dalybog

I am no great player, but I do remember the first lesson I ever took. One of the very first things the pro showed me was a video and then pictures of Bobby Knight when he hurled the chair across the basketball court. Watching it, you notice that once he had it back and ready to throw, he practically planted his left foot, turned his hips, and then threw the chair, right where he wanted it to go. This pro ingrained this image in my head, and for the most part it has helped me stop coming over the top and hitting shots left, or getting stuck and hitting shots to the right. Not sure if it helps? I am also new to the site. Since no one else has replied I figured I could at least offer something to think about.

Yeah. I guess I didn't get my point across as well as I thought? Having a good short game in my opinion is the foundation to improving and consistently shooting better scores, like low 80's and 70's. If you watched the PGA this weekend, Rory didn't hit every green nor every fairway, but he got up and down a lot. This is not to mention the terrible break he got on Saturday when he drove his ball in the tree and had to take the unplayable penalty. I wonder how he would have done if he didn't get up and down and save par? What kind of thoughts do you think he would have had going through his mind if he misses the putt or misses the green after his drop? I think that up and down for par propelled him to victory. And to answer the question posed to start this thread, yes I believe it is possible to get to the 70's consistently. It will take work, The more you put into it, the more you'll get out of it. My suggestion was to put more work into your short game to get there.

Maverick, After reading all of the recommendations, it seems funny that only one person has suggested working on your short game. If your putting average is 34 per round, you really aren't getting up and down as often as you should. Your FIR average is good, but you are missing a lot of greens and not getting up and down enough. If you want to play and practice at the same time, you should find a good par 3 course. A good par 3 course will have various length par 3's to play. If it only has 100 yarders or 150 yarders it may not be worth it. A lot of these courses are usually not very crowded, and should allow you to practice iron shots of varying length in a real setting instead of at a driving range. I started playing one more often last year because my wife finally decided to learn the game ( No jokes please, it is very frustrating for me). I figured the best place for her to start was on a par 3 course, and to my surprise, I started playing much better with my irons and around the greens. Unfortunately, my handicap is still hovering in the mid 8's but that is due to poor driving this year. My FIR have dropped on average from 8 or 9 a round to 6 to 7, but my short game and GIR have improved. This is just my two cents worth, but I did notice an improvement, when I did not expect one.

1. Dustin Johnson -11 2. Tiger Woods -8 3. Keegan Bradley -11 Tom Rose