Monthly forum poll 1) Which part of your game has most held you back most this year?

[azazel]

Putting putting putting putting putting!

 

[HickoryShaft]

Chipping, pitching & bunker play in that order.

Spent a lot of time and a few lessons at the range working on driving and irons and it seems to have paid dividends but as that part of my came got a little closer to my own expecations I realised that my short game is severely lacking.

Still able to get within 80 yards of a long par 5 in 2 and come off with a 7, be greenside for 2 on a par 4 and come off with a 6 due to duffed chips or poor pitch shots. Throw a bit of sand in the mix and I go to pieces.

Birthday last week and got a 6 lesson course booked - all on short game, also got a V-easy so either I will improve or you will find me out on the practice area frozen solid by the time the year ends.

 

[Alex1975]

The poll doesn't allow more than one choice unfortunately, can't see anyone only having one issue that held them back

!!!!!!!!!

 

[Matty]

Many aspects of my game have improved this year but I can't hit greens from 150yards up. I play to this and lay up keeping straight and on the short grass but over the Winter and next year I'll be focussing on the mid to long irons.

 

[ArnoldArmChewer]

Due to an early season dose of the shanks my confidence with pretty much any iron evaporated, much work later I now am hitting irons much better and am scoring well below handicap.

 

[HawkeyeMS]

Chipping for me, it's not bad but at my level I should be getting up and down a couple more times per round than I do.

 

[rickg]

Didn't see Course management on there....definitely my Achilles heel this year.....

 

[HomerJSimpson]

Chipping has been my problem for more than a year now. Its become a mental problem rather than a technical one and soem rounds are filled with nothing but dark thought with inevitable consequences. It has shown shoots of recovery in patches and the plan is to spend 10-15 minutes with the V-Easy every day at home and really try and get the feeling ingrained. If I can stand there 100% confident I'm swinging properly perhaps I can relax, pick a spot and play the shot

 

[Achilles]

Tricky to whittle it down to one area but my approach play from 100 yards in has been a big issue for me! I'm pretty sure that if I could get this sorted my handicap would come down nicely. Happy with my driving and especially pleased with how much my putting has improved.

 

[MashieNiblick]

Chipping for me. Wasted lots of shots round the green. Duff, thin, chip on and 2 puts not unknown.

Next would be putting from inside 6 feet. I've been terrible at holing out this year.

 

[Basher]

Long approach play and mid irons is my nemesis at the moment. Aiming to improve through the colder months with a bit of practise.
My driving has come on leaps and bounds following a good lesson earlier in the season. Putting is much more accurate but still having occasional 3 putts.
Pitching and chipping still my strongest area although it has deteriorated later in the season although improvement seen on my last couple of rounds.

 

[Imurg]

Driving - with the Driver - 100%
I've lost count of the times I've salvaged par or even a birdie after driving into the clag this year. Classic example from a week or two ago. Snap-hooked drive into clag, lucky find, hack out with wedge, 230 yard hybrid to 10 feet , sink putt for birdie.
Fortuately I've been able to recove most of the time but I've been saying for months that if I can sort my driving then I'll go low.

Well, since getting the G20 the driving isn't quite sorted but it's leagues better than it was - and look, I'm regularly scoring low 70's and been cut to 5.
Co-incidence?
I don't think so.....

 

[Smiffy]

Long approach play has always been my big weakness. God help me if I have got anything above about 160 to go. Gradually getting it in my head to play the par 5's sensibly. I know I can very rarely get to them in two, even with 2 well struck woods, so will now put my thinking head on and just knock a 5 or 6 iron down to leave myself (hopefully) a fairly straightforward pitch on. But if I'm on a long par 4 that's where I will struggle. Par 3's used to be my biggest downfall, checking the card after a round would highlight that. But I seem to be playing them much better lately, so they don't hold too much fear for me.
But stick me in the middle of a closely mown fairway with a 4 iron in my mitts and prepare yourself for a right good laugh....

 

[pokerjoke]

My putting has been woeful at times,especially from 3ft or so.
Im sure i would have got my handicap to 8 as ive been in many good positions to
win this year.
Also on a couple of occasions,especially at St pierre,the 3/4 wedge shot.
I have now sorted my putting,and im practising the 100 yrd wedge shot religiously.
I very confident of getting to 8 next year.

 

[Monty_Brown]

I've said driving, although stats may say it's not the worst part of my game.

What it is though is the trigger to bad play in other parts of my game. Hit a wild drive and it affects my confidence and mental side far too much. If I find the ball after a bad drive, even if it has a good lie, I'm more likely to hit a bad approach shot than from the same distance in the middle of the fairway. That's because I think I'm still annoyed with myself about that bad drive and not focusing properly on that shot at hand.

It's no coincidence that the mental side of the game is where the pros are so strong. They might be in the rough off the tee, but once they are over the ball with a decent lie, their thoughts turn to hitting it close and making birdie - the bad drive is history.

So really I'm saying mental strength and course management for me.

 

[swanny32]

Has to be my driver for me, or anything off the tee for that matter. Suffer with a bit of a slice which for some reason is always a hell of a lot worse off the tee. Had a couple of lessons and managed to get it under a bit of control and was hitting more of a controlled fade for a month or so then it all went down the pan again and now I'm struggling more than before. I don't think it's a coincidence that my handicap was cut 2 shots when I was managing to control my fade/slice mid way through the summer.

 

[Region3]

Another vote for driver.

It's not woeful, but anywhere between 2 - 5 times a round I have no shot at GIR after my tee shot, and that's too many shots given away for no good reason.

 

[G_Mulligan]

can just pick one? I went for long putting but can add Driving, long approach, bunkers, and short putting to that list. Messy season but still huge improvement overall so still reasonably happy

 

[HomerJSimpson]

Of course it helps to keep the ball within the confines of the course (or the same county if you are ultra wild) but even if you resort back to an iron or 3 wood and manage to keep it in play, doesn't it cost more ultimately at the other end if you can't get it in the hole. Surely three out of a bunker and three putting is more destructive than a a wayward tee shot and a hack back into position. It is certainly my lack of short game that has held me back and I am far from the straightest driver but I try and take my medicine get back in play and towards the edge of the green for three. Its the duffed chip, thinned next one and stab on that costs me more

 

[Gazboy]

Off the tee with anything longer than a 5i, and off the fairway anything longer than a 7i. I've had a couple of lessons to cure a dreadful slice, and these were successful during the lesson, and at the range, but these successes were short lived with a slice returning by the 9th hole of one game and from the 1st on Sunday.

I thought I had sussed my hybrids last week but this was a short lived dream too.

It would be nice for my score card to show an improvement since taking up the game but alas no, still the same scores from March...