Super hacker to decent golfer..... Who's done it?

[Meddle]

And play the shot you should be playing, not the one you are most comfortable with. Too many high handicappers, in my opinion, stay away from hitting driver because they often slice it, or playing a 3 wood off the deck because they top it, or choose to putt through 20 feet of fairway because they aren't comfortable chipping. If you try to play proper golf shots, short term your score my suffer, but your game will improve.

Great advice! Can't be afraid to execute shots out there. I need to apply this to my own game more often...

[CoachinPA]

Realistically trying to understand how many people have started off as a 110 or 120+ golfer to get down to a respectable round? Realistically I'm around an honest 120 and hope to break 100. I'd be satisfied to be in the 90's even long term and absolutely elated to ever sniff breaking 90. I'm looking to see how many people here have done just that. I'm working on some things and I'm expecting to see some results. I've even taken a lesson locally but I did not get much out of it. I'm planning on starting lessons through evolve soon. I may even sign up tonight. So who's made the journey from hacker to respectable and wants to share their story, key to success, or even just a few words of inspiration.

Started off shooting 120's.  in about about 3 years I shot 69 (all time best).   How?  I played 5-6 days a week when it was warm enough to do so.  Even played once when it was in the 20's and snow was on the ground in places.

of course I was 15-18, golf was practically free.... free with HS and College and 6 bucks for as much golf as you could play on the weekends.... (those were the days....)

[RFKFREAK]

Started off shooting 120's.  in about about 3 years I shot 69 (all time best).   How?  I played 5-6 days a week when it was warm enough to do so.  Even played once when it was in the 20's and snow was on the ground in places.

of course I was 15-18, golf was practically free.... free with HS and College and 6 bucks for as much golf as you could play on the weekends.... (those were the days....)

Yeah, most of us that have jobs don't have the luxury of playing 5-6 days a week.

[Yukari]

I haven't read through the entire thread, but IMHO, golf is like everything else in life.  You get out what you put in.

Meaning the more effort you put into practicing and playing, you'll have a better chance of becoming a good player.  Note I said better chance--not actually being better.  Some have "natural talent" for golf, some can pick things up easily, and some will struggle no matter what.

Hopefully, the OP will not be in the latter category.

Personally, it was putting in a lot of practice on the range that really made the difference of getting out of being a bogey golfer.

[pepsiplusconker]

How do you score so high OP? What I mean is, is it losing alot of balls and hitting hazards?

I think almost anyone can score under 100 with practice, if you learn to not lose strokes from slicing it into the woods, hazards, and topping it down fairways, it shouldn't be a problem.

I guess it's easier said than done though.

[whatwoodtigerdo]

Honestly I am not trying to be mean but I cant imagine watching someone shoot 130s. Everybody was a beginner at some point but why bother playing every hole out. My wife has only been playing for about 2 years or so and doesn't play often. She understands if you have taken 3-5 hits and still way off the green and you are going to shoot a 120+ just pick it up, if you want to practice on the putting put it on the green and try while people are lining up their putts and then we will go to the next hole and you get to do it all over again. She pars occasionally and gets excited. She understands nobody wants to watch anybody shoot a 120+. Nobody.

[Lihu]

Honestly I am not trying to be mean but I cant imagine watching someone shoot 130s. Everybody was a beginner at some point but why bother playing every hole out. My wife has only been playing for about 2 years or so and doesn't play often. She understands if you have taken 3-5 hits and still way off the green and you are going to shoot a 120+ just pick it up, if you want to practice on the putting put it on the green and try while people are lining up their putts and then we will go to the next hole and you get to do it all over again. She pars occasionally and gets excited. She understands nobody wants to watch anybody shoot a 120+. Nobody.

I agree, but I don't think anyone mentioned that they were shooting in the 130's. I think I came close,one time, but that was mostly stray tee shots so each bad shot counted for 2 strokes. It's not like I hit 60 strokes above par.

[RFKFREAK]

Honestly I am not trying to be mean but I cant imagine watching someone shoot 130s. Everybody was a beginner at some point but why bother playing every hole out. My wife has only been playing for about 2 years or so and doesn't play often. She understands if you have taken 3-5 hits and still way off the green and you are going to shoot a 120+ just pick it up, if you want to practice on the putting put it on the green and try while people are lining up their putts and then we will go to the next hole and you get to do it all over again. She pars occasionally and gets excited. She understands nobody wants to watch anybody shoot a 120+. Nobody.

