Operation Break 90 by the Summer

P_1

Regular reader, infrequent poster.

Seeing as these threads have become somewhat popular I figured it would be a good idea to start one of my own. I've played golf on and off for the best part of 10 years at this stage but I always seem to shoot in and around 95-110 shots a round. I'm aiming to be able to consistently shoot a round in less than 90 shots by the end of the summer.

My equipment is somewhat dated at the moment in parts. Currently I have
Driver: Dunlop 10.5 degree driver that I picked up in Sports Direct
3 Wood: Starter kit Ram that I picked up in 2004
Hybrid: Starter kit Ram that I picked up in 2004
Irons 4-SW: Starter kit Ram that I picked up in 2004
Wedge: Dunlop 64 degree wedge that I picked up in Sports Direct
Putter: TaylorMade Ghost Spider

My long game is pretty poor, generally my drives either do a good distance to the right, short and to the left or short and up the middle. A good drive usually goes about 180 yards. I can't seem to hit a 3 wood off the deck at all but my shots with the hybrid are usually 90% straight and about 150 yards.

My short game is pretty decent depending on the club I use. From 6 iron down I usually strike the ball pretty cleanly and the ball goes roughly where I want it to go. Depending on the lie the 64 degree wedge is a beauty of a club from 45 yards in. Since I bought the new putter I am rarely finding myself 3 putting.

So in a nutshell, once I get to within 50 yards of the pin, the ball is usually in the cup in 3 shots or less, the problem is that it can take me about 3-5 shots to get into that position from the tee, which is ultimately costing me a good score.

Anyway, if you don't want to read this then don't. If you do and would like to offer me any tips to get the overall score down then please do.

Rikand

Best of luck

BigChap1759

Can't wait to read your updates

saintastic

The first thing I would recommend is to get a new driver as the technology has moved on a lot. The balls go so much straighter and a bit of extra distance.

I would go into one of the golf shops, tell them you're looking at a driver, get them to tell you what kind of shaft you should get and note this down. (the retailers mightn't like me saying this!)

Then have a look out for something like a second hand R11 or some other driver that you like with the same flex of shaft. There are a couple on adverts for between 100 - 150 (http://www.adverts.ie/golf/taylor-made/2491045 & http://www.adverts.ie/golf/taylormade-r11s-for-sale/2735861). You may get it cheaper but I just had a brief look.

And then for everything over 150 yards, hit your hybrid, it sounds like you hit it well consistently.

If your short game is as good as you say, your scores should come down a good bit.

P_1

saintastic wrote: »

The first thing I would recommend is to get a new driver as the technology has moved on a lot. The balls go so much straighter and a bit of extra distance.

I would go into one of the golf shops, tell them you're looking at a driver, get them to tell you what kind of shaft you should get and note this down. (the retailers mightn't like me saying this!)

Then have a look out for something like a second hand R11 or some other driver that you like with the same flex of shaft. There are a couple on adverts for between 100 - 150 (http://www.adverts.ie/golf/taylor-made/2491045 & http://www.adverts.ie/golf/taylormade-r11s-for-sale/2735861). You may get it cheaper but I just had a brief look.

And then for everything over 150 yards, hit your hybrid, it sounds like you hit it well consistently.

If your short game is as good as you say, your scores should come down a good bit.

Ironically I only replaced the driver last year, admittedly I only paid something silly like 7 pounds for it though.

I'm caught in two minds over what to replace first, the Driver or the Irons.

DeanAustin

Yeah would have thought with your short game that you'll break 90 easily.

I wouldn't be the longest off the tee, I'm not the best iron player, I have a pretty good short game but sometimes take 4 with a wedge in my hand (Grrrrrrrr) but I break 90 the vast majority of the time.

You'll do it no problem and I look forward to reading about it.

PARlance

Where's your home course OP? Or course you play most regularly?

P_1

DeanAustin wrote: »

Yeah would have thought with your short game that you'll break 90 easily.

I wouldn't be the longest off the tee, I'm not the best iron player, I have a pretty good short game but sometimes take 4 with a wedge in my hand (Grrrrrrrr) but I break 90 the vast majority of the time.

You'll do it no problem and I look forward to reading about it.

I think its a mental thing, there's always this one hole where I'd lose the head and do something daft and come out with a 10 or something.

ajcurry123 wrote: »

Where's your home course OP? Or course you play most regularly?

Probable either Balbriggan or St Mags. I'd use the 9 hole in Julianstown as a kind of practice range course too

DeanAustin

P_1 wrote: »

I think its a mental thing, there's always this one hole where I'd lose the head and do something daft and come out with a 10 or something.

