What is Holding You Back (In a Few Words)?

[inthehole]

PUTTING.

Rest of my game is pretty solid for somebody that took up golf late in life (50's now) ... I just simply can not read putts & have no (consistent) touch on the greens.    I get ever so slightly better from year to year, but compared to the rest of my game, putting is downright pitiful.    You ?

[Vinsk]

Ball striking. Period. I could spend a few hours a week and significantly improve my putting. I can do months/years of work on my iron striking and see little improvement.

[Lihu]

My putting isn’t that bad, short game could be better, and my drives are meh, but my glaring weakness is my approach shots.

Overall, the only thing holding me back is skill. 😂

[klineka]

2 minutes ago, inthehole said:

PUTTING.

Rest of my game is pretty solid for somebody that took up golf late in life (50's now) ... I just simply can not read putts & have no (consistent) touch on the greens.    I get ever so slightly better from year to year, but compared to the rest of my game, putting is downright pitiful.    You ?

You can easily fix the reading putts thing within a couple hours by attending an AimPoint Express clinic.

Curious, do you use any stat tracking tools like GameGolf, Arccos, etc to back up the claim that putting is what is holding you back? Often what you feel is holding you back isn't in reality what is actually holding you back.

If your profile handicap is correct, it is quite unlikely that your putting alone is what is preventing you from dropping 11 strokes and becoming a scratch golfer.

[chspeed]

Ball Striking. You should make this a poll.

[inthehole]

11 minutes ago, klineka said:

You can easily fix the reading putts thing within a couple hours by attending an AimPoint Express clinic.

Curious, do you use any stat tracking tools like GameGolf, Arccos, etc to back up the claim that putting is what is holding you back? Often what you feel is holding you back isn't in reality what is actually holding you back.

If your profile handicap is correct, it is quite unlikely that your putting alone is what is preventing you from dropping 11 strokes and becoming a scratch golfer.

Last round of the year, I shot an 86 with 39 putts.     If that's not an indication that I suck at putting, I don't know what is.    My old overweight butt has no aspiration to be a scratch golfer - but I am completely confident in that my putting is clearly what is holding me back from breaking 80 consistently.

Edited January 24, 2019 by inthehole

[iacas]

11 minutes ago, inthehole said:

Last round of the year, I shot an 86 with 39 putts.     If that's not an indication that I suck at putting, I don't know what is.    My old overweight butt has no aspiration to be a scratch golfer - but I am completely confident in that my putting is clearly what is holding me back from breaking 80 consistently.

Then you should fix that.

AimPoint and this:

 

[klineka]

2 minutes ago, inthehole said:

Last round of the year, I shot an 86 with 39 putts.     If that's not an indication that I suck at putting, I don't know what is.     My old overweight butt has no aspiration to be a scratch golfer - but I am confident in that my putting is clearly what is holding me back from breaking 80 consistently.

One round isn't a large enough sample size to assess a weakness in your game. Putts per round is also a misleading statistic because it can drastically change based on the number of greens you hit.

Consistently getting a GIR and 2 putting for a par from 40 feet is better for your long term success than missing the green and chipping it to 2 feet for a tap in par, yet using the putts per round statistic, it would appear that on that hole, you were a better putter on the scenario where you missed the green because you only needed one putt.

Putts per GIR or strokes gained putting are much better indicators of how strong/weak putting is compared to other aspects of your game.

It is very possible that putting may be what is holding you back, but without data to prove that it will simply be just your thought/feeling, when in reality you could probably drop more strokes by becoming a better ball striker, increasing clubhead speed via speed training, increased short game accuracy, etc. I encourage you to look into a GameGolf, Arccos, Shot Scope, etc.

[saevel25]

I voted short game. It seems to be the part of my game that tends to keep becoming a glaring weakness.

[iacas]

1 minute ago, klineka said:

One round isn't a large enough sample size to assess a weakness in your game. Putts per round is also a misleading statistic because it can drastically change based on the number of greens you hit.

It's not, but I don't remember the last time I had 34 putts in a round, let alone 39. 39 is huge.

I think it pretty well demonstrates putting is a glaring weakness for him, as I don't get the sense that it was that big of an outlier type of round.

[Bucki1968]

I'm going with not enough time. It could also be some of the other things but I think I could fix those with more time. 

[RWC]

The quality of my swing seems to show up most in my approach shots - thin, pulled, fat. 

[HJJ003]

Irons. It is that dang hosel that gets me all too often. However, I do believe that truly holds people back is not listed....and that's the people themselves. Not the mental game, but the desire and commitment to get good instruction and properly practice their priority piece. 

[TN94z]

I chose other because I believe what is holding me back is just swing mechanics overall. The swing issues lead me to be able to choose any of the above options, for the most part. I cannot really chalk it up to one thing from the list when the one thing that's truly holding me back impacts all of those options

[mcanadiens]

From a golf specific standpoint ...

I got more issues than a news stand. They sort of take turns, but I'd vote driving to be the single biggest limitation. Off the tee, I'm neither long or straight. My better drives only carry 220-230 yards (the average is obviously worse than that) and that makes it hard when I got to play anything other than a short course. It also takes depressingly little for me to get wild and lapse into round-ruining pulls and slices. 

In general ...

I'm a stone-cold clutz that comes from a long line of clutzes. It seems like a mean thing that I like sports as much as I do and have virtually no ability to play them. If I feel to sorry for myself, I can visit my brothers and sisters that are even worse-suited than I am. It probably makes sense, that the longest club would give me the most trouble. 

Slowly, it's a realization that It's better to just do the best with what you got and keep expectation levels reasonable.

Edited January 24, 2019 by mcanadiens

[David in FL]

My unwillingness to take lessons and actually devote the time necessary to improve.

[nevets88]

Talent. I lesson and practice but don't play enough.

[phillyk]

Short game.  I've practiced and nailed down my full swing quite a bit over the last year, but I've not practiced my partial wedges inside 100yds at all.  I end up inside 100 a lot on par 4's or when I miss in going for it in 2 on par 5s, so I should practice it more soon.  I can put them on the green well enough but no where close enough for a reasonable birdie opportunity.  These shots used to be green light go at pin territory and now I just hope I get my distance right.