Being Consistent

[rfeight]

For those of you that have broke 80, how did you gain the consistency required to do it?

I've been struggling with being consistent. I was in the 80's regularly and was really trying close to breaking 80 when my game fell apart and now I'm struggling to break 90. My drive was the first thing to go, followed by distance on my approach shot. My flop shot has been killing my while the pitch and run works to my favor. But I need to be able to course correct when things go south and create a consistent swing. Thoughts?

[DrvFrShow]

Practice more. And practice with a plan. My guess is that you're not practicing as much as you were when you were shooting in the 80s regularly.

[Piz]

The first time I ever broke 80 I was playing with one of the usual suspects and a friend of ours who had decided to take up the game.  I took a double, on the first, and went on to card a 77.  The guy familiar with my game said "I guess you were so busy trying to set a good example for ----- that you forgot to hit bad shots."  

[IanW]

One thing that helped me improve my game was to take an honest look at my round. I would write out every hole and what happened. Something like this:

Hole 1 [] - bogey - driver to right rough. 50deg from 120 to front bunker. 58 to 15ft. 2 putts (15,1)

I did this for about 4 rounds and immediately started to see some common themes. Here is a direct example out of my file from 2014 for the first hole that paved the way to me dropping at least 5 shots per round.

Hole 1 [] - bogey - driver to right rough. 50deg from 120 to front bunker. 58 to 15ft. 2 putts (15,1)

Hole 1 [gir] - par - driver to right rough. 58deg from 92 to 20ftt. 2 putts (20,3)

Hole 1 [gir] - bogey - driver to left bunker. PW from 128 to 60ft long. 3 putts (60,7, 1)

Hole 1 [fw,gir] - par - crap driver in fairway. 9 iron from 140 to 22ft. 2 putts (22,1)

I remember when I wrote that last one out kind of laughing. That hole felt easy to make a par on once I was on the fairway. I would stand on the tee and be scared of the water right, or the OB left, or the bunkers left, or the cart path (can't count how many times I hit it). Here is the hole

I then decided that trying to hit a driver over the bunker on the left was stupid. I started hitting a hybrid to just short of that bunker. ie: the fattest part of the fairway. I was around 70% pars on that hole. The previous year I was probably something like 40%. It went from my most hated hole to one I enjoyed as it was low stress. A hybrid would never go in the water. Longest I would have in to the pin would be a 7 iron. If the pin was back right I would aim for middle back of the green and call it good.

I did this for the remainder of the year. I ended up hitting driver less. About 5 times less. Which, surprise surprise, saved me 5 shots per round :) As the season progressed I dropped my handicap from about 8ish to 4. I have stuck around the 4 since then. I still shot the odd 92, almost always on a course I have never played before. If I have played the course I generally expect to be in the 70s.

Now with the advent of things like GameGolf, Sky Golf, and Arccos, you can pretty easily get this information and figure out where you are throwing shots away. 

 

[rfeight]

  On 7/25/2016 at 5:36 PM, IanW said:

One thing that helped me improve my game was to take an honest look at my round. I would write out every hole and what happened. Something like this:

Hole 1 [] - bogey - driver to right rough. 50deg from 120 to front bunker. 58 to 15ft. 2 putts (15,1)

I did this for about 4 rounds and immediately started to see some common themes. Here is a direct example out of my file from 2014 for the first hole that paved the way to me dropping at least 5 shots per round.

Hole 1 [] - bogey - driver to right rough. 50deg from 120 to front bunker. 58 to 15ft. 2 putts (15,1)

Hole 1 [gir] - par - driver to right rough. 58deg from 92 to 20ftt. 2 putts (20,3)

Hole 1 [gir] - bogey - driver to left bunker. PW from 128 to 60ft long. 3 putts (60,7, 1)

Hole 1 [fw,gir] - par - crap driver in fairway. 9 iron from 140 to 22ft. 2 putts (22,1)

I remember when I wrote that last one out kind of laughing. That hole felt easy to make a par on once I was on the fairway. I would stand on the tee and be scared of the water right, or the OB left, or the bunkers left, or the cart path (can't count how many times I hit it). Here is the hole

I then decided that trying to hit a driver over the bunker on the left was stupid. I started hitting a hybrid to just short of that bunker. ie: the fattest part of the fairway. I was around 70% pars on that hole. The previous year I was probably something like 40%. It went from my most hated hole to one I enjoyed as it was low stress. A hybrid would never go in the water. Longest I would have in to the pin would be a 7 iron. If the pin was back right I would aim for middle back of the green and call it gIood.

I did this for the remainder of the year. I ended up hitting driver less. About 5 times less. Which, surprise surprise, saved me 5 shots per round :) As the season progressed I dropped my handicap from about 8ish to 4. I have stuck around the 4 since then. I still shot the odd 92, almost always on a course I have never played before. If I have played the course I generally expect to be in the 70s.

