At wits end.

[MichaelDavid]

So.  I’m 56, been playing golf since I was 10.  By 18 I was a 7 handicap, and got down to around a 4 while in college.  Now I’m a 6 handicap.  I’ve been between a 4 and 7 for 38 years! I still hit it almost as far as I did as a 20 year old, yet, no matter how much I practice or play, I just can’t seem to get better.  And I’m so frustrated. (I know a lot of people would love to have that kind of handicap, but I just want to improve.) Over the past 3 or 4 years, I’ve been playing more, around 35 rounds a year, and practicing more, going to the driving range about once a week, plus hitting balls from a range mat into a net in my driveway just about every day that I can. I also purchased a 120fps camera to analyze my swing.  I’m taking more swings than ever. I use impact tape while practicing and can hit iron after iron on the center of the face with a shallow ‘divot’, and get that ‘pure’ feeling.  But it’s so different on the course,  I’m striking my irons worse than ever.   Today, in a tournament at a relatively short course, between par 3s and irons over 120 yards into the green, I hit just 2 balls onto the green, and none of them a good pure hit.  Over the last 3 rounds I’ve played, I’ve hit 20 greens in 54 holes.  On one hole I can hit my gap wedge 110 yards with a nice divot to 15 feet and the next time, three holes later, with the same exact swing thoughts, I hit it fat and left and 80 yards, or thin it over the green. I stand over the ball with an iron, and have no idea where the ball is going to go or how it will come off the club face.  Last year, I was lucky enough to get a 3D evaluation at the Titleist Performance Institute.  My miss is usually something thin with no divot, and it turns out that I’m an early extender, moving my hips toward the ball and raising my torso slightly close to impact.  But other than that, I’m supposed to have a pretty sound swing.  

 

I’m looking for some ideas on how to turn this around, how to take the good/pure iron swings I can make at the range and from my mat and onto the course and hit more greens. If you got this far, thank you so much for listening.

[iacas]

The way I see it…

• Post a Member Swing topic.
• Visit with an instructor you trust.

[David in FL]

Or, like me, accept that at almost 60, I'm unwilling to kill myself for the possibility of dropping another stroke or 2 off my 6 hcp....

....maybe.

 

btw, my name is David Michael...

 

Edited August 2, 2017 by David in FL

[Buckeyebowman]

The game on the range and the game on the course are two different things! How many times have we heard the complaint, "I can't take my range game to the course!"

Well, may be you can and maybe you can't! Consider, how many perfectly level lies does your course offer you? How well does your course mimic the range?

I've said it before, when on the range I think "swing thoughts". When I'm on the course trying to score, I think "shot thoughts"! I see the shot I want to hit, and many times it happens. I can't describe the process, but that is how it has worked for years.

And like David in FL said, I'm almost 65, so I don't expect such things to happen very often any more!

[Patch]

I am of the belief that there are some folks who reach their individual potential, and that's as far as they get. I say this because if every golfer had the ability to shoot par or better, they would. Hopefully you are one of the one's who has it in you to play better. 

I use to read quite a bit about what scientists called a person's "genetic timing barrier". Due to genetics, a person could only get so good at the various things they did. I myself played baseball really well, and much better than I played golf. I have a good friend I play golf with who is a much better golfer than I am, but was a lousy baseball player. Go figure. 

I made it down to a 6 (5.6) pretty easily. I shot par on quite a few par 70 courses a few decades ago.  Lots of 72s too. I could just never find that extra  stroke or two, to actually break par. It mattered little how much instruction I recieved, how much I practiced, or how much I played. I was never able to break par. My personal golf "bummer" so to speak. 

[pganapathy]

@MichaelDavid, more than likely your problem is it is very easy to groove a swing on the range.  Do something different next time and it will help your game.  Never hit more than 5 shots in a row with any one club.  On my odd days on the range, I rarely struggle when I get to my 15th or 20th shot in a row with any club.  How do you find your first one or two shots with every club.  Because you rarely hit the same club more than twice in a row on the course (except the putter and that will be when you 3-putt).  If you keep swinging with different clubs on the range, it will help you simulate course conditions a lot more.

[MichaelDavid]

Thank you @pganapathy  I just started doing that.  I'm also thinking of getting a monopod for my little Sony camera, and filming my swing on the course and comparing to my swing on the range.

[lastings]

19 hours ago, David in FL said:

Or, like me, accept that at almost 60, I'm unwilling to kill myself for the possibility of dropping another stroke or 2 off my 6 hcp....

....maybe.

 

btw, my name is David Michael...

 

This is clearly one person with a split personality and two accounts.   one that has accepted his 6 hdcp and just has fun playing decent golf, and the the other that is slowly going mad.  

[Lime Shark]

Read a book on course management (I believe the site owner has written a good one).

Improving your physical skills is not the only way to lower your score. Improving your mental skills will lower them also.

[iacas]

On 8/2/2017 at 10:50 AM, Patch said:

I am of the belief that there are some folks who reach their individual potential, and that's as far as they get.

Virtually nobody reaches their individual potential. To do that, to truly reach your potential or even get within the same zip code as your true potential, you'd have to dedicate a good amount of time, effort, etc. Most people play golf a few times a week, and yeah, they reach their potential given that amount of effort, but that's nowhere near their actual "potential."

On 8/2/2017 at 10:50 AM, Patch said:

I say this because if every golfer had the ability to shoot par or better, they would. Hopefully you are one of the one's who has it in you to play better.

Almost every golfer out there has it in them to play a LOT better than they are right now. Not everyone has the potential to become a scratch golfer, but an 18 could easily become a 6 or something.