double bogey blues - how to putting it all together

[softconsult]

In our tournament today (excluding Par 3's) , I hit two drivers, one 6 iron, one 4 iron, one 3 hybrid, all the rest 3 woods.

 

[TROYNYGOLFER]

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.

Bam, let me add my two cents to the excellent advice you have received. With respect to driving stats, since both of the courses I play most often have a very generous first cut, I count anything in the fairway or first cut as "hit." In addition, we have a few holes where approaching from the right or left rough is preferable to the other side of the fairway because of a severely sloping green. I use the same idea on long doglegs where a drive in the rough away from the trees gives me a clear shot whereas the "fairway hit" may leaves me with unpleasant alternatives.

I completely agree that spending time on the short game is essential; however, that does NOT mean you no longer practice the long game. Properly executed chip and pitch shots are a great drill for eliminating throwaway (flipping). Half wedges and cut shots force you to also execute the "toss the marbles" or "compression" that is necessary for full shots. To this day, even if I am there to practice driving, it begins with little chip and pitch shots.

The other item that I recall was very useful as I transitioned from the mid 90s to 80s was the concept of where do I want to miss the ball? Specifically, if I err, do I want to miss left or right? Since most of my play is on landlocked public courses, they tend to have lots of trouble over the green, so unless I have a pin way in the back, the first half of the green is my target.

Finally, as your short game improves, it actually improves the long game. You do not worry so much about a wayward shot, as you believe there is an excellent chance you can recover on that hole, or perhaps drop a wedge on the pin down the road and recover said shot.