How did you break into single digit HCP?

[iacas]

Originally Posted by gwlee7

Here's my first chance to "disagree" with one of my instructors.

Yeah, just wait until your next lesson... bwah ha ha ha ha ha!

J/K. Anyway, you may be the exception, and your last sentence speaks to what I'm talking about more generally. In general (exceptions, by definition, excluded) the biggest difference between higher handicappers and lower ones is ballstriking, pure and simple. You said yourself you're often close and you'll always have a putt for par. That's still ballstriking... and managing your misses, and putting them in decent spots.

But if you're the exception to the rule, that's good too! :-)

[RC]

I agree with Erik that ball striking is number one, but I firmly think that playing with better players has a huge payoff.  You see why ball striking is so important, you see how better players handle situations, you cannot help but absorb some of the tempo and swing mechanics.  If you practiced your whole life away from any other great players and then showed up to play a tough course, I would wager you would not score well simply because you would not have the experience bank of knowledge that would help you know how to play each situation.

Finally, I've watched younger players who take up the game and take one of two extreme paths.  One path is to play with family and casual friends and be around a lot of mediocre golf, and the other is to play with kids who play in tournaments and/or for teams.  The rate of improvement of the latter group is vastly superior to the former.

I guess what I am saying is it is better to play up to a higher level of competition than to play down to a lower level.

[Clambake]

In my case I felt my ballstriking was my biggest barrier to cracking single digits.  I was stalled at about 11-12 for a year, even though I felt all areas of my game had improved quite a bit.  Looking at my game further, I felt my inconsistencies were driven largely by rhythm and tempo so I spent a couple months of range practice doing two things: hitting balls barefoot, and using John Novocell's "Tour Tempo" audio to hit by.    These had a pretty dramatic positive effect, increasing my smoothness, helping me hit the ball more crisply, and stay consistent from swing to swing on the course.    A few months later my index was down to a 6.    I still fall back on these frequently to help stay smooth and not fall back to old jerky swing habits.

[crayputter]

I am not even going to read the rest of the posts until I say this....

You went from 21 to 10 in ONE year ??? WOWWW.....man, that's impressive !

Would you mind sharing with us here how did you achieve that ? I have been struggling to improve on my 18 from last year and 2010 has gone by and I am still at 18.

Cheers

Ray

Originally Posted by Splifton

Over the 2009 season, I was able to lower my handicap from a 21 to a 10.  In 2010 I couldn't seem to break the barrier into the single digit HCP realm.  My goal for 2011 is to have a single digit HCP.  Any suggestions or help here?

[Splifton]

Originally Posted by crayputter

I am not even going to read the rest of the posts until I say this....

You went from 21 to 10 in ONE year ??? WOWWW.....man, that's impressive !

Would you mind sharing with us here how did you achieve that ? I have been struggling to improve on my 18 from last year and 2010 has gone by and I am still at 18.

Cheers

Ray

Quote:

Originally Posted by Splifton

Over the 2009 season, I was able to lower my handicap from a 21 to a 10.  In 2010 I couldn't seem to break the barrier into the single digit HCP realm.  My goal for 2011 is to have a single digit HCP.  Any suggestions or help here?

I'm sorry that this is long winded..... but Ray you asked......

What did it for me was a horrible day playing golf in a club tournament. I would come to these once a month tournaments expecting to post sub 90 scores when most of the time I was posting mid 90's to low 100's.  I always left the course ticked off and upset.  It then dawned on me that I had no right to get upset when I only came out to play once a month.  I realized right then and there after that tournament that I needed to do something more than playing once a month.  This horrible day on the course gave me that internal burn inside to make a change for the better.

