Hi, I feel like I am a relatively decent golfer and feel like I am right at the cusp of really breaking through to be a better player, but I just can't get my scores to improve. I have been stuck in the low 100s (shot 102, 105, 104, 100 etc for the last several games). I've shot 94 once. There is no glaringly disproportionately weak part in my game. I can drive well (avg 250yds), occasionally fade/ rarer slice. I can hit most of my irons pretty crisply (8i goes 155yds), but occasionally offline, thin/fat. Long irons not as consistently. Pitching and chipping is pretty decent can usually hit greens, sometimes fringe/traps, sand saves are like 65%, generally 2 putt with occasional 3 putts. I'm taking lessons, and have experienced "nice shots" in all areas of my game, but just can't put it all together in a single round to break out of my double bogey scores. Aside from simply practicing more, is there anything more specific that I can do, or that others have done that helped take you from a double bogey player to the next level?
double bogey blues - how to putting it all together
- Thread starter bamfur
- Start date
- Status
Jim Kobylinski
Super Moderator
do you track basic golf metrics? Fairways? Greens? Putts? Par Saves? Find out where you really are deficient and work on that.
My suggestion would be to first gather some more detailed information on your rounds. To start I would track:
playable drives (drives in fairway and first cut of rough)
Greens in Regulation
total putts
avg putts for GIR
penalty strokes
Up and Downs
Sand Saves
Once you have this information i would post this info on the forum and I bet you will get some suggestions for areas of improvement.
I would also focus on course management.
playable drives (drives in fairway and first cut of rough)
Greens in Regulation
total putts
avg putts for GIR
penalty strokes
Up and Downs
Sand Saves
Once you have this information i would post this info on the forum and I bet you will get some suggestions for areas of improvement.
I would also focus on course management.
Good advice Jim. Beat me to it.
softconsult
New
Sure would not disagree with any of the advice you have received, but one sentence jumped out at me. You wrote, "Pitching and chipping is pretty decent can usually hit greens, sometimes fringe."
This would be a good place to start. Maybe ask your instructor to focus on these skills.
You are no doubt losing a bunch of shots by not getting those pitches and chips in there reasonably close. Something like 10 - 15 feet for starters.
This would be a good place to start. Maybe ask your instructor to focus on these skills.
You are no doubt losing a bunch of shots by not getting those pitches and chips in there reasonably close. Something like 10 - 15 feet for starters.
Jim Kobylinski
Super Moderator
i can do it all on 1 scorecard generally
first line = score
second line = split into two fairway / green with a simply "Y/N" as an answer
third line = # of putts
thats really all you need, you can figure out putts per GIR and par saves after the fact by looking at the scorecard.
I'm often victimized by blowups, and I also score a lot higher than I should. Tracking my scores really helped me to figure out where I was losing strokes. It can be a letdown, but when you actually sit down and see all of the shots you throw away after the fact, it will reinforce the feeling you have that there's a better golfer in there somewhere than the scorecard indicates. It will definitely be a real eye opener.
Also, don't forget the course management. It can be a lot bigger factor in the blowups than you'd expect when you step back and take a look at the numbers after the round.
Also, don't forget the course management. It can be a lot bigger factor in the blowups than you'd expect when you step back and take a look at the numbers after the round.
Course management / playing smart / finding the biggest culprit leading to those high scores.
Like you, I am a better player (in my mind
) than my scores suggest. The last few weeks my game has gotten considerably better. For me, my problems are from not hitting fairways. So this has been a big point of focus for me. After working with Damon, something has clicked, and I'm hitting like 7-9 fairways per round, which for me, is great. I basically eliminated the big out of bounds drive I would have at least once per round, which will make your score add up like the national debt! I have a natural fade, and shots where I can't start the ball off a bit to the left give me trouble. But I'm straight and pretty long with my hybrids, so now I use those hybrids more off the tee on those holes. ( I am working on hitting the driver both ways, but it's a tough process for me ) Also, pay attention to how often you try to pull off the shot that has a 10% chance of happening & and a 90% chance of making things worse - this will REALLY wreck your scores. I was the king of this for quite a while!To me bamfur, just from what you wrote, I would focus on the short game. Seems like you are probably losing a lot of strokes there.
ooh i like these ideas alot. Usually I play in a foursome and am keeping everyone's score, but I think I have just created a system to track fairways, GIR, and putts all on one line, actually in 1 box. Big number for my total score, upper left corner I'll write a little F if my teeshot finds the fairway, bottom left corner a little G if i hit the GIR, upper right corner a little "#" for my number of putts. My question is for sand shots or saves, should I just put an S in the bottom right corner whenever I hit sand?
I guess my confusion is how do i track how many it took me to get out of the sand?
I guess my confusion is how do i track how many it took me to get out of the sand?
softconsult
New
Sounds like you are making this too complicated. Scorecards are free, just keep your stats on a separate card.
Exactly.
I use my own score card, and it has about 6 lines for players' scores, so for a given hole I record basically each shot.
Drive and whether it curved right or left.
Iron, what distance and what club
Chips
sand1
sand2 (ugh)
Putts: 1p or 2p or 3p and the distances like 25, 5, 1
Put a dot somewhere for Fairway hit and for a GIR.
