Working on handicap.

elmossman

I am playing a little over a year now and was just wondering what handicap people were at after the same length of time. I have recently joined a local club and have received an official handicap of 19.6.

The club I have joined is Greenore Golf Club in Louth, which is regarded locally as a "hard course". It is not a links course, although the first 12 holes are "linksy" and right against the coast. With the back 6 being more like a parkland course.

With the Group of friends I play with we mostly play stableford golf. I usually average around 30 points, with 37 being my personal best. We rarely play stroke play and my best in this was a 98 (par is 71). The thing I am struggling with most is being consistent over the 18 holes, I often shoot 18-19 points on the front and 10-12 even less on the back (and vice versa).

I am pretty good at driving the ball and off the tee in general. I drive 250 average and often a good bit further when I "hammer" one. I am a decent putter also (well I think I am). The thing I struggle with most is my second shot, especially on longer holes i.e Hitting 4 iron off the fairway. I have a hybrid and can hit it a long way but most often end up 20 yards left or right. I can hit my 4 iron well off the tee, its my club of choice on the first hole (204 yard par 3) and usually be pretty accurate for distance and accuracy.

Anyway I am a bit of a late starter (24), and just wondering what others think of my improvements, and what I can realistically expect within the next year, would a 12 handicap be too big a target? I play 3 times a week at the moment, and will probably play twice a week during the winter (weather permitting). I usually go to the range 1-2 a week.

Any thoughts/advice greatly appreciated!

Benny Cake

With the kind of commitment outlined in your post a handicap of between 12 & 15 could be achieved in 12 months. It wont be easy but it is possible.....
If you're putting in that type of time on the course/range over the winter it would be advisable to get a few lessons. It will make your practice more structured and should help you reach your goals....

elmossman

Cheers Benny. I have had two previous lessons and was planning on a few more over the winter. I know the lower you go the harder the HC points are to shave off. I would be delighted if I could get between 12-15 in the next 12 months!

Someday

I started inMarch and you are a head of me, it takes time and course mgt will come in to play ! Also lessons is very important IMO !

Keano

24 is young so plenty of time. Work on you short game, obviously will be hard over the winter but with being able to drive the ball as far as you can and if your short game gets better you'll see your handicap drop quickly.

whizbang

try hitting that 4 iron off the deck on the first hole (204 yard par 3), to get practice.
Something its taken me years to learn :(still havent!) -
Find your biggest distance away, that you can still hit a green confortably. Say 120. so;
550 Par 5, 250 drive, less 120, leaves max 180 for your second shot. Easy 4 Iron. 2 putts gets par.
that will get you down to 15 without any work at all.

GreeBo

whizbang wrote: »

try hitting that 4 iron off the deck on the first hole (204 yard par 3), to get practice.
Something its taken me years to learn :(still havent!) -
Find your biggest distance away, that you can still hit a green confortably. Say 120. so;
550 Par 5, 250 drive, less 120, leaves max 180 for your second shot. Easy 4 Iron. 2 putts gets par.
that will get you down to 15 without any work at all.

Tbf I think expecting someone who has just started to be hitting 250 yard drives onto fairways, then 4 irons off the deck 180 yards is really asking a lot.
The OP says he averages 250, but I would question if its accurate. Most people, myself included, over-estimate how well we drive the ball.
OP keep track of your stats for a few rounds and you will soon see where you are dropping shots.

I'd advise playing bogey golf until you can play to 18. Then start picking the easier holes and see what you would need to do to par them. (There are probably already a bunch of holes where its hard to play short of them, these are likely the ones that you can think about parring. Note that this doesnt mean you need to always hit a driver off the tee. If they are short par 4s then like a 4 iron, rescue and then an 8 iron or something will get you there. Index 1-10 you should not even consider trying to par. Play them for a bogey. If you mess up a shot, play for a double. Dont try to rescue a bad hole by going for something that is not within your ability.

If you *really* want to get lower and are going to put in the time/effort then work on your game from 100yards and in. You might not notice much changing in your "ability" but your score will tumble. No one hits 18 GIR, so working on 4irons etc, imo, is missing the point.
Off that handicap you are probably already hitting 75% of your shots from within 100yards.

Keep it up, you have loads of time and are starting from a great base.

FixdePitchmark

GreeBo wrote: »

Tbf I think expecting someone who has just started to be hitting 250 yard drives onto fairways, then 4 irons off the deck 180 yards is really asking a lot.
The OP says he averages 250, but I would question if its accurate. Most people, myself included, over-estimate how well we drive the ball.
OP keep track of your stats for a few rounds and you will soon see where you are dropping shots.

