Shooting 90-94 Consistently, which would you work on more?

[wubskis]

Approach near green, chip on, 2 putt = 90.

This is pretty fantastically succinct.

As a person in a fairly similar position, I can say that I'm striving for consistency and accuracy with my second shots over any other facet of my game. Between hitting a ton of balls at the range, and taking a step back on the course and strongly considering layups if I'm >175y from the green, I'm seeing some nice results.

[shankalots]

When I was shooting mid 90's I worked on my iron play and it did wonders. It is easier to work on irons than any other club, any driving range and if you buy yourself a practice net you can practice in your yard. Short game is surely the most important aspect to work on, but finding a decent practice green to putt on is difficult for some.

[Gerald]

However, I had only 1 GIR, which was a par 3 that was about 5 feet from the pin, pin high. I had an average of 1.92 putts per hole, but I still had 54 shots that were chips or putts. I had only a couple of 3 putts, and a few 1 putt pars. My scrambling was only 3/17 holes. I don't hit it OB, and I don't hit it into hazards, so I am frustrated that I am still shooting in the 90-94 range frequently.

Well let's go ......

I am impressed with your swingspeed, but at such a swingspeed at hc. 19 your drives must be all over the place...... if you would hit 6 out of 13 fairways ..... maybe it is time to forget about swingspeed and distance ..... 250 in the fairway is nice enough ! You said in one of your posts that you focus a lot of 110 yds approaches, which is about as easy as it can be !!! If you missed 7 out of 13 fairways, how bad were your misses, means missing the fairway, missing GIR for you ? If you are hitting the irons at 105 mph aswell ...... you must be out of your mind. Go to the range, grap a mid iron, hit it as hard as you can (probably what you are doing right now), next ball 10% less tempo, next ball another 10% less tempo, next ball yet another 10% less tempo. Your iron tempo should be at about 70-80% of you max ....... you need to focus on hitting the ball near the sweetspot (certaintly with the PI-7), at the range you need to aim and hit to a target ...... FORGET reaching a as far as possible distance with your irons...... it is way better to hit a controlable 150 yds with your 6i than being able to reach 180 yds with a perfect hit 6i. At hc 19(ish) I am sure that 90% of your approachshots end up right and short...... right bc you probably hit many slices or fades with your high swingspeed and short bc you probably take to less club ....... Too less club, yeh ...... most midcappers don't know what their distances are and in the case they do they mostly take at least one iron to short..... I know where it is coming from ..... if you read a book or ask your buddy ..... it says you need to hit a 5i 165-170 yds and that is what you try to hit at the range, some of the balls at the range with your 5i fly even further....... so when you are at the course and you have to hit 165 yds to the pin, most amateurs take out the 5i and try to hit it pure ...... 1 out of 10 you will hit that super shot, the other 9 times it is 15-30 yds off bc. you hit it thin, blade it, hit it fat, etc. What you should do next time ..... so easy ..... hit one club extra on all your appraoches ....... I do this all the time .... if you manage to lower your tempo to let's way 80% (irons), you will notice your irons will improve a lot, maybe even distances will improve, but I am sure you will be going to hit more greens. Further ....... it pays off when you start playing smart, you don't need to use a driver at all par 4's and at hc. 19 I know it is fun to reach a green in two, but take it easy a wise par 5 is three strokes and two putts. So in all, you should hit more fairways, ease off with your irons, take a club extra to the green and avoid double bogeys.

[Tifosinumerouno]

I'm more of a hooker than a slicer. My misses are usually short, yes. I played around yesterday with hitting different approach shots and was more successful with clubbing up, though most balls were on the back of the green. I have to work on slowing that tempo down.

When it comes to my misses, I either push shots or over hook. My fairway misses are not bad, most within 10 yds. My green misses are worse, and yes, usually short. It's hard to convince yourself to not strive for that perfect shot because there are those 3-4 times a round when you get one juuust right.

[srjorion]

FORGET reaching a as far as possible distance with your irons...... it is way better to hit a controlable 150 yds with your 6i than being able to reach 180 yds with a perfect hit 6i.

Spot on advice!

It's hard to convince yourself to not strive for that perfect shot because there are those 3-4 times a round when you get one juuust right.

And then there are those 17-25 times a round when you don't and you end up missing greens, hitting bunkers, putting the ball into a hazard, etc.. You have to play your percentages. You might be surprised to find that if you slow it down a little that you start making better contact and have a lot more of those that are juuust right.

[ks8829]

practicing the impact zone with the short game. Whenever I lose my swing, I practice chipping with my wedges and focus on my take away and backswing. This always helps bring me back to making solid contact with all my irons.

