Bogey Golfers Only (Index 16-22) / Breaking 90 Topic

[divot dave]

On 9/4/2016 at 1:57 PM, Fairway_CY said:

I shot 43 - 42 = 85 which has my index trending to a 14.2 right now.  
CY

nice... I shot about 143 - 142 = 285 this weekend... lol 

has my blood/alcohol index trending to about 14.2 right now

[dave s]

On 9/1/2016 at 2:16 PM, rkim291968 said:

The latest HI is still below 16 and that's the good news.   The bad news is that I've been playing at high 14 and low 15 HI for a few months without any sign of making an improvement.   .  

 

What's not working:

• Driver is not working.   FIR went below 50% for the first time in years.   Got a few driver range session.   I think it may be time for another lesson.
• Putting average went up by a 1/2 stroke. 

What's working:

• Despite FIR going way low, GIR went up.   It was the highest ever in my golf career.   Go figure.

Interesting comments on your game.  I've been looking at my game in a similar fashion but maybe different areas of focus.

Driving:  I don't care what anybody says about 'drive for show, putt for dough.'  Putting your drive in play off the tee dictates how the hole plays out.  You MUST have a 'go-to' drive that you can put in play 80% of the time or better.

GIR:  I avg 5-6 GIR a round.  Usually on the par 3s which I've worked on relentlessly over the past 2 seasons.  Knowing that I don't hit a lot of greens, I also work on my short game getting up and down in 3 or fewer strokes every time.

Putting: Knowing that I don't hit a lot of GIR, see above on short-game practice.  This also includes a lot of putting.  During my 18 hole rounds, I chart GIR and putts.  I never log 36 or more putts during an 18-hole round.

The 3 areas above are where I've focused most of my practice over recent seasons.  They are 1) driving the ball in the fairway or just off every time I tee it up; 2) Hitting par-3 greens.  I practiced tons on shots 120 - 170 yards. On a side note to that practice, it's really helped me understand how far I hit everything from wedges through 5-hybrid and my 7-wood.  Get yardage, pull correct club, hit green most of the time.  My par-3 scoring average is WAY down because of the focused practice on those clubs; 3) Around the green play:  First chipping thought every time is 'get the ball to the hole!'  Makes for several 1-putt greens and par and bogey saves.

Next up for me, (and this is getting better) is eating up yards on par-5 and long par-4 holes with my 7- and 5-woods.  My 7-wood goes 175-ish, high and straight with just about every swing now.  Haven't been able to duplicate the success quite as much with the 5-wood.  That's for next year.  My scoring average on par-5s has gone down as well.  Driver, 7-wood usually leaves me with a short iron (8-iron or shorter) to most par 5 holes.  I can hit greens with those clubs, take my 2 putt par and move on.

Getting more consistent with a 7- and 5-wood should allow me to finally shore up the long par 4 debacle holes where I can still take double and triple-bogey on occasion.  Getting AROUND the green in 2 is my goal for next year.  Getting more consistent contact and results with the 7- and 5-wood will be the area of focus.

My round yesterday was an 82 and I finished double, triple on 17 and 18.  More than anything, I think I just ran out of gas.  It was hot and I did a lot of extra walking looking for errant shots hit by my playing partners.  Doesn't hurt that I made a bunch of 4-6 footers, holed a 15 footer AND a 30 footer for birdies and had one kick-in par on a great wedge shot on a 400+ yard par 4.  Lot of good things need to happen (and they did for the most part) for me to card an 82!

Keep looking at the parts of your game where strokes can be gained and develop practice that helps get back some of those strokes lost. It works and its working for me.  I think I'm getting better! Could be nothing more than a fluke or smoke and mirrors, but maybe not!

dave

Edited September 6, 2016 by dave s

[Jcm288]

It finally happened for me this weekend. I woke up Sunday morning and drove to a local public course on a whim just to get out. scored a 43 on the front and 40 on the back for an 83 on a 69.1/123 course (not terribly difficult, but tight). I was diligent about my stats and score-keeping, but made it a point to play one hole at a time and avoid trying to "figure" what I need to shoot xyz. I didn't have any birdies, but had a card full of bogeys and pars. Highest number was a 6 on the final par 5. I know one of the main themes on this forum in regards to breaking 90, or playing well in general, is limiting blow up holes and 3-putts. Both of which I accomplished. Finished with 30 putts and one double bogey on a par 3 (short-sided myself in thick rough against the grain on severe uphill lie). Even stranger, I didn't feel like I had a good ball-striking day at all ( was hitting from just in the rough all day), but was happy to have my chipping and putting pick up the slack.

