103 to >83 in one year by working hard and tracking my progress

[Tgb02]

So today I played my final tournament of my Junior year golf season and I shot a 103, not my worst round but no where near my best round. But my goal now is that 1 year from today or so (when the next end of the year big tournament is) I shoot an 83 or lower, meaning I drop 20+ strokes in a year. I quit baseball and pursued golf about 4 months ago and since then I dropped my lowest round ever from a 99 to an 85, I average about a 88 when I play (compared to my 105 4 months ago), I recently completely changed my swing, my short game improved a ton, I know the rules of golf, and I had a ton of fun. My lowest tournament round was a 92 and my highest a 114 (it was a bad day) and I plan to shoot high 70's/low 80's next year.

But one year from now with an entire summer of practice and fall and winter I hope to be a single digit handicap and I want to shoot below an 83 in the same tournament on the same course so this is my thread to track my progress and see how it all goes. So here it goes to start

Things I am good at now and need to maintain:

-Putting (short putts and lag putts)

-Long irons/Hybrid (180+)

-80-120 yard wedge shots

Bad things I really need to improve on:

-Mid irons (130-180)

-Ball flight (Need a go to shot)

-Driver accuracy (Can average 285+ but not straight) (Take a lot of doubles and triples cus I hit a tee shot ob and have to hit another)

-Course management/Keeping the ball in play, shot a 103 today but took like 9-11 penalty strokes or so at least

-Par 5's for how long I hit the ball they should be easy but I often can string together 2 good shots but then screw up on one and have to take a ob or something and end with a double

Things I am meh at but can improve a lot:

-Chipping

-Sand shots

-Mid range putts (6-15 feet) I give myself so many of these opportunities but I miss so many of them by less then a few inches, need to make more

[Abu3baid]

So today I played my final tournament of my Junior year golf season and I shot a 103, not my worst round but no where near my best round. But my goal now is that 1 year from today or so (when the next end of the year big tournament is) I shoot an 83 or lower, meaning I drop 20+ strokes in a year. I quit baseball and pursued golf about 4 months ago and since then I dropped my lowest round ever from a 99 to an 85, I average about a 88 when I play (compared to my 105 4 months ago), I recently completely changed my swing, my short game improved a ton, I know the rules of golf, and I had a ton of fun. My lowest tournament round was a 92 and my highest a 114 (it was a bad day) and I plan to shoot high 70's/low 80's next year.

But one year from now with an entire summer of practice and fall and winter I hope to be a single digit handicap and I want to shoot below an 83 in the same tournament on the same course so this is my thread to track my progress and see how it all goes. So here it goes to start

Things I am good at now and need to maintain:

-Putting (short putts and lag putts)

-Long irons/Hybrid (180+)

-80-120 yard wedge shots

Bad things I really need to improve on:

-Mid irons (130-180)

-Ball flight (Need a go to shot)

-Driver accuracy (Can average 285+ but not straight) (Take a lot of doubles and triples cus I hit a tee shot ob and have to hit another)

-Course management/Keeping the ball in play, shot a 103 today but took like 9-11 penalty strokes or so at least

-Par 5's for how long I hit the ball they should be easy but I often can string together 2 good shots but then screw up on one and have to take a ob or something and end with a double

Things I am meh at but can improve a lot:

-Chipping

-Sand shots

-Mid range putts (6-15 feet) I give myself so many of these opportunities but I miss so many of them by less then a few inches, need to make more

It is always great to set goals, because if you don't know where you are going then you will never know how to get there.

Now that you know where you want to be, you should probably start formulating how to get there IMO.

So, for example you mention a few things you believe you need to improve on, but what you are missing is the "how?"

Are you going to find a coach to work with you through out the next year to reach your goal?  Or are you planning on doing it on your own?

You list some good things to improve on, but my advice would really to sign up with a coach and agree with him on the plan going forward, because if you don' t I think your plan might not move along as you wish.

Good Luck!

[tomvk77]

First thing what is see is people are so damn distance minded. Your telling you can hit a drive 285 but not straight, than just don't hit driver... ( i first hit driver after 5 years ) if you can hit a driver 285 you can hit a 3iron 220 or 3 hybrid.