I use my own score card, and it has about 6 lines for players' scores, so for a given hole I record basically each shot.
Drive and whether it curved right or left.
Iron, what distance and what club
Chips
sand1
sand2 (ugh)
Putts: 1p or 2p or 3p and the distances like 25, 5, 1
Put a dot somewhere for Fairway hit and for a GIR.
aaron_lohan
New
In your first post you said your sand saves percentage was 65% thats as good as anyway of tracking it.
softconsult
New
And remember, if you get too into this statistics thing on the course, then you possibly might play worse.
I guarantee that if I tried to write down every stat it would hurt my concentration. I try to avoid being the scorekeeper. That's just the approach that works for me.
Here's a request. After you log two or three rounds, post up your stats. My bet is that it's mostly short game related. Miss the green, chip or pitch to far from the hole and make bogey or double.
I guarantee that if I tried to write down every stat it would hurt my concentration. I try to avoid being the scorekeeper. That's just the approach that works for me.
Here's a request. After you log two or three rounds, post up your stats. My bet is that it's mostly short game related. Miss the green, chip or pitch to far from the hole and make bogey or double.
I'm not trying to flame or criticize you here, but I wanted to comment on your question in a way that might help you improve your game.
You see, I'm not sure if you are being realistic about where you are right now. Above, you say you can drive the ball 250 and hit crisp 8 irons 155 yards, and that you get up and down out of bunkers well over half the time.
I've played with lots and lots of 15 handicappers that can't do ANY of that. I've played with 3 handicappers that don't have a sand save percentage of 70%.
Think about it this way: if you drive it 250 and then hit your 8 iron 155 and then put that short game to work, you are making par on every hole, not double. So clearly some other stuff is going on here. I wonder if you aren't reporting to us your BEST shots, rather than your typical shots.
I play a lot with a 20 handicapper who ought to be a 10 handicapper (he's very athletic, makes a good move at the ball, and has some touch), but he approaches every shot as if he's going hit the best shot of his life. He hits every short shot with his 60 degree wedge. He comes to a 190 yard par 3 all over water, and he takes out a 4 iron, which, if hit perfectly, he hits 189 yards.
So maybe you should try to play the game to make bogies, and see where that gets. Put in the fairway, get near the green (taking more club than you think you need), chip to the middle (keeping the ball as close to the ground as you can) and then 2 putt. Play a couple of rounds like that and see if you aren't breaking 100.
Yes u are correct 250 is a good drive for me in terms of yardage (usually btwn 230 - 260), but direction is not always straight. My 8iron goes anywhere between 140 and 160, so 155 is on the upper end. And by "sandsave", I just looked up the definition as up and down, that is not what I meant, I just meant simply get out of the trap, to usually be followed by a 2 putt or worse if I dont get on the green. I guess I feel like my ball striking is pretty good (compared to friends and other ppl at the range) so that's mainly why I feel like my scores could be much better. But as many of you have pointed out, I am losing lots of strokes by chips/pitches that dont get leave me a 1 putt - this is extremely rare now that I think about it. I probably have low 40's putts per game. So I guess I need to stop the full swing and work on my short game. Thanks for helping me realize me.
softconsult
New
Fronesis, I was having some of those same thoughts.
You layed it out nicely.
A great tip for Bamfur research how to play a hole strategically backward from
Green to Tee. Google would turn up a description of this technique. Over the years,
I would say very few of my playing partners even thought about it.
All of my golf these days is in a Seniors Golf League, 60 tournaments a year. Flight 1
is White tees. I am still fairly long for an old guy. I play to 80 - 120 yards from many
of the Par 4 tees. I might hit a anything from 3 wood down to 6 iron from the tee. Just
setting up the approach shot to the green.Everyone else pretty much always hits Driver.
This is just an illustration for Bamfur.
You layed it out nicely.
A great tip for Bamfur research how to play a hole strategically backward from
Green to Tee. Google would turn up a description of this technique. Over the years,
I would say very few of my playing partners even thought about it.
All of my golf these days is in a Seniors Golf League, 60 tournaments a year. Flight 1
is White tees. I am still fairly long for an old guy. I play to 80 - 120 yards from many
of the Par 4 tees. I might hit a anything from 3 wood down to 6 iron from the tee. Just
setting up the approach shot to the green.Everyone else pretty much always hits Driver.
This is just an illustration for Bamfur.
Chip Putterman
New
Learn how to chip and learn how to putt. It's not as easy as you may think.
Yep, there's 10 strokes off your game right there, since there's no reason that with some practice and work you can't have more 1 putts than 3 putts, and this gets you in the low 30s for putts.
I also think Softconsult makes a great point about what to hit off the tee. I usually play public golf courses as a single and so I get paired up with a huge variety of mid to high-handicappers. None of them EVER hit anything but a driver off the tee (and they always look at me funny as I take out 3 woods, 1 iron hybrids, and other clubs for tee shots). You should hit driver when you NEED it, or when missing it won't cost you anything, but if you are on a 380 yard hole with trouble, why on earth hit driver (you aren't trying to make birdies right now). If you can keep the ball in play and get your shortgame in better shape, bogey golf is in your sights.
good luck!
- Status