Scores not coming down

[Jaco]

Got back into golf six months back and am enjoying it. I've only ever been a hacker and never had a handicap, and would guess I'm a 28+. I'm having lessons (which I enjoy) and have invested in some new equipment. I feel like I'm learning and the pro is very encouraging but scores not coming down. Played 29 holes this weekend and hit a few nice shots but loads of fat or thin shots to ruin everything. Main problem is taking big divots before the ball, therefore losing all the power.
I'm 47 so it may be an old-dog-new-tricks issue, but it's very frustrating. Basically I set myself a target of 40 by xmas for my 9 hole par 35 course (very wide and forgiving, no water, few bunkers) but bar a once-only 44 my scores seem around the same as when I started six moths back (48 - 53).
Has anyone experienced this, and will it possibly click all of a sudden? I'm not looking to be a scratch golfer obviously, just to a level where I can string 5 or 6 decent holes together.

 

[chor808]

I posted something similar about getting worse each time I play. My scores over 18 holes have a 22 shot spread so consistent I'm not. I've started lessons again to get some confidence back however this is such a infuriating game, one minute I can play fantastic the next like you duff one into the pond. Not being an expert but by the sound of it hitting the ground before the ball is normally your weight being on the wrong side. Make sure as the come into hit the ball you shift your weight to your left side. There are lots of videos on this online that you might find useful.

Keep at it.

 

[Bigfoot]

It's tough sometimes but you have to be patient.

Over the last 18 months, I felt I was hitting the ball better off the tee, hitting irons straighter, wedges close, always getting out of bunkers first time and not 3 putting but my handicap went up steadily. Suddenly, in the last month, the scores arrived and I dropped 2.7 in a few weeks.

Just keep at it and don't get frustrated.

 

[Sidsidgwick]

After taking up this beloved game this year too and being a hacker with a high handicap I have found somewhat similar. My putting and irons have improved massively, I can still hit a couple erratic drives and my short game needs some work but I've found improvements take time. I too lack any kind of consistency and will birdie/par 3 holes in a row and then take a 7-9 on the next!

Take spirit in the small improvements (I played tonight and went round under 90 as things seemed to work) and enjoy yourself.

 

[louise_a]

I too lack any kind of consistency and will birdie/par 3 holes in a row and then take a 7-9 on the next!

I play off 11 and still do that!

 

[Jaco]

Thanks for the replies, very encouraging that others know the same feeling. Very interesting chor808 about shifting weight from side to side as the pro hasn't mentioned this, or at least not in terms that made it sound as clear. He has sold me £450 worth of new gear though , so maybe he knows his stuff. Thanks again, I'll just keep plugging away, and I'm sure it'll click.

 

[chor808]

Thanks for the replies, very encouraging that others know the same feeling. Very interesting chor808 about shifting weight from side to side as the pro hasn't mentioned this, or at least not in terms that made it sound as clear. He has sold me £450 worth of new gear though , so maybe he knows his stuff. Thanks again, I'll just keep plugging away, and I'm sure it'll click.

It works for me and I'm sure better players can explain better, something about the arch of the swing bottoming out after the ball not before it. Nothing to lose give it a try.

 

[inc0gnito]

If your pro doesn't know why you're doing that, is he even a pro?

I started this year too and don't have a handicap. Play the weekends mostly and don't have access to practice facilities. Like you my scores haven't really come down (since I started recording them). But I have noticed a massive difference qualitatively.

Whilst scores remain roughly the same after the first few months I've noticed a bunch of things;
- less time in the woods
- straighter drives more often
- more consistent drives (length and direction. Very few duffed shots now)
- can use a big boy driver!
- reduced hook off the irons
- no more hitting the ground too early
- very few topped chip shots
- more shots going the way they were intended
- putting is massively improved in getting the line and weight

All in all, whilst the scores haven't come down an awful lot, the overall feel and quality to my shots have improved greatly. And that's the most important thing right now.

I often get a good day driving, ironing, or chipping but rarely all 3 at once. Therefore I think it's only a matter of time and practice before things click more often and that'll translate to lower scores. That combined with more consistency will lead to jumps in performance and better scores.