If you play the par 4's like you want to make bogey, you will end up and make more pars en less double bogeys or worse.

There is just no need to hit a 420 yard par 4 in 2. if you hit 3-4 iron off the tee than go to a 7 iron you will leave yourself  80 yards for the third shot ( a shot you can do well ). for par 5's same story just go for an iron off the tee, lay up on your second and you can still reach with your third.

If i play a course i always try to stay out off trouble, if there are bunkers at 250 on the fairway, i will not hit driver but 3 wood and stay in front of them. than a par 5 with grenade bunkers on the left, i will lay up on the right side fairway to make the opening to the green wider.

Look where the flag is at the green front or back, and specially when it slopes from back to front

at a front pin position i want to avoid a downhill putt i even prefer an uphill chip. so i will select a club that will stay short.

good luck

[Dave2512]

If you want to get an average of 83 that is the realm of a mid-high single digit handicap golfer. An achievable goal if you work hard and smart. I would look at some of the practice threads here and consider buying LSW. Also look at the threads about chosing instructors. Sorry posting links is a PITA using my tablet.

[cedrictheo]

Read Lowest Score Wins. Practice how they lay it out in the book for an average of 1-2 hours a day. You'll get there no problem.

[RandallT]

...I average about a 88 when I play (compared to my 105 4 months ago).... and I plan to shoot high 70's/low 80's next year.

But one year from now with an entire summer of practice and fall and winter I hope to be a single digit handicap and I want to shoot below an 83 in the same tournament on the same course so this is my thread to track my progress and see how it all goes. So here it goes to start...

This is the graph of a guy (http://thedanplan.com) who dedicated all of his time to golf, after having never played for his first 30years. From his performance, I'd say your goals are achievable.  He started out with a 10-day moving average (blue line above) of 88 or so. He started with 0 experience and practiced for a while before playing any actual rounds.

I'd estimate he was low 80s easily within a year of recording scores (10-day average), and he made it to a single-digit handicap after 6 months or so.

The trick is where you will plateau. You might improve faster or slower than this, but you'll likely hit some point where the scores freeze for a while. That's when golf gets truly fun :)

Good luck! Hopefully you can use this graph to measure yourself against.

[dave s]

Read your entire post.  What stood out most to me is your penalty strokes!  Unless you're playing US Open course setups, penalty strokes are pretty much the 'unforced errors' of golf.  This goes hand in hand with the golf course management side of things.

I'm a high-handicapper because I don't hit the ball solid.  But what saves me from being worse (on paper) than I already am is that I rarely get myself into a penalty stroke situation and have a better-than-average (for a hack) short game.  For instance, I missed all 3 par-3 greens last Thursday in league play and made three pars.  Also didn't have a penalty stroke.  Had 2 doubles and a triple on a par five but still managed to eek out a 43 (par 35 on front side) due to limiting everything else (except my dismal ball striking) from making things worse.

Maybe an assessment of your mental game is in order.  If you can find someone who is a really good player, ask for a round with that person to understand the thought process that goes along with someone who shoots rounds in the 70s which is where I think you said you want to be very soon.

Good luck in your quest.

dave

[mdl]

The mental game and course management is obviously important (read Lowest Score Wins). But as a player averaging close to 100, your biggest problem is ball-striking, or your full swing. You can manage your way to scoring better than you "should" based on your ball striking ability, but that's not what's going to lead to the major improvement you're looking for. You seem to know this, as a bunch of your goals are around improving ball striking with particular clubs. One caution I'll throw out there given what you say about what you're good at. You might be good at long iron/hybrid shots relative to your current ability, but you surely aren't nearly as good at that on average as a low-mid 80s player. You're gonna need to get better at ALL your full swings to get to the level you want. Find a good instructor, practice slowly and with a specific plan on how your practice time will improve the particular mechanical pieces you're working on right now. Take consistent self-video to monitor progress. You can sign up for evolvr, an excellent on line lesson system run by @iacas and @mvmac and a few others. Starting a my swing thread on this site can also be helpful. You won't get quite the help as if you sign up for evolvr, but if you stick around and contribute regularly and also keep posting there and show some discipline and desire you'll get a ton of help from the pros around here and some of the top notch amateurs. If you'd prefer in person lessons, just make sure you find a good instructor. Looking for a 5 Simple Keys instructor is a good way to do that.

