To Golfers Who Score in the 70s - What's Your Story?

[Jack Watson]

When I was in the seventies more it was practice practice practice practice practice.

Gir gir gir gir gir gir.

Dont miss short putts.  Don't waste shots.

Also very important was mental approach.  Seems like for everyone that differs but for myself simple simple simple.  Execute a lot of good swings and minimize damage when you miss.  Certain times there's no choice you just have to hit the shot.  IMO there's no tricks involved it's just building the skills.

 

[DaveP043]

On 8/8/2017 at 2:30 PM, Caleb Hoshiyama said:

 The simple answer is learn RST.

 

15 hours ago, dennyjones said:

@Caleb Hoshiyama welcome to TST.   Read, post and feel welcome.  We're glad you're decided to join.

To echo @dennyjones, welcome to TST! 

I have to admit, this post seems like a baldfaced plug for one of many web-based instructional systems.  I admit I don't know anything about RST, but plugging someone else's website may not be the best way to introduce yourself here.  I hope to read lots more from you, and prove my initial impression wrong.

[MikeyGolf]

I started scoring in the 70's early in high school.  Improved fairly quickly once we joined a decent country club.  I was always able to get the clubface to the ball and had a nice draw from the start.  

In high school, I spent a lot of time on the putting green learning how to not 3 putt.  Learned pace and feel on longer putts.  My swing is more of a sweeping motion, so I became pretty proficient at the short iron shots and was really good with a sand wedge from 100-120 yards.

Walked on in college and shot some good scores, just never really was able to make it to the next level.

After college I played some solid rounds in the 60's on easier courses.  At that point I started losing my nerve on the greens and lost confidence. Have just played for fun since.

I still generally shoot in the 70's.  Looking back at my peak, I feel that length was the most valuable part of my game.  I could hit a wedge 150 yards and my driver in the 280-300 range.  Par 5's were the holes to dominate as well as the short Par 4's.  Also, I rarely 3 putted and was able to get up and down the majority of the time.

Nothing worse than a bogey, making 2-3 birdies a round, limiting 3 putts, and trusting your swing and not steering the golf ball is a path to consistently breaking 80.

I would say length off the tee is one of the most important things to shooting low, makes approach shots significantly easier.

I still shoot in the 70's on familiar courses, just notice I tend to give away shots at a higher pace now and my hands are shaky on the greens now.  Which makes me laugh at times at how much I miss hit putts now.  

[Dylangolfs]

well I posted on this topic before but ill give an update. flash forward a year and i am now a 2 handicap. been playing since im 13 and im 15 right now turning 16. my game has progressed alot due to my short game. This year at my home course my highest score has been 79 and my lowest is 72. in national tournaments my lowest is par and my highest 85. i have shot in the 70s in tournaments more then 80 percent of the time. that's the true teller of your game is under pressure. trying to make cuts that are 5 over through two days at a tough course is not easy. I practice atleast 5 hours a day during the summer when im off school. I dont hit it far right now as i lost alot of distance but my ball is carrying 260 to 270 then rolling out. I average 29 putts a round and 11 greens in reg. my short game has made me the golfer i am today and i would suggest all of you trying to get good to work on it. In the past 8 month i have reduced my stroke average from 6 over to 3.5 over just by practicing short game. if anyone would like to see my swing I can post it (: have a good day and if u have Instagram follow my golf account dylanprasadgolf.

[Patch]

These days, when I "occasionally" break 80, it is usually because I had a chip in, or two, and some one putts on a few holes.  Plus, it usually happens on my home course, where I am very familiar with the greens. 

Yes, my long game get into position to utilize the stronger part of my game, which is my shorter game. 

Now back in the day, when I could break 80 consistently, it was usually because all facets of my game were working well for me. GIRs were important, as was my short game when I missed a green in regulation. 

That's my story.    