To make sure it wasn't a fluke, I played another 18 that afternoon with a friend. Started off even better and shot a 41 on the front, but fatigue got the best of me on the back. I shot a 47 with THREE triple bogeys and a par-3 bogey on the last 4 holes for an 88 total. Was staring 80 in the face before that fiasco. I made the mistake of realizing what I had a chance of writing on the scorecard halfway through the back 9......then the wheels promptly fell off.

This season, I've been continuing to work hard on full swing mechanics and wedges. My favorite shot on the course now is a 50-60 yard pitch shot. I still have a lot of work to do with driver. Up until a month ago, I had not used it once in over a year. I played virtually all par 4s with a 4-iron off the tee. Hopefully I can carry the momentum going forward.

 

And for those of you wondering....I got away with 36 holes of golf in one day because my wife was out of town.

 

[rkim291968]

I fixed my ongoing driver issue.   I went into a driver funk b/c I was (again) trying to increase distance.   I tried to "swing faster" to gain 15 - 20 yards, to consistently hit over 230 yards carry.   That led to frequent jerky swing moves that spread the balls to left and right.   I reverted back to my old, reliable 210 yard carry swing and all is well again.   My FIR is up to 60% again, and I am playing to 15 HI again.   

[Fairway_CY]

22 hours ago, Vinny Cap said:

 

Nice!  85 & 86.  Good scores.  That's like the summer I am having.

What a Saturday!  Shot my best round ever.  18 holes and done in 3 hours!

Went out in 44 with 1 birdie and 2 pars, 17 putts and 5 fairways.

Came back in 41 with 3 pars, 12 putts and 5 fairways.

Shot 85 for my lowest score.  I even tied my buddy I have been trying to beat for years.  He got me by one on the front and I got him by one on the back.  It was a great match.

Last 3 putts were 8’s with a foot or two of break… drained 2 of them, just missed the other one.

 

21 hours ago, divot dave said:

nice... I shot about 143 - 142 = 285 this weekend... lol 

has my blood/alcohol index trending to about 14.2 right now

Thanks guys!  

LOL @ the 14.2 blood/alcohol index!  

Looks like quite a few of us had pretty solid weekends.  Way to go, everybody!

So, because I haven't recapped in awhile and it's good to look back on when I'm struggling...

What's Working:

- First and foremost is my iron play.  Over the last 10 rounds, I'm hitting just shy of 30% of greens in regulation.  That's an improvement of about 5% over the rest of the year.  Even better, I'm close to 70% nGIR (within about 30 yards of the green in regulation).  That's about 7% better than the rest of the year.  This is leaving me with more opportunities for pars and in many cases is meaning no worse than bogey.  

- I've been driving the ball much better recently as well.  I'm hitting a slightly higher percentage of fairways, but when I'm missing... the ball is in play a lot more often.  Over the last few weeks, I'm finding that the fairways I am missing are only by a few inches in a lot of cases.  This means that I'm able to get a club on the ball for my approach shots and turn it into a score rather than a mess.  

- Although stats say that things are about the same as the rest of the year... I feel much more confident with my wedges around the greens.  I feel like I'm leaving myself some really good looks at pars after missing greens.  Unfortunately, as you'll see below... it's not leading to converting very often.  

What's Not Working:

- Putting has remained a struggle.  I feel like I should be making a lot of the putts I'm missing.  My wedges are getting me to within 7 feet a lot more frequently than in the past... but I'm missing a LOT of putts from the 5-7 foot range.  If I could convert even half of the putts I'm missing from there, I'd be scoring a lot lower.  

- Longer clubs from the fairway.  If I hit a fairway on a par 5 and it's over 200 to go... it's a very hit-or-miss proposition for me to attempt to go for it.  Because I don't hit my 3 wood or my hybrid all that often... I have zero confidence in them.  Often, they result in topped shots... and if not, then either a massive pull or a horrible slice.  I just can't count on making solid contact with them when needed.  