I'd advise playing bogey golf until you can play to 18. Then start picking the easier holes and see what you would need to do to par them. (There are probably already a bunch of holes where its hard to play short of them, these are likely the ones that you can think about parring. Note that this doesnt mean you need to always hit a driver off the tee. If they are short par 4s then like a 4 iron, rescue and then an 8 iron or something will get you there. Index 1-10 you should not even consider trying to par. Play them for a bogey. If you mess up a shot, play for a double. Dont try to rescue a bad hole by going for something that is not within your ability.

If you *really* want to get lower and are going to put in the time/effort then work on your game from 100yards and in. You might not notice much changing in your "ability" but your score will tumble. No one hits 18 GIR, so working on 4irons etc, imo, is missing the point.
Off that handicap you are probably already hitting 75% of your shots from within 100yards.

Keep it up, you have loads of time and are starting from a great base.

Great stuff from GreeBo there.

I went through a few months were the long irons went poor. I just started to hit a 6 iron or the club I know I will hit well from that 4 iron location.

I can't believe that I did that sort of stuff (hitting the safe shot), but it works. I still think it is a bit boring sometimes, but if I do that it is very hard to go over 85 strokes these days. Spend 2 to 3 hours a week (more if you can) on the short game. I started this a month ago and it is amazing how you improve. Hard to notice but that 10 ft put is now a 6 ft putt due to improvments. You make, way more, up and downs and you hole a few.

There is a good few par 5s I could reach in 2, but i don't even try these days. For you - take that extra shot on the par 5, improve the short games and the pars will come. If you keep hitting a mid iron well, it starts to go further and further, then you can drop to a 5 iron when you are playing well.

It is hard to do, I was use to going for everything all the time. One good day 4 bad. Now 4 good one bad.

But after all that, there is nothing like hitting a true low iron. But not part of my game now.

belcampprisoner

Your handicap is your golf clubs


All the pro golf ears now go to gym and do weights

http://weighttraining.about.com/od/weighttrainingforsport/a/golf.htm

elmossman

Cheers for the advice. As for my driving accuracy, its not bad. Not consistent though, sometimes I cannot miss a fairway and sometimes I cannot hit one. As for making pars -I have parred the majority of the holes on the course including index 1. Its the run of blow-up holes that is my problem I feel. Sometimes I go 4 holes without scoring, then I could make par/bogey/bogey right after it.

alxmorgan

Gotta agree with the put away the 4 iron sentiment
Am off 14 now and don't carry a 4 iron as its just not easy to hit
Used to hit the 4 iron a lot when off 19 and unable to play to it
Don't even carry it now when off 14.

Hit the easier shots when I'm now supposedly a better player
Greebo has a thread through his posts on course management
Listen to him if you want to get your handicap down
You can pratice your 4 iron if you want but 100 yards and in is what saves shots not a 4 iron into a green

Took me a long time to learn that and still having to learn it every time I play

ManwitaPlan

Pretty much in same boat as op so not giving advice just an observation to add what others have said.

I was thinking about this the other day and I asked myself the question "when I am 100 yards from the hole what usually happens?"

For me I usually hit a SW or PW that lands just off the green. I then chip on and two putt.

This happens to me about 6 - 10 times a round.

Now I was thinking...suppose I could get my SW /PW shots a little more accurate and instead of landing them just off the green I would land them on the green and two putt...Right away thats a shot less.

Would not take much...just a few feet....or maybe I could practice my chipping and instead of chipping on and two putting I could get up and down also saving me a stroke....Would not take a huge amount of work imo but again would save that shot.

So I was basically thinking if I can work hard on my pitching and chipping I can shave an average of 6 - 10 strokers off my game!!!

That is massive....its funny because people would give their right nut to add 20 yards to their drive and hit a few more fairways but what does that translate to...an easier second shot sure but is it really going to save you 6 - 10 shots a round?

Now if you're routinely three putting thats also a very easy place to drop strokes and have a big impact on your score.

Short game is going to be a major focus for me over winter.

FixdePitchmark

ManwitaPlan wrote: »

Pretty much in same boat as op so not giving advice just an observation to add what others have said.

I was thinking about this the other day and I asked myself the question "when I am 100 yards from the hole what usually happens?"

For me I usually hit a SW or PW that lands just off the green. I then chip on and two putt.

This happens to me about 6 - 10 times a round.

Now I was thinking...suppose I could get my SW /PW shots a little more accurate and instead of landing them just off the green I would land them on the green and two putt...Right away thats a shot less.

Would not take much...just a few feet....or maybe I could practice my chipping and instead of chipping on and two putting I could get up and down also saving me a stroke....Would not take a huge amount of work imo but again would save that shot.

So I was basically thinking if I can work hard on my pitching and chipping I can shave an average of 6 - 10 strokers off my game!!!

