When did you essentially stop shanking/duffing the ball?

[jkelley9]

One of the 5sk key #3 is inline impact. The first sentence describing it includes "low point control." I don't have LSW on me right now but I remember there being a chart showing the average handicap of a golfer that had mastered X number of keys, typically in a progressive fashion (1, then 2, then 3, etc.).

I'm curious (to put it in as vaguely as possible) when did you stop shanking and/or duffing the ball? And by stop, I don't mean indefinitely considering I've seen pros do it on TV from time to time. But what I mean is when did it become so infrequent that maybe you only do it once every 3, 4, 5 or more rounds, maybe even longer? To the point where you tell yourself "holy crap I need to take a step back and re-assess." 

I'm shanking the ball OR duffing a drive at least twice per round of 18. I'm scoring in the mid to high eighties. I figured this behavior would be gone by now. The one that drives me the most batty are the duffed drives. And I mean DUFFED, like hit the ground running and roll forward only 75 yards on the ground.

[iacas]

FWIW that thread is here:

It doesn't have to be in a progression, either.

[Rainmaker]

That is a crazy chart!  I scored myself on each of the keys and added it up . .dead on.  I'm almost kind of speechless . .that is really interesting.  I have never seen it broken down that way (how good you are at certain skills vs your handicap or score) and, obviously, you guys are really onto something. 

To the original question, though . . I'm not sure, I'm the kind of golfer where one day I'll duff a bunch and then another time, not so many.  I can only score myself a 1.75 on the keys - I'm expecting to see plenty of duffs until maybe I can score myself a 3?

[MacDutch]

I dare not answer these questions. Maybe monday after the 18 holes tournament on saturday en competition matchplay on sunday.

[Mop Bucket]

No one ever stops completely, it just happens less frequently. 

[ppine]

when I was 12.

[Ernest Jones]

I have my usual, perennial high hopes for this year...

[paininthenuts]

Strange post. I have only been playing 7 months, and still duff balls on a regular basis. My best friend has played off of scratch since he was 14, and has been a golf pro 30 years. Guess what, he still duffs the odd shot. I play with single handicappers every week, and they will without doubt duff at least two shots a round. Personally, I duff at least 6 shots a round, but I am really crap

Edited April 16, 2016 by paininthenuts

[jkelley9]

1 hour ago, paininthenuts said:

Strange post. I have only been playing 7 months, and still duff balls on a regular basis. My best friend has played off of scratch since he was 14, and has been a golf pro 30 years. Guess what, he still duffs the odd shot. I play with single handicappers every week, and they will without doubt duff at least two shots a round. Personally, I duff at least 6 shots a round, but I am really crap

This was the info I was looking for from folks, thank you for the first answer lol. I know everyone duffs one here or there... as I stated in my original post. I've also seen the chart with the handicap based on the # of keys mastered. But What I'm curious about isn't your overall score... it's the frequency of duffing the ball. Weather you've mastered low point control or not, how often do you still duff the ball? Yes it affects your score and your handicap since they're obviously going to be bad shots... but at what FREQUENCY at a given handicap? 

Once a round? Is that normal for a 10 handicapper? 5 handicapper? 

Edited April 16, 2016 by jkelley9

[Lihu]

1 hour ago, paininthenuts said:

Strange post. I have only been playing 7 months, and still duff balls on a regular basis. My best friend has played off of scratch since he was 14, and has been a golf pro 30 years. Guess what, he still duffs the odd shot. I play with single handicappers every week, and they will without doubt duff at least two shots a round. Personally, I duff at least 6 shots a round, but I am really crap

So true, but it's the ability to hit that next shot well that helps a golfer shoot lower scores.

[Ernest Jones]

33 minutes ago, Lihu said:

So true, but it's the ability to hit that next shot well that helps a golfer shoot lower scores.

This^^^

The great golfers recover well from a crapola shot, I am just as likely to hit another crapola one.

[b101]

34 minutes ago, jkelley9 said:

This was the info I was looking for from folks, thank you for the first answer lol. I know everyone duffs one here or there... as I stated in my original post. I've also seen the chart with the handicap based on the # of keys mastered. But What I'm curious about isn't your overall score... it's the frequency of duffing the ball. Weather you've mastered low point control or not, how often do you still duff the ball? Yes it affects your score and your handicap since they're obviously going to be bad shots... but at what FREQUENCY at a given handicap? 