Plans For Improvement:

- I have just about 6 weeks until I'm in Hilton Head for the Amateur Golf Tour National Championship.  I need to make sure that I'm clicking on all cylinders or it's going to be a waste for me.  I will be spending time working on putting, above all else.  Beginning next week, I also want to try to hit the range at least once per week and spend a fair amount of time on my 3 wood and hybrid, making sure that I'm comfortable with them so that, should the situation arise... I'm capable of playing a shot with either of them.  

My hope is to maintain my current level of play.  My AGT index is 15.6 right now which means I'm pretty much locked-in to C Flight for the National Championship.  The only way I'll get bumped to B Flight is if I shoot some ridiculously low scores over the final 2 tournaments.  My USGA index is a 14.8 at the moment, but it's trending to a 13.9 following my rounds this past weekend.  

My wife and I are visiting a local country club this weekend, so I'm hoping to join (if the facilities are nice enough) within the next week or so.  This will give me a location to practice on for the next few weeks prior to heading to Hilton Head... plus a place to play on going forward.  Fingers crossed it all goes well.

CY

[rkim291968]

2 hours ago, Fairway_CY said:

- Longer clubs from the fairway.  If I hit a fairway on a par 5 and it's over 200 to go... it's a very hit-or-miss proposition for me to attempt to go for it.  Because I don't hit my 3 wood or my hybrid all that often... I have zero confidence in them.  Often, they result in topped shots... and if not, then either a massive pull or a horrible slice.  I just can't count on making solid contact with them when needed.  

 

If you have to hit "longer" club at least 5 - 6 times a round, getting it working seems like a low hanging fruit. 

Good luck with your tournament.

[dave s]

Passed along a tip I found useful to a player this weekend.  We're on hole #18.  From the black tees (trust me, there were two sets of tees playing LONGER than our black tee box choice) 18 was a 422 yard par 4.  Up hill 2nd half of hole.

I didn't hit a great drive.  Checked laser yardage tool ... still had 210 to green.  The younger guy playing with me was already pulling out his 3-wood from similar distance. I knew he was going to roll it, shank it or otherwise duff the shot.  Guys carding around 100 have better choices than 3-wood from a very tight fairway lie.

Assessing the 210 to green, uphill last 100 or so yards, trees right, bunkers left I decided to split the distance into two shots I know I can hit with 90+% certainty.  Hit 8-iron to 80 yards, then my 54* wedge 8' left of hole pin high leaving me a putt for par ... that I (of course) missed!

Playing partner skulls the 3-wood 45 degrees right into a line of pines.  I help him find his ball that came to rest in the right rough of hole #1.  No shot due to trees lining fairway 75% of the way to the hole.  He tries hitting through the trees.  You know how that one ended up.  Finally chips back out and wedges onto the green.  He now has a putt from 30' for double then three-putts it for 8.

He saw me hit the 8-iron so I relayed the playing tip read in golf digest about 'halving the distance' on those long shots where one swing probably isn't going to get the job done.  I explained that from 210, the 8-iron would go 130 and I'm almost certain of making good contact and putting it in a safe place then relying on a wedge shot to set up a par opportunity or at worst a bogey.

He was certainly keen on the idea and said he'd definitely keep the 3-wood in the bag in such situations.  Honestly, if there's a harder club to hit from a tight lie than a 3-wood, it would only be a 2- or 1-iron.  I smoked the 8-iron into perfect position and staked a wedge to 8 feet leaving me a par oppty.  I could have 'tin-cupped' 3-woods til past dark and probably never put one on the green to 8 feet from 210 out.

Good tip on splitting up the yardage into TWO high-percentage, manageable shots.  I use this strategy on ridiculously long par-4s and even on par-5s if I've completely hacked my second shot.

Hope this story helps anyone who can hack it along like me!

dave

[Jeremie Boop]

7 minutes ago, dave s said:

Passed along a tip I found useful to a player this weekend.  We're on hole #18.  From the black tees (trust me, there were two sets of tees playing LONGER than our black tee box choice) 18 was a 422 yard par 4.  Up hill 2nd half of hole.

I didn't hit a great drive.  Checked laser yardage tool ... still had 210 to green.  The younger guy playing with me was already pulling out his 3-wood from similar distance. I knew he was going to roll it, shank it or otherwise duff the shot.  Guys carding around 100 have better choices than 3-wood from a very tight fairway lie.