That is massive....its funny because people would give their right nut to add 20 yards to their drive and hit a few more fairways but what does that translate to...an easier second shot sure but is it really going to save you 6 - 10 shots a round?

Now if you're routinely three putting thats also a very easy place to drop strokes and have a big impact on your score.

Short game is going to be a major focus for me over winter.

I'm a month ahead of you there - it works, get a lession first is my tip.

Don't know if the winter is a great time to practice short game , but will see , I pick my the days at the moment.

Understanding the body moving is the key, it is hard to get without a pro. But it just clicks one day. Great.

Some of GMac stuff is class too, see can you find him online or magazines.

GreeBo

ManwitaPlan indeed has a plan, and its an excellent one!
One comment I would make is that its far easier to turn the chip and two putts into a chip and one putt, or even just a chip!

The fuller the swing the harder it is.

@FixdePitchmark: I know what you mean when you say it can be boring....but I happen to like boring pars
I prefer them over exciting doubles anyway
As your handicap gets lower and lower there are more and more holes that you need to par, let these be the exciting ones. Sure there will be times when you just go for the par 5 in two, but the reality for our level is that over time, this is not the smart play.

@elmossman:
Dont take this the wrong way, but I think you need to re-adjust your thinking totally.:)
You have parred every hole so now you think that you should be trying to par them all. What you are not realising yet is that trying to par holes that are too difficult for you is whats causing the blow ups. I can guarantee you a blow-up free round if the longest club you ever hit is a 5 iron. In fact you would probably play to 18 if you did this. ( I recommend everyone tries this, I have and its amazing the number of pars you will still get) If you think that sounds boring then ask yourself why you keep score when you play. If you play to shoot the lowest score then you nee dbetter course management. If you play for excitement then surely there is no need to keep a score?

Again, reality check time. You play to ~25 at the moment, your best round you played to 18/19.
Using the above ideas you can make your average rounds 18/19 and the days when you are playing well 12/13 without getting that much better at hitting the ball. (Note I said hitting the ball and not playing golf. Most people equate these two. The Driving range is about hitting the ball, your score is playing golf)

75% of your shots happen with 100yards, over 50% of them within 25 yards yet you are trying to lower your score by trying to eradicate these shots (i.e. hit greens from 180 with your 4 iron) instead of just getting better at these short game shots.
No matter how good you get you are going to miss fairways and miss greens. Everyone does. Look at the pro stats, the hit maybe 60% of greens. You probably hit 30%. If you work on your long game and increase that to 60% you might take 5 shots off your round. However for the remaining greens that you miss you are still going to take 3+ shots to get down.

spacecoyote

Speaking of gmac,I went to a Karl morris session in the spa well range (gmac works with him). He was mentioning a few short game games you can play to improve your touch in the scoring zone:

Par 18 - drop a ball in 9 different positions around a green,play each one out & tot up your total. Make a note of this and keep a record. His advice was to only play the game once a day,as this puts pressure on you to perform. Your aim is a score of 18. If u keep doing this you should hopefully see an improvement in your touch around the green.

Just 9 - you get 9 putts only, 3 short, 3 medium, 3 long, all from different spots. Hole out each ball and total it. Aim is for around 15. Again, you only get 1 attempt per day, to add some pressure to make u feel like u should on the course. Again keep a record of your scores to map progression.

6 down - pick a target,say a small green shape 60 yrds away, for example. You get 6 shots at it & have to hit your target range with 2/6. If u make it then you aim for the same target, but you have to get 2/5,then 2/4,etc..... again the aim is to put pressure on each shot to make your practice feel like it should feel on the course. If u don't hit your 2 shots in each round, you don't get to restart, you have pick a different target & start again from there.

Some of them might be a benefit to someone?

FixdePitchmark

This is the one -

takes practice - but real easy when you get it and very hard to hit it fat or thin.

http://fr-fr.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=10150661349281809

elmossman

Cheers for the advice. I think I will concentrate on my Short game now! As already mentioned, not sure the winter will help, although I will definitely be playing threw the winter.

GreeBo

elmossman wrote: »

Cheers for the advice. I think I will concentrate on my Short game now! As already mentioned, not sure the winter will help, although I will definitely be playing threw the winter.

No worries.
Also, you can always work on your short game. You can still work on trying to land the ball on a certain spot, or you can just accept that you will have to adjust for more roll come summer; no different than playing faster/slower greens. You can actually be nice an aggressive with your shortgame this time of year, greens are soft and more receptive, fire at more pins (within your greenlight range!)

Alrite Chief

FixdePitchmark wrote: »

This is the one -

takes practice - but real easy when you get it and very hard to hit it fat or thin.

http://fr-fr.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=10150661349281809

Excellent video. A lot of people will misunderstand this type of shot and use the more lofted club closer in. Great demo and such an easy option in that situation.