Trying to break 100- The 3 Goals Method

[Stuey01]

I think you run out of room for improvement pretty quickly with this approach. Sooner or later you are going to have to start going for greens in regulation.
You also have to actually be able to consistently execute the shots. Play this conservatively and duff a few and the big numbers will rack up pretty fast.
It also sounds boring as hell.

Horses for courses I suppose.

 

[Region3]

My brother has never broken 100.

I would like to say that my suggestions for course management or any sort of plan at all would help him to score lower, but it's to no avail. He actually makes pretty good - and conservative - choices on the course. He just isn't very good.

He enjoys it though and although I think he has to improve a fair bit to break 100, he will keep trying and keep enjoying it.

My point is not everyone is destined to improve the required amount just through desperately wanting to. Just keep enjoying it.

 

[drew83]

My brother has never broken 100.

I would like to say that my suggestions for course management or any sort of plan at all would help him to score lower, but it's to no avail. He actually makes pretty good - and conservative - choices on the course. He just isn't very good.

He enjoys it though and although I think he has to improve a fair bit to break 100, he will keep trying and keep enjoying it.

My point is not everyone is destined to improve the required amount just through desperately wanting to. Just keep enjoying it.

I think as long as this stays the main focus you can't go far wrong.....

 

[ScienceBoy]

Just keep enjoying it.

Can't argue with that.

 

[markchapman1976]

excellent post. watching my playing partners smash a driver off every tee with varied success always makes me smile as i hit another flush iron onto the fairway. in most cases they only have 30 yards on me at best which doesnt make that much of a difference at our level. at worst they have a lost ball.

they call it grandma golf, but my scores keep coming down.

Ha I like it ☺ Grandma Golf. If Grandma Golf beats their golf then Grandma golf it is ☺

 

[markchapman1976]

ScienceBoy thank you very much for your 3 goal method gameplan. I can only manage 9 holes due to my disability. First round today and got a terrible 70. But now I've read your ideas, I am confident I can go out tomorrow and knock 10 plus off my first score..I will give you my feedback when I see how it pans out for me. Thanks again.

 

[MichaelCo1]

I think you will find with a lot of people the driver causes more problems than it's worth. Personally this is the case with me. It use to be the best part of my game and now it's my weakest point. I would only pull the driver out on a par 5 and even then i hate to do it.

I am playing off 18 and use the driver once or twice. If only i could get my driving back my handicap would drop. Good advice though.

 

[luke123]

I think you will find with a lot of people the driver causes more problems than it's worth. Personally this is the case with me. It use to be the best part of my game and now it's my weakest point. I would only pull the driver out on a par 5 and even then i hate to do it. I am playing off 18 and use the driver once or twice. If only i could get my driving back my handicap would drop. Good advice though.

This is the exact same as me at present I cannot hit a driver or wood for toffy.
Last to games I have left them in the bag and used a 5 iron and scored so much better than lossing balls and being miles off the fairwary.

 

[fade away]

What an eye opener this has been, thanks very much for posting this.

I am a very rubbish and inconsistent beginner and very much play for fun on local hackers courses.
I tend to reach for the driver on every hole bar the par threes and rarely hit the fairway. My latest venture proving that your method should improve my game...
the first hole is a mahoosive 570 yards, i pulled the driver into the trees, had to play out sideways, faded the hybrid into the trees on the other side, had to play out sideways, hybrid again to within 100yds of the green, pitched onto the green and 3 putted for a 9.

it is only a 9 hole course but i am yet to break 60, mainly due to my ego and trying to smash a driver on every hole.

Although on one hole the fairway is lined with trees on both sides along with a hazard to the right and OOB to the far left i decided to hit a 5 iron off the tee, followed by a 7 iron just short of the green, a chip and 2 putt for a bogey 5, as an experiment and also out of sheer frustration. and was amazed as to how much shorter it made the hole feel!

But then got the driver out on the next hole and smashed it down the middle (of the much wider fairway ) - so that tricks me into thinking i'm Dustin Johnson again!!!........

Thanks to this thread I now have a clear plan to stick to I will definitely be leaving the driver alone on my next round!

 

[Evesdad]

Think I may put this into action this weekend. The driver has gone cold, yesterday we had a golf day at the Warwickshire. First round the driver was behaving and scored well until the last four holes when I went into swing melt down! Second round driver was still misbehaving and blobbed the first few holes. Then stuck with hybrid off the tee and played more sensible golf. Smashed it down the middle a good 200 yds most of the time and finished with 34 points including a birdie on the last hole a par 5! Time to put it into action in the medal me thinks!

 

[Dornenglanz]

Excellent thread, I've read it from start to finish. I've been trying to do something like this from the start - think first about course management, and play whatever shot makes your next shot easy. Sometimes I forget, and I always regret it.

One person commented that for a complete beginner (such as myself), the biggest problem is inconsistent ball striking. It's very rare for me not to hit one or two "rubbish" shots - where I top it and it trickles along, or hit the ground, or miss altogether. But, that usually happens when:

a) I am trying to hit the ball too hard off the tee
b) I have a nasty lie in some rough

So: goal 1: get the ball onto the fairway.

