Taking your game to the next level

[feary]

Hey,

I don't want to sound cocky, but I know I'm a good golfer. But I want to become a great golfer. I can comfortably shoot handicap on an average day, but I can't seem to drop those shots off my handicap. I have slight swing changes that I'm working on, but it's so infuriating when I go out and shoot 5 over when I've really not applied the changes I'm working on. Do you know what I mean? I feel as if I could be off 1 and not need to worry about not having enough shots. I want to take the next step. To go from a county player to region player. How should I go around this? Any scratch golfers on here? How did you get down? I know I can do it and I don't want to sound like an arrogant kid. So sorry if you find this at all arrogant.
Cheers

 

[HomerJSimpson]

The simple answer is hard work, good coaching and more hard work. Once you've got a swing that works it is all about consistancy and working on the shot saving area (short game, bunker play and putting). Patience is a key too. You are still young and developing. It'll come in time. You've done great to drop to where you are so don't be surprised if there is a bit of a plateau. The winter is for making the changes. Get them grooved and then hone the short game for the start of next season

 

[Swinger]

Take your commitment and attitude to the next level and the game will come.

Sounds like you have a good amount of belief but without any effort or commitment it will come across a bit cocky!

 

[bobmac]

An on-course lesson would be my suggestion.
That way, your pro will see the good and bad parts of your game and advise you on what to work on.
Long game, short game, course management, mental attitude etc

 

[Robobum]

It depends how you judge yourself. H'cap wise I'm a shot better than the OP but only consider myself to be average at best.

Any county comp I enter will see me one of the first out with the larks because all the good golfers will play later in the morning due to h'cap. The jump from me to a scratch h'cap is very big, the jump again to +2 is as big (if not bigger) again. Unfortunately the OP would be balloted out and not even be in the field.

If I played in the same Saturday roll up with a bunch of 20 h'caps then maybe I would appear to be a good golfer.

Any hope of taking the game to the next level is goverend by hard work on the pracitice ground. However with a job, wife and child any spare time is occupied before even thinking about a trip to the range!!

 

[JustOne]

Great question, I'm sure you'll get a lot of different replies...

If you CAN hit the shots then you need to look at the way you manage your round, take the right risk at the right time and leave yourself the best opportunity to score well. At the same time you need to practice to improve, not to just hit the shots you currently hit. When you need a 5yd fade with an 8-iron it HAS to be there, when you need a 30yd draw with a 4-wood from 250yds it HAS to be there.

There's a guy at my club (64yrs old) who plays off scratch, he doesn't hit the ball a long way but he's solid as hell, he'll find the fairway then the green and 1 or 2 putt. If he misses the green he'll invariably chip dead.

People are so obsessed at amateur level about how far they can hit the ball and about taking the least club possible that they don't actually focus properly on what shot they are faced with and where is the best place to put the ball.

Playing with better players helps a lot, walk round a course and watch a guy playing off scratch or +1 and see what he does, I bet it's nothing special!! Tee off, find the fairway, find the green, putt.putt, tee off, find the fairway, find the green, putt.putt, tee off, find the fairway, find the green, putt.putt etc etc



And finally, crank up your desire.... every time you miss a green from 100yds send me £1

 

[bobmac]

People are so obsessed at amateur level about how far they can hit the ball and about taking the least club possible that they don't actually focus properly on what shot they are faced with and where is the best place to put the ball.

Tee off, find the fairway, find the green, putt.putt, tee off, find the fairway, find the green, putt.putt, tee off, find the fairway, find the green, putt.putt etc etc



And finally, crank up your desire.... every time you miss a green from 100yds send me £1

I agree and...
Every time you leave a putt short, send me a £1

 

[Swinger]

People are so obsessed at amateur level about how far they can hit the ball and about taking the least club possible that they don't actually focus properly on what shot they are faced with and where is the best place to put the ball.

Tee off, find the fairway, find the green, putt.putt, tee off, find the fairway, find the green, putt.putt, tee off, find the fairway, find the green, putt.putt etc etc



And finally, crank up your desire.... every time you miss a green from 100yds send me £1

I agree and...
Every time you leave a putt short, send me a £1

And missed fairways £2 to me.

Good golfers always hit the fairways.

 

[percy_layer]

Some good advice above


Another way is to improve how you practice. For example:
Take a 7 iron and select a target 30 yards wide, 2 canes or flags at 140-150 yards away. Hit 10 balls of which a minimum of 7 must go between the canes. If so, move the targets to 25 yards apart and hit another 10 balls, if you get a minimum of 7 into the target zone, move the canes 5 yards closer together.......etc
Add in the pressure of only being able to it once a day and you get better prepared to play the shots when it matters.
You can apply the same principle to all golf shots, although i would have the target changed to distance control as well for wedge shots down to putts.
Keep working at your game and keep enjoying playing.

 

[Tommo21]

I can comfortably shoot handicap on an average day, but I can't seem to drop those shots off my handicap.

Cant argue with Bob, but I would try and work out why you cant do the above. What is your "average day", games with your mates, bounce games. Is there a big gap between these games and medal rounds.

