Break Through?

[2bGood]

Well my game has really come alive in the last 2 weeks. I have been playing well this season and really working on my game but I could not get it all together. Then last Wednesday I go out and shoot 79 (first time breaking 80) this was a net 61 so a very big break through and my lowest score on this course was 86 before. I managed to play again a few days later and shot 93 as my mind wasn't right as I was trying to shoot a score. since then I have only be able to play 9 hole 3 times but have broken 40 all three times. Could this be a big break through? or just a hot streak?

[mdl]

Congrats. Were you having a cold streak (despite feeling like you were playing well overall this season)? My experience is the game goes in cycles. I worked really hard last summer and went from averaging maybe 89-90 to averaging 84-85. The uptrend was capped by back to back 81's, both with bad putting, one with 4 back to back to back to back 3 putt bogeys.

Then I started working on some new swing stuff to try to get to the next level for real, and I've been on a big downswing. I don't get too depressed about it though cause my cold streak has me averaging maybe 88-90, which I felt was a solid, if not awesome, day not too long ago.

Keep up the good work.

[2bGood]

I was going through a bad swing streak. This was the first year I played regular weekly since I took up the game 7 years ago. The last few years I would play 20-30 rounds a year, and when I lost my swing I would not play for a month or so and then start from scratch. This year I played through the bad swing and it took 3 months or so to get it worked out as I just got more and more frustrated. When I got my swing figured out I found my short game and scrambling was very sharp and the last few weeks I have been playing the golf of my dreams.

I am interested to see if can keep my game stable where it is right now and then improve from there, or if I will slip back

[ks8829]

When I had my first low score I played the very next day and shot 15 over the previous day. I could not figure out what I did or did not do to be able to play two back to back low rounds.

Well over 10 years later, I think, I know that answer, a good short game.
When you played your great round and broke 80, go back and calculate the following:

1) putts per hole
2) up and down or scrambling to one putt
3) green hit
4) fairways hit

what you might find is that you putted well and your short game was on and you were able to save par or even save boogie with one putts.

I believe the secret to low scores is not hitting fairways or even greens but to be able to scramble and one putt to make birdies, save par and even save boogies.

So if you want to be able to have more break throughs work on the short game and you will soon shooting in the 70's more consistently.

I shot my best round of the year last Monday shooting par.

Par or 70
36 front nine
34 back nine

1) Putts 28
2) 7 up and down out of 9 attempts
3) 10 greens hit out of 18 attempts
4) 6 fairways hit out of 13 fairways since they had 5 par 3's and was a par 70

1 boogie, one double boogie and three birdies. I had 9 one putts and one three putt for the round. This is a courses that I do not play often but I putted and read the greens very well that day, previous to this my best round on this course was 79, so the score even suprised me.

Look at Tiger, he has the ability to win even when he is not playing his best because he is a master at saving par and making the putts when it counts for eagles, birdies and sometimes more important to save par to keep the round going.
The third day in Australia he played his worse round and shot even par when everybody was going low. It would be intersting to see his score card for that day and see how many putts he had and what his scrambing to save par was on his off day.

[James_Black]

A reverse pivot was causing me to hit the ball really short and I could barely break 100.
I fixed it and I shot a 87 the next day!

It depends on your confidence levels and concentration.
If you think you can score well then you probably will.
If you think you'll play bad then you probably will.

[2bGood]

When I had my first low score I played the very next day and shot 15 over the previous day. I could not figure out what I did or did not do to be able to play two back to back low rounds.

Short game always works. The fact is my swing was so off that I had to putt and scramble well to make bogies - when I got my swing back my short game was saving par and getting bridies.

I can never figure out how to practice putting. There is some great putters that rarely practice putting, I found that very light putting practice works well for me but I will practice shots from 100 in like crazy.