What Could Decrease My Score Most?

[Leftygolfer]

It just depends. If you are sideways off the tee and don't have a look at the green after the tee shot, you can't score even with a great short game. That is probably the biggest determinate of how I will score. If I hit good tee shots the worse score I take is a bogie. If I hit bad ones, the best score I will make is a bogie. Giving yourself easy up and downs. I'd take my shortgame and a 20 yard chip from the fringe over a PGA tour pro's shortgame from 30 yards right short sided deep rough. You know what I mean? It isn't how good you are, it is where you are playing from. Good long game creates easy shots around the green.

[Zeph]

Scoring well is about four things.

1: Finding the fairway
2: Finding the green
3: Putting well
4: Chipping well

If you hit 9/18 greens in regulation, you've got a decent stat. If you still post a lot of bogeys or double bogeys, your short game and putting needs attention.
If you miss a lot of fairways, chances are good you'll also miss a lot of greens. That means you'll need an extraordinary short game and putting to shoot at par.

So, look at your average round, where do you get into trouble. If you don't hit a single green and get up and down perhaps 30% of the time, don't work on your short game, work on the long game. Find the fairway and find the green. If you still don't score well, work on your short game and putting. You cannot become a better player without hitting a fair amount of fairways and greens.

[i-Guy]

It just depends. If you are sideways off the tee and don't have a look at the green after the tee shot, you can't score even with a great short game. That is probably the biggest determinate of how I will score. If I hit good tee shots the worse score I take is a bogie. If I hit bad ones, the best score I will make is a bogie. Giving yourself easy up and downs. I'd take my shortgame and a 20 yard chip from the fringe over a PGA tour pro's shortgame from 30 yards right short sided deep rough. You know what I mean? It isn't how good you are, it is where you are playing from. Good long game creates easy shots around the green.

This thinking definitely has merit as from what I understand the most important stat related to scoring is GIR’s (see below) but I would argue “like you” that if you don’t drive the ball well you won’t have many chances at GIR…but I recently was exposed to the information below from a reputable research company that studied from PGA Tour Pros to 30 handicappers and came up with the following for what it takes to shoot 80 and my stats when I broke 80 in 2009 matched up to this:

Hitting greens OF ALL THE STATISTICS IN THE GAME, ONLY TWO really matter when it comes to determining score: greens hit in regulation (example: you hit a par-4 green in two) and putts. Breaking 80 usually goes with reaching certain benchmarks in these areas. To help you get there, Shelby Futch, who heads the Golf Digest schools, has provided some quick tips (below). My job is to show you the numbers. Here's a quick way to remember the effect of GIRs on your score: "Three greens break 90, eight greens break 80, and 13 greens break 70." That prediction is fairly accurate for any single round, and within one stroke about 90 percent of the time when you take the average of four or more rounds. So that's our first part: To consistently break 80, you should average eight or more GIRs. Take a few recent scorecards, or record your next few rounds, and average your scores, then average your GIRs. Compare your results to the chart at left. I bet you're right at, or very close to, where the chart says you should be. But if you score better than your GIRs would predict-say, you hit four greens but average 83-you probably have an extraordinary short game. You need to focus on hitting more greens. If you score worse than your GIRs would predict-say, you hit seven greens but average 85-then your putting is weak, or you tend to have blowup holes, which throw off any system for predicting score: GiRs 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 10 - 11 - 12 - 13 Score 93- 91- 89- 87- 85- 83- 81-79-77-75-73-71-69 Putting THE SECOND PIECE OF THE SCORING PUZZLE IS putting. When it comes to breaking 80, putting is less important than GIRs but much more important than everything else. After all, more than a third of all strokes are putts. Although the "eight greens break 80" rule is a good predictor, it is possible to break 80 with fewer than eight GIRs, and possible to not break 80 with more than eight. The difference in these cases usually (but not always) is putting. How many putts should you take to shoot 79? The chart below, also derived from my number crunching, shows how putting relates to score in a typical round by golfers at various skill levels. statistically, putting is a weaker score predictor than GIRs, but it's useful to see how your stats measure up to average performance levels. Here's a sampling: Putts 37 - 36 - 35 - 34 - 33 - 32 - 31 - 30 - 29 - 28 Score 95 - 92 - 88 - 86 - 83 - 80 - 77 - 74 - 71 - 68 As you can see, the golfers who regularly break 80 average 32 or fewer putts per round. (for comparison, the best putters on the PGA Tour average just less than 28.) how many putts do you take? Again, go back to a few recent scorecards, or keep track of your putts over the next four or five rounds, and see where you fall. OK, let's recap. Hitting eight greens in regulation and taking 32 putts is the most conventional or "well-rounded" way to break 80, but there are others. You can hit half that many greens, but you'd have to be a better putter than any player on tour. On the flip side, if you take two putts on every green (36 putts per round), you'd have to hit more than half the greens (11 to be exact).