[p1n9183]

11 minutes ago, Dylangolfs said:

well I posted on this topic before but ill give an update. flash forward a year and i am now a 2 handicap. been playing since im 13 and im 15 right now turning 16. my game has progressed alot due to my short game. This year at my home course my highest score has been 79 and my lowest is 72. in national tournaments my lowest is par and my highest 85. i have shot in the 70s in tournaments more then 80 percent of the time. that's the true teller of your game is under pressure. trying to make cuts that are 5 over through two days at a tough course is not easy. I practice atleast 5 hours a day during the summer when im off school. I dont hit it far right now as i lost alot of distance but my ball is carrying 260 to 270 then rolling out. I average 29 putts a round and 11 greens in reg. my short game has made me the golfer i am today and i would suggest all of you trying to get good to work on it. In the past 8 month i have reduced my stroke average from 6 over to 3.5 over just by practicing short game. if anyone would like to see my swing I can post it (: have a good day and if u have Instagram follow my golf account dylanprasadgolf.

A tour pro averages 270 yards carry. 260/270 is long.

11 GIR and 29 putts are scratch stats. Off that 7 green missed a scratch would save par 4 times (3 bogeys). If you putt 29 (-7) that leaves you 3 birdies per round. You should be scoring around 72 (par) in average and not in the 72/79 range.

You are loosing 3..4 strokes because of your misses on the long game, tree, OB, water hazards. No matter how much time you spend on the short game, off that 7 missed greens you can improve your up/down rate to 5/7, that´s pro level. That´s just 1 stroke gain only, playing your short game like a pro. Working on your long game will reduce that 3..4 stroke lost with just scratch level on long game.

like u i always practiced short game and just went out and play on weekends and I can never lower my handicap below 2.

After a half year working on long game and putting, 0 short game. i reduce my handicap to +1, all off it on long game, 0 improvement in putting.

You are young and have a lot of time for practice, don´t waste it on short game, you already are decent at it. Work on your long game and in the long run you will lower your average score more than 2 strokes (6 to 3,5)

  

[Yukari]

3 hours ago, MikeyGolf said:

I started scoring in the 70's early in high school.  Improved fairly quickly once we joined a decent country club.  I was always able to get the clubface to the ball and had a nice draw from the start.  

In high school, I spent a lot of time on the putting green learning how to not 3 putt.  Learned pace and feel on longer putts.  My swing is more of a sweeping motion, so I became pretty proficient at the short iron shots and was really good with a sand wedge from 100-120 yards.

Walked on in college and shot some good scores, just never really was able to make it to the next level.

After college I played some solid rounds in the 60's on easier courses.  At that point I started losing my nerve on the greens and lost confidence. Have just played for fun since.

I still generally shoot in the 70's.  Looking back at my peak, I feel that length was the most valuable part of my game.  I could hit a wedge 150 yards and my driver in the 280-300 range.  Par 5's were the holes to dominate as well as the short Par 4's.  Also, I rarely 3 putted and was able to get up and down the majority of the time.

Nothing worse than a bogey, making 2-3 birdies a round, limiting 3 putts, and trusting your swing and not steering the golf ball is a path to consistently breaking 80.

I would say length off the tee is one of the most important things to shooting low, makes approach shots significantly easier.

I still shoot in the 70's on familiar courses, just notice I tend to give away shots at a higher pace now and my hands are shaky on the greens now.  Which makes me laugh at times at how much I miss hit putts now.  

This +1

[WUTiger]

In the area Senior championship, I played in the age 64-69 bracket. Both days I was grouped with the eventual Low Gross winner, a guy with a 2.7 HDCP.

He said the key to consistently shooting in the 70s was making 3-4 birdies a round. If you have a decent short game, you can go for more pins - resulting in birdies - but still get up and down if you don't hold the green.

Also, birdies cover nicely if you have a double bogie along the way.

[DaveP043]

7 hours ago, WUTiger said:

In the area Senior championship, I played in the age 64-69 bracket. Both days I was grouped with the eventual Low Gross winner, a guy with a 2.7 HDCP.

He said the key to consistently shooting in the 70s was making 3-4 birdies a round. If you have a decent short game, you can go for more pins - resulting in birdies - but still get up and down if you don't hold the green.

Also, birdies cover nicely if you have a double bogie along the way.

For this to work, you have to be on the green to make the birdies, and pretty close to the green on the rest to have a high percentage of up and downs.  And that, to me, makes the GIR and nGIR the prime factor in shooting consistently in the 70s, which takes us back to consistent solid full swing shots.  Of course its all important, but full swings make the rest of it meaningful.