[Tgb02]

Thanks for all the posts! I actually bought LWS about 2 weeks ago and have read half of it and my high school coach was a big time D1 player and very good and he will be helping me as well as my friend who is a D1 commit and my age. I do need to make a exact plan which I will do soon and I hope to get a few videos of my swing coming up soon.

Read your entire post.  What stood out most to me is your penalty strokes!  Unless you're playing US Open course setups, penalty strokes are pretty much the 'unforced errors' of golf.  This goes hand in hand with the golf course management side of things.

Ya I know, the course we played was very narrow and long and I tried to hit driver too often instead of just being safe and hitting hybrid which was super stupid, also had a few unlucky bounces but all good.

Going to be taking a day or two off before grinding it out for the next  year!

[natureboy]

Good luck. Tough goal...but you are young and should be able to play a lot. I was only able to drop about 10 strokes in one season. Hopefully can shave about 5 this one.

I posted a chart in the Bogey Only thread that has some stats that are statistically correlated with average scores & handicap so it might help point out some of your relative strengths & weaknesses. The weakest statistical correlations are with total putts PPGIR & PPmGIR. Strongest correlation at your handicap would be the GIRP (green in regulation plus one) stat.

For me the most costly things were 'going at it'  with my driver (& losing the ball) when a smooth swing would have sufficed. If you have similar tendency to spray, try playing on a more open / less wooded course where a wild drive can give you a better chance of a playable shot. Also get really good at lag putting so you can avoid three putts from long distances until your irons tighten up. I think this is the most important putting skill for the high handicapper.

Check out the practice ratios thread on this site too.

[rkim291968]

Good luck, Tgb02.   I think you can do it.  I suggest you formulate a solid plan to achieve your goals.  How many hours/day will you be devoting to practice?   What specific items you will work on, and when?   Are you doing golf specific weight workout?   Are you going to track your progress, practice routines, round stats?    If you can answer most of these, you are half way there.

[mdl]

Ya I know, the course we played was very narrow and long and I tried to hit driver too often instead of just being safe and hitting hybrid which was super stupid, also had a few unlucky bounces but all good.

Going to be taking a day or two off before grinding it out for the next  year!

The shot zone stuff in the 2nd half of LSW will definitely help with this.  If you're a thinking golfer, you've considered the material there in some way, but it lays out a great framework for considering hole strategy in a clear, consistent, effective way.

Great that you have a good HS golf coach and good peers.  Playing with low single digit guys is definitely helpful in improving quickly.  I don't know a ton about that world but it seems like lots of high school golfers who post here have coaches who are basically just enthusiastic volunteer dads.

I'll just reiterate that making a plan and having specific goals and measuring your progress in terms of performance is a great idea.  But IMO, the key is going to be that improving ball striking.  There I'm a big proponent of the approach advanced by the TST owners/5SK guys of analyzing your current swing, choosing a priority mechanical piece that is most holding you back, then specifically addressing that piece in practice with particular drills, super slow swing forcing yourself into new positions and figuring out what that feels like, video monitoring, etc.

I harp on this cause for a long time I relied on my general athleticism in trying to fix things.  If I thought I needed to, say, work on keeping my hips from sliding back in the back swing, I'd just go to the range and pound balls as usual and just try to think about it and not do it.  With something like a hip slide you might be able to be fairly effective with that, but when you get into trickier things that's just never going to work.  Look at @Golfingdad ad (warning, it's super long) for an example of the process I'm talking about.

[Tgb02]

So its been about 3 and half weeks and just gonna give a little update on this post. Its been raining a ton down here in Texas but I have gotten out a lot to play and practice. Have played like 11 rounds in the past 3 and half weeks and have been averaging right around a 90 or just above which isn't too bad but really good news came today. Went to a new instructor today and had an hour lesson and I loved what he did with my swing. Started flushing my irons and my friend and I went out and played and I shot a 43 on the front with an ob on the 9th with my driver and too many putts. Iron play was solid though but now I really need to hone in on my driver and short game.

http://www.v1sports.com/Academy/include/player.asp?academy=MSSG&accountid;=1820228&swingid;=2394530

^ Just a recap of my lesson and what I changed.