So I basically gave up playing golf from the end of the 2008 summer to the beginning of next spring and focused all my efforts on four facets of my game: pitching, chipping, putting and mental preparation.  I found a local practice facility and began practicing my chipping, pitching and putting:

• chipping - I would spread balls all over the practice facility in different spots and just come up with games/drills to keep me interested.  One game I used was to chip a bucket of balls from different spots, any ball withing 4 feet of my target/pin would get put back in the bucket.  Anything outside of 4 feet would have to be sent back to the drill until it got within 4 feet of the pin.  I would just chip for hours until I felt like I was in the zone or until all or most of the balls were back in the bucket.
• pitching - I would set up four cones and pace them out 20, 30, 40, 50 and 60 yards from my bucket of balls and I call out shots, like ok I have a 50 yard pitch and try to nail it as close to the 50 yard cone as possible.  I would do maybe two-three buckets of 50 balls or so.   From doing these drills I would come up with games off of the practice facility such as walking from the parking lot at work.  I would stop where I was at and find a landmark in which I needed to walk by or get to. Then before I started walking to it I would say to myself that landmark is about 40 yards.  Then pace it off to see how accurate my judging of distances was.  Kinda of lame, but kinda of cool when you can nail it!
• putting - I divided this into two areas: long putts and short putts.
• long putts I would pace off my putts from 10, 20, 30, 40 feet etc and worked on my lag putting using my feet as a guide to determine how far to bring back my club to hit let's say a 40 ft putt. Then I would work on other distances.  After awhile it's amazing how you can determine a feel or touch for long putts.
• for short putts I would do a simple five star drill.  Where I would put tees in a star around a flat, no break pin from distances of 3ft, 4ft, and 5ft.  For the 3ft star, I would have to hit all 10 putts in a row.  If not I started all over.  Once I got all 10 in a row from 3ft.  I would move the tees out 4ft and have to hit 9 of 10.  If I missed two, I would start over still hitting from 4 feet until I hit 9 of 10.  Then I moved to 5ft and would have to hit 8 of 10.  If I missed, I would start all over again from 5ft.  I would putt for hours.  Some days the drill moved quickly.  Trust me the nerves are there when you need to make that 8 out of the 10 putt.

All of the above items, I did regularly. Maybe one day chipping, another day chipping and pitching, then another day just putting.  Or combine all three.  Whatever I felt in the mood for, but stayed disciplined to keep working on all of the above.  I would go out anywhere from two-four times a week to practice these items.

---

I have three small kids so finding time was hard.  Luckily they were 3,4, & 5 and took naps regularly, so my wife would let me take off while they took their afternoon naps on weekends.  I would also get up at 5AM and hit the practice range from 6:30AM - 8:30AM then off to work.  Or after work, I would stop by for an hour and practice.  I was determined.

---

I did not really focus to much on driving nor iron play, since with my driving I could keep the ball in play most of the time and I accepted that I would be unwieldy with my driver for awhile.  My iron play was pretty good, not consistent though.  Some days good, some days bad, but for the most part I could get away with what I had in the arsenal.  I did go to the range, but maybe once a month or so.

---

For the mental preparation I read the books by Dr. Bob Rotella, Golf is a Game of Confidence and listened to some guy who put out free 4-5 minute podcasts about staying in the present.  I think his name is Michael Anthony.  If you want more info on this guy send me a message.  I tried to apply everything that I thought was applicable to me for instance staying in the present, coming up with a good game plan etc.

One of the biggest things I learned during the mental preparation was to have a game plan before going to the golf course.  Before every new golf course I played that summer, I would know exactly what club or range of clubs, depending on course conditions, I was going to hit off the tee before I went out to play.  This way I could be as mentally prepared and not have to second guess my initial shot on the course.  Leave the brain out of the equation as much as possible.

Also I worked on staying in the present as much as possible.  This is a hard one, but I think the more you accept your mistakes the better off you'll be for the next shot.

Also I never would add up my score until I got to the clubhouse.  Knowing the score always killed me mentally...

There is so much to the mental game that I don't know where to begin.  But books like the one above are eye opening...

---

---

When spring came around I began to start playing golf.  Results were about the same at first, mid 90's some 100's.  But then as summer picked up I would go out once a week religiously, mostly by myself.  I started scoring in the high to mid 80's, then by near the end of summer I scored in the low 80's and cracked 80 four times by the end of summer: 79, 77, 79, 78.  I could not believe that I improved that much.  All the while I was still practicing during the summer, using the routine I developed above.  I think I had about 30+ rounds of golf that year.

