DenisO

What you need to do is find your weakness and practice that to get down lower and to scratch. Beginners can easily shave strokes off their game by practicing their short game because it's easiest for them to learn (less 3 putts, no flubbed chips, etc), but I think the majority of the time, the long game is what gets a player to scratch. I am currently at a 3, and to get down to scratch, I feel I really need to work on my long game (140-200 yards) to hit 1 or 2 more greens per round, and for all my approach shots to be more accurate and give me a better chance at birdie. No shot shaping, no fancy trick shots. You can get to scratch by simply hitting fairways and greens consistently and accurately.

Everyones distances posted here have most certainly been verified by Trackman. Right? Right....?

I don't believe in the low expectations mindset. Of course they shot better when their expectations are so low :P I always go in with confidence, feel like there's no shot I can't do, and knowing that I can play really well. I set my expectations high, and even the times where I've shot my new low round, I always look back and think how much better I could've done.

I got down to 2.5 only hitting it 230-240 and playing from the blues or tips. Short and straight still works for me.

What do you mean, short & straight doesn't apply to the low cappers?

As far as I know, since the ball wasn't actually in the bunker, it doesn't need to be dropped in the bunker. Since it was on the edge of the bunker in the grass, I think you could've dropped it behind the bunker, provided you kept the line between the the flag and ball. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

Do you bite your thumb at me, sir?

I'm in a similar situation to you. I have a low handicap, have shot par a number of times, and this season would really like to shoot a few shots lower. My distance is in the same ballpark as you as well. Accuracy off the tee is really good (70-80%), short irons and short game is there as well. Where I run into issues is accuracy with long irons (struggle with approach shots that are 160-200), and being able to stick it closer with the short irons. I think I'll be practicing mostly the short game to sink some more putts, and make sure the chips are close as to not sweat over par putts. And of course, practice the long irons to help eliminate the reasons I bogey.

I watched a tour pro in contention in the final round to win a Masters at Augusta hit a shank on a par 3... very bizarre!

How much yardage were you actually giving up? The difference between different models of golf balls is just 4 yards.

How I.K. Kim misses that putt for the win boggles my mind. Wow, just wow.

Agree with mdl, says a lot more about the OP than Cabrera. It actually comes off a bit as being racist, "should remember who writes his paychecks"? really?

Tiger Woods - 275 (-13) Rory Mcilroy - 278 (-10) Luke Donald - 279 (-9)

I'm in for the one in Ottawa on May 12th. Really looking forward to it and will post a review after it happens!

I wish him the best of luck, and hope I could do the same. I could only imagine how quickly I'd improve if I had the time and money. I can see him getting to +2 at least, although I do feel like he should be further along than he is, that's for sure simply based off of the amount I've played. Calculating that I've played every single weekend, 5 hour rounds, plus approximately 3-4 hours of practice or 9 holes throughout the week, for approximately 7 months each year (stupid Canada) in the past 4 years, that would put me at about 1,680 hours which is on the generous side for sure since the calculations were general and I haven't strictly played that much. Myself being a 2.5 handicap, and only 17% of the way through the Dan Plan of 10,000 hours, he should definitely be doing better even though he's chosen to learn the game in a different way. I still think that he has a huge advantage just because of the amount of time he has devoted to it. Will be interesting to see what happens.