1 year to drop 6 strokes

[LeftyTrevor]

Ok. So here is the situation. I have been playing for about 3-4 years now and was stuck at an 18+ until recently. The high numbers were due mostly to a huge slice. I have worked that out of my game for the most part. Dropped an average of 1 stroke per month the last three months. Last week after a few cocktails at the club I made a fairly substancial wager with another member. I have 1 year to get to a 9 handicap and play to it. While currently I play from the white tees at my home course 6600 yards. I was given a few tips and wanted to see what you guys think. One buddy mentioned to play from the blues more (7000 ish), and another buddy mentioned to play from the reds and stick with 5 iron or less to work on scoring clubs. My overall game is fairly decent. I just think a few tewaks in each area will help me get where I need to be. Has anybody used either of these methods to help their game get better? I feel the most help might come from playing the red tees. Looking at all three of our course layouts I see almost every iron being played from there. Any opinions would be much appreciated.

[Quinn07]

Take a short game lesson and stick with it.  If you want to drop strokes you are going to see the most benefit from getting better from 100 yards and in.  I would stick with the whites, there's no point in making the game any more difficult than it already is with backing up, and playing from the reds probably won't help that much as you are not hitting clubs you won't normally be hitting when you decide to play from the whites.  Playing different tees isn't necessarily going to drop your handicap....practice, the short game and getting off the tee (to eliminate penalty strokes).  This is just my opinion...it may be worth only what you paid for it.

[walk18]

Play the tips if anything, you're going to need to drive it well, and the reds won't help you with that. Also keep in mind people only play to their handicap about 1 out of 4 times roughly, so a 9 will not always be shooting 80, often it will be higher.

[LeftyTrevor]

Play the tips if anything, you're going to need to drive it well, and the reds won't help you with that. Also keep in mind people only play to their handicap about 1 out of 4 times roughly, so a 9 will not always be shooting 80, often it will be higher.

This is why I figure 6 strokes. With my course rating a 9 hcp shoots 83. Im slowly working down to 86-89. Im wanting to really be a 7-8 by summers end. 2k bet plus most of my club knows now so its becoming kibd of a big deal.

[sean_miller]

Originally Posted by LeftyTrevor

Quote:

Originally Posted by walk18

Play the tips if anything, you're going to need to drive it well, and the reds won't help you with that. Also keep in mind people only play to their handicap about 1 out of 4 times roughly, so a 9 will not always be shooting 80, often it will be higher.

This is why I figure 6 strokes. With my course rating a 9 hcp shoots 83. Im slowly working down to 86-89. Im wanting to really be a 7-8 by summers end. 2k bet plus most of my club knows now so its becoming kibd of a big deal.

Play whichever tees are hardest for you to get low differentials. That might be the reds and that might be the tips. Basically, make sure your index represents the highest possible differentials (your personal worst case scenario) so that when you play from other tees you're not penalized. I have a decent long game, so for me that would mean playing from shorter tees. An iron off the tee leaves the same approach shot to the same pin. The scoring advantages aren't as much a factor as the lower rating and slope so my index goes up accordingly. To play to a 7 from the forward tees, would mean making more putts and shooting lower scores.

If your trouble shots are off the tee (a slice?) then play from as far back as possible. Get to a 9 index from there, and playing a shorter club from the whites to get the same approach distance should make it easier.