[David in FL]

1 hour ago, DaveP043 said:

For this to work, you have to be on the green to make the birdies, and pretty close to the green on the rest to have a high percentage of up and downs.  And that, to me, makes the GIR and nGIR the prime factor in shooting consistently in the 70s, which takes us back to consistent solid full swing shots.  Of course its all important, but full swings make the rest of it meaningful.

Yep.  

I don't average more than one birdie per round.  But to break 80, you need to hit greens, not make birdies.  Hit 8 greens, get up and down on 3 NGIR, with no 3-jacks and you break 80, even if you never make a single birdie!

[cutchemist42]

On 8/14/2017 at 0:53 PM, p1n9183 said:

A tour pro averages 270 yards carry. 260/270 is long.

11 GIR and 29 putts are scratch stats. Off that 7 green missed a scratch would save par 4 times (3 bogeys). If you putt 29 (-7) that leaves you 3 birdies per round. You should be scoring around 72 (par) in average and not in the 72/79 range.

You are loosing 3..4 strokes because of your misses on the long game, tree, OB, water hazards. No matter how much time you spend on the short game, off that 7 missed greens you can improve your up/down rate to 5/7, that´s pro level. That´s just 1 stroke gain only, playing your short game like a pro. Working on your long game will reduce that 3..4 stroke lost with just scratch level on long game.

like u i always practiced short game and just went out and play on weekends and I can never lower my handicap below 2.

After a half year working on long game and putting, 0 short game. i reduce my handicap to +1, all off it on long game, 0 improvement in putting.

You are young and have a lot of time for practice, don´t waste it on short game, you already are decent at it. Work on your long game and in the long run you will lower your average score more than 2 strokes (6 to 3,5)

  

Is that really it? I feel like everytime I turn on the tv Im seeing DJ/Fowler/Matsuyama/etx hitting 320 comfortably. I also understand the driving stats are used on holes where driver is mostly used. Are the guys near the top just that much longer than 100ish on the Tour?

I mean, even the stories from people here on US Open qualifiers say you need 300 yard drives to scratch the surface there.

[Pretzel]

2 minutes ago, cutchemist42 said:

Is that really it? I feel like everytime I turn on the tv Im seeing DJ/Fowler/Matsuyama/etx hitting 320 comfortably. I also understand the driving stats are used on holes where driver is mostly used. Are the guys near the top just that much longer than 100ish on the Tour?

I mean, even the stories from people here on US Open qualifiers say you need 300 yard drives to scratch the surface there.

Median driving distance on tour is 292.5 yards, which would make sense for a 270 yard carry on the tightly mown fairways that tour pros play. 

You can get by with less driving distance, but it puts a lot of pressure on the rest of your game. When you hit 5 iron on a hole that everyone else can play with an 8 iron, it's naturally going to mean you have to be a lot better at a number of things to keep up.

[DaveP043]

13 minutes ago, Pretzel said:

You can get by with less driving distance, but it puts a lot of pressure on the rest of your game. When you hit 5 iron on a hole that everyone else can play with an 8 iron, it's naturally going to mean you have to be a lot better at a number of things to keep up.

This is absolutely true at the top  level, but you can break 80 (the focus of this thread) consistently with much shorter drives.  Most of us aren't playing 7000+ yard courses

[djake]

On ‎8‎/‎23‎/‎2017 at 4:26 PM, DaveP043 said:

For this to work, you have to be on the green to make the birdies, and pretty close to the green on the rest to have a high percentage of up and downs.  And that, to me, makes the GIR and nGIR the prime factor in shooting consistently in the 70s, which takes us back to consistent solid full swing shots.  Of course its all important, but full swings make the rest of it meaningful.

I could not agree with you more @DaveP043

When I started to keep a real handicap again this year, thanks to this forum I started paying very close attention to my GiR stats.  As I golfed I focused more on that one stat then the others, well maybe except for 3 putts.  As my GiR went up my scoring dropped, even with a 3 putt with a GiR you only have a bogey, that you can recover from.

[NCGolfer]

When I started shooting in the 70's with regularity in my youth days it was because of two reasons (in my opinion):

• Consistent ball striking
• Avoiding the big numbers

I went from shooting in the mid to high 80's to the mid 70's in one summer.  I was playing every single day and working on nearly every aspect of my game.  I wasn't hitting the ball super long but I started hitting a lot more greens in regulation and giving myself opportunities to make a few birdies.  At the same time I started to notice I wasn't making a lot of 6's or 7's any more.  My course management was much better and felt a bit more natural.

