are you getting better?

[Shortylook]

Chico, here is my story so far Started playing in oct last year. Was really shitty and didnt think I was going to keep playing. Started using left handed gear and found I could pull of the occasional shot. Slight glimmer of hope. Joined my local club and hit 130/135 for 18 holes and thought I was doing ok. Someone suggested a lesson or 20 would be a good idea. Booked a lesson from a guy almost everyone at the club praised at a nearby course. He was the pro there. Ended up getting 5 but pay for 4 type of deal. Had a lesson then went back and tried what he showed me. Video and all the usual stuff for about a month. Played a couple of games after the lesson, but I just wasn't getting what he showed/told me. Booked another lesson about a month or so later and got shown the same thing and told to practice what I was shown. Played another 2 monthsoucher with no improvement so I tried for almost 2 months to book another lesson all to no avail. Went to another guy who was a bit further away and liked what I saw/heard/felt. Went back to original guy to give him another chance but still didnt get a lesson. So I went and fronted him about the lack of return calls for lessons and he gave me a story about the pro shop worker not telling him about phone calls etc etc. I got my money back and as a peace offering he gave me a free lesson voucher. While I was there he said give me a look at your swing, so I did and he made me change my setup, told me stance didnt count for anything and grip was kinds meh in the scheme of things, I never took the free lesson. Went back to second guy. I just got him. He did all the same stuff but told me about alignment and firing my pivot and other stuff. I went from a 33 to now a 26. I've broken 100 4 times and yesterday had 91 of the stick to win a trophy day and shoot my best score ever. All i have done is practice what I've been shown. Don't know if ill ever get to my target of single figures but I'm sure as hell going to try. Sorry if its a bit long winded but that's the story so far.

[MacDutch]

Originally Posted by chico713

I'm just wondering...and I like to post topics that I think are interesting, universal, and a bit controversial, if only to be interesting. And believe me, I don't take any of this seriously. I know who I am

No sense in answering  OP question than.

[Mordan]

At the beginning of 2011 I was off 21.

At the beginning of 2012 I was off 15.7.

At the beginning of 2013 I was off 10.4*.

* I left the UK and my last handicapped round was 10/10/12 and I've recently transferred my handicap to Australia but haven't yet played a competition round which are the only ones that count over here so I haven't had a chance to lower it since October last year. Golfshot currently has me at 8.6 based on social rounds.

[joekelly]

Originally Posted by cipher

Two years ago I was 12-15, today I am a 4.5.  You can get better, you need to start practicing correctly.  My guess is you are not taking 8's on a hole because of short game.  And the shots you call risky would probably not be risky if you are striking the ball well.  Does your instructor show you specific positions in the swing to checkpoint?  How badly do you want to improve? How many slow motion practice swings do you make a day to checkpoint your positions?  You won't improve playing on the course.  I play 1.5-2 rounds per week 5 months out of the year.

Do you mean only practicing on the range can bring improvement?  Or that social golf does not  (cannot )  lead to lower scores? Just what do you mean by this statement?

Right now for me the range time is good, i enjoy it and find definite improvement in ball striking, distance and consistency.  But i can find no lower scores on the golf course. I only play 2x per month mostly due to sky high green fees here and only with fellow pub mates in a day outing.  To meet my goals i am quitting the social golf and using the green fees to go around by myself with 2 balls per hole but with no putting. That's the plan. Will it help?

Lessons for me?  Hard to see that in my future given the very high fees charged by those guys.

[David in FL]

Yep, getting better.  As with most things though, the better I get, the smaller the incremental improvements become.

And sadly "getting better" over the longer term, doesn't mean there aren't shorter term setbacks along the way.....  I wasn't trying to be a smartass with my first comment.  I meant it.  If you're taking lessons and don't feel that you're improving, you need to talk to the teacher about it.   He may be able to show you where you are improving, or, he may not be the right teacher for you....

[indyvai]

I play once a week in season and only see snail like improvement since I don't have time to practice. If I had time to play 3 times a week... I'd switch to 2 and take the third day to practice... almost all inside 100 yards. You get the ball closer to the hole from inside 100 and around the green and you'll start dropping strokes.