[sean_miller]

I've heard putting is what gives you good scores . . . should I practice that nonstop at home instead of hitting those foam balls that seem to degrade my swing?

Are you worried about your scores - per hole and/or in/out/total - or do you want to be a better player?

Repetition doesn't make perfect, it makes permanent. To get the lowest scores right now, get a pencil with an eraser, or forget how to count. To get better in the long term, get your game analyzed - submit a video to this site, or get a lesson. There are lot of armchair quarterbacks waiting to help you.

[ncb09]

always in and around the green!
the best advice ive been given since playin golf and i quote "any monkey can smack a ball 200yrds, get on the f***in puttin green, that'll sort you out"

[The Recreational Golfer]

This is an interesting thread. Let me say this about my game. I break 80 only when my long game is clicking. I hit the ball well, I go low. If my long game is indifferent, my short game keeps my score from going too high, but my short game and putting by themselves have never let me go low.

There's a quote in Percy Boomer's book, On Learning Golf that I like. "Golf is one whole game. It is true that if you cannot putt you cannot win, for no hole is won until the ball is down--but good scores are only made possible by good play up to the green." p. 221

[Deryck Griffith]

Greens in regulation from the fairway and from 150-100 yards in. So many people I play with completly miss the green from this distance which, usually results in a borderline chip and a three put. If you can improve on hitting the green from this distance and two putting rather than 3 putting, then, you will see a huge improvement on your scores.

[ks8829]

I played with my golf buddy yesterday and here is an example of what a great short game can help your score.

I hit a good drive in the fairway and my second shot to a par 5 was 40 yards away from the pin, I then chipped up within 5 feet and missed my down hill putt for birdie and made par.

My friend was 15 yards behind me in the rough, missed his second shot with a fairway wood and hit his approach shot about 25 feet from the pin, he chipped and made his putt to save par, we half the hole with the same score.

If you have a strong short game you will knock off at least 5 strokes off your scores just from around the green.

[pittpanther]

I played with my golf buddy yesterday and here is an example of what a great short game can help your score.

My interpretation of this example is that a better long game gave you a chance at birdie, while the guy with the poor long game had to scramble just to stay even with you.

[Mizuno Junky]

I believe putting and the half wedge shots and pitch shots from 40-75 yards. I've been working on them personally, they're pretty fun to hit!

[KevinC]

If I had to pick one thing it would be putting. I keep track of putts and when I was playing every week I would avg. 2 putts a hole now that I have play once every month if im lucky im avg. 3 putts a hole. That adds at least 18 strokes to my score.

Kevin

[westcyderydin]

By keeping your mindset on the course different than the one on the pratice range. The range is where you work on your swing. The only thing you should be thinking about while on the course is "What do i have to do with this shot to get a par?" Find your plan and execute it. I cant tell you how much this helps. if you do have something major going wrong, dont dwell on it or try to tinker the whole round. thats the wrong headspace to be in. allow yourself a certain time to make an adjustment such as between holes or as you are making the turn or on a practice swing, but once you are in your routine you are only taking care of business.

i think this is one of the big differences between good golfers and ok golfers.

[maelkoth]

For me, the importance on putting is overrated. I usually average 36 putts/round. If I lower my average by 6 putts to reach a pga pro's stats of 30 putts/round, I'll still be shooting a high 80's score...and there's no way I'm going to be able to reach a pga pro's stats...

For me, it's either because I'm stuck behind a tree, or have a really unfortunate lie...so yeah, I need to practice everything but my putting...so for you, keep stats and figure out what you need to practice...everyone's different.

[Randy4h]

There are several steps that will decrease your score:

1) Put your tee ball in play. If you miss the fairway off the tee, it will cost you, on average, a stroke. Whether it's a fairway bunker, OB, a water hazard, trees, or just a bad lie in the rough, your chance to hit the green in regulation just dropped to practically zero. Low hdcps won't lose a full stroke, but mid and high hdcps will probably lose more than a stroke, on average. Solution: Take whatever club allows you to hit the fairway on a consistent basis, at least 50% but preferably 70% of the time.

2) Don't be a hero with your approach shots. If you are more than 50 yards from a green, you aren't going to hit it within 10'. The pros don't, why would you think you will? And unless you hit it inside 10' you won't make the putt anyway. If you miss the green, it will cost you anywhere from 1/2 to 2 strokes, depending on your hdcp. Solution: Hit to the center of the green, regardless of where the flag is.

3) Work on your short game, so that when you miss a green, you can get the ball to within one-putt range at least half the time. At a minimum, make sure you get the ball onto the green with your first chip/pitch.

4) Don't 3-putt. Practice your lag putting, so that you can consistently get 40 footers inside 3'.

5) Make those pesky 3-5 footers.

Soaring 275 yard drives would be great. Hitting a laser-like 5 iron to a tucked pin for a tap-in birdie is exhilarating. But the reality is, if you truly want to decrease your scores, work outward from the hole. That's where the strokes are. Good luck!