When I look back today, I realize that I did put a lot of work into that year.  There were times when I doubted that all of this practice was going to pay off.  But somehow I knew inside that if I stuck with it, that I would persevere and have a break through....

---

As of today, I'm stuck at 10 HCP.  I moved the last year to a new house and had been busy all summer painting and doing chores around the new house.  Also I have not had the internal burn to practice or play until about a month or so ago.

Now I want to get focused again and attain a single digit HCP by the end of 2011.  We'll see.....

Hope this helps you Ray....good luck!

[crayputter]

Thanks mate....I really appreciate the time and effort you took to write that....and in reading your post, made me realize that the hours I am putting into the game pales in comparison to what you did to get to where you are now.

I think I kind of know what to do now... ;-)

And I wish you all the best in your conquest to achieve single digits !

Cheers

Ray

Originally Posted by Splifton

Quote:

Originally Posted by crayputter

I am not even going to read the rest of the posts until I say this....

You went from 21 to 10 in ONE year ??? WOWWW.....man, that's impressive !

Would you mind sharing with us here how did you achieve that ? I have been struggling to improve on my 18 from last year and 2010 has gone by and I am still at 18.

Cheers

Ray

Quote:

Originally Posted by Splifton

Over the 2009 season, I was able to lower my handicap from a 21 to a 10.  In 2010 I couldn't seem to break the barrier into the single digit HCP realm.  My goal for 2011 is to have a single digit HCP.  Any suggestions or help here?

I'm sorry that this is long winded..... but Ray you asked......

What did it for me was a horrible day playing golf in a club tournament. I would come to these once a month tournaments expecting to post sub 90 scores when most of the time I was posting mid 90's to low 100's.  I always left the course ticked off and upset.  It then dawned on me that I had no right to get upset when I only came out to play once a month.  I realized right then and there after that tournament that I needed to do something more than playing once a month.  This horrible day on the course gave me that internal burn inside to make a change for the better.

So I basically gave up playing golf from the end of the 2008 summer to the beginning of next spring and focused all my efforts on four facets of my game: pitching, chipping, putting and mental preparation.  I found a local practice facility and began practicing my chipping, pitching and putting:

chipping - I would spread balls all over the practice facility in different spots and just come up with games/drills to keep me interested.  One game I used was to chip a bucket of balls from different spots, any ball withing 4 feet of my target/pin would get put back in the bucket.  Anything outside of 4 feet would have to be sent back to the drill until it got within 4 feet of the pin.  I would just chip for hours until I felt like I was in the zone or until all or most of the balls were back in the bucket.

pitching - I would set up four cones and pace them out 20, 30, 40, 50 and 60 yards from my bucket of balls and I call out shots, like ok I have a 50 yard pitch and try to nail it as close to the 50 yard cone as possible.  I would do maybe two-three buckets of 50 balls or so.   From doing these drills I would come up with games off of the practice facility such as walking from the parking lot at work.  I would stop where I was at and find a landmark in which I needed to walk by or get to. Then before I started walking to it I would say to myself that landmark is about 40 yards.  Then pace it off to see how accurate my judging of distances was.  Kinda of lame, but kinda of cool when you can nail it!

putting - I divided this into two areas: long putts and short putts.

long putts I would pace off my putts from 10, 20, 30, 40 feet etc and worked on my lag putting using my feet as a guide to determine how far to bring back my club to hit let's say a 40 ft putt. Then I would work on other distances.  After awhile it's amazing how you can determine a feel or touch for long putts.

for short putts I would do a simple five star drill.  Where I would put tees in a star around a flat, no break pin from distances of 3ft, 4ft, and 5ft.  For the 3ft star, I would have to hit all 10 putts in a row.  If not I started all over.  Once I got all 10 in a row from 3ft.  I would move the tees out 4ft and have to hit 9 of 10.  If I missed two, I would start over still hitting from 4 feet until I hit 9 of 10.  Then I moved to 5ft and would have to hit 8 of 10.  If I missed, I would start all over again from 5ft.  I would putt for hours.  Some days the drill moved quickly.  Trust me the nerves are there when you need to make that 8 out of the 10 putt.