[Shooter McGreenkeeper]

most guys i see that shoot 90 - 94 have too many triple bogies from wayward tee shots,
plan your course management BEFORE you play the round and STICK TO IT! (i.e don't go for driver if the original plan was to stay in play with 3 W ),

GOLDEN RULE: keep it in play, keep it in play, keep it in play... = course management - minus ego

[McGolf-Doggie]

Coming from a similar situation as the OP, and noting that he said his miss is more of a hook, what I am working on at the range, is mid irons ballstriking. It being harder, for me at least, to hook anything 9-iron or less.

Until I spoke with my Pro, I have/had an issue with a hook with the iron that would punctuate these lovely pured 5 or 6 iron shots onto the green or fringe. Heck I would pure my hooks too; as in, "wow, got all of that, sweetspot -- but eek what an uber hook."

The self-deception went something like this: Those times I hit a 5 or 6 or 7 onto the green or fringe, I'm thinking everything's dandy, but then maybe the next hole I pure a hook and we're looking at ugly. Now I'm confused.

Next hole I hit another good one onto the the green or fringe: happy. Then next hole I hook the iron again, ugly. Even more confused.

(A slice hasn't been part of my iron vocabulary for a year or two, at least until I tried deliberately trying to slice it, vainly trying to find a remedy to straighten out the hook.)

It just was messing with my mind: which ball striker am I?? The hooker, or the golfer who hits those other nice shots, and why do the two seem to cooexist in equal measure, and why can't I get eliminate the hook?

And I say this fully confessing, that I neither knew what exactly was making the straight shots straight, nor what was making the hook shots hook, except this:

Somehow on the hooks the club face was arriving at the ball way too closed. Ball flight laws. Plus some observations during waggle and setup seemed to indicate that the grip I "thought" I had was, in fact, stronger than it looked when I took it/set up. I used to try to remedy this sometimes by re-taking the grip.

$ being tight I hadn't been taking many lessons, but had the good fortune to run into my Pro and go over things. He identified a right hand grip issue that hadn't really occurred to me. D'oh!

Working on changing that has been revealing, but it's a process that takes its time.

The whole weight and feel of the clubhead now feels dramatically different at the top of the backswing and during the downswing.

[I had gotten very much used to what to me felt like a heavier clubhead with my old grip, now it kind of feels lighter, but also more vague. The change is taking some getting used to, and I'm now experimenting with a Vardon grip, to help facilitate the weaker right hand, but at least the hook is beginning to disappear.]

Anyway, ballstriking on 5-6-7-8 irons is what I'm focusing on to combat my hooked iron problem. Don't know if any of that'll help the OP, or anyone else.

[Gerald]

My green misses are worse, and yes, usually short. It's hard to convince yourself to not strive for that perfect shot because there are those 3-4 times a round when you get one juuust right.

Those 3-4 times with one club more will probably reach only the back of the green, but will be on track, two putts and you still have a par ...... there is nothing wrong with the occaisonal approach shot that is 10-15 yds too long, most trouble at greens is at the right, front and left. Missing the green lot of times being toooooo short can be very frustrating, and it may well lead to even harder striking at the next hole and a greater miss.

[B-Con]

I'm in that same stage right now, four out of my last five games have been between 91 and 96, so I can answer that question while putting my money where my mouth is.

I'm working on ball-striking. While a somewhat vague description, that's what I'm working on. I'm trying to get my left wrist flat, my hands ahead of the ball at impact, and hitting down on the ball. My goal at the moment is to get my fat shots down to no more than 10% of the time.

I go to the range 2-3 times a week. When I go, I hit about 20 to 30 balls on 20-50 yards pitches, and hit about 40 to 70 with a couple of irons. I pick two or three irons (one short, mid, and long, or one short and one mid/long) and just work on those. I want to eliminate fat/thin shots and make consistent contact with the ball in a controlled way. I don't work on short chips or putting or driving very much (although I probably should), but those aren't what are primarily keeping me from breaking 90.

My irons are the part of my game that scares me the most, what with thin/fat shots, and I can't hit GIRs without hitting my irons. So that's what I'm working on. When I feel more comfortable with my irons, I'll pull out my hybrids, then driver, and smooth those out.

[Tifosinumerouno]

I dont make many triple bogies. As I said in my original post, I am a strong driver. I don't leave myself in bad places off the tee very often. I played again today and played a club longer on most of the approach shots I took, and swung easier. I hit 6 GIRs versus 1 on Thursday. I shot a 92, vs a 94. My putting was not good at all today. All of my double bogies were 3 putts. I'm going to keep working on ballstriking and making sure I use the right club, and putting. I was shown a putting stroke today by an older member that seemed to work well. I need to invest in some impact tape!