How to break the cycle of good driver bad iron and bad driver good iron?

[inthehole]

In my limited experience, to play good golf, it is necessary to not break down with any of the five key aspects of the game:

- tee shots

- long / mid irons

- wedges

- pitching/chipping/recovery shots

- putting

Again, in my limited experience, if only one aspect of those 5 key elements breaks down on a given hole, score directly suffers.   Need to be sharp with every one to score well.

[saevel25]

I've been playing golf for last 3 years and my handicap never improve despite playing twice a week. I realize part of my problem (other than my putting) is that when my driver is hot, my iron is not, and when my iron is on fire, my driver fails. It is always a cycle like this that last about 1-2 months each.

How often do you actually practice in the right way?

Few golfers can get good just by playing, some like you might get to a 15 handicap or maybe a few lower. Most of the time to get to a single digit the golfer needs to really practice, and in the right way. They need to isolate what is wrong in their game, and through correct practicing methods achieve a better swing.

See this thread on how practicing slowly, with a goal in mind can improve your game faster than just hitting lots of golf balls,

http://thesandtrap.com/t/54840/simple-specific-slow-short-and-success-the-five-s-s-of-great-practice

Also a person needs to know which aspects of their game to work on. This is were I recommend getting the "Lowest Score Wins" book,

http://lowestscorewins.com/

It has a whole section devoted to listing what parts of the game are most important and tips on how to improve them. But, if you want a good thread to get you started,

http://thesandtrap.com/t/58816/65-20-15-practice-ratios-where-to-devote-your-practice-time

So when my driver is hot and i hit a perfect drive, my second shot end up in the bunker or top the ball. After a few months, when my iron is dead straight and sharp, my driver lands the ball in the rough or hazard and i don't even have chance to use my iron. This back and forth is so frustrating.

What can i do to be good in both driver and iron at the same time?

The golf swing has 5 keys to it. This is a chart produced showing the handicap and the relationship to the 5 keys. As you can see, being a 15 handicap means that you have about 1-2 swing keys. You might be a very good putter or have a good short game, which can skew it a bit. The primary indicator of handicap is a person's long game (driver and iron play). So really, being a 15 handicap I am not shocked you struggle with consistent contact.

I would check out these threads to get you started,

http://thesandtrap.com/t/55426/introducing-five-simple-keys

http://thesandtrap.com/t/61376/5sk-video-thread

I would also recommend posting your swing here. You can get some good advice from some of the members on this forum.

http://thesandtrap.com/f/4180/member-swings

http://thesandtrap.com/t/38240/my-swing-video-threads-rules-please-read

[ghalfaire]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ghalfaire

I am always a little hesitant to give advice since I am not a particularly good golfer myself.  But over the last year I have taken about 6 strokes off my handicap by mostly improving my driver performance (my apologies to the short game folks but if you don't keep the ball in bounds and seldom hit a fairway your short game doesn't count for much).  But in the process of fixing my play off the tee I found I was not striking the ball with my irons nearly as well.  To make a long story short I had modified my swing in a way that, for me, didn't work as well with short clubs.  This was because I had the (mistaken?) idea that there was one swing feel for all the clubs (I am not a mechanical player although I tried for several years to do that but it just didn't work for me).  So in the last few months I have been working on improving my iron play by accepting that there is more than one swing "feel" required for good driver performance and good iron play.   As suggested above I modified my practice to never hit more than a couple of shots in a row with a single club, developed a different swing thought for short irons Vs the longer clubs that need to be swept.  I also changed my setup for the shorter clubs and suggest you look at this.  This seems to be working as the last few rounds my GIR percentage has been improving and so far no damage to the driver performance.  Good luck.

i didnt really read this fully, but if you can get fairway every single time you drive...and hit the long ball....you should be on tour (even tho they dont get fairway but 40 or 60% of the time). saying someones short game doesnt count for much if you dont achieve this is dumb. if you can play out of the rough or tough lie situations and maintain the accuracy and good club choice you are a much better golfer IMO. this goes for the many players who decide to fix their lies or drop it on the fairway when it is in a tough lie, i think if you overcome these challenges and learn how to approach a shot with confidence and not rely on how well you started/or how unfortunate your drive was...if you stay positive and approach a shot with confidence youll be fine.

Wow this was so long ago I had to reread it myself.  But I don't see where I commented on my length or my percent fairway hit.  But there was a time when I had 2-3 OB a round and even some in play shots with the driver ended up in really penal condition.  And now I manage most rounds with no OB and hit about 30% fairway and when I miss (70%) am usually in the rough with a shot toward the green and not in the woods.  As to my driver length, well I am an old fellow so I suppose it is relative.  I am longer than most the fellows I play with but certainly don't keep up with the under 30 crowd.  Not to be evasive my typical driver is about 225 yards with an occasional 250 yards or so.

[trickyputt]

And one thing not mentioned here, having your hands in the same range of height off the ground each time, not too high, or too low for you. Its a shaft length thing.

[tomvk77]

Do the same thing every time. So you should have a good pre shor routine.

it will pay off at some point.

But you will never ever hit all your drives good and all your irons

[Dave2512]

Can't say I've ever seen a golfer that was good driver poor irons or good irons poor driver. Usually the only variance is the severity of a miss, not as bad with a shorter club compared to a longer club because the ball isn't traveling as far. Because of that I can see how someone may have flawed perception. You read weird anecdotal stories of the great drivers of the ball that can't putt but I don't see it in the real world.

I've tracked stats and pretty much dissected my game since I started golfing several times a week around 06/2012. At every point my ball striking struggles were consistent through the bag. If anything I've become more critical of misses closer to the hole. If I miss a chip and leave it short and 10 feet right that is more frustrating and IMO more severe than a drive that misses the fairway by 20 yards. Especially if that missed fairway still leaves me a decent approach. If I hit the green I may face a putt of the same length with 2 chances to finish at par or better. But having to save par with a 10 foot putt is tough stuff. Doesn't happen as often as most think.