How to break 90?

[Chief Broom]

I think the biggest problem bogey golfers have is their long game. In other words it's when trying to hit long shots (distance-wise not difficulty-wise) high cappers lose the most strokes. This comes in the form of outright penalty strokes, but more commonly from putting the ball in a location that requires more strokes to subsequently make it on the green. The advice I would give (and try to take myself) is to get as short of a club in your hands as possible. This means playing the lay up shot rather than going for the green. Laying up on a par 3 or 4 may sound crazy, but it's the surest way to take the big numbers off your card especially on the holes that give you the most trouble.

The last hole at my home course is a drivable par 4. Most everybody goes for the green and I've personally never seen it done. The green and the tee are on the same level but the fairway drops down below the tees and then rises back up to the green. The entire left side of the fairway is OB. Bunkers cover most of the greens front and since they begin about 40yds off the green you can be left with a really long bunker shot. Trees also line both sides of the fairway and if your tee shot strays much off line it can get knocked down quick. Do it near the green and it'll wind up in a bunker or under the trees which have a thick layer of cypress mulch maintained under the trees and up to the fairway in places. The safest miss is a massive slice which will end up in another fairway to the right off the tee, which if hit far enough out can provide a straight shot back to the green. Other misses are OB or in the bunkers or out of the mulch which can easily go wrong. Every year Augusta State University holds their collegiate invitational here and the top division 1 schools in the country always play. I spoke with a member once who works that tournament and he kept the stats one year on this hole and the players who laid up scored lower as a group than those who attempted to drive the green. As a result I now hit a 6 iron off the tee and leave myself a full wedge shot into the green. Since I've started playing this hole this way I've played it to even par, prior to that I averaged bogey.

[TheGeekGolfer]

IMO....most 18+ Hdcp players don't realize how quickly their double/triple-bogey and worse mistakes add up. The ones I play with get sooo obsessed with 'par' that they'll take a big risk to try and score par and then get in a bad frame of mind and make a bogey into a triple. Do this 2 times in a round and that's 4 shots, if you made +3 on each of those holes, now you need to make par on 4 holes to make up for it and get back to 'bogey golf'. That's 1/3 of your holes in round.

I play with this guy, he always shoots around 100-110, rarely if ever does he break 100. After the round he'll often lament about not breaking 100. I try to tell him that the 3 or 4 triple-bogies he had should have been bogies at worse if he wasn't obsessed with trying to save par on those. That's 4-6 strokes and he's shooting high 90s.

The biggest thing is to work on the chips / bunker shots and putts around the green. Learn to take your medicine and be happy with the victory of a 'good bogey'. You'll most likely get 4 or 5 pars a round, just don't offset those with 4 or 5 'others' (triple or worse). Get the ball on the green and if you're within 30 feet, don't 3 putt. Don't miss in 'big trouble' and don't try those incredible flop shots if you don't have the lie or talent.

[i-Guy]

Sorry, it does come across as if that was aimed at you, but it absolutely wasn't meant to be. I think your assessment of your own game is spot on

No problem and I was not offended but you made your comments off a quote from my post so I thought I would repsond...the stats from Oobgolf (which I use also) are intersting and probabaly pretty much spot on from what it looked like but I have to think that different people get to single digit differently sometimes...like I said in my post if my ball striking is on at all I am shooting in the 70's...but the norm is I am struggling with full shots and trying to use my short game / course management to shoot a decent score...actually I think I have found somehting recently that works in my swing and I am looking very forward to 2011 and grooving this move and possibly lowering my handicap even more...

My point was just that I was surprised by how poor those aggregate average stats were. I think most people would guess that 0 - 5 handicaps scramble at at least 50% or better.

No I get it and you are very correct...I have a friend that is scratch (I caddied for him this year while he tried to qualifiy for the US Senior Open)...and I bet he does not get up and down as well as I do...his strength is a great golf swing and so he is usually right down the middle and hitting GIR's all day long...if his swing leaves him at all he is struggling to shoot in the 80's due to a poor short game....AGAIN there are a few different ways to get it done!

although I'd be interested to know if you feel like your putting carries your scrambling or vice versa. (ie. are you chipping it up for a tap-in most of the time, or are you making six footers all day for your up and downs.)

I feel like it depends on the day but I would say that it is my putting that saves most of my pars...of course if I am chipping really well then I have tap ins but most of the time my mindset is to get on the green and let the putter have a chance...

[SouthernILGolfer]

Best way to lower your score is to eliminate those doubles and triples. Keeping the ball in bounds and out of hazards and trees will drop a ton of strokes from your score. Course managment is what i guess it would fall under. Try to get familiar with your misses, for example i tend to slice with my driver so if theres trouble right, i'll aim more left to avoid it. Sometimes ill double-cross myself and hook it, but usually it turns out ok. Have long irons or hybrids that you can actually hit as sometimes you'll have longer shots into the green than you want and dont be afraid to take enough club to get the ball there. Most people try to swing out of their shoes to stretch a shorter club when taking more club and not swinging so hard would usually get better results. My hybrids(i have 3 of them) are very important clubs for me to at least get the ball close on longer par 3's and par 4's and get the ball reasonably close on my 2nd shot on some par 5's. Putting is important too, those 3 putts can be very frustrating and can add strokes as well.

[Danattherock]

Write down every shot for a few rounds to find out where you are really taking those extra strokes. Then look at these things.

