plan for newbie to improve

[dru925]

I am new to golf (been playing for about 6 mos) and would love input/feedback into putting together a plan for myself to improve quickly.  What I am currently doing:

*  lesson 1x/week -- small group 1 hr

*  driving range & putting green 1x/week

*  playing 1 round weekly with a women's club that I just joined plus playing extra when I can afford it and have time (works out to maybe 1-2 extra rounds in a month)

I am finding that I am already showing some improvement but it's SLOW.  I joined this women's club because I didn't have anyone to play with, and I love the club, but there are some great players (lot of retirees who can play on senior rate and have the time to play 3-4 rounds of golf a week.)  A big part of why I want to improve quickly is so I can keep up!

The advantage I have is I'm motivated and also young (by comparison lol -- I am early 40s) and very athletic and fit.  But I have little kids at home and an active life juggling work/home etc and don't have unlimited time or money at my disposal.

Advice or tips to leverage my time so I can keep on improving?

[xmanhockey7]

Looks pretty good to me. When you practice your putting and short game do drills don't just hit balls around. Set up 4 tees in a circle around the hole about 3 feet away. Set up balls next to each of the tees and make yourself make 4 or 8 putts in a row before you move onto something else. Then work on lag putts (longer putts) and make it a game. Start yourself at -2 and putt to the hole with the tees around it. If you leave a putt short you make bogey and go to -1. If you make a putt you make birdie and drop a shot (if you're at -2 you go to -3). If you miss the putt but it goes past the hole and within 3 feet you get "par" and don't add or drop at shot. Make yourself hit 4 putts and not go over par.

With chipping make yourself get the ball within the 3 foot circle of the tees. Make yourself knock 4 balls in that 3 foot area (not necessarily in a row). These types of drills will train to to stay focused and make a shot when you need to.

[darvon]

Hello Dru925,

I am nowhere near as expert as almost everyone else here.  But I have lived many years in hacker and high handicap land.  Everyone's else's advice will be sound.  I won't try to tell you how to practice, the other people here can do that much better.   Let me give you some Hacker tips which take no practice time or money.

1)  Keep having fun.  Don't let study bog you down so that it stops being fun.

2) At our level of golf, the good shots make it fun, but the score really improves when you keep the bad hole from ballooning into the ridiculous hole. Once you make a really bad shot play safe golf for the rest of the hole to mitigate losses.

3)  Have a hole by hole goal.  Let's say you are playing in the 110s. 116 is Triple Bogey on each hole.  Make that your target.  Your Green in Regulation is now Green in Par.  Add three putts and there you go.  Once you start getting almost all of your holes in Triple Bogey, you will find that about 5 holes come in less than that and your score will start to lower.  Eventually you will find you can lower your goal to double bogey each hole, but having a per hole goal will keep you focused.  Keep the goals modest for some positive reinforcement.  One hole at a time.

4)  Split each hole in two, as described above, To the Green and Putts.  If your goal is Double Bogey golf, green in par and two putt.  If you miss the first part you still need to Putt in 2.  If you triple putt, at least you made the Green in "regulation".

5)  Since you are in a league, you are playing the same holes every week or two.

Take a notebook and for each hole, write down the club you use for each shot.  So the Par 4 #3 hole looks like:  #3,D,3w,5i,9i,p,p.  And put a circle around the club if you make a goof/bad shot.  Use a B for stroke/newball.  You can look at these at home, plus look at them BEFORE you start a hole, to let you know what mistakes to avoid.

6)  Get a laser range finder and scope each shot before you try it.  Are you trying to hit is 150 or 135?

7)  Also in your book start to figure out how far each of you clubs go and WRITE IT DOWN.  You don't have to be silly and measure your results for each shot, but you will start to notice that your PW which you hit at the pin 85 yards away is 10 yards short, so mark down PW 75, in pencil.  Then you don't have clubs in your bag, you have shots.  You have a 75 and a 87 and a 106 and a 113, etc.   Then you measure what you need, pick out the closest appropriate shot and execute it.  If you find your 75 is always a little short, then cross out 75 and write 71.  Soon you will find stable shots.  Then you can start to plan how to handle a 345 yd hole with the shots you have in the bag.