 

[Jaco]

That's really interesting, almost all of what you say there chimes with my experience. The exceptions are that I do hit the ground early too often, and I haven't done any work on putting with my pro yet. I totally understand what you say about one thing a round going swimmingly. Today it was my new Yonex 3 wood off the tee, went straight and long 4 times out of 6 attempts. Just seems odd that you can get better at a game but not see the results on the card.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

First things first, I'd be feeding back your on course problems to your teaching pro and asking what's going on in the swing. At this time of year, going forward, winter is a great time to make changes. Once you have a lesson, work hard on the drills you've been given. If you're struggling go back to the pro. Lessons are a two way street.

If you are out on the course, trust the work you've put in. Trust your new swing and don't revert to the old one. Stay patient. Sometimes with lessons you'll go backwards before you can go forward. I'm embarking on a whole new swing over the winter and know it's going to be hard, frustrating and at times soul destroying but having recently had a lesson with a Golf Monthly top 25 pro, I'm engaged and ready.

Stick with it. It will come

 

[Tiger man]

When I first started I used to give myself a goal of beating 5 a hole which was really good for confidence, so for you on a 9 holer it gives you a goal of beating 45 and instead of thinking how many over you are and getting frustrated you can come off feeling good by playing to a realistic par for you. Found it helpful that I could get say a par on a par 3 and then in my head I would be 2 under and it affords you a few shots on harder holes so you don't think your score is getting away from you.
Also for the fats the best thing I ever did was at the range, try hitting an inch in front of the ball instead of concentrating on the back of it, you will soon be striking the ball then floor. Best of luck.

 

[bobmac]

There are only 2 things in golf..........

How you hit it
Where you hit it

It sounds as if you're having problems with the former.

To improve your contact between club and ball and to stop the duffs, try and keep your head still throughout the swing. That will help you to stop hitting the ground before the ball

 

[wisey10]

I'm another newbie struggling to get my scores down. Started playing in May with very slow progress. Took driver out of my bag and found a fairly consistent but short tee shot with 5 hybrid and things started to pick up as I was in play a lot more. Around about August I really started to feel like I was coming on. I found the key was a smooth, slow tempo on swing. But there was always one part which would let me down on a round. Hitting the tees ok and fairways nicely but any chips/pitches which weren't a full shot turned poor. Really under or over hitting them. But I felt I was on the cusp of cracking it.

Had a baby beginning of September so had a few weeks off. Had four 9 hole rounds since and I've lost the plot again. Tees inconsistent even with 5 hybrid, pulling fairway shots to the left, hitting pitches fat. Really trying to remember slowing tempo down but pushing shots to the right terribly at times when I do. Mixed in with that I'm hitting some great shots but I can't work out what I'm doing differently. Can't find any sort of consistency at all to my swing at moment. I think it's something to do with my rotation, either not doing enough or swaying too much when I do. Guesswork though.

After feeling like I was getting so close, very disheartening to be almost back to square 1. Will keep plugging away over the winter. Goal is to consistently be breaking the 100 mark come next spring/summer.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

I'm another newbie struggling to get my scores down. Started playing in May with very slow progress. Took driver out of my bag and found a fairly consistent but short tee shot with 5 hybrid and things started to pick up as I was in play a lot more. Around about August I really started to feel like I was coming on. I found the key was a smooth, slow tempo on swing. But there was always one part which would let me down on a round. Hitting the tees ok and fairways nicely but any chips/pitches which weren't a full shot turned poor. Really under or over hitting them. But I felt I was on the cusp of cracking it.

Had a baby beginning of September so had a few weeks off. Had four 9 hole rounds since and I've lost the plot again. Tees inconsistent even with 5 hybrid, pulling fairway shots to the left, hitting pitches fat. Really trying to remember slowing tempo down but pushing shots to the right terribly at times when I do. Mixed in with that I'm hitting some great shots but I can't work out what I'm doing differently. Can't find any sort of consistency at all to my swing at moment. I think it's something to do with my rotation, either not doing enough or swaying too much when I do. Guesswork though.

After feeling like I was getting so close, very disheartening to be almost back to square 1. Will keep plugging away over the winter. Goal is to consistently be breaking the 100 mark come next spring/summer.

