riddenhard

Dear Unkynd, I did not lookat the old swing but your 2/13/11 swing is much better than most 18 handicappers. It must be the chipping as much as the putting that has hurt. So to get back to the original topic, is it short game, long game? Of course we all agree it's all phases,so keep practicing, if you don't work on things nothing gets better. The Weather is warming up this week so get out there.

Deryk, Where did i say Tiger was a bad ballstriker? I did not even infer he was, I said he covered his errors with a magical short game, and I believe we can all agree he is missing too many 4-8 footers. My Tiger comparison was in response to the post that a pro could still score from some of the places an average players may hit.

while the quote streches the reality, great short games can erase many tee bal and second shot mistakes, and that was his point. Just look at the reality of why Tiger is no longer superman, when he was winning it was because he dropped impossible long putts, and never missed a short one. He chipped close or in. Even when he was winning he missed fairways but recovered. Now his magic short game is average and he can't cover his errors, just like us amateurs. The pro's the poster says would still make money would not save par from the lake or deep trees, but his point is well made, you can still score with a hot putter.

This is true, the answer is to "work on everything". I have been advising him to try to fly every green and get every thing to the hole in order to quickly lower his score...we all want lower scores. But I must admit I did not answer the original question, and the answer is everything......just try to eliminate as many mistakes as possible and ....practice, practice

I have been as low as plus 2 over many years, I have never seen a scratch player who could not chip and putt. I have seen scratch players with the worst looking swings, But they were consistently in play, some were not long at all. I have played in state ams, and had the opportunity to play with several pros, these guys are on a whole different level, but among the many many players carrying 0-3 handicaps you will see plenty of ugliness, but these guys know how to scrambleto save par and they will make a few birdies to offset the few bogies they cant escape

OK Unkynd. so your distance on 1/2 3/4 pitch shots is also bad in addition to 45 putts. Short game practice yes,,,, but until you get the time to hone this, stick with my advice to hit every shot like you mean to knock it in, never short. Most the shots hit by new players are short, fat or whatever, and only long when it is skulled. Learn to trust your line, give it a chance to get there no matter how far you are from the hole.

Splifton, You did great to go from 21 down to 10 in one season, I've never seen anyone in my nearly 50 years playing do that. You must have just started out. Now the same plateau effect occurs in all golfers, some get better, some actually fall back, most fall into their comfort range based on their athletic abilities. Many years ago I worked down from 15 down to 7 over 4 years and was stuck for three years at a 7. I thought 7 was pretty damn good and I was happy to be there.Then I changed to a group of better players, I saw how they managed their game.They did not hit the ball further or straighter than I did, they just plainly made fewer errors and they chipped much closer. We also played for a lot more money. You either played better or went broke. No one was given any strokes, all the bets were two man best ball so two 4's might play against a two and myself at 7. Long story short I went from 7 to 5 to 3 to 1 to plus 1 in the next four years. In golf you can always get better. Good advice in the post prioeto mine, You must be solid in all areas, work on it all, good luck

Many good comments to work on short game and putting. Let me try to give you a few thoughts i believe will lower your score immediatedly. I say immediate because if you can hit 3w 220 to 240 in play and can hit your hybrid 200and your 7 iron 145 then distance is not the issue. You said you slice the driver and so I guess most all the misses are right not left. You miss many greens and I guess the misses are short and right. If this sounds familiar you are like 98% of players who struggle to break 100. If you will try this on your next round I promise things will improve. Swallow your ego, You probably only hit those distances on your good shots. Try to fly over the left rear of every green. Take more club than you ever have. Now swing at 90% not 100% power you will hit the sweet spot more often. Do this and your greens hit will be more than two. Now lets say you still miss 12 greens but because you are no longer short your misses are closer. Now work on your chipping. Its apparent if you hit only two greens and still putted 45 times you are not chipping or pitching very close. Your putting will improve in time, find a stroke you can repeat, and stick with it, learn to control the speed of a putt this is more important than anything to limit your 3 putts. The lesson here is get it to the hole or in your case the green. Never up never in. I have a friend like you except he puts pretty well and chips on line, when we go on trips and I get paired with him in the team bets, I "caddy" for him and ride him pretty hard. If he tries to pull a 7iron at 150, I will hand him the five and so on. Usually he improves an average of 8 shots when I can get him to listen.