How long until you had a consistent, repeatable swing?

[k-troop]

Originally Posted by dak4n6

Stop being modest. If I were a scratch, I would say my swing is pretty consistent.

It's always inconsistent--although I can't specifically speak for Buckeye.  The better you get, the less you're able to appreciate the good shots, and the more you feel the bad ones.  My current index is 1.7; looking at my current scorecard, 5 of my last 20 rounds are 80 or above.  There is nothing consistent about that.

[dak4n6]

Originally Posted by k-troop

It's always inconsistent--although I can't specifically speak for Buckeye.  The better you get, the less you're able to appreciate the good shots, and the more you feel the bad ones.  My current index is 1.7; looking at my current scorecard, 5 of my last 20 rounds are 80 or above.  There is nothing consistent about that.

I hear ya. Last weekend, 79 on Sat, 86 on Sun (club championship qualifier, just barely squeaked in as lowest seed, yuk).

[The Recreational Golfer]

Originally Posted by iacas

You may not believe it, but here goes... the average golfer (maybe not one playing for three months, but still, probably even you) already have a consistent, repeatable swing. Sure, the timing of some tiny thing may be different from swing to swing, but if you record two swings, they're going to be really, REALLY similar to each other.

The problem is that the swings are consistently bad.

People say "if only I could be consistent..." when they already are.

Good grief. This is exactly what a teaching pro told me several years ago about everyone he teaches.

[divot dave]

I'm in my 5th month of golf and I'm seeing progress, although I too feel like I should have more consistent results by now. I started off slicing and chunking and topping at the driving range as well and all I gotta say is stick with it. Keep practicing.

I recently got to what I thought was a good repeatable swing for where I'm at in my development right now (I'm regularly scoring between 40 & 45 on a par 32 9 hole course)... that is until I switched golf instructors. He has really changed things up and is far more concerned with my swing mechanics than my previous instructor... which just affirms what Iacas was talking about, that you can have a consistent swing but its consistently bad.

My best advice is to definitely get some time on the golf course before you become too disillusioned with your results on the driving range. Spend a lot of time working on your game from 100 yards in. Do lots of research, experiment, analyze, and as was previously suggested, take notes... Try to identify 2 or 3 of the main culprits in your bad swings and focus in on those so you don't end up with paralysis from analysis.

Best of luck to you

[Typhoon92]

Never.

My pro tells me I tinker too much. Just this past week I believed him and stopped.  I've realized when I just set up normally to the ball and pull the trigger, its good.  When I tinker, I over compensate.

Don't get too caught up in it.

[NuclearMike]

Originally Posted by Typhoon92

Never.

My pro tells me I tinker too much. Just this past week I believed him and stopped.  I've realized when I just set up normally to the ball and pull the trigger, its good.  When I tinker, I over compensate.

Don't get too caught up in it

The same thing happened to me at the range a couple of days ago. As a once single-digit capper it's frustrating to be where I am so I'm always trying new things.  I just trusted myself and had the best ball-striking day I've had since I've come back to the game.  I'm playing Tuesday and just plan to play the same way that I practiced.  After all, I had a good swing that I didn't have to think about once before.   I expect good things to happen.

[The Recreational Golfer]

Vivien Saunders says repeatedly that you don't have to change your swing. You just have to learn how to do your best swing more often.

[iacas]

Originally Posted by The Recreational Golfer

Vivien Saunders says repeatedly that you don't have to change your swing. You just have to learn how to do your best swing more often.

I don't buy that one teeny tiny bit. The occasional "good swing" is the anomaly. The swing any given player has is what's producing their typical shots.

I'm changing my swing and the results get better and better.

Reminds me of that colloquial definition of insanity.

[NuclearMike]

Originally Posted by NuclearMike

The same thing happened to me at the range a couple of days ago. As a once single-digit capper it's frustrating to be where I am so I'm always trying new things.  I just trusted myself and had the best ball-striking day I've had since I've come back to the game.  I'm playing Tuesday and just plan to play the same way that I practiced.  After all, I had a good swing that I didn't have to think about once before.   I expect good things to happen.

Now, in saying what I said above the swing that I trust now is completely different from the one that I used to have, from the grip to the stance to the position of my hands at the top and the length of my backswing. I have a draw where I used to have a fade and I drive the ball longer and straighter than I ever did before, likely thanks in part to equipment technology.  I just have so few opportunities to play that I don't see a handicap change  Because of family obligations (long story) I've only played four times this year, so I'm at the range multiple times a week for a couple of hours to get my golf fix.  I'm looking forward to playing a round on Tuesday at a course that I haven't played before.

[Shorty]

There is nothing more repeatable than the bad swing of a novice golfer.

The idea that each swing is a random event different from the ones on either side of it is not true.

As Iacas pointed out, your "best swing" is the anomoly and the good result is an accident, not proof that you "can hit great shots".

Even a stopped clock tells the right time twice a day.

[BuckeyeNut]

golf is a brutal game................nobody thinks their swing is constant.

[Big C]

Originally Posted by BuckeyeNut

golf is a brutal game................nobody thinks their swing is constant.

Ha, bingo. If you ask my friends (who are generally pretty terrible at golf), they would probably say that I have a nice, consistent swing. While it's certainly better than it was a few years ago, I know my own tendency to collapse like a lawn chair under pressure, and wouldn't call my swing anything close to consistent. Even if I reduce my handicap by several strokes to a low single digit, I'm sure I'd find plenty of swing flaws, certainly enough to prevent me from calling myself "consistent."

