How do I break 90?!?!?

[Jchuba03]

I have been playing for about 2 years, and have definitely have seen my game improve dramatically. I have gone from shooting in the 120's-130's to consistently shooting in the mid to low 90's. I have become alot more consistent with my short game, mostly 2-putting and only 3-putting once or twice a round. While I am not the longest player, I do not really have a problem with distance (good drives about 240-260, 7 iron 150-160). My ball striking is not great, I hit my mid to long irons flush maybe 50% of the time at best. So with all that being said, I have never broken 90. I have hit 90 3 times, but couldn't break it. What do you guys think is the quickest way for me to break 90?

P.S: I would take lessons if I could, but honestly don't have the money for it, i'm a poor college student

[Kieran123]

100 yards in.

[bmartin461]

I posted a similar question recently and received some good advise.

You can read it here: http://thesandtrap.com/forum/thread/44781/advice-breaking-90-i-can-t-seem-to-do-it/18#post_585509

Regards,

Brad

[walk18]

Easy. Just finish the round in 89 strokes. Sorry J/K, you could be losing stokes around the green, but the game is no fun if you're not striking it well either. Maybe post a video of your swing? Wouldn't cost anything and you'd have nothing to lose.

[Shindig]

Short answer: work on your ball striking and on whatever club you use to get the ball into the fairway. That way, you're approaching the green from a good spot and if you miss, you're in a better missing spot. You'll hear people give the misleading statistic about some large fraction of your shots being green-side, but that only tells half the story. In that statistic, a chip from the fairway 5 yards short of the green (which you probably can get up and down from, or at least down in 3 from, a good fraction of the time) counts the same as being short sided in the rough with a bunker to carry. It's your ball striking (and, to a lesser extent, your driving distance and accuracy) that will keep you from having to hit the second shot too many times in a round, and will set up the first more often for missed greens. I know plenty of people who practice and practice on chipping, but never put themselves in position to use their chipping practice because their iron striking is so bad. Also, if you're having trouble with long irons, and like your 3H, consider getting a 4H. You can usually find surplus stock of a previous year's model - which is just fine - in the golf shops, especially this time of year. Finally, learn your half wedge distances if you don't know them already. I see that you carry 4 wedges; a simple trick lets you turn them from four clubs into 12 (or 16) clubs. For each wedge, learn how far you hit the ball if you bring the club back until the shaft is parallel with the ground the first time , and with approximately that much follow through. I call that a quarter-wedge shot. Repeat with until your left arm is parallel with the ground. I call that a half wedge. It lets you fall back on a mechanical calculation to feed your feel, and you're now more likely to hit the green from 35 yards (instead of guessing and potentially air-mailing the green or falling short). You can usually calculate these with ten used balls (don't use range balls - use leftovers of balls you've used during a round) and a small short game area. Go on some morning when you don't have classes. If your find you still have distance gaps, you can do something similar for a 3/4 swing with each.

[Jchuba03]

Thanks for everyones input, I will try to get a video of my swing up here asap.