Assessing the 210 to green, uphill last 100 or so yards, trees right, bunkers left I decided to split the distance into two shots I know I can hit with 90+% certainty.  Hit 8-iron to 80 yards, then my 54* wedge 8' left of hole pin high leaving me a putt for par ... that I (of course) missed!

Playing partner skulls the 3-wood 45 degrees right into a line of pines.  I help him find his ball that came to rest in the right rough of hole #1.  No shot due to trees lining fairway 75% of the way to the hole.  He tries hitting through the trees.  You know how that one ended up.  Finally chips back out and wedges onto the green.  He now has a putt from 30' for double then three-putts it for 8.

He saw me hit the 8-iron so I relayed the playing tip read in golf digest about 'halving the distance' on those long shots where one swing probably isn't going to get the job done.  I explained that from 210, the 8-iron would go 130 and I'm almost certain of making good contact and putting it in a safe place then relying on a wedge shot to set up a par opportunity or at worst a bogey.

He was certainly keen on the idea and said he'd definitely keep the 3-wood in the bag in such situations.  Honestly, if there's a harder club to hit from a tight lie than a 3-wood, it would only be a 2- or 1-iron.  I smoked the 8-iron into perfect position and staked a wedge to 8 feet leaving me a par oppty.  I could have 'tin-cupped' 3-woods til past dark and probably never put one on the green to 8 feet from 210 out.

Good tip on splitting up the yardage into TWO high-percentage, manageable shots.  I use this strategy on ridiculously long par-4s and even on par-5s if I've completely hacked my second shot.

Hope this story helps anyone who can hack it along like me!

dave

I don't know, I mean it's not a bad strategy, but I'm just as likely to mis-hit any club in my bag. I've had some pretty good luck with my 3 wood. Funny enough, I actually tend to do better hitting it from a tight lie than a fluffy lie.It really does come down to confidence though, I'm better with my 3 wood than my hybrid because I've hit the 3 wood better more often than the hybrid. It's always best to play to your strengths, especially in situations where the score really matters.

[mcanadiens]

18 minutes ago, Jeremie Boop said:

I'm just as likely to mis-hit any club in my bag

I concur with JB here. Personally, I like my chances with the 5W way before those hateful irons. 

 

[dave s]

Jeremy / mcanadiens:

You guys make me laugh!  And yeah, I know a lot of guys who are really good with a 3-wood off a crew-cut lie.  Sadly, I'm not among that group.  Much more confident with those 'hateful' irons!

I have a 5- and 7-wood.  The 7-wood is "Gold, Jerry, that's GOLD!" Working on the 5-wood.  The 7-wood eats up 170-180.  I'm hoping the 5-wood tops out at around 190 and I can get more consistent with it.  For now, and from 210, I'll keep splitting the distance into manageable shots.  If I have a slight uphill fairway lie, I'll pull the 5-wood every time.  Ironically, it's the only time I'm confident of hitting that club well. Also, I'm not really keen on that 30-40 yard pitch range.  It doesn't see much practice time so keeping it back to 70 - 100 yards is much more of a comfort zone.  Wedges are pretty much dialed in in terms of yardages.

The younger guy I was playing with was just inexperienced.  Long yardage always equals '3-wood' to him.  Fairway or rough, out it came.  Results weren't good from anywhere.  That's why I shared the tip with him.

dave

[Fairway_CY]

7 hours ago, rkim291968 said:

If you have to hit "longer" club at least 5 - 6 times a round, getting it working seems like a low hanging fruit. 

Good luck with your tournament.

Typically, I'm hitting a club longer than a 4 iron only once or twice per round.  Usually, it'll be on a par 5 where I'm sitting like 215+ away.  Otherwise, I just go with my 4 iron to advance the ball as far as possible and then I've got a short shot into the green.  If I'm on a tee that requires less than driver... I'm using my 4 iron.  It gets me far enough that I'm going to have a shot at the green... and it's pretty much money for me over the last few months.  

Thanks for the well wishes!  I've got 2 more to go before Hilton Head, so... I'll be focusing on trying to win those over the next 3 weeks.

