PooN

WOW. That's pretty much all I got for explaining The Straits course. Played from the blues at 7142 with a 20mph SSE wind and 68* all day. All you could hope for in a May round at the Straits! Shot a 96 (48/48) with plenty of poor shots that could've been avoided, but I am not a walker and after about 7 holes I was feeling it. Started off at even par through the first 3 holes (with a drained flop shot on hole three) Looking out at the first hole from one of the practice greens: Hole one from the teebox: Hole two teebox: A buddy found himself left... don't go left on any of the North-to-South holes! Hole three. I flopped over this bunker from this vantage point and trickled the ball IN THE HOLE for a birdie!

I almost joined the 100+ club again yesterday... I played Whistling Straits - Straits course and had a heck of a time managing a 48 48 (and I was even par through the first 3!). Fatigue had a lot to do with it since it is a walking course (and I'm no walker ) but I always have the mentality to not get (too) upset and forget about the last shot and focus on the next - even the toppers, worm burners, chilli-dips, etc. There is another couple of good points to be had here... practice is key, yes. But too much practice can be detrimental too. Just going out and banging away at a large bucket of balls doesn't always equate to better ballstriking (even at the low handicap level). If and when your swing starts to feel awkward it's probably a good idea to put away the 'go far' clubs and pull out a wedge, and hit 20 or so balls with a little 1/4 swing pitch shot motion. This can really get your swing path corrected since you are focused on taking it back 3 feet instead of the full arc. Then hit 10 or so balls with a 1/2 swing, then 10 or so with a 3/4 swing. All the while focus mainly on your takeaway. Getting the club in the right position at the peak of your backswing is the most important part of the swing IMHO. Also, practicing before a round can really wear you out. If the course has a range, maybe hit 20 or 30 balls just to warm up and see what kind of swing you have for the day, or again, hit a bunch of those 1/4 1/2 3/4 pitch shots to get your swing path going instead of banging through a bucket with your driver or 7i. Whichever swing you have that day isn't going to miraculously change from 8:30am on the range to 9:00am on the teebox. Focus more on chipping and putting on the practice green before getting on the course. You'll get a feel for the greens and shave a couple strokes by (hopefully) not 3 putting all day. Remember, 100 is broken all the time. You guys on this forum take golf more seriously than the 'average joe' golfer so it's really only a matter of time and practice. You'll do it, and eventually do it with relative ease. I promise. GOOD LUCK!

I'll create a thread I'm sure. Here's the forecast for tomorrow. We tee off at noon. 22mph straight winds and 30mph gusts!

I've played 72. 2 in Hawaii, 1 in Thailand, 3 in Tennessee, 2 in Chicago area, and TPC Deere Run. The rest in Wisconsin. I might be missing one or two, but like you I keep pretty good track and I just created a list in excel just to make sure. (edit: see... I forgot about my Tennessee trip. Add 3 more to the list) I'll be adding Whistling Straits to the list this Thursday.

Also, I forgot to add to the novel I wrote (holy crap!) - BALANCE is key. Always focus on staying in balance. The swing is very much like throwing a ball - you go from your back foot to your front foot. When you throw a ball you don't almost fall over or swing your back foot out, you simply throw the ball and end up standing on your front leg with your back foot on its toe. That's the tempo you want to swing your golf club at.

Yeah, anything over a flagstick I always tell my struggling buddies/family members to just try to make sure they two putt.