Once a round? Is that normal for a 10 handicapper? 5 handicapper? 

Ok, not a 10, but pretty close. The thing with most 10-15 handicappers is that one thing will usually be off on a given day. For example, in a recent round I shot an 83 (+10 based on Standard Scratch) in which my driving was great, putting was great, short game pretty good, but couldn't hit an iron shot for love nor money unless (thank God) it was on a par three, teed up. I'll go back to the range and it'll be fine - I reckon it's in part due to practising off mats all winter - but then something else will go.

In that round, I hit behind the ball on an iron shot four times and hit 4 pull draws which resulted in missed greens (at the moment, I'm caught between a fade, which is what I've always played and a draw, which is what I will probably end up with once everything clicks).

As for shanks, I can't recall the last time I had one in a round, but I'll often get them on the range when I'm working on something. I've long since stopped worrying about them as usually they happen when I'm changing my path - rightly or wrongly, I take it that I'm doing something differently and therefore changing things, therefore it's a good thing . I used to have them loads with partial wedge shots though and a lot of practice to get those swings feeling normal cured that.

In short, you'll always have mishits, but they do start to form more of a pattern and you definitely get fewer as you get better.

[rkim291968]

On 4/15/2016 at 1:39 PM, Mop Bucket said:

No one ever stops completely, it just happens less frequently. 

This.  Even pros will do that every so often.  So, we better get used to them.

[Lihu]

43 minutes ago, b101 said:

Ok, not a 10, but pretty close. The thing with most 10-15 handicappers is that one thing will usually be off on a given day. For example, in a recent round I shot an 83 (+10 based on Standard Scratch) in which my driving was great, putting was great, short game pretty good, but couldn't hit an iron shot for love nor money unless (thank God) it was on a par three, teed up. I'll go back to the range and it'll be fine - I reckon it's in part due to practising off mats all winter - but then something else will go.

In that round, I hit behind the ball on an iron shot four times and hit 4 pull draws which resulted in missed greens (at the moment, I'm caught between a fade, which is what I've always played and a draw, which is what I will probably end up with once everything clicks).

As for shanks, I can't recall the last time I had one in a round, but I'll often get them on the range when I'm working on something. I've long since stopped worrying about them as usually they happen when I'm changing my path - rightly or wrongly, I take it that I'm doing something differently and therefore changing things, therefore it's a good thing . I used to have them loads with partial wedge shots though and a lot of practice to get those swings feeling normal cured that.

In short, you'll always have mishits, but they do start to form more of a pattern and you definitely get fewer as you get better.

I had serious one one a par 5 the other day along with making some stupid decisions, a few severe mishits which I also consider a shank or duff which included a shot that went about 1/2 the total distance the club was supposed to go. This is along with all the terrible drives that hit trees and stuff. The only things that saved me were the fact that I got a birdie on a par 3 and a bunch of par and not so many bogeys. Not sure what happened on the good holes?

My son is about a 6 handicap with the potential to be scratch, and hits a couple bad ones and more mishits per round and still shot a 79 with 42 putts and 14 greens a couple weeks ago. He duffed his first tee shot, then hit a 5W to the green on the second shot from over 200 yards away.

[Rainmaker]

Dead shanks are either going to happen or not . .that is to say, *often* I will play without a single dead shank.  However, when I do hit a dead shank, I'm extremely likely to hit a couple more before day is done.  Usually it's mental . .mechanical thoughts/confusion. 

[David in FL]

Stop?  

[JonMA1]

I don't say this to be mean of spiteful, but when I hear low cappers talk about their mishits, it's encouraging. It reminds me that we don't have to play perfect golf to score low.

I've had rounds where I've hit all but one or two full swings without a duff, but it's rare - and it doesn't always equate to a low score. A lot of bad things can still happen when I hit ball first and on the center of the face (see keys 4 and 5).

Duffs seem to be due to a lack of concentration or rushing a shot. They can happen at any time but are easily fixed on the next shot. Shanks, on the other hand, happen less frequently but can be more difficult for me to correct on the fly.

[Valleygolfer]

I stopped duffing and shanking the ball two weeks and 2 days ago. It oddly coincides with the last time I played golf...