[Rick Martin]

Originally Posted by chico713

49 yrs old. Same handicap. Same scores. Lessons. New equipment. Play 3 times per week. Still shoot 85 almost every time. Am I alone here??

You're not alone. We have a lot of similarities.  I've been playing golf since the mid-80s as a college kid. HCP got down to 9 in the first five years. Then held steady for awhile then because of work/career and not playing as much in the winter, made it up to a 12. I found that not playing tournament golf, not playing for money (wagers), that I slacked off and didn't care about the score, and didn't mind bogeys when they happened. My short game got very bad w/ a bad case of the chipping yips as well, and made golf less fun - especially tournament golf where the yips tended to really crop up.

I'm using Shawn Humprhies (google his website if you're interested in what he has to offer) to repair the game and I'm doing much better and holding at 9 hcp again.  I practice the short game >50% of my practice time now. Should practice putting more (drills are important).  If you want to move the scores down into the low 80s, high 70s, you have to work on short game and be smarter from a course management point of view.   I think my yips are somewhat repaired (long story why that happened, mostly poor technique). http://www.golf.com/video/hump-day-tip-precision-chipping

There's nothing wrong w/ shooting mid-80s, as long as you leave course feeling you gave it your best, that you enjoyed the people around you in your group, etc.  By now, you've probably realized that you're not going to make the PGA or Champions Tour, and most likely you won't win the club championship with the scores that you're shooting.  I don't know anyone that has gone from mid-80s to scratch except for young kids who get better because they're growing up to be very good golfers.

[cipher]

Do you mean only practicing on the range can bring improvement?  Or that social golf does not  (cannot )  lead to lower scores? Just what do you mean by this statement?   Right now for me the range time is good, i enjoy it and find definite improvement in ball striking, distance and consistency.  But i can find no lower scores on the golf course. I only play 2x per month mostly due to sky high green fees here and only with fellow pub mates in a day outing.  To meet my goals i am quitting the social golf and using the green fees to go around by myself with 2 balls per hole but with no putting. That's the plan. Will it help? Lessons for me?  Hard to see that in my future given the very high fees charged by those guys.

I mean that taking full swings on the course and not practicing any other way will generally not lead to much full swing improvement. Edit: To answer the second part, I am not saying you cannot improve at all but you will hit a wall, where you have to do other things to improve more.

[HazardMagnet]

I sure am, and I shot a 126 back on Friday! I just completed lessons this spring and the old adage that you have to get worse before you get better is all over me! My best score prior was a 102. I played with my girlfriend on Wed. and she beat me by 5 shots, but I also played off the whites for the first time in over a year and a half, (Always Tee'd it Fore-ward) as the course wasn't busy.

Friday I out drove my regular partner on two holes by 10 to 15 yards... (same Course) and he was amazed as he tickles high 80's all the time. Again off the whites. I've lost about 10 to 20 yards with my irons and am just figuring that out. But accuracy is improving immensely and I'll figure out the distance thing soon. And I only lost 2 balls! The greens on this course are particularly unforgiving, probably the most punishing of the regular courses we play ( miss a 12 incher down hill, and you face a 5 footer on the way back up, they just  don't stop rolling ), so Putting was a killer.

But to me it's not the last number in the box on the card that matters, I see improvement with my game overall, and It's only April!

This is my year to break 100!

P.S. My buddy said I had the two best shots of the day on Friday, 8 Iron out of a pile of leaves for a par save, and the other one, I didn't tell him I paid that tree $10 for a great members bounce back onto the fairway, which he didn't see! I took that 8 on that par 5 with pride.

P.P.S. Wow, it just occurred to me, I can afford to play with high end Top Flites now!

[Rick Martin]

I kind of look at it like weight loss, when you're 300 lbs, it's easier to lose 50 lbs, than when you're 150 lbs.

[soon_tourpro]

Originally Posted by Rick Martin

I kind of look at it like weight loss, when you're 300 lbs, it's easier to lose 50 lbs, than when you're 150 lbs.

