How long did it take you to break 100?

[MrSandman]

Seriously, meenman, you're okay in my opinion based on the cartman avatar alone, but I would love to see you play a short course three times in a short span, and see if that helps you on your real course. We've debated enough, let's see what the result is. Why not give it a shot?

I totally understand that your driver is your issue, and you think you need to put it in play, and that playing a short course will not help that. But why not just give it a shot so you can report back to us and we can all learn from your experience.

You play a lot of rounds, right? You live in Tampa area, there are tons of courses there. Let's stop arguing and let's get some feedback!!!

I really don't even care much about your game or improvement, I just want to see results from our debate.

[Bourbon and Coke]

I still haven't broken 100 :(

Now that I've got clubs that fit and a new outlook on it, I should be breaking 100 by the end of summer, though.

Edit: that is, if I can get my new driver in a timely fashion

[Uthinkso]

I can get under 98 with some level of consistency, and other times the wheels just fall off and I blow up.

I have a goal that I don't want any mark on the card higher than a 6 and that only plays for two holes. Of course I never get there, but I try like hell.

[topspin4hand]

Good stuff again. I KNOW for sure I practice with my long clubs too much now (driver, 3W and Hybrid 3). Probably b/c I hit them the best so why not feel good during at least part of my range time. Though, with a few rounds under my belt, I see that driving isn't my problem so I'll try lessening my practice time with that and begin getting my distances down (I really have no exact idea how far my LW, SW and AW (have only owned for 1 round) will go and I know that's a no no. Hopefully, I have some practice time before I play July 5. My practice routine will definitely be changing to allocate more time 100 yards and in.

Now here is the tough part:

[MrSandman]

It is not just knowing how far your GW, SW, and LW go, but rather how far you have to bring each of them back to hit them 30 yds, 40 yds, 50 yds, etc...

Also, pay specific attention to carry distance. A lot of times, I just look how far I have to carry it to get on the green, and if it is 35 yards, and the pin is somewhere in the middle, then I just go 40 yards carry and know that I will be fine. You'll then start to figure out which wedge works best in the situation, based on your carry distance and how much roll you want.

[topspin4hand]

It is not just knowing how far your GW, SW, and LW go, but rather how far you have to bring each of them back to hit them 30 yds, 40 yds, 50 yds, etc...

***t that's a LOT more practice! Oh well, I love this game too much to go half azz at it.

[meenman]

Seriously, meenman, you're okay in my opinion based on the cartman avatar alone, but I would love to see you play a short course three times in a short span, and see if that helps you on your real course. We've debated enough, let's see what the result is. Why not give it a shot?

I will try - but I have to behave until my boss goes on vacation since I just told him to go f himself

[MrSandman]

You really are a piece of work, meenman.

And after all this, "it should never take more than 3 shots to get down from 100 yds" talk, I managed to take 4 shots from 75 yds on two holes in a row today, boy was I pissed.

[meenman]

You really are a piece of work, meenman.

I guess we know what you will be working on

. Seriously at that point I would have grabbed cartgirl and just started pounding a few beers.

[MrSandman]

exactly what i did. as i felt like tossing my 60 degree wedge in a pond (and i never throw clubs), the cartgirl showed up magically, and i ordered a 6 pack.

[MellowYellow]

I'll give you $10 for it Sandman, I was in a store looking to buy a lob wedge, and I wanted to go in and practice hitting a few 60degrees just for an idea but some dude was hogging the drive cage. He kept hitting drivers OVER and OVER hitting the matt first. He'd do it twice, then go grab a different driver... Meanwhile having his son continue to hit while he was gone to make sure i couldnt get back in, i was in there, went to change clubs and let him in cause i heard him asking the store rep about a driver he wanted to buy and to hit it... little did i know he wasnt going to stop til he found one that wouldnt hit the ground before the ball... I didnt know that was a property of drivers.. but I'm newer to the game so...

What would one look for when buying a 60 degree club though? They all felt pretty similar to me.

[ElTigre]

Hmmm. I played awhile before breaking 100. But it was just with my dad hitting balls on the range and joking around. Then about 7th grade summer i decided to take the game seriously, and started getting lessons. I think I broke 100 in the first month of that time. A couple months later a shot a legit 79. Then went on a horrible streak. But thats how golf is. Now after 2 years, I hover around the high seventies. Anything over 81 and I'm dissapointed.
(unless at a very difficult course)

All you have to do is keep at it. If you broke 100 in a month and a half without lessons. You sound like a natural learner. But if you can pump up your practicing from 2wice a week to 3 times a week, you will notice a marginally bigger improvement. Even if you only work on one thing that day. And if you can't do that. Go to your local pro and get some drills that you can work on.

