Quest to break 90!

I've been playing for about 8-10 years on and off. Never really took lessons and had a best ever score of 96 previously. This year I decided to make a real effort and take up lessons. Even after 4 lessons so far my ball striking has significantly improved. I also now understand better how to chip and hit bunker shots. I got another lesson on wednesday to correct some certain parts of my swing and playing a round on Friday. I am destined to break 90 this time. Also been working on my putting as well to bring the scores down. I shot a 45 on a 9-hole where I had multiple 3 and 4 putts (terrible). I am hoping to put all the training together and break into the 80s.

Any tips mentally or just go out there and play my new and improved game and tally the score at the end??? I may keep the 4/5 iron in the bag unless I am confident I can make solid contact with it. I will just try to use my 6 or 7 and then hit it short and then chip it up.

Here's to hoping!

Keep doing what you're doing. And spend some time on the putting green. That's the easiest place to improve your score.

If you're scoring well, for the love of God, do not be tempted to add up your score with a couple of holes left!

Did that on my quest to break 80. Didn't end well.

Best of luck OP! Taking lessons will definitely get you in the 80's sooner and also working on the short game (any shot inside 100 yards). My friends who struggle to break 90 or 100 don't have many tools inside 100 yards. Learning different techniques and shots will help you get it around a lot easier when other parts of your game are off. Another piece of advice is to think about playing more hybrids at the top of your bag as I see you mentioned using 4/5 irons. I start at a 5 hybrid and it has done wonders for my consistency. Keeping the ball in the short grass provides much fewer challenges when trying to crack 90.

I agree with not keeping track. It always backfires. It is not as if, knowing you only need to bogey out the last 3 holes to break 90, you will summon all the extra focus and talent that you didn't use in the first 15 holes. :) Just play.

BTW I have no doubt it will happen for you, given what you are doing.

I will add, don't hit ANY club that you don't have a good amount of confidence of not screwing up the hole. So yeah, if you are bad with a 4/5 iron, for the love of God, don't hit them! Same goes for driver or any club. You can break 90 by just not screwing up so often. Distance doesn't play into it at that level. You are not expected to hit many greens to shoot 89. So don't be trying those hero shots. If you don't have a green light special, use a club you feel better about and try to leave yourself somewhere close to the green in a good location.

The same thing applies off the tee. There are par holes and there are those where your odds of par are poor no matter how well you drive it. So make sure to hit something off the tee that is appropriate to the risk/reward of the hole for you.

Really, breaking 90 is all about thinking better, deciding to do what you CAN instead of trying to do things you probably CAN'T. As Hank Haney says, don't hit the ball OB, and if you are off the green, just get on it, don't try to get cute.

Just remember, on a par 72 layout, all you need is one par to break 90.

Good luck man! Sounds like your PB is about to be smashed to smithereens.

I have to ask though because I see it all the time, how can you play a round and not know where you are score wise? I play solo quite a bit and since I can't score those rounds anymore I never write down my score. That said I can tell you exactly and precisely where I sit on the round at every shot. Even when I play in a group I almost never write it down. Whoever is recording it will ask me after each hole what I had but even on an off day with a crap score going I can always tell you what my score is, at least in relation to par. I may have to think about what the actual score is, but if you ask me at any point in any round I ever play I can tell you exactly where it is in relation to par. Kudos if you can turn that switch off but I've always known exactly what I was shooting. Might be why I've always sat on the threshold of each achievement level for an inordinate length before finally breaking it?

Avoid the penalty strokes... sometime you just need to get it back in the short grass and finish the hole.

Sounds like you are on the right track. If you have the time, practice your short game. I practice mine incessantly and you would be surprised at how many strokes you can save with a decent short game.

In addition, a golfer doesn't have to be young, or in great physical condition to develop a decent short game.

Best of luck with your quest!

Write down the score per hole but do not pay any attention to it. You'll know if you are close or not to breaking 90. For me practicing on my short game, putting and recovery shots helps me stay sub 90. Don't play the hero shot, play the sensible one and think your way round the course.

Wow, thanks for all the positive feedback! I have definitely spent half my driving range shots with my 56 and 60 degree wedges practicing 40-100yd shots. High flight, lower punchier shots, etc. I pick targets on the driving range and just go after them. Been getting better at it.

I will also try the aimpoint system sometime in the next 2-3 weeks to improve my green reading and putting.

I just want to be a solid ball striker. I finally got my true birdie this year in one of the rounds (this happened probably after my 2nd lesson). It was on a a 419yd Par 4. I hit a solid drive to the left fairway with about 150 left to the pin. Hit a real solid 7-iron shot which landed 1 ft from the hole....tapped in for a birdie.