All of the above items, I did regularly. Maybe one day chipping, another day chipping and pitching, then another day just putting.  Or combine all three.  Whatever I felt in the mood for, but stayed disciplined to keep working on all of the above.  I would go out anywhere from two-four times a week to practice these items.

I have three small kids so finding time was hard.  Luckily they were 3,4, & 5 and took naps regularly, so my wife would let me take off while they took their afternoon naps on weekends.  I would also get up at 5AM and hit the practice range from 6:30AM - 8:30AM then off to work.  Or after work, I would stop by for an hour and practice.  I was determined.

I did not really focus to much on driving nor iron play, since with my driving I could keep the ball in play most of the time and I accepted that I would be unwieldy with my driver for awhile.  My iron play was pretty good, not consistent though.  Some days good, some days bad, but for the most part I could get away with what I had in the arsenal.  I did go to the range, but maybe once a month or so.

For the mental preparation I read the books by Dr. Bob Rotella, Golf is a Game of Confidence and listened to some guy who put out free 4-5 minute podcasts about staying in the present.  I think his name is Michael Anthony.  If you want more info on this guy send me a message.  I tried to apply everything that I thought was applicable to me for instance staying in the present, coming up with a good game plan etc.

One of the biggest things I learned during the mental preparation was to have a game plan before going to the golf course.  Before every new golf course I played that summer, I would know exactly what club or range of clubs, depending on course conditions, I was going to hit off the tee before I went out to play.  This way I could be as mentally prepared and not have to second guess my initial shot on the course.  Leave the brain out of the equation as much as possible.

Also I worked on staying in the present as much as possible.  This is a hard one, but I think the more you accept your mistakes the better off you'll be for the next shot.

Also I never would add up my score until I got to the clubhouse.  Knowing the score always killed me mentally...

There is so much to the mental game that I don't know where to begin.  But books like the one above are eye opening...

When spring came around I began to start playing golf.  Results were about the same at first, mid 90's some 100's.  But then as summer picked up I would go out once a week religiously, mostly by myself.  I started scoring in the high to mid 80's, then by near the end of summer I scored in the low 80's and cracked 80 four times by the end of summer: 79, 77, 79, 78.  I could not believe that I improved that much.  All the while I was still practicing during the summer, using the routine I developed above.  I think I had about 30+ rounds of golf that year.

When I look back today, I realize that I did put a lot of work into that year.  There were times when I doubted that all of this practice was going to pay off.  But somehow I knew inside that if I stuck with it, that I would persevere and have a break through....

As of today, I'm stuck at 10 HCP.  I moved the last year to a new house and had been busy all summer painting and doing chores around the new house.  Also I have not had the internal burn to practice or play until about a month or so ago.

Now I want to get focused again and attain a single digit HCP by the end of 2011.  We'll see.....

Hope this helps you Ray....good luck!

[n8dogg2669]

put in hours of practice with my short game (chipping, putting, bunkers, wedges)

[TheGeekGolfer]

You can't just focus on one aspect of the game, ie - driving, iron-play, putting or chipping or short-game.  You really need to focus on all aspects of the game. If you really want one area, then I guess ball-striking is key, since it translates into most areas of the game.

1. Eliminate any 'big numbers' that happen from total miscues, ie - OB and duffed shots.
2. Eliminate 'big numbers' through course management, ie - going at tough pins from 150+ yds, going for green in 2 when it's 'slightly iffy'.
3. Ball-striking, learn why the ball does what it does and how to feel what your swing is doing.  You could be the best chipper in the world, but if it takes you 3 shots to get to chipping, then that isn't going to work.  Yes, I realize that's an exaggeration, but you all get the point.
4. Eliminate the 3 putts.
5. Short-game - yes...this is important, but it's not the end-all to getting into single digits.
6. 70-100 yards wedge game - This is different from chipping / pitching - learn to get these pretty tight.  You'd be surprised how many times you can save par getting it to 6-8ft.