Oh, one of the first times out last year I shot a 132 and then shot a 135 on the same course two weeks later that is rated 70.9/124.

I'm sure I had a bunch of penalty strokes as I had 10 and 11 holes respectively where I shot more than triple bogey on a hole.

And the reason I played the holes out is because I played money to play on the course and I wasn't holding anyone up (my friend who played with me on those days is huge into pace of play).

I'm sure no one wants to see someone shoot 120+ but thankfully, my friends didn't mind letting me play so as to enjoy it and not get discouraged.  Last year I got a friend of mine to play a round with me who hadn't played in 15 years and he put up like a 140 but had fun and bought a set of starter clubs to practice and play with and I'd like to think it's because I was patient with him as my friends were when I began playing last year.

[Chris223]

I was definitely a super hacker when I started lol.  I shoot low 90's on the harder courses in my area now, and have gotten as low as 88 at those harder courses.  If my putting wasn't so atrocious it could probably be lower than that.

I only play maybe 20 times per season if that.  I would love to play more, I just don't have the time to do so.

[Pretzel]

The summer before my freshman year in high school I got my first handicap of 24. I spent both that summer, as well as the two since, playing every day I can over the summer (so usually 5-6 days a week in summer, 3-4 during school weather permitting) to get to where I am now. Some days I would just go out to hit a bucket of balls and chip, but I made sure to go out there whenever I could in order to try and make the varsity team at my school. The consistent practice was key for me. In terms of what helped me most, I would say that improving my approach shots and switching to using a 3-wood off the tee in most situations was most helpful to me. There aren't many courses in the high school rotation that are long enough to really require a driver and the larger fairways hit percentage more than makes up for it. Not surprisingly this made my approach shots easier and took a large amount of pressure off the rest of my game. A tee shot in play usually means a closer approach, which in turn means less work for you to do with chipping and putting.

[Gilberg]

I was not as good when I started as I am now.  The first round I played I shot a 92 (played 1 hole scaled to 18).  Last week when I played I shot a 76 (no holes played, scaled from previous experience)

[Lihu]

I was not as good when I started as I am now.  The first round I played I shot a 92 (played 1 hole scaled to 18).  Last week when I played I shot a 76 (no holes played, scaled from previous experience)

Did you shoot 18 balls or walk back 17 times?

[Fromthecoast]

Honestly I am not trying to be mean but I cant imagine watching someone shoot 130s. Everybody was a beginner at some point but why bother playing every hole out. My wife has only been playing for about 2 years or so and doesn't play often. She understands if you have taken 3-5 hits and still way off the green and you are going to shoot a 120+ just pick it up, if you want to practice on the putting put it on the green and try while people are lining up their putts and then we will go to the next hole and you get to do it all over again. She pars occasionally and gets excited. She understands nobody wants to watch anybody shoot a 120+. Nobody.

Well I'm glad that I am at least solidly in the 105-115 range then but I would still disagree with what you are saying. Sure if the course is crowded no sense in holding things up, but if no one is around and behind you, you'd probably be better off dropping another ball and practicing that shot they just missed. I doubt very many people walked onto the course and started shooting par.

[whatwoodtigerdo]

Well I'm glad that I am at least solidly in the 105-115 range then but I would still disagree with what you are saying. Sure if the course is crowded no sense in holding things up, but if no one is around and behind you, you'd probably be better off dropping another ball and practicing that shot they just missed. I doubt very many people walked onto the course and started shooting par.

Charlotte must be different than where you guys live. Not sure I have seen a course in a while where someone is going to shoot 120+ and not hold up groups. Heck I had a 4.5 hour twosome round the other day on a Thursday behind 3 groups of hacking twosomes and had a foursome waiting on me for the last 7 holes. I am a strong believer the range makes you better. Not sure if you guys spend time there but an hour before the round and/or after the round and just the range once every week or two will do wonders for your golf game. When I started if I shot 120 and played by the rule book all the way through I would've quit. But more power to you as long as you aren't holding me up.