Clearly money may be tight with a new baby in the house, but if you can afford a block of lessons over the winter months and find the time to work on the changes you'll be in a good position once the better weather comes next Spring. Otherwise I'd look at at least one lesson to sort what is afflicting the game at the moment rather than guessing

 

[Dasit]

Clearly money may be tight with a new baby in the house, but if you can afford a block of lessons over the winter months and find the time to work on the changes you'll be in a good position once the better weather comes next Spring. Otherwise I'd look at at least one lesson to sort what is afflicting the game at the moment rather than guessing

No offence but you are overly reliant on lessons and it hasn't done much if anything for your game.



Your body will work out a way to swing a golf club and get the ball to go where you want. Lessons are not the magic cure to being a better player.

 

[wisey10]

I've had two lessons to date and didn't find them overly helpful. Mainly because I was too tense and was not doing justice to my normal relaxed swing. It resulted in rest of lesson trying to cure a fault which I'm not sure is normally there. I've got plenty of faults no doubt but we spent half an hour trying to cure a shank which isn't a shot I normally make. Its not the pros fault particularly but mine for being over tense for no good reason. Purely because I was having a good player analyse my game.

i probably will have another few lessons over winter but with the inconsistencies in my swing I'm concerned it will be a case of concentrating on one fault and next round out I will just be making another. And at 30 quid a pop they aren't cheap. Ideally I would like to work it out for myself initially to get back to where I was and then maybe have a couple of lessons to address driver issue and possibly chipping.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

No offence but you are overly reliant on lessons and it hasn't done much if anything for your game.



Your body will work out a way to swing a golf club and get the ball to go where you want. Lessons are not the magic cure to being a better player.

Not overly reliant but I'd rather go to someone that is trained in seeing a fault and fixing it. As for it not doing much, I'd argue that and know that the ball striking is far better and will only get more so now I've a blueprint from Paul Foston to work to. Handicap progress is only one way to gauge it but I am better in terms of strike, dispersion and distance and need to just stop a couple of really bad holes creeping in to begin to see huge progress in terms of handicap reductions as well. In truth, I probably have had no more than 6 lessons in 2017 so hardly reliant. I wasn't even expecting to have the extra one at the London Club

Strike is clearly an issue for the OP and a lesson to resolve the main issues behind this will simply set them up to be able to make better contact which will lead to longer straighter shots more often and hopefully a score reduction.

 

[Dasit]

Not overly reliant but I'd rather go to someone that is trained in seeing a fault and fixing it. As for it not doing much, I'd argue that and know that the ball striking is far better and will only get more so now I've a blueprint from Paul Foston to work to. Handicap progress is only one way to gauge it but I am better in terms of strike, dispersion and distance and need to just stop a couple of really bad holes creeping in to begin to see huge progress in terms of handicap reductions as well. In truth, I probably have had no more than 6 lessons in 2017 so hardly reliant. I wasn't even expecting to have the extra one at the London Club

Strike is clearly an issue for the OP and a lesson to resolve the main issues behind this will simply set them up to be able to make better contact which will lead to longer straighter shots more often and hopefully a score reduction.

Good to hear you are on right path


A few really bad holes shouldn't do much to affect your handicap reductions, as handicap deductions reduce bad holes to stableford scoring, so a 0 point (double bogey most the time).

Consistent mediocre golf is what stops most people reducing their handicap.

 

[thesheriff]

Improving in scoring isn't linear which is frustrating and can make it seem like you're not getting better.

E.g. when I came back to the game after a 10 year break, I couldn't beat my first 18 hole score for almost a year.

if your score aren't coming down, you need to be a bit more detailed in your analysis to see why. For example, how many penalty shots/putts/fairways per round you get could highlight where you've improved and where you need to improve.

 

[YamiKuriboh]

I'm in a similar position and my scores are high for the same reasons (tops and fats). I had my first lesson last week and the pro saw lots of issues in my set up and swing - he showed me a video of my swing and I completely agreed with him. I've now got a realistic plan on things i need to fix to get better, by the end of the lesson i'd never hit it so well! If your pro isn't diagnosing your faults i think there might be an issue with him. For high handicappers it should be obvious what the issues are to a pro.