What it took to break into single figures?

[Carpfather1]

After a little break from golf due to family commitments I'm now finally back playing and joined one of the local parklands,so far haven't shoot any wow scores but just focusing on trying to get some of my game back on track and keep swinging a club ,I'm hoping over the summer I can get my game back where it was and maybe knock a shot or two off my handicap with a bit of luck finally break into single figures handicap wise .so my question is for others who broke through to single figures what had the biggest influence when lowering scores to consistently be shooting in the 70s ?just interested to hear what helped others do it cheers in advance

 

[Imurg]

Practice and play.
Simple as that.
All parts of the game.
Learning how to hit shots on the course, from different lies and distances, which clubs to use, course management - and that includes knowing your limitations.

 

[USER1999]

Mainly keeping the ball in play. Lost balls, and penalty drops just kill your score. Drop in a few up and downs, and it can be done.

Rule one, finish with the same golf ball.

 

[jim8flog]

Leaving my job (early retirement) so that I was not thinking about work for the first 5 holes of a round. I dropped from 16 to 8 in 6 months.

Roughly the same time I found a set of irons that remained in the bag for many years because they were so good (Nicklaus N1s) and a graphite shafted driver went in to the bag.

 

[Deleted member 1147]

For me it was s case of keeping it in play more, 3 putting less often and getting up & down more often

 

[clubchamp98]

For me Short game!

Off single cap you need to score well when you play well , but you need to score OK when you don’t play well.

Long game is important but it only gets you in position !
Short game is where you score turning 5 into 4 is important.

practice is key that you practice the correct things so some lessons to get basics right.

I practice my short game twice as much as long game to Ingrain confidence.
I believe I can get up and down from anywhere this gives you confidence to play your game in the long game.

Good luck and don’t forget Enjoy.

 

[fundy]

shooting a round in the 60s as a kid for me (i just about remember those days now haha)

 

[srixon 1]

Short game and putting. I had 29 putts today which helped my score immensely.

 

[Hobbit]

Curing my putting woes. Tee shots weren't great but not really destructive. Irons were very good but putting was awful. 6 or 7 3 putts a round was common. I practiced, and practiced, and practiced. The 3 putts almost disappeared, and some of the 2 putts became 1 putts.

 

[Foxholer]

Practice and play.
Simple as that.
All parts of the game.
Learning how to hit shots on the course, from different lies and distances, which clubs to use, course management - and that includes knowing your limitations.

This!

But particularly short game! Getting wedge distances consistent (I chose to use the Pelz clock system, but without the 7:30 swing), chippinig to within gimmee distance and putting!

Lota and lots of practice!

 

[HomerJSimpson]

No idea so looking at this with interest. A decent short game is a must and I guess more control off the tee and minimising the lost balls and car crash holes. We'll see what the wise single figure sages say

 

[Liverbirdie]

Its not all about ball striking, attitude, strong will and course management can also be improved.

If between clubs mainly take the longer one, and get 95% of putts to the hole.

 

[fundy]

No idea so looking at this with interest. A decent short game is a must and I guess more control off the tee and minimising the lost balls and car crash holes. We'll see what the wise single figure sages say

surely you were off single figures to be an assistant pro Homie?

 

[HomerJSimpson]

surely you were off single figures to be an assistant pro Homie?

True but that seems another life ago with everything that has happened in the last 30+ years. Playing every day and having instant on hand tuition made it a doddle. As a kid there was also that big bonus of having no golfing scars or emotional baggage of bad golfing days to fill the head

 

[Deleted member 15344]

1. Being good enough to play to single figures - some just will never have the level of ability to get there

2. Get on the course as much as you can - there is no substitute for playing the course as much as possible

3. Course management - make sure you don’t add one mistake onto another , a bogey isn’t a bad score

4. Short game - got to be able to get the ball in the hole

 

[Carpfather1]

My mid iron/long game is pretty good it's not far away even after a break but my putting is not the best and Inconsistent with my wedges ,so will be working on these areas but interesting to hear how others have got down low .course management helped me get down from 20odd to a 12handicap with a half tidy iron and long game but feel the short game is not critical enough even when I was playing regular.

 

[Spear-Chucker]

Address any fundamental weaknesses in your game and then get good as using your skills to get round the course intelligently. It’s about having a good game plan and being able to work it and not just blithely hitting shots. A sterling short game will then get you close to, or into, cat 1.

 

[Tommo21]

Short game and putting. I had 29 putts today which helped my score immensely.

Is the correct answer.

 

[Crow]

For me it was s case of keeping it in play more, 3 putting less often and getting up & down more often

Bang on the money for me.

 

[chrisd]

I've gone between 10 and 13 handicap for a few years now and i know I can't significantly improve my long and medium game and it will be what most have said, short game and putting improvements to achieve a single figure handicap.