A few tips for the 100 club... these are the things I did to get past the hurdle. (I've gotten past the 90 and 80 hurdle as well, but that takes time and practice to stop duffing and slicing so many shots) Being a 100+ shooter means you are having more issues with contact than anything else, so practice is key. Remember to not grip the club too tight (think of holding a sparrow hard enough not to let it flap its wings but also not suffocate it), slow your tempo down (think One... Two... Swing), keep your backswing short (think of your arms only getting to the 9 o'clock position), remember to turn your upper body back with your arms (so you are not just swinging your arms back), and remember to get your hips involved (the swing is actually a hip turn, not an arm swing). Plenty of other specifics of the swing to work on, but those are the absolute main ones. So other than the obvious tips like go to the range and practice, here are a couple things I keep in mind to try to keep the ball in play and hopefully score a little better (they'll change a little as you get better, but these still hold true for me now): 1. Remember 100 is just a number, it has no significance to the score on a par 70, 71, 72 golf course - 100 is not from bogeying every hole, or 3 putting every green... it is a totally arbitrary number. 2. Minimize mistakes. a) Choose the right club: When you slice one into the trees, don't try to go for the green on your next shot. Hit a soft shot back out into the fairway and again, if you are too far back, don't try to go for the green... just hit your 6 or 7 iron to get the ball advanced into a more manageable approach area and resume from there. Each person likes a different distance to approach from. I don't like leaving my ball 20-80 yards of the green. I would rather be within 15 or so or at 100 or more. The 100 or more allows me to choose a club that I can give a full swing, instead of guessing how much to take off a wedge. Plus, I find it easier to chunk a 60 yard wedge shot than a 130 yard PW. b) Aim away from trouble. If there is water, bunker, trees, etc on the right, you want your ball to be on the left. (Careful not to fall into the 'aim left so you don't go right' mentality though, as that usually actually promotes a slice). Or, if there is a stream that you have to cross and you are 200 from the green and the stream is 150 yards away, don't try to blast your 5 or 6 iron over the water (and 9 times out of 10 end up in the water)... just hit a nice 7 or 8 iron to layup before the water and take your (shorter, read: easier) approach from there. c) Aim for center green ALWAYS (NO MATTER WHAT) on approach shots. You will get your ball on the green more often. Putting is way easier than chipping. Once you get under 100 consistently, you can change this to 'aim for the correct quadrant'. 3. Make mental notes of what's ahead on each shot. I always make note of the 150 mark as that is where I would want my ball to be if I had a choice, since my go-to clubs are 8-6 irons. I also make note of where the dangers are, where the meaty parts of the fairway/safe area/green, where the bunkers and hazards are, etc. 4. Putting. Do NOT try to make putts over the length of a flagstick. You will generally send the ball too far past the hole. Try instead to lag putt into a circle the size of a garbage can (put that image in your head as you look at the hole). Figure out which area is under the hole. A 9 foot uphill and straight putt is way easier to make than a 3 foot right-to-left breaker. 5. Chipping. Learn to chip with 3 clubs. Your most lofted club to fly the ball over a greater distance, your PW to chip over shorter distances, and your 8 iron to chip just over the fringe. The point is to get the ball on the green and roll it to the hole when you have the chance. Sometimes you have to fly it to the hole, but that will usually make a 100+ golfer fly it over the green. 6. Sand. Learn to play a bunker shot. It's easier than you think. Dig in, choke down, open the face (so that you could lay a coin on it) and 3/4 swing behind the ball. I've seen 100+ shooters literally spend 3-5 strokes just trying to get out of 1 bunker. All that being said... keep at it and have fun. Don't get (too) discouraged. It's only a game and a very hard one at that. Getting better does not come quickly or easily and there is never a magic pill to make it happen overnight. It will take practice and play. The more you practice and play, the less you will mis-hit the ball. (Think about what your score would be if you didn't have all those extra stokes from topping a 7 iron, chipping over the green, slicing into the trees, etc.) Seriously, the more you play the less that happens. Then you put 100 in the rear view and focus on 90 (keeping your score at 5 on every hole). This is where you will spend years to figure out where to shave the next series of strokes to get to the next hurdle (the dreaded 80). One last thing... if you are having a really hard time getting your ball to go where you want it to, take lessons. It will be money well spent, I promise. I took lessons at GolfTec (not affiliated in any way) and it turned my game around in a season. I went from a 25 handicap to a 15 in 3 months (the bulk of a Wisconsin 'season'). Since then I've gotten as low as an 8 and the game has gotten really really really fun. :)

I can make my 7 iron go from 140-170 with swing tempo, backswing length, or ball/hand position to create different ball flight. That said, I would say between a regular 85% swing and a hard 100% swing I will get 5-9 yards more. I tend to mis-hit the hard swing more often than not and push it right or slice it (or top it) so I would usually just club up and 3/4 swing or choke down on grip on the less lofted club.

If you drink to get smashed every time you are on a golf course, you're a non-golfer.

I just picked up a set of Mizuno MP54's and decided to make a 'practice round' out of my last outing... I used nothing but irons for every shot on every hole and I feel like I did OK. (shot 88 on a 6300 yard 70.3/125 rating) with a couple mishit 4 irons from the tee box. I played the "only irons" rule so much so that even if I was 220+ out I would purposely pick a landing zone to break it into 2 full iron shots (ie. full PW, then full 52* or full 9i then full 56*). It was really fun, but I don't think I would give up my driver for every round I play. I felt like I left a lot of shots out there if I would've been up another 70 yards off the tee.

Not sure about pressure, but sometimes if we are the only ones on the course and we're feeling like it's more of a 'practice round' we will play worst-ball/best-ball - Each guy has a tee shot. Then you both play from the spot of the worst ball. The next shot you pick is the best ball. Alternate like that until your ball is on the green. Once on the green you putt your own ball. Or, we will play two-ball-high-score. Each player plays two balls from tee to green. Add the total score for both balls. Just a couple ways to change up stroke or match play

Arturo Fuente Hemingway Short Story

The most accurate answer is this: it's golf. What you had for breakfast on April 24th, 1999 dictates if you will hit fat or thin shots today. When Saturn is in the lower quadrant of the northern hemisphere you will hit 14 GIR. If there is a blood moon you will miss every fairway for 3 days fore and aft. Never, and I repeat, NEVER swing a golf club on February 29th of a leap year.

That's not entirely true. I would say for any non-scratch golfer you are going to have a larger percentage of two-putting the majority of your approach shots. A lower handicapper will have a greater percentage of one-putts from just off the green.