Anyway, now that I am seeing better results in my ball striking I am hooked. And the better I will get, the more hooked I will get.

Thanks for all the support!!!

M

don't take any advice from caps 8 and higher. That includes me. LOL. J/K.

Stick to your fundamentals learned from the lessons. Avoid the double bogeys. Work on eliminating 3 putts. Avoid big numbers. Best advice. Don't give up on the round even if you have 1 or 2 bad holes. Play to the end with a positive attitude.

don't think about breaking 90, think about going as low as possible.

Avoid the penalty strokes... sometime you just need to get it back in the short grass and finish the hole.

This, and as a high capper myself, sometimes the safe play in your mind is still a hero play. That easy sidways shot is the safe play. That shot 45 degrees to the fairway which advances it but seems like a pretty big hole is the hero shot too. Don't get suckered into it.

It's not just the shot with the tiny hole towards the flag from the trees that is the hero shot.

use the eraser.

Make your decisions so that it's easily attainable to make no worse than bogie. Remember that an 89 is 17 bogies, and one par, and it's a heck of a lot easier to screw up a little less than it is to play way better. Making a better decision on the course just a few times a round could save you from making those big numbers, and that's all you really need to do!

For me the difference between 94 and mid-80s seem to be limiting the 3 putts and avoiding the doubles. I play each hole for bogey and find I hit a couple of GIR and get up/down for a par here and there. Good luck!

Short game, short game, short game!

I'm in the same exact boat, just started lessons and looking to beat my personal best of 92 (which felt like I was playing incredible btw), Best of luck!

Keep tee shot in play

Make sure chips and pitches get on the green

Practice lag putting to reduce the 3 putts.

Have fun!

Go for the center of all the greens and try to two putt everything (unless it is close). You are right there!

If you're trying to break 90, I'm guessing you're only hitting maybe 2-3 greens in regulation. Blanket advice is to figure out your own way to hit more GIR. If you're hitting 6-8 GIR and still not breaking 90, you need to practice putting. Use a trick in Geoff Magnum's putting zone to calibrate your speed for any given green. It's called the "core putt" idea. Once you learn the "core putt", never will you struggle with distance control on certain courses. The core putt teaches you how to self-correct.

keep it up, you'll break 90!!

Thank you! I am definitely aiming to 2-putt at worst, not going to try to sink every 20-25footer, but get it within 3 feet. I am sure I will judge the speed of the greens by the 2nd-3rd hole. Will go on their practice greens and try to get a feel for the speed before the round as well. It's been in the 90s here in DC without much rain so I am sure these greens will be nice and dry.

My lesson didnt happen last night, but I did go out and hit a few buckets of balls. Definitely feel alot more comfortable with my distances from the ball and was actually able to hit some decent 4 and 5 iron shots. Will see how I feel about using them during the round. Will lay up with a 6 or 7 if I have to.

If I do happen to get a few double bogeys, I will try not to let that get to me. Just means I have to Par a few holes. I will update after my round tomorrow!!

I am a double digit handicapper myself, but I just listed to this podcast from the Fried Egg with a sports psychologist. Some of the things discussed I found very interesting and will work on them myself. http://www.friedegg.co/podcasts/greg-cartin

Played a Nicklaus course....VERY challenging. I did NOT break 90 :)

The round started off positive, hit a good drive on #1, followed up with a thin 7-iron shot which landed in a greenside bunker. Hit a sand shot and 2-putted for a bogey. Then the next 2 holes were complete blowouts. Hit shanks into hazards etc. It wasn't until like the 8th hole is when I loosened up and my swing started to come back. I think i had 3 GIRs, and birdied none of them. Had 1 par total on a medium length par 3. The greens were VERY difficult.

All in all, I had some positive takebacks from that round:

- I was most happy with my sand play - I hit good bunker shots out of the greenside bunkers. Something I was never been able to do prior to lessons.

- Few really good drives, one set up a good 3rd shot into the green for a birdie chance on a difficult par 5.

- Didn't do any worse than a 3-putt.

- Decent chipping and one great save from a steep downhill lie the woods off the dirt near the green.

On the the next one!

