How do you get into the low 80's from roughly the high 80's and low 90's?

[jsp9999]

91 and 93 is not bad for a 30 handicap. If you really hit a 240 yard drive with a slice or hook "often", I would think it would be a lot more than 3-4 strokes savings. Each time you do it, you could lose 2 strokes or if playable 1 stroke?

We all have many facets to fix. I am currently only working on one specific aspect of the full swing.

That is the distance I hit if it's well hit or a bit of push.  For big slice or hook I find it varies a lot but ~210 to even below 200 which is even shorter than my 4 fairway metal.  Often distance is not a killer but hazards and trees eat up many strokes.  For the handicap I don't play enough to keep my official handicap

For "full" swing, one thing that really helped me was not swinging full.  Making 75-80% of swing and grab one club longer than my range distance made rounds a lot more enjoyable and lower scores.

[Lihu]

That is the distance I hit if it's well hit or a bit of push.  For big slice or hook I find it varies a lot but ~210 to even below 200 which is even shorter than my 4 fairway metal.  Often distance is not a killer but hazards and trees eat up many strokes.  For the handicap I don't play enough to keep my official handicap

For "full" swing, one thing that really helped me was not swinging full.  Making 75-80% of swing and grab one club longer than my range distance made rounds a lot more enjoyable and lower scores.

I was thinking something like one or two strokes per hole that is counted in the "often" figure you gave. Let's say "often" is 9 per round then you could lose up to 18 strokes off the tee alone.

[iacas]

Hit more greens.

[Lihu]

Hit more greens.

Simple, but so true.

I have just a "few" intermediate steps before getting here, though. You know like: swing, course management, . . . and more advanced topics like ball striking, shaping shots, etc.

[CarlSpackler]

To get form 90ish to 80ish, I would say that the best bang for your buck is working on your short game, pitching in particular. I would track where you are leaking the most of your strokes, but I would guess it is mainly around the greens. It's comforting to know that you can miss a green and still walk away with par or bogey at the worst. If you find that your 2nd shot (3rd on a par five or 1st on a par 3) is within 30 yards of the green and you typically walk away with doubles an triples, you need to learn how to love your wedges. Not mention, it can really drain your opponent when they hit the green, you miss, and you both end up with par.

[anthony]

Hit more greens.

Was just going to post this. Hitting more GIR's is the key in my eyes.

[Gary L]

One thing that will improve consistency and is pretty quick and easy to fix is setup alignment.  I've played with plenty of golfers who thought they were aiming down the middle of the fairway, but in reality they were just looking down the middle of the fairway while their feet and/or shoulders were aimed way off-line.

[The Recreational Golfer]

You go from 88 to 82 by not leaking strokes.

Stop taking extra strokes inside 60 yards or so. Get your first shot on the green so you can start putting.

Get the ball in the fairway. That eliminates penalty strokes because of lost balls, out of bounds, and water hazards. Also eliminates punching out of trees so you can play on from the fairway. That doesn't mean hitting your driver better. It might mean teeing off with a club besides your driver.

A poster suggested getting your aim nailed down. Great suggestion. Actually be aimed where you're looking.

Get better at greenside chipping. Get up and down from a yard or two off the green at least half the time.

Sink nine of ten putts under three feet.

Stop trying to kill the ball. Play with the distance you have.

On that subject, play from the right set of tees.

Going from 92 to 82 means all of the above plus getting a better swing which hits the ball straighter more often.

[irishmike27]

Lots of good ideas on this thread, I look forward to putting them to the test this season.

[flopster]

Basically it comes down to making 6 or 7 pars with no doubles and maybe a birdie thrown in there to negate that 1 double that shows up every couple rounds, if it were really one thing though I would say not making anything worse than bogey would be the key.

[BallMarker]

Work on your chipping and putting..... and breath.

[RH31]

So, how did you do it? Or how do you think you would do it? Is it more accurate tee and approach shots? Killer short game?

I am of the opinion that the long game is more important, but I am at a point where it seems like the short game is really killing me.

Or is it the fact that my approach shots are not accurate enough?

So, I would like a metric of how accurate you need to be at so and so distance to get to the low 80's.

How do most of you single digits perform?

For example, what is your typical club from 150 yards and how accurate are you with it? Percentage within a fixed target of say 20 yards and outside that target.

It is also a question of where your most accurate shots are required? Is it really 150 yards or can you do just as well with 120 yards? How far do you drive if you only need accuracy from 120 yards?

This thread is essentially "How do you get into the single digits or low teens?"

There are other threads about breaking 80, but there is a large gap between a person shooting high 80's/low 90's and shooting below 85 (standard rated courses).

If your short game is killing you now, it will always frustrate you no matter how well your ball striking becomes. Learn how to pitch the ball onto  the green and make par or no worse than bogey. By that I mean learn how to use the bounce of your wedge as your friend so that your wedge play becomes consistent. It's something that I never really learned early on and it's held me back. You may want to avoid trying to learn too many different shots around the green until you nail down a simple approach that works all the time. Practice putting whenever you get a chance. 10-12 feet and in over and over again really instills confidence.