Notice that I didn't say anything about putting or my short game.  I honestly can't remember putting in hours of work on or around the green...it was more about getting off the tee and hitting the ball more solidly.  Taking my game to the low 70's/occasional 60's then required even more work but also cleaning up my short game.  I was pretty much self-taught at that point and needed some help to take my game up another notch.

[DeadMan]

I break 80 about half the time I play - maybe a little more than that. Here's my formula:

1. Lose a maximum of one ball off the tee.
2. Hit at least 8 GIR.
3. Get at least 5 nGIR on top of that.
4. If you get a nGIR, make a bogey at worst.
5. Limit blowups to double bogeys.
6. Limit doubles to one or two.

That's it. High 70s vs. mid/low 70s is about hitting more GIR or having a good putting or short game day. I have rounds where I scramble for par one time, but I will still break 80. If you are on or around the green in regulation, you should be making bogeys at worst. If you get in trouble, make a bogey.

By far the hardest part of that is numbers 1 and 2. Short game wizardy isn't going to make up for trying to scramble for par from 50+ yards. And, absent playing a really odd course, if you don't hit a bunch of GIR, you aren't going to break 70.

[Caleb Hoshiyama]

On 8/10/2017 at 8:31 AM, DaveP043 said:

 

To echo @dennyjones, welcome to TST! 

I have to admit, this post seems like a baldfaced plug for one of many web-based instructional systems.  I admit I don't know anything about RST, but plugging someone else's website may not be the best way to introduce yourself here.  I hope to read lots more from you, and prove my initial impression wrong.

The question was how does one shoot in the 70's and for me it was learning how to do what most of the golfers are replying to : hitting GIR's , putts, fairways; but in order to hit enough GIR, lower putts and more fairways, one must learn a correct golf swing, and putting stroke.  RST has done that for me and most of the members of RST.  Is it a plug for RST; didn't mean it to be, but it has worked for me and a lot of other golfers, so if you want to call it a plug, fine with me.  I think the real answer is "how" not "what" will make one shoot in the 70's consistently.  All of the comments on "what" it takes means nothing if one cannot perform these tasks; RST teaches one how to get more GIR's, fairways and fewer putts.

 

 

 

On 8/10/2017 at 8:31 AM, DaveP043 said:

 

To echo @dennyjones, welcome to TST! 

I have to admit, this post seems like a baldfaced plug for one of many web-based instructional systems.  I admit I don't know anything about RST, but plugging someone else's website may not be the best way to introduce yourself here.  I hope to read lots more from you, and prove my initial impression wrong.

 

[Runnin]

I was breaking 80 consistently by the time I was 16 yrs old.  I'm 56 now and my scoring has not significantly improved since those days.  I went a few decades without playing much and I'm trying to get back to the low 70s. 

I live and play in Japan and the courses here are difficult for me.  They aren't long but are VERY narrow with OB left, right and over the green on almost every hole.  I can score in the 70s without using a driver or even a 3 wood, just the utility (5 wood?).  That or a long iron is enough for me with the tees almost always way up on the front of the box.  (Very difficult to find lower handicap players willing to hit from the back).  And the greens are often very undulated and fast.  Very difficult to score sometimes even when hitting the ball well.

Anyway, I also feel that getting more consistent at the full swing and hit more GIR is the biggest key.  That said, I disagree with one poster who discounted the importance of the short game.  I've always had a better than average short game and relied on it heavily in course management.  My thinking off the tee used to be: Get the ball anyway safe where I can get my approach shot anywhere near the green.  From there I felt I could get the ball up and down. 

As I've gotten older, my short game has fallen off, but I love practicing it and I feel that it has a direct carry over into full shots.  Of course there is the mental benefit of not being afraid to miss greens and feeling that you can get out of trouble.  But I also feel that there's a bigger connection between the two than the other poster implied.  One could think of short game practice as another kind of variability training.  I know that there are all kinds of short game techniques but for me 90% of all my chipping and approach shot are just variations on the cut shot or fade, which is just a variation on the full shot.  I think they're all connected. 

On the benefits of variability training
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/02/12/how-to-learn-new-skills-twice-as-fast/?utm_term=.286eb9e9fae0