My 2010 practice routine was pretty simple, but I stuck with it.  I went to the range M-Th before work from Jan 2010 - April 2010, after April, the weather got a bit better and I was able to mix in short-game practice and playing 9-holes before work.  Sometimes I played 'practice rounds' if the course was fairly empty early in the morning or late in the afternoon.  This helped me learn when to go for certain shots and what kind of shots I could make consistently.  My short game philosophy is pretty simple.  If I have a shot I'm comfortable with, I'll try to get it close so I can 1-putt and save par.  If it's a bad lie or not much green or risky in some other way, I'll chip it on in a safe part of the green.  I might leave myself 12, 15, or 20 ft from the hole, but I know I can 2-putt from there and quite often make the 10-12 ft par-saver.

[saevel25]

Well if my putting stays the same, i think i am just under 2.0 putts per 9 holes, i usually three putt once every 2-3 9 hole rounds, but i one putt a few times as well. My issue is my short game, well in that my irons, which use to be a strength. Really what saved me was the flat stick...

Next year will be a better year, i am getting what i am doing wrong. Right now i am resetting my muscle memory by just by working out, i will start swing changes in February, getting ready for April. But right now i am just visualizing my swing in my head, trying to remember the feeling of the good shots i hit, trying to activate the muscles i felt while hitting good shots.. Developing alot of that mental imaging. Something i never really did much, i don't visualize golf shots that well. I am mostly just an aim and fire guy.

[Sandwedge74]

hi - I agree with the ball striking analysis completely. I just started to really extend thru the ball and create some real compression with my irons and the result besides increased distance was that the ball has more backspin on it and it flys straighter which has increased my GIR's tremendously. I used to average between 4 and 6 per round and now I am always hitting at least 7 or 8 GIR's.

This helps bring the score down a lot assuming your not three putting every green.

aside from Ball striking which is key I would like to add that this past summer once a month i spend a few hours in the practice bunker. That helped me a lot - I made sure I didn't hit just one kind of bunker shot - but uphill ones, downhill ones, plugged ones , fried eggs etc... high shots low shots with different wedges too and this without a doubt really helped my game a lot

[Cas57]

Way back when when I was about a 10 handi, I joined a traveling club where we played all kinds of different courses.  A couple of the members were club pros so I was fortunate enough to be able to have on course lessons when we would just go out and play for the fun of it.  Within a few months I went from the 10 down to a 6 mostly due to hitting the ball solid to pretty much where I was aiming....course management.

Managing where you hit the ball on each hole can lower your score just by giving yourself the best angle to a pin, avoiding bunkers, shots over bunkers to short pins, and hitting the ball off the tee to leave yourself a shot that is best for you.  For example, if you come to a 320 yd 4 par and your most comfortable with a 110yd wedge then hit a club off the tee that leaves you with that distance into the green.  The same holds true on a 5 par, if you know you really can't reach the green in 2 then lay up leaving yourself that same shot your most comfortable with.  I can't even begin to count the times I would leave myself a 30-40 yd shot with trouble between the ball and the pin because I decided to hit driver off the tee.  Many times I'd end up with bogey due to leaving that shot short or hitting too long.  When I learned to leave a full short iron shot into the green, the scores started dropping.

When I got down to about a 6 is when I really concentrated on practicing with the short irons (8 thru SW) for better distance control which really helped get down to under a 3 index.  If you're in the San Mateo area of the Bay Area, I'd suggest you go see Joby Ross,  Mick Soli or Mark Cato at Mariners Point in Foster City. http://www.marinerspoint.com/ They also happen to be running a special right now, $99.00 for 3 lessons.

[Arsenal8807]

There are a lot of good responses on here..

I would say just take all of this in and think about it. If you aren't consistent with your WHOLE game then its going to be difficult to break into the 70's. I know for me its just working on everything and creating consistent rounds one after the other by taking the things that I need to practice on into consideration.