Now with the advent of things like GameGolf, Sky Golf, and Arccos, you can pretty easily get this information and figure out where you are throwing shots away. 

 

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4

Excellent strategy. Thank you for sharing. I've struggled also with a consistent driver. But your idea of mapping the course for club strategy and staying out of trouble is something I've always wondered about. This winter I'm going to take a serious look at my league course and start a strategy book on playing holes. Thanks for sharing. 

[Fourputt]

  On 7/25/2016 at 5:00 PM, rfeight said:

For those of you that have broke 80, how did you gain the consistency required to do it?

I've been struggling with being consistent. I was in the 80's regularly and was really trying close to breaking 80 when my game fell apart and now I'm struggling to break 90. My drive was the first thing to go, followed by distance on my approach shot. My flop shot has been killing my while the pitch and run works to my favor. But I need to be able to course correct when things go south and create a consistent swing. Thoughts?

Expand  

You don't need a flop shot to shoot in the 70's.  For most of us it's a very low percentage shot, and is more likely hurt your score than help it.  I used to shoot 70's several times a season (my PB  is a one over par 73), and I've never used a flop.  

The best thing you can do to begin with is to examine your fundamentals - grip, stance, ball position, takeaway.  If anything is off there it can be very difficult to get in the right position at the top to start your downswing on a good plane.

[rfeight]

  On 7/25/2016 at 6:28 PM, Fourputt said:

You don't need a flop shot to shoot in the 70's.  For most of us it's a very low percentage shot, and is more likely hurt your score than help it.  I used to shoot 70's several times a season (my PB  is a one over par 73), and I've never used a flop.  

The best thing you can do to begin with is to examine your fundamentals - grip, stance, ball position, takeaway.  If anything is off there it can be very difficult to get in the right position at the top to start your downswing on a good plane.

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I think I miss spoke about the flop. I mean anything inside 100 yards. Particularly those pesky 20 to 30 yarders. 

Having said that, I know that the fundamentals is the reason my drive is so inconsistent. I have a pretty good idea if it goes straight and peels right that my clubface was open. If it starts left and peels right, I was over the top and/or open club face. But for some reason I have trouble consistently re-creating the same swing with my driver. Any thoughts? Or good routines/sites for the fundamentals? Thanks for the reply.

[IanW]

  On 7/25/2016 at 6:32 PM, rfeight said:

I think I miss spoke about the flop. I mean anything inside 100 yards. Particularly those pesky 20 to 30 yarders. 

Having said that, I know that the fundamentals is the reason my drive is so inconsistent. I have a pretty good idea if it goes straight and peels right that my clubface was open. If it starts left and peels right, I was over the top and/or open club face. But for some reason I have trouble consistently re-creating the same swing with my driver. Any thoughts? Or good routines/sites for the fundamentals? Thanks for the reply.

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If it goes straight and peels right then your clubface wasn't open. Your clubface was 'straight'. Your swing path was outside to in.

Clubface dictates start direction and clubpath dictates curvature (roughly speaking).

Slap up a myswing thread. You will likely get feedback that is more helpful there :)

Edited July 25, 2016 by IanW

[rfeight]

That might help my strategy for fixing my swing mid-round. i.e. focusing on grip or closing my stance. 

I'll add a myswing thread. That's a great idea. Maybe I'll get it recorded before league tonight at the range..... what a game! Thanks everyone.

[Groucho Valentine]

For me breaking 80, it was the short game and putting getting consistent that allowed me to do that. Not so much a ball striking thing. Get up and down a couple more times a round, and drop a couple more putts, and those 85's turn into 78's. 

 

[David in FL]

An excellent thread...

 

[Patch]

For me, when I was breaking 80 most of the the time, I never screwed around with my swing. Even when I had a run of bad scores, I just kept telling myself I had the swing to break 80, and didn't worry to much about it. The idea of breaking down my swing to find the problem that was costing 3 or 4 strokes, really never occurred to me. 

All I ever thought about were my own fundamentals. A consistant address position, grip, take away, position at the top, and good club face position at impact was all I needed. Even to today I have made it even simpler on myself. I only think about my take away, position at the top,  and club face at impact. When I get those three things right, I playing good golf at this stage of my life.

[rfeight]

  On 7/25/2016 at 6:27 PM, rfeight said:

Excellent strategy. Thank you for sharing. I've struggled also with a consistent driver. But your idea of mapping the course for club strategy and staying out of trouble is something I've always wondered about. This winter I'm going to take a serious look at my league course and start a strategy book on playing holes. Thanks for sharing. 