[LukasM]

Realistically trying to understand how many people have started off as a 110 or 120+ golfer to get down to a respectable round? Realistically I'm around an honest 120 and hope to break 100. I'd be satisfied to be in the 90's even long term and absolutely elated to ever sniff breaking 90. I'm looking to see how many people here have done just that. I'm working on some things and I'm expecting to see some results. I've even taken a lesson locally but I did not get much out of it. I'm planning on starting lessons through evolve soon. I may even sign up tonight. So who's made the journey from hacker to respectable and wants to share their story, key to success, or even just a few words of inspiration.

As an instructor for Hank Haney I've seen beginners go from 120s to breaking 100 very often! You can do it you have to have a plan!

[WilsonWedgeMan]

As an instructor for Hank Haney I've seen beginners go from 120s to breaking 100 very often! You can do it you have to have a plan!

age has alot to do with it as well....younger folks learn quicker,can adapt quicker,and have more energy to play. as one who never picked up a club until my late 40s, i can say, without reserve, that younger = better..show me one Pro,including Champions Tour, that started in their 40s... won't happen.

[lifeboy]

In my game, I found myself reaching plateaus that could only be overcome by focused practicing. I started playing in high school and soon after got a job at the course. After a year of three rounds a week and 100s of balls on the range, I was shooting consistently in the low 90s. I could only break that 90 mark occasionally. My family moved overseas for my senior year and I couldn't work at the course, and therefore, I couldn't afford to play as often as I had become accustomed to. Chipping and putting was free, so that was all I did for months. Low and behold, when golf season came around I was shooting mid 80s, and occasionally in the 70s. My point is, grab your ipod and a dozen balls and spend double the time on your short game as you do banging balls on the range and you'll find yourself in the 90s in no time.

[Fromthecoast]

Last night I used the simulator at Dick' Sporting Goods to try to get a better understanding of what I was doing with my driver swing. I tried 2 different drivers. One was a Maltby 10.5, 43.5" A-Flex shaft that I picked up on the cheap to experiment with and the other was a Nike Machspeed SQ STR-8 Fit HL 13* Driver, standard regular flex shaft.

One thing that I found was that my swing speed was disappointing low in some cases, but validated what I was thinking. Tension was killing my swing. When I was tensed up in my swing (trying to kill it) I was swinging around 85 mph. When I relaxed and took nice tension free swings (starting with relaxing my hands) I was driving the ball straighter and further with around a 95 mpg swing speed. Based on that I am hopeful for the future because I think with some additional tweaks and lessons I could get that up over 100. My best drives were between 250-260, which matches what I see in real life when I get a hold of one. My average seemed to be around the 210-220 range, excluding the occasional disaster.

Went an played today with my son and had one of my better rounds to date. I was staring down breaking 100, but after 13 holes, my son just couldn't keep up and we went home. Ended up with a 74 through 13; and a 52 on the front. Started off the back with 2 pars in 4 holes so things were looking promising. Best drive that I GPS'd before my phone died was 245 in the middle of the fairway  which was huge for me. One thing that I noticed on the simulator as well as the course is that with the 13* driver and the ball tee'd up high, I was definitely sacrificing some distance but that the ball was going nice and straight. The roll out was pretty minimal, probably 10% or so of the carry distance which for me is ok because I am not a marksman yet and the not too much rollout was helping to keep the ball in the fairway. The guy on the simulator also noticed, and I did get more distance with a little more loft, but I think I was back to fading and slicing as well. For now, I am willing to make the trade off of a little distance for more fairways hit.

What I found while experimenting on the simulator was that I cannot have any tension in my swing. For me that starts in the hands. I have to keep myself from strangling the club because that is where it all starts to go downhill. If I do that and make sure to get my hands deep, I'm hitting pretty straight even drawing the ball some. This is the first time that I managed to get rid of my monster fade and slice with the driver. Now I have the interesting problem of making sure that I don't forget that I can now put the ball on the left side of the fairway.

About 2 months ago, maybe a month and a half, I was basically playing 130 golf. Now it looks like I'm playing around 100. I know I still have a long way to go but it is nice to sit back and think about that I have dropped nearly 30 strokes in a short period of time. I know going forward it won't drop that fast but it gives me hope that I could be a 90's golfer in the near future, trying to figure out how to break 90.

My continuing personal goal for the year is to break 100 and by the end of the season be a solidly scoring in the 90's consistently. Beyond that, who know's. Long term stretch goal, maybe single digit HC?