golfs tips needed

carplates

handicap 16.1 palying 2/3 a week, drive the ball avg 250+ yards, putting is the best part of my game, i just knock down the odd shot or 2, whats the best advice anyone has recieved that they could pass on to me, would love to knock a few shots off before the winter, last 5 rounds, 28, 32, 30, 36, 37 points.

GreeBo

carplates wrote: »

handicap 16.1 palying 2/3 a week, drive the ball avg 250+ yards, putting is the best part of my game, i just knock down the odd shot or 2, whats the best advice anyone has recieved that they could pass on to me, would love to knock a few shots off before the winter, last 5 rounds, 28, 32, 30, 36, 37 points.

Go and play a round where you try play to 16 and dont try to play to 6.
Pars and Birdies will come from good golf, not from trying to hit a 3 wood off the deck to save par. You have 16 shots, use them to get out of trouble. Take your 1 putt par chances on index 1-10, dont try to par these holes by hitting clubs that can and will put you in trouble more than 50% of the time.

Dont go from greens over water if you are hitting more than a 6 iron. (unless its a par 3 and you have no choice, in that case ensure that you are long of the water, even if you hit it 80%)

Finally, if you are in trouble get straight out of it, be that sideways, backwards etc.
If you have to hit 2 rescue shots in a row chances are you made a mental error on the first one. Nothing shows up a high handicapper more than thrashing away in the trees looking for that miracle shot.

sweetswing

best advice i have ever seen on this board, well put greebo.

Trampas

Great advice GreenBo.

To many players go for the hero shot instead of percentage.

Hit for center of green instead of flags

Johnny86

if you can keep the double bogeys off your card then all you need is 4 or 5 pars in the round...but just focus on the hole you're playing, dont be thinking of the holes ahead or the holes just played..easier said than done though

carplates

thanks guys, playing in the morning, will let you know how i go. thanks

stockdam

Johnny86 wrote: »

if you can keep the double bogeys off your card then all you need is 4 or 5 pars in the round...but just focus on the hole you're playing, dont be thinking of the holes ahead or the holes just played..easier said than done though

Easier said than done.

DBs can come from a number of problems from poor driving, 3 putting, fluffing.

It's a bit like saying that golf is just about hitting fairways, hitting the green or close to it then chipping up and single putting.......sure it's all easy.

Yes playing conservative golf can result in a reasonable score but you've got to eliminate mistakes from all areas........drives, irons, bunkers, chipping, putting to improve significantly.

If you play off 16 then you have a reasonable technique but there will be areas of your game that need to be tightened up. Overall striking needs to improve to ensure that your long game doesn't let you down. Your short game also probably needs to be improved so that when you do get into trouble you don't compound it by taking 4 shots to get down.

stockdam

GreeBo wrote: »

.......Take your 1 putt par chances on index 1-10, dont try to par these holes by hitting clubs that can and will put you in trouble more than 50% of the time.

All good tips but it's easy to do this when you are a low handicapper.

A mid to high handicapper is likely to fluff a chip onto the green and then three putt for a DB....... a low handicap player will probably get up and down in 2 to save par.

But yes I agree in staying out of trouble and looking for the safe shot. Even if you hit a booming drive up the middle on a par 5 don't automatically take out your fairway wood. Sometimes a 6 iron will keep the ball in play and leave a wedge to the green.

Every player should (imo) focus on building a very strong short game. Then all you need to do is to hit the fairway (use a rescue wood if necessary), hit a solid 2nd shot and then rely on your short game to get you a par or bogey. It is that simple but it also needs a lot of practice..........most people can't spend the time it takes.

charlieIRL

i've been practicing my short game for over an hour an evening, nearly every evening since thursday to try improve my scores. Have also been practicing using my 4 iron & rescue with a net as well. Got a mini lesson off a mate who plays off 5 there on friday and have 3 lessons with a pro to try get me back on track.
Am playing a casual round today with a mate so will see if any of it is working.

carplates

ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh i dont know played luttrellstown today and only had 28 points, this god dam game is doing my head at the moment.

madheadted

golf is the best leveller in sport, no matter how good you get the days will come when the course kicks you around, look at Mcilroy at the open, great first day, 63 terrible second day 80. It happens to both the amature and the professional. Best advice I can give is if you work your game from 150 metres/yards in you can't go to far wrong. Most courses have a marker from that distance. Get to know what you hit from that distance in, get on deck two putts and go to the next hole.

