Finally Broke 90!

[Topper]

It seemed like a long time coming.  Despite some significant health-related setbacks this year, I finally broke 90 with a score of 86.  The course was average in difficulty and water in play on 14 of 18 holes, but was a little short at 5,800 yards...(but I'm still counting it!).  Looking back on the round for some key "take aways", I came up with the following:

1. No major blowup holes, my worst was a triple.
2. Hit plenty of poor shots, but didn't compound my mistakes with bad decisions.
3. Driving was "typical" and couldn't call it much of an asset for the day.  Hit some fairways but blocked it right on many others landing in trees or adjacent fairways.  Drove two into a water hazard for a couple of penalties and into a fairway bunker on another.  However, I might have figured something out on the last few holes with the driver. I had a few of my longest and straightest drives of the season with one at least 270 yards which is about 50 yards longer than typical.
4. Bunker play was good as I landed in four of them...2 fairway and 2 green side.  Got our of green side bunkers for a 1 or 2 putt.  Nothing fancy.   Played well out of  fairway bunkers.  In both cases had between 100-110 yards to the green where I hit the green from one and landed on the front fringe for an up-and-down chip from the other.
5. Putting was "typical" with six 1-putts and two 3 putts.  I missed several short putts within 5 feet.  The 1-putts were more the result of good chipping as opposed to great putting.
6. Chipping was better than typical for me.  I consistently put short chips close enough to the hole for reasonable attempts for a 1 putt.  I think my practice rounds at a challenging muni par 3 are paying off here.

At least I know sub 90 rounds are possible for me so the "mental hurdle" has been minimized.  If I can make more improvements in my long game, I can hopefully carry this to progressively longer courses.

[Spyder]

Originally Posted by Topper

It seemed like a long time coming.  Despite some significant health-related setbacks this year, I finally broke 90 with a score of 86.  The course was average in difficulty and water in play on 14 of 18 holes, but was a little short at 5,800 yards...(but I'm still counting it!).  Looking back on the round for some key "take aways", I came up with the following:

No major blowup holes, my worst was a triple.

Hit plenty of poor shots, but didn't compound my mistakes with bad decisions.

Driving was "typical" and couldn't call it much of an asset for the day.  Hit some fairways but blocked it right on many others landing in trees or adjacent fairways.  Drove two into a water hazard for a couple of penalties and into a fairway bunker on another.  However, I might have figured something out on the last few holes with the driver. I had a few of my longest and straightest drives of the season with one at least 270 yards which is about 50 yards longer than typical.

Bunker play was good as I landed in four of them...2 fairway and 2 green side.  Got our of green side bunkers for a 1 or 2 putt.  Nothing fancy.   Played well out of  fairway bunkers.  In both cases had between 100-110 yards to the green where I hit the green from one and landed on the front fringe for an up-and-down chip from the other.

Putting was "typical" with six 1-putts and two 3 putts.  I missed several short putts within 5 feet.  The 1-putts were more the result of good chipping as opposed to great putting.

Chipping was better than typical for me.  I consistently put short chips close enough to the hole for reasonable attempts for a 1 putt.  I think my practice rounds at a challenging muni par 3 are paying off here.

At least I know sub 90 rounds are possible for me so the "mental hurdle" has been minimized.  If I can make more improvements in my long game, I can hopefully carry this to progressively longer courses.

You mean short game right? I would imagine that you're taking more putts than you are penalties, strokes, or troubles with your "long game". Not to critique you, but this is generally the case with nearly all amateurs for the most part - including myself.

[TourSpoon]

Originally Posted by Topper

No major blowup holes, my worst was a triple.

Hit plenty of poor shots, but didn't compound my mistakes with bad decisions.

Driving was "typical" and couldn't call it much of an asset for the day.  Hit some fairways but blocked it right on many others landing in trees or adjacent fairways.  Drove two into a water hazard for a couple of penalties and into a fairway bunker on another.  However, I might have figured something out on the last few holes with the driver. I had a few of my longest and straightest drives of the season with one at least 270 yards which is about 50 yards longer than typical.