Expand  

 

 

  On 7/25/2016 at 5:36 PM, IanW said:

One thing that helped me improve my game was to take an honest look at my round. I would write out every hole and what happened. Something like this:

Hole 1 [] - bogey - driver to right rough. 50deg from 120 to front bunker. 58 to 15ft. 2 putts (15,1)

I did this for about 4 rounds and immediately started to see some common themes. Here is a direct example out of my file from 2014 for the first hole that paved the way to me dropping at least 5 shots per round.

Hole 1 [] - bogey - driver to right rough. 50deg from 120 to front bunker. 58 to 15ft. 2 putts (15,1)

Hole 1 [gir] - par - driver to right rough. 58deg from 92 to 20ftt. 2 putts (20,3)

Hole 1 [gir] - bogey - driver to left bunker. PW from 128 to 60ft long. 3 putts (60,7, 1)

Hole 1 [fw,gir] - par - crap driver in fairway. 9 iron from 140 to 22ft. 2 putts (22,1)

I remember when I wrote that last one out kind of laughing. That hole felt easy to make a par on once I was on the fairway. I would stand on the tee and be scared of the water right, or the OB left, or the bunkers left, or the cart path (can't count how many times I hit it). Here is the hole

I then decided that trying to hit a driver over the bunker on the left was stupid. I started hitting a hybrid to just short of that bunker. ie: the fattest part of the fairway. I was around 70% pars on that hole. The previous year I was probably something like 40%. It went from my most hated hole to one I enjoyed as it was low stress. A hybrid would never go in the water. Longest I would have in to the pin would be a 7 iron. If the pin was back right I would aim for middle back of the green and call it good.

I did this for the remainder of the year. I ended up hitting driver less. About 5 times less. Which, surprise surprise, saved me 5 shots per round :) As the season progressed I dropped my handicap from about 8ish to 4. I have stuck around the 4 since then. I still shot the odd 92, almost always on a course I have never played before. If I have played the course I generally expect to be in the 70s.

Now with the advent of things like GameGolf, Sky Golf, and Arccos, you can pretty easily get this information and figure out where you are throwing shots away. 

 

Expand  

 

Golf is a mystery. Yesterday I started this post because I'd played my worst rounds of the year prior to taking a couple trips two weeks ago. I had a little angst about playing in league last night so I thought I'd post. Then I went out and shot a 40 complete with 3 different 3 putts. 

IanW I used your strategy on this hole that's plagued e all year. It's a long par 5 that has a very narrow fairway entrance from the tee box. I've been in the trees on the right many times, usually adding 2 strokes minimum because of the rough or penalties. Yesterday I hit my 5 iron off the tee and landed safely on the right side of the fairway 160 out. I could've made par if I'd just had more distance on my 2nd or 3rd shot. Anyway, here's my round

http://www.gamegolf.com/player/rfeight/round/1070702

 

[natureboy]

  On 7/26/2016 at 12:12 PM, rfeight said:

 

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The architect clearly favors a draw off the tee on this hole, maybe even 3 draws.

[BamaWade]

Smart, consistent practice.

Higher priority focus on the short game.

Good course management.

 

That's my plan, at least.

 

BamaWade

[rfeight]

  On 7/26/2016 at 3:36 PM, natureboy said:

The architect clearly favors a draw off the tee on this hole, maybe even 3 draws.

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 Now that you mention it, you are correct. I have been known to draw it intentionally occasionally. I may have to work on it just for this hole. 

[rfeight]

Since Tueday I've play 4 rounds of 18 and broke 90 every time. See http://www.gamegolf.com/player/rfeight. Very few duffed shots with some miss hits that went inline, but didn't have the distance. Some 3 putts, some penalty shots. Aside from penalty shots, Game golf says I could gain 6, almost 7 shots on short game and putting and another 2.8 on the approach shot against +5 handicaps... which would get me below 80. It just seems insurmountable. 

How can one break 80 with an average drive of 218 and my next longest club is 177 with the 3 wood. I feel like I'm missing a club length. Should I be looking into clubs, or lessons? I feel like I need some extra length some times to get a par on par 5s and long par 4s. Thoughts?

[Fourputt]

  On 7/30/2016 at 7:22 PM, rfeight said:

Since Tueday I've play 4 rounds of 18 and broke 90 every time. See http://www.gamegolf.com/player/rfeight. Very few duffed shots with some miss hits that went inline, but didn't have the distance. Some 3 putts, some penalty shots. Aside from penalty shots, Game golf says I could gain 6, almost 7 shots on short game and putting and another 2.8 on the approach shot against +5 handicaps... which would get me below 80. It just seems insurmountable. 

How can one break 80 with an average drive of 218 and my next longest club is 177 with the 3 wood. I feel like I'm missing a club length. Should I be looking into clubs, or lessons? I feel like I need some extra length some times to get a par on par 5s and long par 4s. Thoughts?

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Maybe what you need is to move up a tee box?