I feel your pain. It's easy to say, you probably know this and other people would articulate it much better than me but if you get into trouble, take your medicine and don't try to save par from a position where, if you try, 5% of the time you might make par and 95% of the time you make a double or worse. Take the bogey and move on (even if you get a double or even a treble, it won't wreck your card like a 9 or 10).

Guarantee you you'll break 90 and hopefully you'll be looking to break 80 or 85 by the end of the year.

P_1

DeanAustin wrote: »

I feel your pain. It's easy to say, you probably know this and other people would articulate it much better than me but if you get into trouble, take your medicine and don't try to save par from a position where, if you try, 5% of the time you might make par and 95% of the time you make a double or worse. Take the bogey and move on (even if you get a double or even a treble, it won't wreck your card like a 9 or 10).

Guarantee you you'll break 90 and hopefully you'll be looking to break 80 or 85 by the end of the year.

I know, in saying that I have shaved a few shots by not doing silly things as of late (particularly around the green)

mike12

Hi,
Start with the Driver i would go for a Taylormade R9 460 10.5 degree with a regular shaft if you can find one.
I play off 11 and if i was down in 3 from inside 45 yards would be off 6/7.
If you cant hit the 3 wood off the deck get a lower lofted Hybrid to give yourself a bit more distance.
Irons will not make a huge difference as long as your are of average height they should be ok.

spacecoyote

to be honest, my advice is stop worrying about the clubs & invest in a couple of lessons first.

There is plenty of value out there to pick up a set of 5 lessons or something like that.

Get the technique sorted first, then start thinking about the clubs. Buying a set now they'll be based on how you currently play & swing. That won't necessarily suit you if you make some changes to your technique.

If you just want to hit a sub 90 round quickly I'd say, drop the driver & 3wood from the bag. On most par 5, 3 150 hybrids will have you in striking range, as would 2 hits on most average par 4s.

To break 90 what you want is 17 bogeys, 1 par, so stop playing par golf

P_1

spacecoyote wrote: »

to be honest, my advice is stop worrying about the clubs & invest in a couple of lessons first.

There is plenty of value out there to pick up a set of 5 lessons or something like that.

Get the technique sorted first, then start thinking about the clubs. Buying a set now they'll be based on how you currently play & swing. That won't necessarily suit you if you make some changes to your technique.

If you just want to hit a sub 90 round quickly I'd say, drop the driver & 3wood from the bag. On most par 5, 3 150 hybrids will have you in striking range, as would 2 hits on most average par 4s.

To break 90 what you want is 17 bogeys, 1 par, so stop playing par golf

That's an interesting point. Usually when I play I aim to get to within 50 yards in the standard GIR (so in 2 shots on a par 4 and 3 on a par 5).

An average round for me is one or 2 pars, 1 shocker of a hole (above 8) and the rest being bogeys or double bogies.

Danny dyers double

Interesting thread . Mainly because you sound the exact same as myself . Best of luck with it and keep the updates coming .

3putt

Only broke it once and it was a great feeling. Looking forward to hearing how you get on. Hoping to break it again at the next boards outing in Thurles.

P_1

Haven't gone out for a round yet but a few sessions at the range seem to have done something to correct my woes with the bigger clubs.

Weather permitting next week I can hopefully see if this range work has had any impact on the scoring.

redzerdrog

best of luck with this you remind me of myself a few years back, the advice I will give you is to gradually improve your clubs at each chance until you have a reasonable set as I found it made a big difference to me.

For the likes of driver, 3 wood etc id look into MD they are very reasonably priced compared to the bigger names and are very good imo

P_1

redzerdrog wrote: »

best of luck with this you remind me of myself a few years back, the advice I will give you is to gradually improve your clubs at each chance until you have a reasonable set as I found it made a big difference to me.

For the likes of driver, 3 wood etc id look into MD they are very reasonably priced compared to the bigger names and are very good imo

Thanks. I've started doing strange things with the preswing ritual. I've stopped taking practice swings, line the clubhead behind the ball and then set my feet. Then I'm doing a baseball like wiggle with the club and started to bend my legs when swinging while keeping my right arm as close to rigid as possible.

Net result is that the ball is going further and straighter.

Gmpd

Best of luck with your goal OP I hope to join your in achieving your goal as mine is the very same.. Look forward to reading about your success..