8)  Always have a target.  Even when I am spraying them two blocks deep into the condos, I am trying to hit an exact spot.  A certain distance and a certain direction.  Dont try to just hit your driver down the fairway.  If your have a 173 yard driver shot, then figure out where you want to land, left to right, your 173 yard drive and aim RIGHT THERE.   If you get it pretty close, good job.  If not, like my car's GPS says: "Recalculating".

Just steadying your scoring hole by hole, shot by shot, will let your athleticism use the training tips the others tell you and pretty soon you will be leading the pack, not just trying to keep up.

Have fun.

[bogdan101]

Originally Posted by darvon

Hello Dru925,

I am nowhere near as expert as almost everyone else here.  But I have lived many years in hacker and high handicap land.  Everyone's else's advice will be sound.  I won't try to tell you how to practice, the other people here can do that much better.   Let me give you some Hacker tips which take no practice time or money.

1)  Keep having fun.  Don't let study bog you down so that it stops being fun.

2) At our level of golf, the good shots make it fun, but the score really improves when you keep the bad hole from ballooning into the ridiculous hole. Once you make a really bad shot play safe golf for the rest of the hole to mitigate losses.

3)  Have a hole by hole goal.  Let's say you are playing in the 110s. 116 is Triple Bogey on each hole.  Make that your target.  Your Green in Regulation is now Green in Par.  Add three putts and there you go.  Once you start getting almost all of your holes in Triple Bogey, you will find that about 5 holes come in less than that and your score will start to lower.  Eventually you will find you can lower your goal to double bogey each hole, but having a per hole goal will keep you focused.  Keep the goals modest for some positive reinforcement.  One hole at a time.

4)  Split each hole in two, as described above, To the Green and Putts.  If your goal is Double Bogey golf, green in par and two putt.  If you miss the first part you still need to Putt in 2.  If you triple putt, at least you made the Green in "regulation".

5)  Since you are in a league, you are playing the same holes every week or two.

Take a notebook and for each hole, write down the club you use for each shot.  So the Par 4 #3 hole looks like:  #3,D,3w,5i,9i,p,p.  And put a circle around the club if you make a goof/bad shot.  Use a B for stroke/newball.  You can look at these at home, plus look at them BEFORE you start a hole, to let you know what mistakes to avoid.

6)  Get a laser range finder and scope each shot before you try it.  Are you trying to hit is 150 or 135?

7)  Also in your book start to figure out how far each of you clubs go and WRITE IT DOWN.  You don't have to be silly and measure your results for each shot, but you will start to notice that your PW which you hit at the pin 85 yards away is 10 yards short, so mark down PW 75, in pencil.  Then you don't have clubs in your bag, you have shots.  You have a 75 and a 87 and a 106 and a 113, etc.   Then you measure what you need, pick out the closest appropriate shot and execute it.  If you find your 75 is always a little short, then cross out 75 and write 71.  Soon you will find stable shots.  Then you can start to plan how to handle a 345 yd hole with the shots you have in the bag.

8)  Always have a target.  Even when I am spraying them two blocks deep into the condos, I am trying to hit an exact spot.  A certain distance and a certain direction.  Dont try to just hit your driver down the fairway.  If your have a 173 yard driver shot, then figure out where you want to land, left to right, your 173 yard drive and aim RIGHT THERE.   If you get it pretty close, good job.  If not, like my car's GPS says: "Recalculating".

Just steadying your scoring hole by hole, shot by shot, will let your athleticism use the training tips the others tell you and pretty soon you will be leading the pack, not just trying to keep up.

Have fun.

Sounds good except triple bogey on each hole is 126 on a par 72 18-hole course.

[dru925]

Thanks for the tips & feedback. I think being more systematic when I practice is going to help.