Anything that will drop a 20 to a 15? A 15 to a 10?

[Blackjack Don]

Is there one thing that a 20 hcp can do to drop 5 strokes? Anything a 15 can do to be a ten?

[Grinde6]

Work on your short game.  Putting, chipping, 100 yards and in shots.  This will drop you a few strokes if you can get better at it.  Then once you have shaved a few strokes from the short game, I would work on 100-170 shots.  Don't neglect the rest of the game, but spend a little more time on those.  I took these steps the past few years and dropped 4 strokes.

[Hacker James]

play more

[Jeremie Boop]

This is almost entirely dependent on whatever the primary focus of improvement is for the player. One person *me* could be struggling with a flip, and what I need to work in would be completely different from someone who is fighting an over the top/outside to in slice issue. There really isn't any one fix that anyone can use to drop a bunch of strokes.

[CarlSpackler]

Cheating always works. 

[Big C]

Depends on your timeframe:

- Less than 24 hours? Gameplanning/mental preparedness. 

- 1 day to 1 month? Chipping/Pitching/Putting/General short game focus

- 1 month or more? Focus on ball striking and the long game.

[Golfingdad]

8 minutes ago, Big C said:

Depends on your timeframe:

- Less than 24 hours? Gameplanning/mental preparedness. 

- 1 day to 1 month? Chipping/Pitching/Putting/General short game focus

- 1 month or more? Focus on ball striking and the long game.

These are good, however, its possible the first two might not even apply.  It is possible to be good at gameplanning with a higher handicap, and it's also possible to be a good putter and chipper with a higher handicap.

The bottom line is that there is no magic solution to improve at golf except to .... "get better."

[mdl]

Agree with @Golfingdad's caveats, but I'd also say that while yes, there are 15 handicaps who have a decent to solid short game, I'd bet the vast majority of 15-20 cappers could drop a couple of strokes in relatively short order from short game focus.  How many 15-20 cappers have you seen who can basically never miss the green from 30 yards with a reasonable lie and no obstructions?  How many can get a good lie nGIR shot inside of 10 feet a pretty good percent of the time?  How many very rarely 3-putt and can drop 8 footers 30% of the time?  

Not claiming I do all these things, but those are all achievable goals in a relatively short amount of time with significant practice, and versus the median 15-20 capper I bet you could pretty easily drop 3+ strokes that way, and maybe get up to 5 with game planning if that's not been a focus.  Of course, once you've maxed those out and you're sitting in the 10-15 range, there's no choice but to take your medicine and simply improve your full stroke ball striking!

[Phil McGleno]

1 hour ago, Blackjack Don said:

Is there one thing that a 20 hcp can do to drop 5 strokes? Anything a 15 can do to be a ten?

There are members here who have dropped five strokes by reading LSW I think.- @iacas?

[iacas]

• Two shots practicing your short game. It's not going to help too much more than that, but it'll help a reasonable amount in the short term.
• One to two shots just learning how to better putt - by that I mean not leaving short putts short of the hole, and by hitting longer putts the exact distance of the hole.
• Two shots with smarter play. That doesn't mean game planning all of your full-swing shots, but for example… choosing the proper short game shot. KISS.

Generally speaking, that is.

The best actual advice I can give? Find a good instructor and work with him. He'll save you as many strokes as possible, limited by of course your own work ethic and ability.

Addendum: Yes, and while I appreciate the mention @Phil McGleno, Don seems to have no interest. His loss.

[mdl]

16 minutes ago, iacas said:

• Two shots practicing your short game. It's not going to help too much more than that, but it'll help a reasonable amount in the short term.
• One to two shots just learning how to better putt - by that I mean not leaving short putts short of the hole, and by hitting longer putts the exact distance of the hole.
• Two shots with smarter play. That doesn't mean game planning all of your full-swing shots, but for example… choosing the proper short game shot. KISS.

Generally speaking, that is.

The best actual advice I can give? Find a good instructor and work with him. He'll save you as many strokes as possible, limited by of course your own work ethic and ability.

Addendum: Yes, and while I appreciate the mention @Phil McGleno, Don seems to have no interest. His loss.

Well I'm very pleased that my 3+ shots with improved near/on green play and up to 2 with smarter play estimates agree with your much more informed estimates!

[woodzie264]

22 minutes ago, Phil McGleno said:

There are members here who have dropped five strokes by reading LSW I think.- @iacas?

I know I've posted this in several areas before, but for Don's sake, I dropped from a 14 to a 9 in approx 6-7 months last year with LSW. If you don't want to buy & read the book, you don't care about improving your score.

[Kalnoky]

I am reading "Lowest Score Wins". It's very logical and doesn't pull any punches re: common misconceptions about the game. Everything is backed up with facts... I fully expect to drop 5 strokes or more this season just based on some of this info.

 

[Lihu]

2 hours ago, Blackjack Don said:

Is there one thing that a 20 hcp can do to drop 5 strokes? Anything a 15 can do to be a ten?

12.7 - (LSW + LSW Clinic + online help from Erik + 2 years playing every day) = 8.5

Not quite 5 strokes. . .

Sustaining that = play twice a week and practice once or twice.

[No Mulligans]

This depends on talent.  I have a friend who takes lessons, gets good advice, good drills, but just can't seem to make changes to his swing.  His practice swing is ok, but he can't do it when there is a ball in the way.  He said his instructor even went as far as blind folding him while swinging.  This has been going on for a couple years.  

Then again, Haney seemed to have helped even Barkley

 

 

[CarlSpackler]

I would say practice, but you have to be practicing the right things. To make sure that you are practicing the right things (priority piece) you have to have worked with a good instructor to identify what that is. Not only do you have to practice, but you have to relentlessly practice on a daily basis to ingrain the new motion / feels. On top of that, you have to make sure that you ONLY work on that priority piece and NOT get distracted by tips, tricks, or gadgets that are not related to your piece. Then you have to take all that to the course and execute.

Then, on to the next priority piece while making sure you don't revert to old habits.

Easy peasy. 

[phan52]

1. Find a good teaching Pro with whom you communicate well and 2. work on course management. Worked for me.

Edited February 9, 2017 by phan52

[Hacker James]

why don't you play a few rounds without keeping score, not even in your head?  You may surprize yourself.