Finally, a break-through!!!!!!!!

[Bullitt5339]

I finally broke into the 80's!!!!!! An 88 to be exact, and backed it up the next day with an 89. All this practice and playing is finally paying off. I had a few 9's in the 40's, but couldn't ever seem to put 2 low 40's together before.

Here's the stats for the 88 round:

Fairways: 10 of 14
GIRs: 3
Putts: 28

What saved me was my chipping and pitching. I feel I'm doing well off the tee, and around the green, I just can't seem to hit the green on my 2nd shot, I'm always just a few feet away. But my chipping was on, since I started adding the Cleveland Niblick to my bag. Most of the time, I was within 5 ft when chipping, which really brought my number of putts down. Typically I'm at 35 putts per round.

Golf is great when you're actually making progress!!!!!!!!! My confidence is so much better now that I've been striking the ball reasonably well for the past month or so. I stuck my 2nd shot 4 ft off the fringe on a long par 5, and missed the chip in by 6", which would have been my first ever Eagle.

[ks8829]

I bet you can't wait to play another round again. What is your up and down stat? when ever you have an attempt to get up and down and one putt is an up and down. keep track of this and its as important as your putts per round. Good Job!

[Shanker]

Great progress! I'm in the same boat except my chipping is hurting my score. I can drive pretty consistent, Iron play is ok, putting is good.. Last week friday I shot 47 front nine and 56 back nine @ Ironwood GC in WI....chipipng killed my back nine...I'm hoping to break into the low 90s come this Saturday...

[Bullitt5339]

I bet you can't wait to play another round again. What is your up and down stat? when ever you have an attempt to get up and down and one putt is an up and down. keep track of this and its as important as your putts per round. Good Job!

I don't track up and downs normally. It just didn't happen often enough for me to keep track.........lol

I'll have to start tracking that as well, now that my game is improving. I just wish I had the accuracy from 150ish yards out (the distance I find myself out on most of the Par 4's on my course) to get more GIR's.

[ks8829]

just for fun focus on your up and down from around the green and if you can add 2-5 more up and down per round on average your scores will stay lower. It took me 20 years to realize that the short game is where it's at, putting and up and downs. the rest of game improves indirectly with this style of practice.

[saevel25]

Do you know what your common miss is. Most golfers its short. most of the time we record a yardage we hit as our maximum with that club.

[Shindig]

First, congratulations on your breakthrough.

I don't track up and downs normally. It just didn't happen often enough for me to keep track.........lol

Maybe that's a good reason to start tracking it. When it happens, note what happens, too. It will tell you where you want to miss when you miss. If you're getting up and down from a bunker more frequently than the rough, it says to aim so that if you miss, you're in the bunker. And to practice from the rough a bit, so you can at least reliably get it on the green from there.

I'll have to start tracking that as well, now that my game is improving. I just wish I had the accuracy from 150ish yards out (the distance I find myself out on most of the Par 4's on my course) to get more GIR's.

Along with some others, I said on another thread that iron striking -- hitting greens with irons -- is a very important aspect of one's score, particularly if you aren't hitting half. Let's discuss, briefly, something related to why you miss greens:

What are you using as your distance metric? I used to hit 3 per round, and I survived on a good (relative to ability) chipping game. Then I finally got something in my head: how am I figuring out my distance? I don't hit all my irons to a particular distance the whole time; for example, my 7-iron is 140-145. Accordingly, I look at the distance to the flag and to the nearest extreme of the green. For example, if it's 142 to front of the green, 147 to the pin, I'd rather hit 6-iron (150-155) and have a putt than 7-iron and be short sided if I don't hit it stiff to the pin. Next, do you know how far you hit your irons? Give them a range from "decent but not great strike" to "great but not perfect" strike. Select an iron whose range is on the green. You won't hit 'em all, but I bet you can get it past 3 to at least 6 or 7. If you feel it will take you too much time during a round, start writing down distance (however you decide what it is), pin (F/C/B), and which club you hit (independent of how you decide which one) on some of these. Look at it after the round and see how many you think were still the right club (independent of result). You'd be surprised how quickly you can get used to thinking of the range of the club.

[Bullitt5339]

First, congratulations on your breakthrough.

I know my approximate distances on my clubs, most of my misses aren't distance, honestly. It's direction. I don't have a "stock" shot yet, sometimes I get a slight draw, sometimes a slight fade, sometimes straight. I find if anything, I do exactly the opposite, and take more club than I need because I don't expect to hit the ball well all the time, however, most of my misses are 10ft left of the green, or 20ft right of it. It seems to be getting better lately though, I think now it's all about taking my time and getting aligned properly.

[Ping for life]

Congratulations! aren't milsestones an amazing motivator keep up the good work and remember drive for show and putt for dough get real good at the short game and the scores will come down.

[Doctorfro]

Good for you, dude!

[Ash1974]

Well done mate :)

[Bullitt5339]

I added those 2 rounds to my handicap tracking this morning, and just those 2 rounds brought my handicap down from a 26 to a 22. If I keep playing like this, and kick a few of those horrible rounds out, I'll be very happy.

[Bullitt5339]

Well, had a little bit of a rough start today, and had to slow down and go back to the basics, and pull everything back together. Not a great round, but not horrible either, I'm still seeing light at the end of the 18 handicap tunnel.......lol

Today's round:

Score: 91 (46 out, 45 back)
Fairways: 10 of 14
GIR: 2 (sooooooo close on a few, I wanted to count them, but my honesty wouldn't let me)
Putts: 35 (not my best, but definately not horrible for me. Had a pair of 3 putts on the back 9, which hurt me, none on the front)
Scramble: 2 of 11 (probably my most horrible stat, and I just started keeping track of this on this round)

So, not a great day, back over 90 barely, but not horrible at all. On the front 9, my irons weren't working for me. On the back 9, my putting was a bit off. I definately see what I need to work on since keeping track of my scrambles this round. Pitching, Chipping and Putting. I can live with my driver, I can live with missing my 2nd shot by 10ft off the green, but I have to start putting the ball closer to the pin on my pitches and chips in order to convert on those up and down opportunities. I spent a lot of time today chipping for an up and down, and then still having to 2 putt. That's unacceptable to me, and will get some needed attention this weekend.