That is a great suggestion. Many folks would be surprised where their strokes come from. I got some books last year called "Round Files" and they keep data on GIR, putts per round, etc.. The folks at Pin High (golf club labels) sell these Round Files on their website. Very affordable and small, pick up one to record where you are losing strokes. http://www.pinhighinc.com/the_roundfile.asp -Dan

[Billy33]

I like that idea of chipping until you chip two in. The short game stuff is so boring to practice. I will try that.

[ronaldkuntoro]

Thank you for all the advice. I think the best part of my game is putting. Once I sunk a 50 foot putt from the fringe (maybe once in a lifetime). I work on my short game solely on putting. For warming up, I pitch with my Pitching wedge.

I wonder some people whose tee shot is shorter than me, maybe just 200-210 yards but they are able to shoot 86. I really wonder how he can score well but cannot reach the green in two. I'm really amazed with that...

[Stretch]

I wonder some people whose tee shot is shorter than me, maybe just 200-210 yards but they are able to shoot 86. I really wonder how he can score well but cannot reach the green in two. I'm really amazed with that...

If you really are a solid putter, than all you need to think about is bogey to break 90. Just play to be somewhere on the green in regulation + 1 and take your two putts. No risky shots that could put a double on your card. You will inevitably pick up a couple GIRs for par and you're done.

[Camo]

Stretch,
I was just thinking the same thing, breaking 90 means playing bogey golf not par.

1 par and 17 bogeys will get you there. :)
avoiding the big number is my key to getting it done, as I expect to get at least 4 pars and a bird or 2.

[shankalots]

Before I broke 90 my problem was keeping the ball in bounds off the tee. I can smash it off the tee, and it's fun watching that ball go off in the distance. So I was grabbing the driver on every par 4 and 5. I was losing balls and racking my score up. This may not apply to you, but what helped me was a few things: Practice more than I play. Work hard on the driving range, I'd hit 2 buckets every other day, then on the day when I played on the course I'd hit a bucket before starting. It's amazing how much my swing changed daily. Day one: I have a 5 yard fade. Day two: I'm hitting it dead straight. Day three: Now I'm drawing the ball... the point is before you play hit a bucket of balls, and make some adjustments on the range.

The thing that really improved my scores was making sure I was getting ball first contact. My iron play was so bad because I was so inconsistent. I'd hit it fat, thin, skull it.. you name it. If you practice often your ballstriking will improve dramatically, it will just click one day. Or it did for me anyway. good luck!

[Sweetswing]

I got a piece of advice several years ago which really helped. If you allow yourself one extra shot to the green and two putt them all then you'll bogey every hole. It really helped with my mindset. I didn't feel the pressure of having to hit a great shot because I had an extra if I needed it.

This is the easiest way to do it , it's exactly what I done when I was at this level.

I was in and around 90 for nearly a year ,but the second time I tried this I broke 90 by four strokes(86). I was very rarely in the 90s after that. Now shooting in the 70s

[crayputter]

Mate, you're 230 off the tee, that being the longest club in your bag, which means that for a long Par 4 of say, 420 yds, you are left with probably a long iron or wood to the green...

The first thing you should look at is : Are you playing off the right tees ? It will be A LOT of work for you to break 90 and stay there constantly, if you drive at 230, IMO...so you should consider playing off the forward tees perhaps. Forget what people say. Its YOUR game and your effort here. Which do you prefer, tee off the back and left with a long iron, or tee it up front slightly and left with a short iron to the green ? Your call.

And don't you want to feel the rush of reaching a Par 5 in two ?? With a 230 drive, you are never going to reach home in two for a Par 5, unless you go driver-driver....and that for a 460 yd Par 5...which usually don't exist from the back tee on any course I know of...

If you still want to tee off the back, then the ONLY way to break 90 is to practice A LOT from 100 yds in....there is NO other way....sorry to say mate, because you will always struggle when you have a 230 yd drive.....

And I know this too well because that's how long I am too with the driver. I broke 90 a few times from the forward tee's and then went back to the back tees and am working on my short game right now as well as irons. Your accuracy needs to be there too...

The other thing I ALWAYS try to do....is to try to make par on ALL the Par 5's and Par 3's....and aim to play bogey golf the rest of the holes...

Miss fairway ? Get it back on. Dont care even if you have a line to the green. You miss the fairway punch it out and use an iron from a clean lie. Unless your driving range has mats that are thick and gnarly as the rough on the course, you are NOT practicing those shots, so why be a hero ?

Just my .02

Ray

[HAVOC]

practice practice practice

course management

play from the red tees sounds bad but tees are designed for players of different abilities not by gender

[i-Guy]

The first thing you should look at is : Are you playing off the right tees ?

Great point...I am 8 handicap (blaa, blaa, blaa...see about my game on an earlier post) but I play mostly courses that are between 6,500-6,700 yards (mens tee)...and mainly for the reason that I do not have a driver...I average 230 off the tee with a strong 3 wood as that is all I can consistently (well 43% of the time) keep in the fairway...my "off the tee" game SUCKS....my goal for 2011 is to get my swing consistent enough to start using a driver (have to buy one first) and then I can stretch my game out to 6,800 - 7,000 yards...but to

"crayputter's" point you defintely need to play the correct tee box. For example: Recently I played a very hard golf course (slope 149 / rating 74.4)...has a lot of water and very small greens and it plays right at 6,900 yards...I borrowed a driver from a friend and had a horrible day off the tee as I incurred 7 penalty strokes...I shot a 93 and had only 28 putts.