[Precis1on]

I think you're going to find your definition of consistent getting more and more difficult to maintain as you get into the sport of golf. When you first start playing, it's about hitting the ball and getting it into the air consistently. As you develop, you start getting more distance and be able to select clubs for certain lengths. Then you start working for accuracy on each strike and finally combine distance. Then you find the need to start making your ballflight consistent with every swing.

Also throughout the whole process, keeping consistent ballstriking, which I feel is the only constant in the whole consistency discussion.

Consistent in golf is an evolutionary concept (not trying to sound deep, just stating it). Everyone has a different idea of consistent, and everyone changes their baseline consistency probably more often than they know or think. Listen to the pros on TV talk about "I'm trying to keep it low, or I was happy that my putting was consistent, but my driver wasn't so I need to work on that.:

[Beachcomber]

Consistency in my mind is hitting 50% or more of your fairways and greens.  And having ~ 32 or less putts per round.  If you can get to that stage, I'd say you're a consistent golfer.

I'm a consistent golfer at this stage... But I'm trying to get to a point where I can hit 60% of my fairways and greens and have ~ 30 putts.  If I can do that - I should be able to get my handicap down to scratch.  Possibly lower?

[Golfingdad]

Originally Posted by Beachcomber

Consistency in my mind is hitting 50% or more of your fairways and greens.  And having ~ 32 or less putts per round.  If you can get to that stage, I'd say you're a consistent golfer.

I'm a consistent golfer at this stage... But I'm trying to get to a point where I can hit 60% of my fairways and greens and have ~ 30 putts.  If I can do that - I should be able to get my handicap down to scratch.  Possibly lower?

I'm actually suprised it's not already in the 3's or 2's, frankly.  But certainly if you are hitting 60% of your greens and are under 30 putts you would be a scratch golfer, no?

Let's do the math:  60% is 11 of 18 greens, and under 30 putts is, to make the math simple, 29.  Miss 7 greens + 7 one putts = par!  (assuming that you're only taking one extra shot to get to those 7 greens you missed)  Most courses you play are rated at least around 71, so yeah, I'd say you'd at least be <1 HDCP if you could hit those averages.

That's a pretty good goal to have, and I'd say you ain't too far from it.  Keep it up!

I wonder what my HDCP will be if I keep consistently hitting 3 fairways and 1 greens per round???

[Beachcomber]

Originally Posted by Golfingdad

I'm actually suprised it's not already in the 3's or 2's, frankly.  But certainly if you are hitting 60% of your greens and are under 30 putts you would be a scratch golfer, no?

Let's do the math:  60% is 11 of 18 greens, and under 30 putts is, to make the math simple, 29.  Miss 7 greens + 7 one putts = par!  (assuming that you're only taking one extra shot to get to those 7 greens you missed)  Most courses you play are rated at least around 71, so yeah, I'd say you'd at least be <1 HDCP if you could hit those averages.

That's a pretty good goal to have, and I'd say you ain't too far from it.  Keep it up!

I wonder what my HDCP will be if I keep consistently hitting 3 fairways and 1 greens per round???

Yeah - you'd have to have an incredibly poor pitching/chipping game - or just have some very strange holes where you forgot how to hit the ball off the tee or something (OB monster) to not be damn near scratch with those kind of stats (60/60/30).

I'm currently a mid 4... My fairways are near 60% (58.5%)... And when I miss the fairway - I'm typically near the short grass.  So my focus is currently getting my GIR up (51.5%).  And my putts are 32.4/rd.  This is over my last 20 rounds... I think if I can hit more greens (go from 9 to 11 GIR per round) - and make a few more putts (go from 32.4 down to 30) - I'll be near scratch - or damn close to it.

It's one of those things where I feel like it is obtainable.

[slodsm]

I'm consistently short if that helps you out. I hit 53.3% of my fairways, putt 36.9 times per round and have a 3.3% GIR. I will almost always be 1 stroke behind GIR and on long par 5's I'm usually 2 strokes behind.

I've only been playing seriously for 5 months myself but once I started taking lessons, it straightened out my 3w-irons to where I have no slice, just the occasional push or pull that's easily recovered from. Now if I could just get some distance to go along with this, I might actually be able to play a decent round of golf within a year or two. I do have 26 weeks off each year and it's completely dedicated to tournament fishing and golf though so I've either got to improve or go insane.....

[NuclearMike]

As to the reproducible swing: I played yesterday.  Half good, half bad.  No consistency to my swing at all.  The good: My irons were above average for me, from the GW to the 5 iron.  I missed some greens by a little with them, but overall it was good.  Putting was really good.  Missed only one inside of 12 feet.  My lagging on the longer putts was worse than average as I left almost all of them short.  The bad:  My always dependable driver let me down big time.  I had been hitting nine+ fairways per round.  Yesterday I hit three.  My driver swing, the one I "trust", was AWOL. The ball flight, distance, and accuracy were all wrong.  My chipping and pitching were a little off as well, which is why I had so many putts of 5 feet and longer that I made.  So, the swing that I trusted apparently didn't show up very often during yesterday's round, although my score (86, thanks to the flat stick) was the best I've had this year, and on a course I hadn't seen before.  One water ball, one in the sand (which I hit to 40 feet, not 4 feet).  Go figure.  Have to love this game, though.  Every round is different.

Maybe next week I'll be more consistent in my swing.  I'll probably putt like crap and score worse than yesterday.