Usually when I go out to practice, I work on everything, even if I always hit my short irons great all the time (PW-7). I try and take the same swings I make with those clubs into my other irons and I get good results. I just need to keep my focus on the course and I think I will break my 12 HC... I have only been playing since July, so I think we have some stuff in common as far as improving quickly and trying to continuously work on our game and try to see what will take us to that next level so to speak.

Bottom line: consistent with your game

Good luck man!

[nevets88]

I agree that to make the most out of your potential, you have to get the long game working well, i.e. swing bottom in front of ball, decent ball striking.

What many people in this thread are saying about the short game I agree with too.

What I'm guessing is people who score decently without a great full swing improved their short game, but their swing bottom is still not in front of the ball.  They grooved a good short game, but the full swing fundamentals are not there, so they're not scoring as well as they possibly could had they grooved a sound full swing.

From my own experience, the more I moved the swing bottom forward by improving the full swing, the better my short game got and I didn't really put in the effort to improve the short game commensurate with the amount of improvement.  My short game misses got less extreme and there's more action on the ball and I really wasn't trying for that it just happened along the way with full swing improvement.

This is from my own experience, I'm guessing some moved their swing bottom forward by going the opposite way, by way of the short game, then the long game.

[TN94z]

I would for sure work on ball striking first. I mean, it just makes sense, IMO.  You need good ball striking with any shot and that includes the short game.  Once you work on your ball striking, many of the other statistics will improve as well.  I agree that your short game will save you some strokes, but if your ball striking is suffering, then your short game is going to suffer as well. I was one of the people that would automatically throw out "practice your short game" when these questions came up.  Over the past year, my ball striking suffered and the short game didn't save it. That's when I realized that ball striking is where it's at.  That is my main goal in '11....get my ball striking back.

[Deryck Griffith]

Hands down, ballstriking is the #1 reason why I dropped down into a single digit handicap.  My misses are MUCH better which puts far less strain on my short game.  Funny enough, I went through a 2 year stretch where I focused ONLY on ballstriking and towards the end of my two year foucs, I broke into the single digits.  When that happend, I looked at my short game numbers and they improved tremendously ....the ironic thing is that in that 2 year stretch, I barely worked on my short game...lol.  So right there is proof that ballstriking; better misses, more GIRs, etc, improved my short game without the need for any serious "short game practice;" which, is proof that ballstriking is king.

Now, with that said, my next goal is to become scratch in the next 2 years and at this point of my game, ballstriking can certainly still be improved upon but the last part of the equation to becoming scratch is putting.  When I'm struggling with my swing in a particular round, I still hit greens but will be further from the pin.  On days like this, I tend to 3putt too much which is the area where my scores leak and keeps me in the 4-5 handicap range.  When I say putting, I don't mean making long putts but rather becoming a SOLID lag putter.  So in an order of top five things that I find important for mid cappers who want to become single digits and even beginners, I say.

1. Ballstriking

2. Ballstriking

3. More Ballstriking

4. Lag putting

5. Short game

[sean_miller]

The two obvious answers are ball striking and decision making.

Improving ball striking though involves many little steps. Having a somewhat athletic and repeatable swing helps ensure consistent contact, a consistent club head speed, and allows you to focus on aim, alignment, and distance control.

Knowing enough about your game and the course you're playing to make the risky plays when your game is on and the high percentage plays when it's not.

And putting. I've never met a low single digit player who wasn't a good lag putter and money from 3-feet. I've met lots of mid-cappers who thought they were good putters, but if someone runs the ball back and forth past the cup enough times, it's bound to hit the hole eventually. Personally, when my putting is on track, I should be able to maintain a 6-8 index no problem. There are days though when I wonder if the hole is just a picture painted onto the green.

[Deryck Griffith]

Originally Posted by sean_miller

The two obvious answers are ball striking and decision making.

Decision making is a great point and one that I forgot to include in my post.

[Deryck Griffith]

Originally Posted by gwlee7

Granted, the ball does typically fly in the general direction that I want it to go.

I think you are underestimating how many people cannot make this statement.