What shot should be the first learn after full?

[Joeyvee]

Ok, let's assume you can strike the ball fairly cleanly and you break 90 often enough. Your full shot is acceptable, and you want to start practicing some useful, yet easy shots.

What would be the easiest to work on, and give the greatest rewards?

For me I think the bump and run with a 7 or 8 iron. It's easy and saves a lot of strokes.

[David in FL]

If you're "breaking 90 often enough", you're not hitting many (hardly any) greens, but are already doing fairly well with your short game around the green.  So sorry, my thought is that this is the time to really start focusing seriously on your full swing.

 To move to that next level, you need to hit more greens, and the ones you miss need to be a lot closer....

[David in FL]

Duplicate post, mods, please remove or combine....

[Antneye]

I'm interested in this as well as all of my struggles have been with consistency of my full swing.  I'm still working on the full swing and have a ways to go, but I'm sure there are other areas I will need to turn my attention to as the full swing starts to take up less of my time.  I always say I am pretty good around the green with my short game (pitches/chips etc.) but I am sure there is room for a lot of improvement.

The game is so nuanced that I doubt a recreational player will ever truly be able to practice every aspect that is required to excel.  For now, if I can start breaking 90 fairly consistently I will be content.  I certainly won't be giving this too much thought until I am starting to push into the lower 80's is my guess.

[Kalnoky]

12 minutes ago, Joeyvee said:

For me I think the bump and run with a 7 or 8 iron. It's easy and saves a lot of strokes.

Agreed, this is a very useful shot. However, I learned bump and run before I ever broke 100. Reason being I was so bad I developed a razor sharp short game. 

I vote for working on the tee shots. IMO the driver is the most fun club to hit well. I fit the profile of someone who breaks 90 1/4 to 1/3 of the time. The limiting factor for me is length off the tee. I need to get an extra 20-25 yards somehow. I have a few drills to build club head speed and improve AOA. They seem easy enough.

 

 

 

[todgot]

I was going to say a stock pitch shot because it is my Achilles heel.  I'm a mid 80's golfer trying to break into the 70's.  When I think of what really affects my score it's the Driver.  If I can keep the driver in play the worst score I'm going to get is typically a bogey.  My big scores come from wayward drives. 

[Shindig]

Do you know your partial wedge distances?  When I started breaking 90 periodically is when I first learned these and I believe they help.  I would figure out for your wedges (and maybe your 9-iron, depending) how far a 25% shot (for me, that's back to A2 and forward a similar amount) and 50% (to A3 and forward about similar) go.  I'm not really clear on what a 75% shot is, but I recently measured distances on flighted wedges (still narrowing it down as I learn the shot), and that's working like a 75% for me. 

So for example, if I'm hitting a 56 degree, I hit my 25% about 15 yards if it carries to the green (and a bit less if it doesn't).  I get about 35 yards out of 50% and about 55 out of the flight.  A "good" full swing gets me 75 yards with that club, but that varies wildly (I'm guessing I get under it more often or something).  Going forward, if I need 75 yards, my plan is to flight a 50 degree instead.

I periodically get asked why I laser the pin on a shot that ends up as 35 yards.  It's because I can't easily tell by sight 35 vs 45 yards and that's a one club difference on the 50% swing.  

[dchoye]

I think putting and low rolling chips resembling the putt and able to read the greens would be the next shot to learn to post lower scores

[Patch]

If you are happy with your long game, then perhaps those shorter punch shots would be helpful as an added shot. 

In my approach game I use a lot punch, and flop shots. I use the punch shot when I have a clear path to the green. The flop I use if there is something in my path way to the green. 

With my own "shortish" long game, those two shots  I discribed, and a hot putter, I can still break 80 every so often. 

[dave s]

Kinda agree with David In FL.  And to elaborate, maybe focus your practice efforts on your scoring clubs from 150 yards and closer.  These are the 'money shots.'  Get 'em on and get 'em close so you can make birdies and save pars.

Ideas for you:  Go to range often.  Take (if you have one) a range finder and start dialing in distances from 7-iron all the way down to your lob wedge.  Scoring clubs are just as much about distance control as direction.

Work on establishing distance consistency for all the scoring clubs while working on direction as well.  Knowing yardages on the course and being confident about which club goes that far is key to getting 'em on and close.