Kind of what I'm talking about... if you are a low handicapper you are not slicing/hooking your shots OB. Even if you are not having a great ballstriking day, you are generally getting the ball down the length of the fairway and close to the greens. Having a good short game to get you close to the hole when you are around the greens and in the hole when you are 4-8 feet away will most certainly be saving your pars and bogeys. Higher handicappers don't have enough control over their swing to keep the ball in play so they may shave more strokes from full swing practice and getting the ball to stop traveling so far offline. By the time they are chipping/pitching a greenside ball they may be laying 5, 6, 7+ from all the penalties/duffs/skulls/whifs/etc. they've incurred along the way to the hole.

I still feel like you will shave off more strokes in a round by gearing up your chipping/pitching. If you can get up and down more you will shave strokes. As a high single handicap I could miss nearly every GIR and still shoot a decent round (high-70's/low 80's) if my short game is getting me close and I am draining the 4-8 footers. That is assuming my driver and irons are staying in play... maybe not in the fairway and on the green, but not OB or in the hazards (like the higher handicappers may have issues with).

I think I would disagree with this a bit. I think 15+ handicappers might benefit from this since putting the ball in play is a bit more critical in the early stage of one's golf game. I think once you get your full swing at least a bit under control you may want to look more at a 45/40/15 ratio. I spend about an hour on chipping/pitching, 15 minutes on putting, then go spend about an hour on full swing when I hit the range and I feel like I am right where I should be once I hit the course. I also think once you are under a 15 handicap you should play WAYYYYY more than you practice. Like practice once every 5-10 rounds (with exception of practice green chipping/putting and a few warmup balls on the range before a round). Lower 'cappers, am I off base here?

Somewhere between 77 and 97. It all depends on how I'm striking the ball and if I can get the rock to drop. I shoot for two putt on every hole and work backwards from there, so when I hit a bad drive, I mentally tell myself I should accept bogey (poor drive, drop, approach, putt, putt). If I hit one OB and have to take stroke & distance, I tell myself I should accept double (poor drive, drop/re-tee, drive, approach, putt, putt). Likewise, if I nut a drive to center fairway, I'm mentally telling myself to accept par (drive, approach, putt, putt). That keeps me focused on the hole ahead and not the shot behind. If I end up nutting an iron to center green from after taking a drop from a hazard after my poor drive and 1 putt for par, that just means I must be having one of those good days. The only time I'm not thinking this two putt strategy is when I'm off the green (even in a greenside bunker)... I then focus on getting up and down. This strategy has kept my anger at bay and my scores in the 80's (mostly) with some dipping into the 70's and some shooting up into the 90's still when things are just out of sorts.

I'll use my 51*-7i to chip depending on carry and pin distance. I will use my 2h or 3h to chip if I'm on the fringe or just next to it in some tightly mown 1st cut - sometimes putter if it's only just on the fringe. 51* for most pitch shots unless I need more carry then I'll open up my 56* and send her high. So that's 7 clubs (+putter)... been doing that for 3 seasons now. Short game has come a long way since using just the most lofted wedge!

oobgolf.com calculates mine. It's probably not current but usually in the ballpark.

If I have enough time, yes. On the nicer course, almost always. Regardless, I always chip and putt on the practice green for 10 minutes or so.

Since the full swing seems to be your issue (it was mine as well when I was 20+ handicap - I could hit it far but usually far out of bounds) I would suggest you work on your fundamentals. Grip and alignment mostly. Then the takeaway and getting good body/shoulder turn. But the most important thing in the golf swing IMHO is getting the club in the correct position at the top. Learn where it needs to be and how to get it there and everything falls into place. I took lessons a couple years ago at GolfTec and it changed my world forever. I went from a 20 to a 13 in a season with better ballstriking with both driver and irons. The next season I worked on course management and dropped it to a 10. I'm now hovering between 8 and 11 (winter in wisconsin sucks). I'm telling you... that plateau is not really a plateau. You can/will figure out something about your swing that will "click" and you'll get to the next level. You'll still shoot some 90's rounds, but you'll shoot a bunch in the 80's (and maybe even a couple in the 70's!) - If you can dedicate yourself to golfing at least once a week and practicing a bit, it will happen, I promise.

Sounds like my 20's (and part of my 30's) :) 17th would work best for me. I'm not in for sure, but it's hard to pass up a round of golf if I'm available.

I might be down... depends when/where/price/etc.

Well... actually wouldn't this last statement point to short game being the immediate 'fix'? You can be not great at either drives or long approach, but in this scenario you can save the round with short game/putting. I feel like my first step was course management. Once I started plotting a hole from the flag instead of hitting driver from the tee for anything over 250 yards I noticed a drastic improvement in my game. Less OB, less drops, more iron strikes from perfect lies (regardless of distance to hole), closer leaves around the greens, and most importantly... more balls on mis-hits left in the correct spot (short of trouble, correct side of fairway, low side of green, long side of green, etc). I feel like putting the ball in play more consistently has led to more consistent ball striking for me. I'm not playing balls from under trees and in deep rough, or two fairways over. The added benefit is that I feel like a golfer now... I feel like a shotmaker... I don't think confidence can ever hurt your game. :)