basis, than it is not just your driver that is the issue, and you could improve on a lot of things.)

you're right I have one more issue - and that is the belief that when I drive one into the woods that I can magically hit the ball through 10 trees as a short cut instead of *wasting* a shot chipping back out onto the fairway