Hit a brick wall?

[slicer79]

Seems like I've hit a brick wall with my golf. Got down to 5 around last July so more or less a full year ago. Started 2013 off 5.3 with a goal of getting to 4 this year. Went up to 5.5 but in first round back off 6 had 39 points. Lowest I've gone is 5.0
Recently I've drifted again to 5.5 first round again off 6 was at weekend and scored 36 points (CSS was 36 so no movement on h-cap). So I'm pretty confident ill get cut off it again.
The frustrating thing is I feel like I'm too good for 6 hcap but not fully able for 5. So the drifting between the two is annoying me. I guess it's the first time I'm finding it hard to make the next step.
In Category 1 the margin for error is so small, I've had days where I've scored 35 points but still had a .1 back. That's hard to get used to as 35 pts off 5 to me feels like a good round.
I'm also finding it hard to identify specific areas to improve. I can't say one area in particular is letting me down. On a given day I might lose shots through a combination of a couple bad drives, couple bad irons, couple bad chips & couple 3 putts. There's no one area sticking out.
I think I need to keep detailed stats for a couple rounds to see exactly.

Just needed to get the whole thing off my chest. I'm sure others on here have gone through these feelings where it feels like you've reached you're limit and start doubting if you're able to move on to a lower h/cap. I'm still hoping I can but not sure what's needed. Possibly it's just constant practice on all areas of game

 

[Birchy]

At the level your at you have to be consistently ruthless just to stand still. Speak to a couple of scratch players at ours and they have to basically shoot 2 under par just to stand still with CSS as it has been this year. One dodgy shot gives you point one back at that level so I can see why its so tough.

Your playing at a very good level though so just enjoy it if I was you. Unless your trying to make a living form playing golf

 

[CMAC]

We all go through it daily. :smirk:

There WILL be one area that is causing you more problems than others? you say it's a mixture but you need to analyse your stats and see GIR's FIR's, number of putts, up and downs, bunker saves etc etc

I've been between 3 and 5 (nearly 6 once) for the last 30 years....... I know I can shoot low but I can also shoot very high.......so it's minimising the bad shots and turning a 6 into a 5, and a 5 into a 4

 

[HawkeyeMS]

Seems like I've hit a brick wall with my golf. Got down to 5 around last July so more or less a full year ago. Started 2013 off 5.3 with a goal of getting to 4 this year. Went up to 5.5 but in first round back off 6 had 39 points. Lowest I've gone is 5.0
Recently I've drifted again to 5.5 first round again off 6 was at weekend and scored 36 points (CSS was 36 so no movement on h-cap). So I'm pretty confident ill get cut off it again.
The frustrating thing is I feel like I'm too good for 6 hcap but not fully able for 5. So the drifting between the two is annoying me. I guess it's the first time I'm finding it hard to make the next step.
In Category 1 the margin for error is so small, I've had days where I've scored 35 points but still had a .1 back. That's hard to get used to as 35 pts off 5 to me feels like a good round.
I'm also finding it hard to identify specific areas to improve. I can't say one area in particular is letting me down. On a given day I might lose shots through a combination of a couple bad drives, couple bad irons, couple bad chips & couple 3 putts. There's no one area sticking out.
I think I need to keep detailed stats for a couple rounds to see exactly.

Just needed to get the whole thing off my chest. I'm sure others on here have gone through these feelings where it feels like you've reached you're limit and start doubting if you're able to move on to a lower h/cap. I'm still hoping I can but not sure what's needed. Possibly it's just constant practice on all areas of game

Although not at Cat 1 (yet) I am learning rapidly that once you get to low Cat 2\Cat 1, being good at all aspects isn't good enough, the margins are smaller and the mistakes magnified by 1000. Like you I feel there are more cuts in me and in my two qualifiers off of 7 I have had one buffer and one 0.1 (missed by 1 shot and really didn't play well). All areas of my game are generally good except my bunker play, I went in one bunker on Saturday, took 3 to get out and got 0.1 back. One bunker shot and 2 putts puts me comfortably in the buffer, so there's my first thing to work on.

I'm not anywhere near the point of frustration but can understand why someone would be in your shoes. I guess the bottom line is we need to redefine our classification of "Good". I've always thought of my driving as good, but I've been off 10\11\12 for the last 5 years and it was good for that handicap, now I would say my driving is "OK" for my handicap. Same with my putting, short game etc. I need to squeeze a little bit more out of everything and that will only come with practice.

I'm not really sure whether any of this has helped but as you say, I suspect practice in all areas is the key along with staying positive.

 

[Spear-Chucker]

There's not a great difference between a 5 hcp and 2 or 3, they are just numbers after all. To affect an improvement to your game I can only suggest getting some detailed analysis of what's what. Anecdotal thoughts like 'i think my driving let me down' can be misleading.

Over a period of several months track fairways hit, GIR, putts per green, sand saves and the number of times you recover from missing a green (scrambling). A couple of rounds won't be enough but over time you'll see where your shots go and also where your strengths are too. You just need to then decide on what you want to improve, what time and resource you have available and get to work.

Coming to terms with a static period or plateau is nothing new and affects all players at all levels. You just need to develop the skills to get past it. Take this from someone doing exactly the same thing and there'll be countless others too.