Practice alone wont make you better if that was the case the one who practice most would win it all.

finding out what to practice and how and make changes accordingly and measure how to become better.

as you progress more jumps in performance becomes rare as the skill level may plane out, the mental ability to adjust to course management, play the procentage shot and consistently make putts etc..

Once your start to measure your progress stale moments and needed changes becomes obvious but most cant adapt to such and continue their own platue.

and dropping handicap from 30 to 20 is way easier than from 8 to 1.

Measuring putts I am for example 5 or more putts better today than 3 years ago and consistently under 30 putts round.

Measure it, apply change, adapt, increase skill.

[cipher]

Practice alone wont make you better if that was the case the one who practice most would win it all. finding out what to practice and how and make changes accordingly and measure how to become better. as you progress more jumps in performance becomes rare as the skill level may plane out, the mental ability to adjust to course management, play the procentage shot and consistently make putts etc.. Once your start to measure your progress stale moments and needed changes becomes obvious but most cant adapt to such and continue their own platue. and dropping handicap from 30 to 20 is way easier than from 8 to 1. Measuring putts I am for example 5 or more putts better today than 3 years ago and consistently under 30 putts round. Measure it, apply change, adapt, increase skill.

Putting I would say is not the best indicator of play. You can hit more greens and end up with more putts than someone who is missing more greens and getting up and down.

[Dave2512]

Yes I am getting better. But I haven't been at it that long, no golf from late 90's until 2012. What I've found is the lower my index gets the more work it takes to make progress. I'm happy where I'm at, the game is fun for me. But I am not satisfied and therefore willing to devote the time and effort it takes. At times it's tedious and frustrating. But I can honestly say I have made gains even if the scores are coming down just slightly. The difference is I had to struggle and get lucky to be a stroke or two within what I am doing now. This year when I walk off the course I know I've played better and can look back at the few mistakes that got in the way of scoring lower. Instead of a card full of bogeys it's one or two higher scores amongst pars and a few birdies. My stats are improving and I'm just a bad break away from getting over the hump.

[jimmyc]

I'm no pro, but it sounds like mental and course management might be your issue(s).

I'm in the process of reading this book and I swear this guy knows all my faults. His solutions make all the sense in the world.

I'm playing tomorrow for the first time since absorbing some of his teachings. I'll update.

My best rounds have been 90. I believe with his direction, I'll break into the 80's shortly.

Buy it, trust me.

"Zen Golf: Mastering the mental game" by Joseph Parent

[Rick Martin]

Rotella's books can get you down a few points on the HCP as well. ( http://www.drbobrotella.com/ )

A visualization aid....

http://www.drbobrotella.com/storage/Rotella%20podcast.mp3

[cooke119]

Originally Posted by chico713

Yes it's the same guy. I haven't been on this site long but I get the feeling if you can't shoot 70 from the tips, or say you do, then you don't belong. I've tried it all, the speed stick, the pure strike 5 iron, blades, shovels, hours pounding balls, instructors that I can't understand or that give the same lesson to everyone, and my scores are the same. Are yours better? I read golf digest, golf world, watch the golf channel. I play a 6900 yd course with a rating of 74.2 and a slope of 135. I've played Bethpage Black and Shinnecock, and its always 85. So tell me how you dropped 10 strokes and qualified for the US Open, or am, or your club championship, or anything.

85 on the Black is a great score, be proud of it! Most people don't realize that on the Black you have to walk it, and there are hills, a lot of them (not to mention the sand traps). When you are done with the Black you know you have played a round of golf.

I like the Red myself. Nothing like ripping one off the first tee. For those who haven't had the pleasure, the fairway drops off steeply then rises. You really get a great visual as your ball flies out to the middle of the fairway (hopefully). There is usually a gallery of people watching so the butterflies start acting up as well. Great course.

[plum]

been holding at the same level for a few years. Mainly for lack of practice and caring. my issue is and has always been concentration. i just dont have much and to focus for 18 holes is tough for jerks like me..lol

I kinda wish i cared more about the scores, maybe ill get focused more this year with more time to do it. (i think)

[caniac6]

I get better, I get worse, I get better,so on and so on. It's something new every day. That's why I like it so much.