Slow Swingers with Low Handicap

[alcorn]

Was wondering how many out there have a under 10 handicap with a fairly slow swing. I only hit my drives around 250 and my irons are fairly short. Can't reach most par 5's in 2 unless they are short. How do you compete with the long hitters? Do you have to out play them with the short game?

If your driving the ball 250 then you're not exactly short off the tee. Remember that the driver is only going to be hit at a maximum of 14-15 times in a round. To me, and I hit my driver about the same distance, the tee shot is less about distance as it is about positioning. If you can put yourself in a position to hit a good second shot then you're in good shape. As far as your second question, the way you win at this game is with your short game. You can have a 350+ plus drive and great iron game but if you can't hit a putt then you're not gonna win.

[dmc]

The drive is the least important part of the game has long as it is kept in play. For people who say their distance is hurting their game suck it up and move a tee up. Simple solution right. If you keep a handicap it should stay the same because of the different slope and rating. Some people hit the ball far and others dont quit bit**in about it.

If only the guy's in my skins game would let me.

We play the tees based on handicap. 0-3 plays the tips, 4-12 gold, 13-? blue, No one playes the white or ladies tee's. Ive suggested since I don't hit the ball long that I should get to play up. My playing partners said they don't chip and putt as well as I do and maybe I should give them putts within 5'. I'll continue to play the same tees as them.

[pshizz]

I carry my driver about 240 and hit a 7 iron 155 so I probably fall into the category of a short knocker for my handicap but it just doesn't bother me. I can hit a 420 yd par 4 with a mid-iron and even though I'm not dancing in 2 all that often, I can get within a short chip of any par 5 under 530 yds.

I agree. What let me drop my handicap was my good iron play, and my ability to hit alof of GIR's. However now that i have gotten players irons, I see my ball striking going away. It's only the beginning of the season though.

[flopdarock]

Was wondering how many out there have a under 10 handicap with a fairly slow swing. I only hit my drives around 250 and my irons are fairly short. Can't reach most par 5's in 2 unless they are short. How do you compete with the long hitters? Do you have to out play them with the short game?

you do realize that a gir on a par 5 is 3 right?

if you can get yourself to make alot of pars even if you dont get alot of birdies... you can be in the single digits... a good friend of mine's 3rd season is this year... he dwindled his hcp to single digits by the end of last season... he plays to about 11 or so right now... he has never gotten a birdie on a regulation length course... never... and he was a 9 hcp last year... he is shorter off the tee than i am most of the time... in the 210-220 range... im in the 220-230 range if im lucky... par 5's arent my problem... i can get pretty close to getting girs on those puppies... its the long par 4's reaching the green in 2 that get me pulling a wood or long hybrid as an approach shot! ... so i have to scramble my ass off most of the time and birdies are due to great chip shots that get into gimme putt range... i know old guys at my club that can kick my ass and they drive 180-190... its all about how you manage your game

[flopdarock]

oh yeah... and to add this... you can make up alot of your scores on par 3's... i always think to myself that par 3's are my birdie opportunity holes... doesnt always work out that way... but thats my mindset

[RocketSauce]

to answer OP's original post: im not sure what you mean by slow SS, but my driver SS tops out at 100mph, and thats when i really get on it. i prolly avg 240-250 off the tee and all my clubs except my driver have regular flex shafts in them. but my hc right now is 4.5 (havent updated it on this site in awhile). im not long off the tee by any means. short game and putting is where its at for me

[Drive For Show Putt For Dough]

I swing relatively slow, well compared to the poeple I people play with who hit it about 275-290. I only hit it, maybe 250, if I catch it good. I usually have long irons into greens. So I really focus on my putting, wedge game, and my long irons.

[johnL7]

For me, the driver isn't about bombing it 320+ every hole and getting myself into bad spots on the course. What I try to do with my driver is swing 80% and let the club do the work. This way, I'm hitting around 70% of fairways and I am still hitting it around 270-280 which is plenty of distance.
Basically the only problem with being short on distance is the long par 4's in that case you are mostly going to have to rely on your short game to get you up and down to scramble for your par. Par 5's aren't the big trouble because you can lay up to a comfortable wedge distance and hit it onto the green with your 3rd shot.

[hamletsdead]

Great topic. I've been trying to hit it longer ever since my brother-in-law was kind enough to show me how to play the game three years ago -- he took me out to the range and I watched him sail the 250 marker with his drives time and again with what looked like virtually no effort. When I tried to match him, I ended up with a slice that stopped about 190 yards out there (still rolling dead right to the fence, 40 yards off line).

For the last 3 years I've been trying to hit it farther and farther and farther -- partly so that when he comes back to town I can take him to town, but also because the guys I regularly play with all routinely outdrive me.

I now hit my drives 240-250, sometime catch it 270 (and also occasionally pop one up about 210), and my friends still smack it past me. It totally kills me -- I'm 6', 215 lbs, and pretty athletic, and I hit my irons fairly well (e.g., 9-iron 125, 7-iron 155, 4-iron 190), but I just can't seem to crack a damn home run with my driver. I played baseball growing up through college, and I was more of a singles hitter than anything else, and I feel like I've got a lot of carryover here. I can hit it straight, and pretty far, I'm just not one of those guys who swings for the fences. When I try to do that, bad things happen. (OB, water ball, ball on next fairway, ball in trees, ball over fence into housing development, etc.)

I guess I'll stop worrying about it and go work on my wedge game and putting -- had 38 putts today. Perhaps that's why I can't break 80.

[Golf Reprisal]

This has definitely made me feel a whole lot better about my driving. I still don't know whether or not I should play from the whites or the blues. At the course I play it goes gold>blue>white>ylw>red. I can get to the green almost consistently now within regulation on blues. I "think" my drive is around 250 without a roll (not sure as I'm a lefty in a podunk town that doesn't have launch monitors set up for lefties and won't do it either!!!!!!).
However, my bread-and-butter has been my chipping (SW baby) and thatkeeps me around bogey atm as I just started three months ago).