[WhirlybirdPro]

Took me 8 months or so to break 100. Many short game improvements made breaking 90 a much easier feat than getting under the 100 shot barrier. Breaking 80 is proving to be quite a task though....

[RezGolfer1]

I have been on here a little over a year now and haven't posted much but this is worth posting for myself. I started golf last July (2007) and started playing here and there and a few scrambles...nothing too major. At the start of 2008 I got a membership at my local club and started to see and feel my golf game getting better. Ball striking was probably the major jump for me and controling my slice. Things just started clicking for me a ton.

So about breaking 100, well last year I went out for a full round like 3 times and all three time my scores were between 115 - 125. Here is what I am most proud of...I have been out a ton more and shooting in the low 90's. My first full round I shot a 93 :D Totally had me stoked! So since than I have just been flirting with breakin 90, numerous rounds of 93, 94, and 95 so really close ; )

[Righty to Lefty]

I definately have a different perspective on this one because my situation is much different than most. I started playin golf sporadically at 17 but really started to take it seriously at 24 and play regularly. I was a righty and I had worked my handicap from the maximum to a 12 in one year. But I feel that my progress was accelerated because I played between 6-9 rounds per week. I broke a 100 after a couple months of playing only 3 or 4 times per month and I feel that you it can be done very quickly but I depends on how much practice you get in. It all boils down to how many swings you get in in between rounds to start to develop the muscle memory and then it just takes a lucky day on the course and it can be done I mean after all to shoot 100 is nearly two extra strokes per hole so it isn't impossible to get lucky enough to break it quickly. In my case due to injury I had to switch from righty to lefty about two months ago and I shot a legit 100 after four rounds. My case is different because I was formerly a 12 handicap right handed so I understood how to play the game and more importantly I knew how to think the game a lil. I also continued to putt right handed and so I didn't have much of a falloff there. Mr. Sandman definately has a very good point when he says to play from the red tees. Not just the red tees but all tees make the course play different and you have to use a different strategy for each and the course management aspect is most important. From the shorter tees you shouldn't even really be hitting driver at all and you should be tryin to set up distances to give you the all important shots at the green from the scoring range of 100 yards. See how many greens and fairways in regulation you can hit and not how many par 4's you can drive because that isn't the point and you'll likely shoot the same score if that is your approach. I have a 115 mph swingspeed and I hit driver 315-340 but I have learned that the way to play this game is to set up distances and situations with the most lofted club possible to keep yourself in play even if it is and iron. I play at Sahara golf club in Kuwait which is a desert course and very difficult ( www.saharakuwait.com to see for yourself) and I play from all the tees because they all have their benefits. The red tees (5371 yards) make you think like a scorer and want birdies and the championship tees (6730 yards) bring out the grinder skills to get those tough bogies. I joined this forum just to answer this question so that is why this answer has been so long. Our club pro here shot 61 from the red tees (his best round is 64 from the tips) and he stresses that it matters not what tee you play from it matters what you do when you get into the scoring zone (100 yards) Are you hitting balls tight to the pin and one or two putting or are you skulling and shanking balls and wasting shots. Just my opinion

[thenormankid]

I still haven't broken 100 yet but I can feel it coming within the next round or two. My last round I felt like I was going to break it but I came two short. This would be a great feat to me since I just came up on a year of golf.

[bogeyhitter25]

It took me about 8 rounds. The lowest I've gone is 94.

[kafka01]

I started playing on a wide open desert course which i played for about 5 months. Not very difficult - mishots of any kind werent really penalized. I broke 90 in a offical round pretty much to the end of that 5month period. Went home and had to play on a parkland hilly type course - couldnt break 100 for 2 more months - what a frustration.

Went back on the desert course last winter and broke 80 the first time - back home it still took me a couple more months to see the 80 mark break. Despite almost having the same Slope/CR-rating from our golf federation - these two courses demand different skillsets - which obv. have different learning curves.

So if you want to compare two people playing/practicing equal amounts and how long it took them to break milestones you have to also consider which kind of course the normally play.