Getting serious... Best options?

[putt and pray]

I am a novice weekend golfer who shoots between 100-105. I finally have some real time to practice/play multiple times a week and have decided I'd like to get to sub 90 scores. I have only taken very basic lessons (6 lessons on learning the basics) so I was wondering what people suggest to achieve this goal? Lots of driving range time? Weekly lesson? 2 a week lessons? Golf "school"? My biggest flaw is just consistency with long clubs and distance. I'm actually pretty decent with my wedges and putter but I only drive about 225 and still have accuracy problems with the longer clubs (driver, 3 wood, 5 wood and sometimes 4 hybrid). Any thoughts, suggestions, reality checks, laughs, or other comments welcome !

[mvmac]

Hi welcome to the site. Like any other golfer trying to improve, figure out your priority piece and fix that.

Not sure where you live but I would see if there was a 5 Simple Keys instructor near you

http://purestrike5sk.com/instructors.php

And if you were interested in online lessons I would highly recommend these guys.

http://evolvr.thegolfevolution.com/

You can also post a swing here and get some help

http://thesandtrap.com/f/4180/member-swings

[David in FL]

I am a novice weekend golfer who shoots between 100-105. I finally have some real time to practice/play multiple times a week and have decided I'd like to get to sub 90 scores. I have only taken very basic lessons (6 lessons on learning the basics) so I was wondering what people suggest to achieve this goal? Lots of driving range time? Weekly lesson? 2 a week lessons? Golf "school"?

My biggest flaw is just consistency with long clubs and distance. I'm actually pretty decent with my wedges and putter but I only drive about 225 and still have accuracy problems with the longer clubs (driver, 3 wood, 5 wood and sometimes 4 hybrid).

Any thoughts, suggestions, reality checks, laughs, or other comments welcome !

Welcome to the site.  Stick around!

[TJBam]

I am a novice weekend golfer who shoots between 100-105. I finally have some real time to practice/play multiple times a week and have decided I'd like to get to sub 90 scores. I have only taken very basic lessons (6 lessons on learning the basics) so I was wondering what people suggest to achieve this goal? Lots of driving range time? Weekly lesson? 2 a week lessons? Golf "school"?

My biggest flaw is just consistency with long clubs and distance. I'm actually pretty decent with my wedges and putter but I only drive about 225 and still have accuracy problems with the longer clubs (driver, 3 wood, 5 wood and sometimes 4 hybrid).

Any thoughts, suggestions, reality checks, laughs, or other comments welcome !

http://thesandtrap.com/b/playing_tips/ball_flight_laws

Read this understand this and apply this to your game!

[FooFader]

Hi there, welcome to the site

As Mike said you need to figure out your priority piece and practice that until you've got it nailed and then rinse and repeat. I have personal experience with Evolvr and i will say it's worth every penny, best thing i've ever done golf wise.

Also i would post a "My Swing" thread to use as a journal so you can see your progress and share it with us. Can also get some good advice there as well.

[Hammer 4]

Welcome aboard. As was said above, there's a ton of great info. to help You improve here on TST. Enjoy your stay.

[CarlSpackler]

Welcome to the site.

I would definitely spend a lot of time at the range, but you don't want to be baking in bad habits, so make sure you are doing so under the guidance of qualified pro and do what they say. Trying to figure it out on your own can be a frustrating and fruitless experience. Also, don't spend all of your time on the full swing. I see a lot of beginners, even folks who have been playing for years even, who get up to the green in 3-4 strokes and then spend another 3-5 getting it in the hole. Being able to pitch, chip and putt with mediocrity even can save you several strokes per hole right off the bat. As they say, the scorecard doesn't care how you got there. Once you start scoring lower, you will be hungry for more. That's a guarantee.

Enjoy!