6 hours ago, dave s said:

Passed along a tip I found useful to a player this weekend.  We're on hole #18.  From the black tees (trust me, there were two sets of tees playing LONGER than our black tee box choice) 18 was a 422 yard par 4.  Up hill 2nd half of hole.

I didn't hit a great drive.  Checked laser yardage tool ... still had 210 to green.  The younger guy playing with me was already pulling out his 3-wood from similar distance. I knew he was going to roll it, shank it or otherwise duff the shot.  Guys carding around 100 have better choices than 3-wood from a very tight fairway lie.

Assessing the 210 to green, uphill last 100 or so yards, trees right, bunkers left I decided to split the distance into two shots I know I can hit with 90+% certainty.  Hit 8-iron to 80 yards, then my 54* wedge 8' left of hole pin high leaving me a putt for par ... that I (of course) missed!

Playing partner skulls the 3-wood 45 degrees right into a line of pines.  I help him find his ball that came to rest in the right rough of hole #1.  No shot due to trees lining fairway 75% of the way to the hole.  He tries hitting through the trees.  You know how that one ended up.  Finally chips back out and wedges onto the green.  He now has a putt from 30' for double then three-putts it for 8.

He saw me hit the 8-iron so I relayed the playing tip read in golf digest about 'halving the distance' on those long shots where one swing probably isn't going to get the job done.  I explained that from 210, the 8-iron would go 130 and I'm almost certain of making good contact and putting it in a safe place then relying on a wedge shot to set up a par opportunity or at worst a bogey.

He was certainly keen on the idea and said he'd definitely keep the 3-wood in the bag in such situations.  Honestly, if there's a harder club to hit from a tight lie than a 3-wood, it would only be a 2- or 1-iron.  I smoked the 8-iron into perfect position and staked a wedge to 8 feet leaving me a par oppty.  I could have 'tin-cupped' 3-woods til past dark and probably never put one on the green to 8 feet from 210 out.

Good tip on splitting up the yardage into TWO high-percentage, manageable shots.  I use this strategy on ridiculously long par-4s and even on par-5s if I've completely hacked my second shot.

Hope this story helps anyone who can hack it along like me!

dave

Great tip!  I use this strategy on nearly every par 5 I play.  Only time I even contemplate going for it is if I have less than 230 yards to the front of the green... and if there is no trouble on either side (since I have a two-way miss with my hybrid and 3 wood).  Otherwise... as mentioned above, it's a 4 iron advanced as far as I can (typically about 190 from the fairway) and then a wedge or short iron left in.  

For the longer par 4 holes, if I hit a poor drive and leave myself over 190 yards to the green... I'll try to lay up to about 60 yards.  That's a 3/4 lob wedge for me and I feel confident that I can get it somewhere within 15 feet the majority of the time.  

I've employed a lowest-risk-option mindset for the last 2-3 months and it's been paying off.  If I could totally eliminate the lost tee shots, I'd feel a lot better about my game... but given the way I'm playing right now, I like my chances in most rounds to post something under 90, which is my goal each time out (until I finally crack 80).

CY

[rkim291968]

I had another good round today.  But I continue to hit about 210 carry with driver.  Without increasing the driver distance to 230 carry, I don't believe I can reduce my HI further.  No way, no how.   Should I be happy with my golf game now (barely playing better than bogey golf) or should I continue to try to increase driver distance?   All my previous attempts to increase driver distance had backfired so far.   Sigh.

[newtogolf]

17 minutes ago, rkim291968 said:

I had another good round today.  But I continue to hit about 210 carry with driver.  Without increasing the driver distance to 230 carry, I don't believe I can reduce my HI further.  No way, no how.   Should I be happy with my golf game now (barely playing better than bogey golf) or should I continue to try to increase driver distance?   All my previous attempts to increase driver distance had backfired so far.   Sigh.

Depending on the tees you play 210 is fairly short if you want to get to single digits so unless you can find strokes from other parts of your game it sounds like at some point you'll need to work on your swing speed, especially with driver.  

I've been working on swing speed since March and am finally hitting my driver around 240 - 260 yards with some consistency in the fairway.  My swing speed with driver has gone from an average of 97 to 104.  I am not sure I'll gain much more speed going forward so now I'm trying to work more on AoA to optimize distance at that swing speed.  