Should result in hitting more greens, as David In FL pointed out.

dave

[roamin]

On 7/17/2017 at 10:44 AM, David in FL said:

If you're "breaking 90 often enough", you're not hitting many (hardly any) greens, but are already doing fairly well with your short game around the green.  So sorry, my thought is that this is the time to really start focusing seriously on your full swing.

 To move to that next level, you need to hit more greens, and the ones you miss need to be a lot closer....

I'm with David on this one as well... if breaking 90 is still a target and you want to shoot lower scores more often, you need to get the ball closer to the hole on your approach shots. IMO, the two big keys here are:

1. Tee Shots (Full Swing)
2. Approach Shots (Full Swing)

The ability to scramble is important, but again, this is also helped by improving your full swing as you'll get closer to the green and have shorter short game shots.

My current scoring goal is to break 80 and my primary focus is still the full swing. I still practice my short game, but really just to mix it up a bit and not regress. I've noticed improvement in my short game just from playing more. With that said, a few things that save the day for me when my swing isn't working as well as I'd like it to:

1. A low, curving recovery shot to get out from under trees and back to safety while still advancing the ball toward the green
2. The pitch shot (https://thesandtrap.com/forums/topic/39411-quickie-pitching-video-golf-pitch-shot-technique/)
3. Lag Putting

YMMV. 

 

Edited July 18, 2017 by roamin

[Piz]

Becoming adept at recovery shots is a mixed blessing...like being really good at breaking out of jail.  

[Antneye]

9 hours ago, Piz said:

Becoming adept at recovery shots is a mixed blessing...like being really good at breaking out of jail.  

I could have starred in "Prison Break" if it was based on poor golfers.

[scotth]

I don't see any indication on where you live, so this might not be useful.  In the areas I have played the most golf, being able to hit a knock down or modified full swing to fight the wind was very helpful for my golfing scores.

Some people also call it a punch shot or just a good old fashioned line drive.  On windy days it can be very useful and save quite a bit of frustration.

[WUTiger]

On 7/17/2017 at 9:44 AM, David in FL said:

 So sorry, my thought is that this is the time to really start focusing seriously on your full swing.

On days when I don't break 90, there's usually a couple of holes where I split the fairway with a solid drive and ended up with a double bogie. Your approaches are part of your full swing.

You need to chart your problem areas. Are you going for the pin all the time, and getting shortsided a  lot? Do your have double chips or double pitches out of certain lies?

For second phase, I would work on a stock chip-and-run and a stock greenside pitch shot that can get you in close enough for a chance at one-putt. A teaching pro who worked with me was Missouri Valley low putts leader his junior year of college. He said he was an OK putter, but really good with chips and pitches so he had a lot of 5-foot putts or less to salvage par.

So... if your can get your approaches near the green, and get up and down 50% of the time from near-miss approaches, this would get you to the low 80s.

Third phase would be to get your yardages dialed in on your partial wedges (30-90 yards or so).

Edited July 21, 2017 by WUTiger

[iacas]

On 7/18/2017 at 1:11 PM, Piz said:

Becoming adept at recovery shots is a mixed blessing...like being really good at breaking out of jail.  

Nah… a good recovery shot saves pars on holes when most people punch out (and then often screw up the next shot) and make double or worse.

[Grizvok]

Typically I think the full swing mechanics are probably number one even if you think that is the strongest part of your game. I will say that I do agree that a good chip is a great shot to have. I'm a newer golfer, and I literally did not know what an actual chip was or that it was a key component to a complete short game. My knowledge of a pitch/chip was that they were the same thing...a high lofted shot that you hit from right around the green area. Now that I know what a chip actually is and how to use it, I'm shaving strokes off very quickly. Of course the technique for the pitch/chip are incredibly important but WHEN to use each I think is also very pertinent.

[Hategolf]

On 7/17/2017 at 7:44 AM, David in FL said:

If you're "breaking 90 often enough", you're not hitting many (hardly any) greens, but are already doing fairly well with your short game around the green.  So sorry, my thought is that this is the time to really start focusing seriously on your full swing.

 To move to that next level, you need to hit more greens, and the ones you miss need to be a lot closer....

That sir is an excellent response.

I think @Joeyvee is looking to reduce his score (aren't we all), and although there might be more than one way to skin a cat, I believe the right way to reduce score in Golf  is Long tee shots on fairways, GIR, and putting...you can always scramble with the short game and a good bounce here and there and score, but inconsistency would probably be a problem. 

If I was in his situation, I would certainly focus in GIR.