I was in your shoes (actually still am for the most part). I scored in the low 90's a lot, and could never break 90. For a long time I'd think about averaging a 5 on each hole (18 x 5 = 90), which meant anything below a 5 on a par 3 put me in the -90 column. I'd think about (and still do once in a while) about getting on the green on a par 4 in (at worst) 3 and then two-putting at WORST. That means a findable tee shot, a decent second shot, and if the second shot isn't on the green then it should be close enough to chip it close. To break 90, here's the thing: You have to eliminate penalty shots and 3-puts. A three put isn't the worst thing in the world if you are on the fringe in 2. Also NO FAT DUFF SHOTS. A 130 yard stinger is much better than a 10 yard chile dip. Or worse, the dreaded sh*nk (I can't even say it).

That's how I've played the last few years, and my average score is 92, with the once in a while fight to keep it from getting around 100 on a bad day. I practice a lot, and that is how it's been the last few years. Then, all of the sudden, one day I added everything up and realized I shot an 83. I had to add it up like 5 times to make sure. I killed my best score! Then after that, I started breaking 90 so often it wasn't as big of a a deal. Well, it still is a big deal but you know what i mean.

I always mark down on my scorecard if my drive was R, L or C, and how many puts I made. I keep every score card I play, just to keep track of my game. I can tell you, once my drives started landing in the fairway and I made better second shots, my scores dropped into the 80's. I think if you keep track of your weaker part of your game, that will tell you what you need to work on. For me, it was my first two shots that were killing me.

I am not a great golfer (16 handicap), but I can play the course and have chances at birdies here and there. I can tell you I know what it is like to want to break that 90 barrier and it has more to do with solid contact than probably anything else. If you can keep your drives from being OB and make solid contact on your second shot, then you can get away with the occasional three put (think about averaging a 5) and you can still break 90. Maybe I am the wrong person to give this kind of advise (I mean seriously, look at my handicap), but if you are trying to break 90 - I can relate- and, I can speak from at least my experience that being a good putter and having a short game does not help if you're in the trees on the way down the fairway. You can chip and put the lights out, but if it takes you 4 shots to get there, well there it is there....

I had my first 90 round ever today. Previous best ever was 94. Did not think breaking 90 was in my goals this year, but it definitely is.

I was in your shoes (actually still am for the most part). I scored in the low 90's a lot, and could never break 90. For a long time I'd think about averaging a 5 on each hole (18 x 5 = 90), which meant anything below a 5 on a par 3 put me in the -90 column. I'd think about (and still do once in a while) about getting on the green on a par 4 in (at worst) 3 and then two-putting at WORST. That means a findable tee shot, a decent second shot, and if the second shot isn't on the green then it should be close enough to chip it close. To break 90, here's the thing: You have to eliminate penalty shots and 3-puts. A three put isn't the worst thing in the world if you are on the fringe in 2. Also NO FAT DUFF SHOTS. A 130 yard stinger is much better than a 10 yard chile dip. Or worse, the dreaded sh*nk (I can't even say it).

 

That's how I've played the last few years, and my average score is 92, with the once in a while fight to keep it from getting around 100 on a bad day. I practice a lot, and that is how it's been the last few years. Then, all of the sudden, one day I added everything up and realized I shot an 83. I had to add it up like 5 times to make sure. I killed my best score! Then after that, I started breaking 90 so often it wasn't as big of a a deal. Well, it still is a big deal but you know what i mean.

 

I always mark down on my scorecard if my drive was R, L or C, and how many puts I made. I keep every score card I play, just to keep track of my game. I can tell you, once my drives started landing in the fairway and I made better second shots, my scores dropped into the 80's. I think if you keep track of your weaker part of your game, that will tell you what you need to work on. For me, it was my first two shots that were killing me.

 

I am not a great golfer (16 handicap), but I can play the course and have chances at birdies here and there. I can tell you I know what it is like to want to break that 90 barrier and it has more to do with solid contact than probably anything else. If you can keep your drives from being OB and make solid contact on your second shot, then you can get away with the occasional three put (think about averaging a 5) and you can still break 90. Maybe I am the wrong person to give this kind of advise (I mean seriously, look at my handicap), but if you are trying to break 90 - I can relate- and, I can speak from at least my experience that being a good putter and having a short game does not help if you're in the trees on the way down the fairway. You can chip and put the lights out, but if it takes you 4 shots to get there, well there it is there....

This is great advice. I will definitely keep all that into account. I definitely agree that the first 2 shots are the most important, at least for me. Lately it's been the 2nd shot ive concentrated on. In the last round i probably hit 5/6 fairways and couldn't do much with the 2nd shot (except for 1 hole). If I got it on or close to the green on the 2nd shots, I'd usually bogey (2 putt) unless I hit it real close. I am going to try to get a round in sunday.

All great advice from everyone. To summarize...

1. lessons

2. avoid 2 chips shots

3. avoid penalties

4. avoid 3 putts.

Good Luck.