You can focus on the long game(I did) and if you play all the time you'll eventually get down around 80 or so, but you'll still be wishing your short didn't let you down. I once improved from a 9-10 handicap to a 5-6 and it was all ball striking and putting. My wedge game was erratic or I would've been a 2. However, to improve your long game you might try sticking with one shot off the tee. I used to try to hit fades, draws, straight balls whatever the shot shape called for. I finally stuck with one shot off the tee, fading the ball, and my scores went down. I wish I could still hit those big power fades!

[jsp9999]

You go from 88 to 82 by not leaking strokes.

Stop taking extra strokes inside 60 yards or so. Get your first shot on the green so you can start putting.

Oh. so true except I have to from 90's to 80's.  I shot 94/71 on Saturday and looking back there were so many leaks.  Lost at least 4 from various bunkers as well as multiples around 50 yards or so.  Putting could be definitely better but I think I need to really stop errant shots from those 50 yards inwards

[mdl]

Of course the short answer is better ball striking, leading to, as Erik said, hitting more greens.

To me, the real key in improved ball striking to get into the low 80s is getting over the hump where your worst tee shots don't go OB or in the water, and you only miss big enough into the trees or whatever that you have to chip out sideways and then hope to do the equivalent of parring the hole with a +1 a handful of times in a round.

What I mean is, if you hit a few wild tee shots per round that are bad enough to usually lead to double bogey or worse and you improve your ball striking a bit, your biggest misses in an average round might still be bad enough that they go OB or in a hazard or in jail and still usually lead to doubles or worse.  You need to improve to the point where your biggest typical misses off the tee are better enough than they used to be so that they lead to blow up holes much less often.

Same with approaches, though usually with approach shots with a shorter club you can hit a shot as bad relatively that will still give you a chance to at least get up on the green and two putt, barring really tough green layouts.

Course management can also help.  For instance, if your blow up hole tee shots are usually big misses to the right, line up on the right side of the tee box and aim at the left side of the fairway.  Some medium misses end up just fine that way where they would be in big trouble if you'd teed up in the middle and aimed down the middle.

[Golfingdad]

To me, the real key in improved ball striking to get into the low 80s is getting over the hump where your worst tee shots don't go OB or in the water, and you only miss big enough into the trees or whatever that you have to chip out sideways and then hope to do the equivalent of parring the hole with a +1 a handful of times in a round.

Totally agree.  It's hard not to make at least 4 or 5 or 6 pars, and perhaps even a birdie, on bad days, so as long as you can avoid the "others," that is already an 85-ish type score.

On good days, I can have 8 or 9 or 10 pars, and a birdie or two, so if I can eliminate the doubles (usually caused by one stray shot - often times tee shots) then that's when I can turn in a really good score in the 70's.

[mdl]

Totally agree.  It's hard not to make at least 4 or 5 or 6 pars, and perhaps even a birdie, on bad days, so as long as you can avoid the "others," that is already an 85-ish type score.

On good days, I can have 8 or 9 or 10 pars, and a birdie or two, so if I can eliminate the doubles (usually caused by one stray shot - often times tee shots) then that's when I can turn in a really good score in the 70's.

Yeah, I think this is also why improved ball striking shows up last in the score.  Your good shots get better, you have more streaks of hitting all solid or better shots in a row, you hit a few more greens, and you have a few more solid chances at birdie and make one or two.  But until you also stop the worst shots being bad enough that they leave you with a major risk of a blow up hole, you can often get a birdie and a few more pars than you used to but still have a couple doubles or triples and only end up a stroke or two better even on good days.  Then on the bad days you get stuck between the old swing and the new, hit fewer good shots than you used to and even more wild misses and shoot worse than you usually did with the old swing!

[RFKFREAK]

Yeah, I think this is also why improved ball striking shows up last in the score.  Your good shots get better, you have more streaks of hitting all solid or better shots in a row, you hit a few more greens, and you have a few more solid chances at birdie and make one or two.  But until you also stop the worst shots being bad enough that they leave you with a major risk of a blow up hole, you can often get a birdie and a few more pars than you used to but still have a couple doubles or triples and only end up a stroke or two better even on good days.  Then on the bad days you get stuck between the old swing and the new, hit fewer good shots than you used to and even more wild misses and shoot worse than you usually did with the old swing!

I find this interesting. I'm nowhere near shooting high 80's or low 90's but over the last two days I've felt I'm adjusting to my swing changes and making better contact more often and consistently. Granted, this is using my 6i hitting into my net and issuing artificial grass in my back yard but I feel so good with how the changes are coming along that I'm hoping the next time I go out that instead of shooting between 105-115 I'll shoot in the low to mid 90's.

[Lihu]

I find this interesting. I'm nowhere near shooting high 80's or low 90's but over the last two days I've felt I'm adjusting to my swing changes and making better contact more often and consistently. Granted, this is using my 6i hitting into my net and issuing artificial grass in my back yard but I feel so good with how the changes are coming along that I'm hoping the next time I go out that instead of shooting between 105-115 I'll shoot in the low to mid 90's.

It's pretty much better ball striking that got me into the mid to low 90s, and from what I hear better ball striking to get to the low 80s.

Thinking back on all my leaks today, it was the missed greens and off line drives. Hence, I need better ball striking. Much better.