Of the courses I play, there are only two or three holes where I need to hit anything more ambitious than a 5I to reach the fairway. True, sometimes I hook or slice it, and lose it in the trees, but even then if I play a provisional, and land that on the fairway, on all but the long par 5s, I still have a chance to be on the green in two more shots, and then if I put in two that's only 7... and at this stage if I can get a couple of bogies (which I've managed to do) to compensate, then I'm on my way.

I don't carry (or own) a driver. My 3W goes like the clappers if I hit it well, but that's a lottery at present, so that's not in the bag. My 4H will get me onto the furthest away greens, and that's one or two shots a round, and as long as I don't try to knock the spots off it, is a fairly reliable shot.

I'm still a long way from 50 on a "proper" 9 hole course, but this is definitely the strategy I am working with for now.

I do take the point (and I've read elsewhere the expression "treating the golf course like a driving range") that learning to strike the ball on the range is necessary, and I do that too, but the difference in the wild, with slopes, lies, obstacles, hazards, narrow fairways, people watching etc.... means that even if I can hit 10/10 decent 7I at the range, that's not an indicator that I'll hit anything like that many on the course. However, sticking to the plan still works, I think.

I'll keep you updated on my progress, but thanks for a resonant OP, and for taking the time to go through your thinking.

 

[Capella]

I like this approach as well, but have to adapt goal 2 to 100 yards, because I have no way to reliably get it on the green from further out than that.

 

[Franco]

I like this approach as well, but have to adapt goal 2 to 100 yards, because I have no way to reliably get it on the green from further out than that.

I too, found that 150 yards is too far for me to get the ball on the green even half the time, whereas from 100 yards I have a much better success rate.

 

[ScienceBoy]

Whatever works really, set the goals that get you scoring.

Was used to good effect on Monday by Franco, pushed me to go outside it to beat him at times. Which of course lead to poor scores! If I had used it all the way round I might have beaten him

 

[Dornenglanz]

Played my first ever full 18 holes this week. Went round in 120... if I'd remembered this method, I'd have saved a lot of shots. All the same, it's the first round I've played this year, apart from a couple of par 3s just to get my swing going. I shall try it again, next time.

One observation - it really helps to know the course. The people I played with couldn't give accurate answers to "how far away is the fairway", and while they knew about hazards, knowing in advance would have made planning better. The best round I shot last summer, I used SwingXSwing in advance to plan my way around, and it made a big difference.

 

[ScienceBoy]

Played my first ever full 18 holes this week. Went round in 120... if I'd remembered this method, I'd have saved a lot of shots. I shall try it again, next time.

Do keep us posted! 120 is a good score in many ways, think you can knock 10 shots off that!

Keep rattling in those 7s at worse and you will score good. It's keeping the 8-10+ of the card that will help for now.

 

[Dornenglanz]

Do keep us posted! 120 is a good score in many ways, think you can knock 10 shots off that!

Keep rattling in those 7s at worse and you will score good. It's keeping the 8-10+ of the card that will help for now.

Thanks! Yes, absolutely. Several holes I played very well... 5 on the first par 4. One par on another par 4. A bogie on the last par 4. Two pars on two of the par 3s. But then lots of 8s and a 10 and an 11. Avoiding those shocker holes and shaving a shot on each of the others and I'd have been close to 100 I think! And a lot of that could have been achieved by playing more defensively, and knowing the course better. But for my first ever full 18 holes, with 3 others all playing off about 11, I was really pleased with how I played!

 

[delc]

The best game plan in the world won't help you if you can't hit reasonably good shots, so you need to put in a bit of time on the range and practising chipping and putting. When you are actually playing, try to stay out of trouble. If you can get somewhere near the green in regulation, try to get up and down in no more than 3 shots. If you can do that breaking 100 or even 90 should be a doddle. 😀

 

[Orikoru]

I'm trying to think in similar ways to this, just not as clearly defined. I recently downloaded the Hole 19 GPS app, and I've been using it to identify holes where I don't actually need to get the driver out and go for the biggun everytime - instead play a slightly shorter club with a higher percentage of finding the fairway, if it still only leaves me 150-160 yards to the green. Basically if I can be a bit more sensible I should be able to get some good scores with my current handicap.

 

[chip barm]

Played my first ever full 18 holes this week. Went round in 120... if I'd remembered this method, I'd have saved a lot of shots. One observation - it really helps to know the course.

i'm 9 months into my first year playing golf. i used to think knowing the course beforehand was really important. now i think knowing your game and what you are capable of is the main thing. i play new courses quite a lot and usually hit the same number of strokes i do on familiar courses. i just go at it the same way. having a good understanding of my yardages and weighing up the situation i'm in using some of the principles in this thread. i'm hitting mid 80's low 90's no matter where i go, just playing sensible golf.