Nice to see some improvement, whats your story?

[inthecup]

I started the year at 19.1 index.  I am 47 and have not played regularly since I was 20.  Even when I was 20 I had a swing that I "developed" on my own when I was 12.  Mostly outing golf, hit the long drive. swing as hard as you can...

• Over the winter I reworked my swing, got some lessons.
• In early August I got fit for irons, they helped, not the end all be all but I think they knocked a few strokes off per round.  I used to leave toe deep divots now my divots are even.
• Worked hard on short game, chipping became a money shot for me it used to be a problem.
• I chip and putt a lot, a few times a week I spend 20 minutes hitting putts from all over including longer lags.  My lag putting is much, much better.
• Last year inside 100 I was afraid, now I love it.  I have a partial swing that lets me hit 60, 70, 80, 90 pretty accurately.  60 is money for me.
• I putted in my office all winter, I started hitting 10 putts and tracking how many I got in.  Then I went to walking up and hitting one putt for the money, that's how it goes on the course.

Then there is my driver, lord help me with my driver.  It is the definition of erratic.  If the driver is working I am in the 80's if not you never know.  I got fitted for a driver but it will not be in for a few weeks.  I am much closer then I have been with driver but some days it still alludes me.

My index right now is 16.0.  I did some calculations and if I put up 3 - 88's in the next 6 rounds it will drop below 15.  That would be a reasonable improvement over a year.

Bottom line it took 2 years of thrashing around trying to get rid bad habits that were ingrained for 30 years but I am getting close to feeling somewhat competent.   Golf is a 4 letter word.

Bill

[Kieran123]

Mine came about a month into this season. Changed a few things ( mainly take away and having more weight on my left foot ), got new irons that are amazing, figured out how to get speeds better on my putts, and finally, when I go to the range now, a bucket of balls will last me much longer than it used to. Now I spend time before hitting the ball and usually know why I didn't hit that ball the way I wanted.

Driver is still giving me issues ( very low ball flight ) but I have a few ideas to take to the range this week.

I'm only averaging 6 fairways a round, but my GIR has gone way up so my irons are working ( even from off the fairway ) so if I can get my driver in the fairway more, I should see myself in the 70's more often.

handicap has dropped 2 points this season.

[Grumpter]

Ah I remember the feeling of being able to finally not fear being inside 100 yards. Great feeling.

I'm in the same boat as you with the driver. In fact I can't recall a single round this year where I didn't hit 3, or more, off the tee due to an O/B shot. My driver is just killing me this year. I only get so many swings per week (back issues) so I have been trading off playing time to try and work on the driver issues. For those that suggest the 3W that is my most feared club for me at this point. Snap Hook city.

Unfortunately my handicap has been going the wrong way since a car accident a few years back. At least this year is better than last in that I only played one round last year due to the discomfort in my back and frustration of the scores the year before.