To many try to hit the ball out of its skin. Knock the ball to the 150, knock it on the green. Its a simple game if you can keep the trouble out of it.

Lastly remember enjoy it, you spend to many hours working to let something like being out hitting the ball around stress you out.

GreeBo

carplates wrote: »

ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh i dont know played luttrellstown today and only had 28 points, this god dam game is doing my head at the moment.

Give us a hole by hole account, Fairways hit, GIR, putts etc

Usually it will stand out there.

The_Kew_Tour

carplates wrote: »

handicap 16.1 palying 2/3 a week, drive the ball avg 250+ yards, putting is the best part of my game, i just knock down the odd shot or 2, whats the best advice anyone has recieved that they could pass on to me, would love to knock a few shots off before the winter, last 5 rounds, 28, 32, 30, 36, 37 points.

Work quite lot on short game and also on hitting it straight.

A little tip I would give is maybe take a bag out with only 5 clubs in it. Do this maybe once a week. This way you start to learn different types of shots and use you imagination. Sometimes dont even take out a driver or putter. This will help you trust me. Change around clubs all time when do this

LostPassword

If you're knocking down shots regularly, your swing is probably a bit complex and requires you to make too many coordinated adjustments on the downswing. Most long term benefit will be derived from a fundamental swing adjustment that makes it more planar, simpler and repeatable. But you should probably save that for the off-season and focus on putting if you want to score better in the short term.

heavyballs

carplates wrote: »

ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh i dont know played luttrellstown today and only had 28 points, this god dam game is doing my head at the moment.

that score is not too bad imo,maybe you get frustrated too quickly during a round,do you keep track of how many points you're on,bad idea if you do,
my advice,concentrate on the shot at hand,concentrate on a small target and most importantly whatever you do accept the shot you've hit wherever it goes and realize there's nothing you can do about it

if you get used to getting a good pre shot routine i you'll soon get into the zone and you won't beleive some of the scores you'll shoot

i have often played Junior cup matches and realized after the game i've shot a couple under,why can't i do that in singles? because in singles it's harder to think of 1 shot at a time,

colmsix

hi all of the above is good advice.
also try setting your self a target every three holes 6 x3 =18.
add the par of each 3 holes plus two extra strokes will give you (h/cap divided 6) a rough score of what score you should have on each 3 holes. say the first 3 holes are par 4 par 4 par 5 +2= 15 . ok if you have 16 no problem or 15 even better but forget about it and head down for the next three holes and so on, also remember a stroke on a hole is there for you to make a net par not a net birdie
good luck

Trampas

My advice is take each shot on its merits.

Forget about what has happened because you can't fix it.

When taking your shot think of where you want to be.

Play to your handicap. Play percentage shots instead of hero shots.

Take your punishment

gawoo1012

madheadted wrote: »

golf is the best leveller in sport, no matter how good you get the days will come when the course kicks you around, look at Mcilroy at the open, great first day, 63 terrible second day 80. It happens to both the amature and the professional. Best advice I can give is if you work your game from 150 metres/yards in you can't go to far wrong. Most courses have a marker from that distance. Get to know what you hit from that distance in, get on deck two putts and go to the next hole.

To many try to hit the ball out of its skin. Knock the ball to the 150, knock it on the green. Its a simple game if you can keep the trouble out of it.

Lastly remember enjoy it, you spend to many hours working to let something like being out hitting the ball around stress you out.

I agree with GreeBo. I play off single figures and it always amazes me that higher handicappers don't seem to use their shots wisely and plot their way around the course. They take out long irons and rescue clubs on the long Par 4 index one instead of playing it as a par 5 by knocking it on in 3, taking 2 putts and tucking away 2/3 points. They go for the glory shot and land themselves in the knee high rough, sand or water and take 7-8. Off 16, bogey is always a good score. Throw in a few 6-10 footers and you are looking at 38 points plus on a good day.

I wouldn't condon going out to the range or the course and practicing relentlessly. It is not about simply practising, it is about practicing the right things. A few lessons will get you an understanding of swing plane, solidify the fundamentals of grip, posture etc. and you will be able to self correct & undersatnd the cause of your poorer shots. I
would agree with loads of practice in terms of chipping and putting as that is where the game is won & lost. I was stuck on 11 for 2 years and was getting seriously frustrated. However, I took a series of lessons and rebuilt my swing. It was not fun to begin with and it took hard work and endurance but I have now found consistency and a repeatable action and I am confident that I can go lower. If you are a good putter then you would see your scores dramatically improve with lessons.