Bunker play was good as I landed in four of them...2 fairway and 2 green side.  Got our of green side bunkers for a 1 or 2 putt.  Nothing fancy.   Played well out of  fairway bunkers.  In both cases had between 100-110 yards to the green where I hit the green from one and landed on the front fringe for an up-and-down chip from the other.

Putting was "typical" with six 1-putts and two 3 putts.  I missed several short putts within 5 feet.  The 1-putts were more the result of good chipping as opposed to great putting.

Chipping was better than typical for me.  I consistently put short chips close enough to the hole for reasonable attempts for a 1 putt.  I think my practice rounds at a challenging muni par 3 are paying off here.

At least I know sub 90 rounds are possible for me so the "mental hurdle" has been minimized.  If I can make more improvements in my long game, I can hopefully carry this to progressively longer courses.

You didn't break 90, you shattered it! Congrats. To keep it going see my responses correlated to yours.

1. Triple is you new blow up number. Strive for double or less.

2. Awesome!

3. Not bad. Avoid penalties.

4. Nothing fancy? Getting out in one and giving yourself a chance to save is great.

5. 32 putts is decent, especially with the 3 putts. Eliminate the 3 putts and there is 2 more strokes.

6. To take the pressure off the chipping game, consider any chip within a certain radius a good chip. Start with 10 feet and be happy with that to get yourself in a good mindset to sink the putt.

Know that you now shoot in the 80s. Good luck!

[sixonezero]

You can never underestimate the importance of a good par-3 course, and I'll bet that was a huge part of your breaking 90.  Where I used to live there was a beautifully maintained little 9-hole par-3.  It was rarely crowded; I would go out on a Saturday and play 3 or 4 balls per hole.  The experience and practice I'd get with mid/short iron shots and all the short game work was invaluable.  I really miss that little course, nothing like that where I live now.

[Topper]

Originally Posted by sixonezero

You can never underestimate the importance of a good par-3 course, and I'll bet that was a huge part of your breaking 90.  Where I used to live there was a beautifully maintained little 9-hole par-3.  It was rarely crowded; I would go out on a Saturday and play 3 or 4 balls per hole.  The experience and practice I'd get with mid/short iron shots and all the short game work was invaluable.  I really miss that little course, nothing like that where I live now.

I am a believer.  It only costs me $100 per year for unlimited golf.  When it's not busy, I'll often play 4 balls using different clubs for different types of shots.  My par3 course is extremely hilly with uphill, down hill, and "side hill" lies as the norm which makes it even more challenging.

Originally Posted by TourSpoon

You didn't break 90, you shattered it! Congrats. To keep it going see my responses correlated to yours.

1. Triple is you new blow up number. Strive for double or less.

2. Awesome!

3. Not bad. Avoid penalties.

4. Nothing fancy? Getting out in one and giving yourself a chance to save is great.

5. 32 putts is decent, especially with the 3 putts. Eliminate the 3 putts and there is 2 more strokes.

6. To take the pressure off the chipping game, consider any chip within a certain radius a good chip. Start with 10 feet and be happy with that to get yourself in a good mindset to sink the putt.

Know that you now shoot in the 80s. Good luck!

Thanks!  Both my 3 putts came on greens where the pins were placed on the edge of a significant slope.  Lagging on the wrong side (in one case) or a short putt (the second case) resulted in the ball rolling back downhill.  I wasn't too fond of the pin locations but that's golf.  I'll just have to deal with those.

Originally Posted by Spyder

You mean short game right? I would imagine that you're taking more putts than you are penalties, strokes, or troubles with your "long game". Not to critique you, but this is generally the case with nearly all amateurs for the most part - including myself.

Good points but I actually did mean long game.  My rational includes long-game penalties and drives that put me in poor position making a GIR extremely unlikely.  It also includes poor approaches which are miss-hit and basically are like adding a penalty stroke.  To that, I might also add approaches that miss the green.   I only had 2 GIRs which required 14 chips.  Although I am taking a lot of putts, I think I have the potential to shave more strokes through a better long game than I can going from 32 putts to 28 putts....or thereabouts.  But to your point, I am continuing to devote a fair amount of time to chipping and putting at my muni par3 course.

Thanks for the comments.  It was just nice just to be able to post a " making-some-progress " type of  post instead of a " why the #$#& can't I hit the ball " type of post.