 

[AuburnWarrior]

We have two good golfers at my place, one of scratch, the other off 1. I've not played with them yet but I asked a mate of mine who had. I asked him what the difference was between them and us. His answer was simple.

From 100 yards in, they are deadly!

So, you play off low single figures so you've got the long game and iron play sussed, I would say. Now, you need to work on 100 yards and in. Make sure that you're down in 2 or 3 every time - that'll see your handicap drop, I would think.

 

[Screwback]

I personally dont think there is answer to this question "how do i get better" question. To me if you are naturally good enough your handicap will fall regardless of your approach.

All this spend as much time on the range as possible to me is partly rubbish, i am not saying practise is bad but, you could spend hour upon hour on the range hitting balls into never land. Whats that going to achieve if you dont know how to make a score on the course?

To me having/getting a handicap of scratch is one of the biggest acheviements in amateur golf my advice would be worry about making the scores on the course, enjoy your golf and dont take it too seriously if you are good enough you will get there...

 

[Junior]

My mate plays of +1. The thing that strikes me is the amount of birdies he makes. He seems to hit several greens a round to 15 ft or closer.

I think its mentioned above , but play with the best players at your club and see how they go about things. They do seem to hit the ball further and have shorter clubs into greens than most, but if i were you i wouldnt worry about length as it will certainly improve as you get older.

Saying that, in a few years when you discover booze and women, scratch golf may not seem as appealing

 

[Macster]

I have regularly played with a +1 player this year, and his overall play is stunning to see, tee to green is monotonous, and the time he takes over putts is rather different to most of us, and it pays off as he sinks lots of birdies.
He's 23 however, and considering turning Pro, although I think most of us would agree that he probably needs to be +4/5 to make the step a little easier.
You have lots of time to get down, so don't put to much pressure on yourself, just practice, particularly 100yds & in, and things will come down.

 

[stevek1969]

Some good advice there guys,compared to you guys handicap my goal was very modest ,mine was to get to 9 by the time i was 40 i missed it by a day no big deal really but i got there.But when i got there i never lasted long and am now back up to 11 i cant explain why,i just stopped doing the things i did and thought i'd arrived, how wrong was i.

I think i have the ability to play to 7 or 8 but i cant seem to get there,so i decided to get some lessons and have noticed my ball striking is back where it was when i got to 9, i think my concentration is a lot better . I seem to play better when i play with better player 3 of my mates are of 3 and below but when i play with the rest of my mates whose handicap is higher i dont play the same game.

Anybody find this in there own game as i would love to get to the level i said earlier.This winter i've practised more ,at least one trip to the range to keep a swing going as my course won't be open for a few more weeks yet and keep going to the gym as i find it helps my game ,i dont no why but it does.

 

[sawtooth]

The first thing is something only you can do. Ask yourself "how did I drop those shots today?" I'm guessing that theres no pattern to it else you will already know what you need to work on.

For example are you missing too many putts? are you pitching close enough to the pin? Are you straight enough of the tee with the big stick?

I've played with scratch players before and the thing that stood out for me is their putting. They just dont seem to miss a lot of putts and thats why they make their fair share of birdies.

 

[Macster]

Steve, that could have been me posting that, I'm exactly the same in many respects, although I have been very consistent this year and stayed much the same as I started the year.
I try and play Medals only with much better players, as it brings out the best in my game and makes me concentrate, and always at a sociable time of day and not 7am !!

I haven't swung a club for weeks, and little chance as our course is still 6" deep in snow, and tbh, I haven't the will to stand at a driving range in the freezing cold at 9pm, so I'll play when the chance arises over the winter and then start in earnest when March comes.

 

[golfstick]

hello feary, im off 1, well 0.7 so im close ish to scratch. All the above advice is very good! i too was stuck at 4 for quite a while and i approached it in a different way. I wasnt big of long i relied on being straight. I wud be three clubs longer than everyone else and i struggled. Hitting fairways and greens simply wasnt enough for me. I tried to get fitter and approached my game from a different angle. I now feel like to a basic extent i can bully the courses a bit. On my home course, out of the three par fives we have, after a good drive ive never hit more than a 4 iron into them. I look at my round on the first tee as though im already 3 under gross.

I know distance isnt everything but do you stand on your tee and know the holes that you will birdie 80% of the time. I also found that my approach play was terrible. I decided that i would make my wedge play with all my wedges as tight as possible. From 100 yards i would expect to be no worse than 10 foot and hope for closer.

 

[pokerjoke]

You dont sound overly arrogant,in fact i believe you need a bit of arrogance,me i call it self belief,i like that.Its all been said and trust me theres a lot of good golfers on here.I would add,is enjoy the challenge,set yourself small goals and you will get there.Good luck

 

[ScienceBoy]

An on-course lesson would be my suggestion.
That way, your pro will see the good and bad parts of your game and advise you on what to work on.
Long game, short game, course management, mental attitude etc

Ive had one on course lesson and I learnt a lot about how to save shots, it added three new shots to my arsenal, one which won me a hole in the winter league just last sunday!