GreeBo

P_1 wrote: »

Thanks. I've started doing strange things with the preswing ritual. I've stopped taking practice swings, line the clubhead behind the ball and then set my feet. Then I'm doing a baseball like wiggle with the club and started to bend my legs when swinging while keeping my right arm as close to rigid as possible.

Net result is that the ball is going further and straighter.

I assume you are a lefty if you are keeping your right arm "rigid"?
Also I would keep it straight, but not rigid...tense anything leads to bad, weak shots.

Bend them more at setup or bend them during your swing?:eek:

Also, I hope you arent thinking about all that anywhere but between shots on the range...

P_1

GreeBo wrote: »

I assume you are a lefty if you are keeping your right arm "rigid"?
Also I would keep it straight, but not rigid...tense anything leads to bad, weak shots.

Bend them more at setup or bend them during your swing?:eek:

Also, I hope you arent thinking about all that anywhere but between shots on the range...

During setup, I can only imagine what would happen if I did it during the swing

Rigid might have been a poor choice of words, more keeping it straight during the backswing, I'm a leftie but I play right handed if that makes any sense

GreeBo

P_1 wrote: »

During setup, I can only imagine what would happen if I did it during the swing

Rigid might have been a poor choice of words, more keeping it straight during the backswing, I'm a leftie but I play right handed if that makes any sense

Even during setup is bad while you are actually on the course really...those sorts of thoughts are too technical imo...


if you are playing right handed then you should be attempting to keep your left arm straight...not your right

Your right arm bends to allow you to turn...otherwise you will just have two straight arms and be pointing the club up to the sky?
Even Steve "Mr rigid" Stricker bends his right arm!

levitronix

you could have a 180' arc putting stroke ..... Boom !:eek:

Keano

Yes having good posture and fundamentals will help massively but how is your course management? You say you struggle off the tee so if you do then maybe start using a club that lets you keep the ball in play.

I believe we can get way too hung up on swing mechanics, I know I do/did and you just tie yourself in a knot. Simple game!!

P_1

Keano A Legend wrote: »

Yes having good posture and fundamentals will help massively but how is your course management? You say you struggle off the tee so if you do then maybe start using a club that lets you keep the ball in play.

I believe we can get way too hung up on swing mechanics, I know I do/did and you just tie yourself in a knot. Simple game!!

Course management basically consists of a- trying to get the ball to within 50 yards and b- getting the ball into the cup.

Meant to get out to see if the new approach to swinging made any difference but several gallons of water falling from the sky put paid to that idea.

Topper Harley

GreeBo wrote: »

if you are playing right handed then you should be attempting to keep your left arm straight...not your right

Your right arm bends to allow you to turn...otherwise you will just have two straight arms and be pointing the club up to the sky?
Even Steve "Mr rigid" Stricker bends his right arm!

Trying to keep a straight right arm during the backswing (playing right handed) is not such a bad thing, especially with longer clubs. It will promote a wide arc and a full shoulder turn and despite your efforts to keep it straight, it will bend. But it's a though process which I believe can help.

But I say again this is just during the backswing and more specifically, the early part of the backswing. Once the club is swung past parallel to the ground you won't be able to keep it straight any longer.

PARlance

Sorry OP, have been meaning to reply for the last while but it was causing me too much mental turmoil

I have a mate who plays fairly infrequently but is very similar to you in the sense that short game is relatively very good compared to his long game.
Same mate keeps a straight right arm for all shots, it does bend a tiny bit in the back swing but it is far straighter then it should be.
If you are in any way like him, and the lack of distance with the big clubs would suggest you might, then I'd say it's worth looking at changing this, because it completely cripples my mate.

If you're serious about breaking 90 then I would recommend that you commit to lessons, I'd advocate committing to a series of 3 of 4 of them over the next 4 months, with plenty of good practice in between each lesson.
I'd nearly forget about breaking 90 until these are over, by July or so, you should be in a good position to hitting your goal if (You make) the lessons work.

*You make the lessons work.... this is very important in my experience, it's not about the Pro solving your problem, it's about you solving it with the help of a Pro. In my experience, and it's first hand as I did it too, a lot of people go for a single lesson and spend way too little time trying to work on it afterwards for it to really work...

You should see a dramatic improvement in your long game and if the short game improves in any way then 90 will be achievable. You might have to change the title of the thread to "by the end of Summer" but it'll be worth it.