Its supposed to keep raining throughout this next week but I started a nice weight lifting program again after stopping during the season so hoping to drop a few pounds and gain some muscle this summer as well as drop my golf scores :D

[rkim291968]

http://www.v1sports.com/Academy/include/player.asp?academy=MSSG&accountid;=1820228&swingid;=2394530

^ Just a recap of my lesson and what I changed.

It reminds of my video swing evaluation by GolfTEC instructor.   I was leaning to right, and flipping like crazy.   I am still working on my flipping.

Good work, and keep it up.

[Lihu]

So today I played my final tournament of my Junior year golf season and I shot a 103, not my worst round but no where near my best round. But my goal now is that 1 year from today or so (when the next end of the year big tournament is) I shoot an 83 or lower, meaning I drop 20+ strokes in a year. I quit baseball and pursued golf about 4 months ago and since then I dropped my lowest round ever from a 99 to an 85, I average about a 88 when I play (compared to my 105 4 months ago), I recently completely changed my swing, my short game improved a ton, I know the rules of golf, and I had a ton of fun. My lowest tournament round was a 92 and my highest a 114 (it was a bad day) and I plan to shoot high 70's/low 80's next year.

But one year from now with an entire summer of practice and fall and winter I hope to be a single digit handicap and I want to shoot below an 83 in the same tournament on the same course so this is my thread to track my progress and see how it all goes. So here it goes to start

Sounds like it should be possible given your driving and irons range. Good luck with your program, keep us posted with progress.

Things I am good at now and need to maintain:

-Putting (short putts and lag putts)

-Long irons/Hybrid (180+)

-80-120 yard wedge shots

Do you think you might benefit from having a longer iron than 180 in your bag?

Bad things I really need to improve on:

-Mid irons (130-180)

-Ball flight (Need a go to shot)

-Driver accuracy (Can average 285+ but not straight) (Take a lot of doubles and triples cus I hit a tee shot ob and have to hit another)

-Course management/Keeping the ball in play, shot a 103 today but took like 9-11 penalty strokes or so at least

-Par 5's for how long I hit the ball they should be easy but I often can string together 2 good shots but then screw up on one and have to take a ob or something and end with a double

Fighting that temptation not to lose yardage is pretty hard to do sometimes. The course you are playing is probably pretty tight to lose that many penalties. . .

Things I am meh at but can improve a lot:

-Chipping

-Sand shots

-Mid range putts (6-15 feet) I give myself so many of these opportunities but I miss so many of them by less then a few inches, need to make more

I am beginning to think that putts and chips are not natural things you just need a little bit of practice on. I think it would be nice to study these just as hard as the other skills?

[Tgb02]

Thanks for the replies and Lihu, I recently started hitting my 4 iron which is around 195 and I hit my 5 iron on a good day 190 ish and my hyrbid is 200-215. The whole thing about not losing yardage is basically my golf game summed up. With my recent swing change though I have been hitting the ball even farther and mostly straight so I feel really good about it.And ya my short game isn't totally natural so I plan on working on it a lot this summer since lately I have been neglecting it to just work on my full swing.

I have been busy with grad parties and things so didn't get to play the last 2 days but spent 2 hours or so each day at the range and really like my new swing. 100% chance of rain these next coming days so I plan to go get fitted for a putter and buy one and just continue working on my game whenever I can!

[natureboy]

Is there a specific reason you don't flare (turn out) your front toe toward the target?

After what happened with Tiger's front knee, I am surprised to see so many still using this setup on power swings. Given the extra torque it will put on a joint not designed for such motion, I think it's a repetitive stress injury waiting to happen. Probably okay, if you don't want to change things now with your 'deadline', but consider it for long-term.

[mailman]

Going from 103 in to the 80's in 12 months is easy. The real issue is going from averaging in the high 90's to making your average score being in the 80's! Therein lies your real issue. Getting your game to the point where even your really bad rounds are high 80's instead of, say, being 103! Regards Mailman