[Mark141]

I would break it down as follows:

Finding a Pro -- Find a PGA Professional and sign up for a series of at least six lessons.  Follow the practice advice between lessons, and be prepared to have your game get worse before it gets better.  We all have bad habits that take time to undo. Don't feel obligated to go with whichever pro is closest.  As someone who has taken a lot of lessons I can say that the student-teacher chemistry is very important and each pro has a different style.  Find one that suits you. Don't be afraid to keep the lessons going after initial series, especially if you see your swing drifting back into previous bad habits.  Also don't forget to take a lesson in putting and chipping.

Practice -- Be prepared to spend 1/3 of your time on the full swing, 1/3 of your time practicing around the green and 1/3 of your time putting. We all want to hit the longest drive, but shooting lower scores is more about whittling down all of the rough spots than dominating one area.  Your golfing buddies may spend 90% of their time on the range, but set your own practice schedule.

Avoid Bad (or Any Extraneous) Advice -- Once you've got your pro and are taking lessons, avoid the "quick fix" advice from magazine articles, the Golf Channel, other players, etc. Getting a repeatable swing is hard enough without constantly trying to reinvent a piece.  If someone offers you advice explain you are working with a pro and thank you but no thank you.

Patience, Patience, Patience -- It takes more than 1000 balls to start to really groove a swing change. In the meantime you may be hitting worse, and will surely be tempted to revert back to your old swing. Likewise, you can chip like a pro on the practice green, but may end up flubbing your important chip during what you thought was going to be your break-through round (who is this golfer and what is he doing in my body?). It takes time to take what you can do on the range and use it on the course.  Don't worry, keep at it and it will come.

At Its Best Golf is Rather Imperfect -- The good news is that golf is pretty imperfect, and even a great round is full of a lot of bad shots. The mark of a good golfer is his ability to score well even when he is hitting poorly.

Have Fun - Be ready to come back for more

[CarlSpackler]

Avoid Bad (or Any Extraneous) Advice --  Once you've got your pro and are taking lessons, avoid the "quick fix" advice from magazine articles, the Golf Channel, other players, etc. Getting a repeatable swing is hard enough without constantly trying to reinvent a piece.  If someone offers you advice explain you are working with a pro and thank you but no thank you.

Very true. Cancelling my golf magazine subscriptions was one of the best things I did for my swing.

[iacas]

Finding a Pro -- Find a PGA Professional and sign up for a series of at least six lessons. Follow the practice advice between lessons, and be prepared to have your game get worse before it gets better.

I would suggest that you not necessarily worry about six lessons at least . We often see students once every few months because of how long it takes to change things.

I also don't really agree with "get worse before it gets better" but that's a minor thing…

Finding a Pro -- Find a PGA Professional and sign up for a series of at least six lessons.  Follow the practice advice between lessons, and be prepared to have your game get worse before it gets better.  We all have bad habits that take time to undo. Don't feel obligated to go with whichever pro is closest.  As someone who has taken a lot of lessons I can say that the student-teacher chemistry is very important and each pro has a different style.  Find one that suits you. Don't be afraid to keep the lessons going after initial series, especially if you see your swing drifting back into previous bad habits.  Also don't forget to take a lesson in putting and chipping.

Practice -- Be prepared to spend 1/3 of your time on the full swing, 1/3 of your time practicing around the green and 1/3 of your time putting. We all want to hit the longest drive, but shooting lower scores is more about whittling down all of the rough spots than dominating one area.  Your golfing buddies may spend 90% of their time on the range, but set your own practice schedule.

Avoid Bad (or Any Extraneous) Advice --  Once you've got your pro and are taking lessons, avoid the "quick fix" advice from magazine articles, the Golf Channel, other players, etc. Getting a repeatable swing is hard enough without constantly trying to reinvent a piece.  If someone offers you advice explain you are working with a pro and thank you but no thank you.

Does "avoid bad advice" include your advice to spend 1/3 of your time putting?

Just teasing you a bit… Thanks for joining Mark. But seriously, please don't spend anywhere near 33% of your time on the short game OR putting. Spend that much time on those things combined .

[putt and pray]

Thanks to everyone for the advice. I really enjoyed my pro from my previous lessons so I think I will return to him with my new goals.