I've was in a similar position to you about 18 months ago, shooting 100-110, indeed I even started a similar "Breaking 90" thread on here at that time.
I've come on somewhat since then, but I can still count the number of sub 90 rounds on two hands (and I'm only using one digit on the second...with a lot of the rounds coming on Par 70 & 71's... so slightly cheating but you will too )
It may seem like a relatively easy target when you look at it, 100 down to 90 seems ok, cut out a few common errors, make slight improvements here and there and it should all work out...Right???....Wrong
It will take a lot of work and you need to be prepared for it.
But by god, when you do achieve it, you will be a happy camper.

To put in into perspective, if your range is 95-110 at present and we take 103 as your average and you want to be getting down to an average of 90 (breaking 90 every second round lets say) then that's a 13 shot improvement.

Take a 14 Handicapper on a Par 72 course, if they shoot 90 then they would more than likely be in the buffer zone of their handicap....
When you look at it like that, it puts the task into perspective, your probably at somewhere in the range of a 20-24 HC at present, to get to breaking 90 regularly you require a big drop.
An higher handicapper, 18,19,20.... can and will break 90, but it won't be that often, and if it becomes regular then they will be receiving a nice cut to same HC.
I don't say this to discourage you and I hope it doesn't, because I know that you need all the encouragement going to help you achieve this, but I just want to prepare you for the task at hand!
It's a BIG one from where you are at present.

My final advice would be, change the title to "end of summer", really work hard on fixing some swing issues over the next 3-4 months and finally... I don't need to say this as you'll do it automatically... don't expect to break 90 regularly this year, if it happens 2 or 3 times you'll be a very happy camper!


Alternatively...if you're putting in the odd round of 95 now then get yourself to a Par 69 course and have a good day....

Best of luck with it!

PARlance

Forgot to mention, I'm also a leftie that plays right handed.
Watch out for that left hand!!!

I still struggle with it, am trying to quieten it down as it was doing way too much during my swing, am getting there at this stage but it has taken a while.

I've battled with a slice for some time now, a "strong" left hand was pulling the club on the down swing causing an out to in path.....(that almost sounds like I know what I'm talking about )

FixdePitchmark

Great post aj,

I think you can break 90, 80, 70. With no lessons and enough time. But who has that sort of time.

If you are hitting a drive 180, there is a fundemental error in your swing. I think you would benefit most from a lesson. You need to then work on changes for a few weeks on range. After lessons I had , I could hardly hit the ball. Ideally I would have liked video or audio of lesson. But just went home and wrote down everything from the lesson. I would read this before my day at driving range. I found it hard to take everything in at lesson time (a bit slow). Whilest i think distance is not key , it sounds like you are never going to have a gir on a par 4. Hard work that. But besides distance if something is so wrong , it will cost more shots due to direction.

You say your short game is good. How often do you hit a fat chip with that 64deg. The lads on here are great at short game stats. Sorry i may have missed in thread, but how do your know short game is good ? If so you have a big advantage in meeting your goal.

This is a good thread, because it is unusual to start with a good short game, it means your scoring potential is very low.

GreeBo

ajcurry123 wrote: »

Forgot to mention, I'm also a leftie that plays right handed.
Watch out for that left hand!!!

I still struggle with it, am trying to quieten it down as it was doing way too much during my swing, am getting there at this stage but it has taken a while.

I've battled with a slice for some time now, a "strong" left hand was pulling the club on the down swing causing an out to in path.....(that almost sounds like I know what I'm talking about )

Isn't it supposed to be the left hand thats dominant in the swing (for a RH swing) though?
I think you *should* be pulling down with the left hand...maybe hanging onto the grip too tightly was preventing you from releasing and making you slice due to the open face?

PARlance

GreeBo wrote: »

Isn't it supposed to be the left hand thats dominant in the swing (for a RH swing) though?
I think you *should* be pulling down with the left hand...maybe hanging onto the grip too tightly was preventing you from releasing and making you slice due to the open face?

Hanging onto the grip too tightly & not releasing was indeed/and still is an issue but it's getting better... but I think there getting better as a result of stopping this "pulling"

When I say "pull" down, it was an aggressive pull, way too aggressive, a la starting an old school lawnmower....left shoulder jerking back and my shoulders going way off line as a result.
It was also forcing me to open my body up too much and too early.

I suppose pulling down is OK if your shoulders stay aligned during the downswing and before impact. If 12 o clock was where my shoulder should have been, my left shoulder was at about 10 o clock at impact.

I have been able to loosen the grip and have started to find myself releasing a lot better now that this "pull"/"jerk" has been softened.
I've been trying to go the other extreme as a way to get out of this, and at present I'm looking for my left arm to almost drop with the aid of gravity.

Don't know if any of that makes sense, but I've seen a great improvement (from a bad place) over the last 4-5 months.