I spent a lot of time stretching and working with the orange whip but I think the biggest breakthrough I've had with swing speed is to swing thru the ball versus swinging to the ball.  I use to anticipate impact with the ball and tighten up (thinking I'd hit it harder or release the club but in reality it would slow down my swing momentum), now I'm focused on making a complete swing where the ball just happens to get in the way of the club ( I watch it make contact) and I feel like that has helped not only with distance but also keeping the ball in or near the fairway.  

You've made great gains, so I'm sure you know inside yourself what the right answer is.  

[dave s]

11 hours ago, rkim291968 said:

I had another good round today.  But I continue to hit about 210 carry with driver.  Without increasing the driver distance to 230 carry, I don't believe I can reduce my HI further.  No way, no how.   Should I be happy with my golf game now (barely playing better than bogey golf) or should I continue to try to increase driver distance?   All my previous attempts to increase driver distance had backfired so far.   Sigh.

Hear you loud and clear.  Golf is an easy game when it's driver and 8 - W on second shot.  The only way to get there is increasing driver length off tee in MOST cases.  Same boat.  Driver 5-hybrid isn't getting it done! Pretty much shored up the par-3 scoring and getting a lot better on par-5 scoring.  The par 4 holes longer than 350 are an adventure for me given only being able to hit driver 210 or so.

I know where my power 'leak' is.  It's just FIXING the issue that eludes.

dave

Edited September 8, 2016 by dave s

[Lihu]

On 9/7/2016 at 8:24 PM, rkim291968 said:

I had another good round today.  But I continue to hit about 210 carry with driver.  Without increasing the driver distance to 230 carry, I don't believe I can reduce my HI further.  No way, no how.   Should I be happy with my golf game now (barely playing better than bogey golf) or should I continue to try to increase driver distance?   All my previous attempts to increase driver distance had backfired so far.   Sigh.

210 carry is sufficient to get into the low teens or high single digits. Just means your longer irons need to be more reliable. Maybe use hybrids down to 5i or even 6i equivalent?

I know quite a few players in the 10-12 range who "only" carry 210-ish. Actually, an older tall player is probably a 6 and carries about that far on average.

[djfajt71]

Played in a tournament this weekend and absolutely blew up!  I shot a 105 and it could've easily been much worse.  For the most part, I was playing stupid golf, with some "Where the hell did that come from?!" shots thrown in there.  I took an 11 on a Par 4 because I decided to Tin Cup 3 drives OOB, compounding it with a 3 putt.  I'm normally ok out of the traps, but I had a case of the skulls that day.  The only thing saving me, was some of those shots hit the lip and squirted on the green.  Not to mention, it was a 5:45 minute round on a 95 degree day.  Not saying that was the reason for my horrible play, it just compounded the misery.  I have another tourney in a month, and with some work, I hope to make a better showing! 

[Fairway_CY]

I didn't get out at all this weekend to play, but I did tour a local country club with my wife and we decided to join.  Now... my wife doesn't play at all (at least not yet)... but I have a 16 year old son who has played a handful of times.  

I'm looking forward to being able to jump out for 9 holes here and there and then being able to play some 18 hole rounds with my son with little-to-no waiting.  

The course, as a whole, only had 13,000 rounds played on it last year... so, I'm expecting to be playing quite a bit.  

Excited doesn't begin to describe how I'm feeling about our decision!

CY

[Vinny Cap]

So after posting six consecutive rounds of sub 90 golf, I have some bad news.  I threw down a 91 on Sat and was disappointed with the score.  We didn’t get to play our normal round at my home course.  They had a pretty big tourney so we had to Tee off on the North course.  In my 5 years of playing golf, I have only played the North course once… we do Middle then South.  That’s our 18.

So anyhoot I shot 47 on the North and 44 on the Middle for a 91.  4 FW’s and 17 putts on the North and 5 FW’s and 12 putts on the South.

Not really too bummed unless you guys are gonna boot me out of the “Breaking 90” group/thread.

I did mess up a few holes.  Pulled the irons a bit on a couple of holes.  Left a few putts out there.  Always room for improvement.

I think after a week of regrouping I am gonna play North/Middle again to see what I shoot.

Hope you all had a good weekend/week of golfing!

 

CY – It sounds like you found a really nice place.  Hope you get to enjoy it with your son.  My son is 11 and I love every time we get out to play.  We have such a fun time before, during and after… we make a day out of it.