I'm one of those 50%

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This article makes me feel slightly better but again not. I am one of those, I know not true WRX fashion, who is struggling to break 100. I have been consistently taking lessons for a couple of years now and am getting better but still have too many inconsistencies to have a chance for par every hole. A few weeks ago I was playing really well on the front nine, only three holes over bogey. Which for me was really good. I had a chance for two pars which I missed because of two 3 putts. Then on the back nine everything I was doing well on the front disappeared. I ended up with a 103 and only had three holes better than bogey, all pars. Two of them were GIR. The last two weeks have been a continuation of the back nine of that round. My shots have not been consistent and I have developed a new miss. I guess it's time to go back for another lesson to figure out what I am doing wrong.

My goal is to consistently hit the ball solid. I want to develop a fairly consistent golf swing. I'm ok with my distance, I just want to eliminate the duffs and the absolutely horrible tee shots. So as long as I hit a good drive, even if it's slightly off line or not as good distance as I could get I'm happy. If I hit a solid iron shot but slightly off line or distance is off a bit I'm ok. If I hit a solid chip but misjudge the distance I'm happy. And as long as I don't three putt, unfortunately this happens way too often, I will be fine. If I give myself a chance for par each hole that is what I am striving for. If I miss it because of a missed approach or a misjudged chip I will be happy. I am also one who once I find myself in danger look for the easy way back to safety. I don't try to hit it through that tiny gap that could get me back to the green. I'm much more likely to punch out sideways and hope I can hit the green on my next shot. If not hope I chip it close and get a one putt for a bogey.

If you want to score better, I would suggest taking less club off the tee and avoiding 3 putts. Sure the horrid shots aren't fun, but we all have them.

Sounds like you are enjoying the journey, and it will only get better as you get better! At the same time, it also gets more frustrating. It's a fickle game.

Add one stroke to the Par's and think in terms of that. Par 4's become a 5. Par 3's become 4's, etc. Strategize how to get on the green stress free. So a par 4 you are thinking in terms of 5. What clubs are you comfortable with to get on the green in three shots or even four shots. Put driver away. If you know you have three shots to get there use the less club that's going to stay on the fairway. I'd suggest checking out the golf sidekicks youtube channel. He has really good advice for high handicapers.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCaeGjmOiTxekbGUDPKhoU-A/videos

I shoot in the 80's but use this strategy on par 5's. I hardly ever hit a par 5 green in 2, even the shorter one's. So I finally quit trying and learned to think in terms of getting on in three. I take a hybrid off the tee which is pretty reliable for me and doesn't get me in big trouble if I mis-hit it (funny looks from my playing partners when I pull it out but I don't care). Then my second shot is to position myself somewhere between 90 to 125 yards out. Sometimes that means using an 8 iron on my second shot when everyone else has their 3 woods out. I found I'm hitting way more par 5's in regulation with this strategy than when I used to go with the standard driver off the tee and fairway wood attempt into the green.

Also, spend the bulk of your practice time on short game. And I'd recommend learning to bump and run with your 9-iron around the green rather than using a wedge.

Agree fully with the above.

A first step maybe set yourself a target of say 26 handicap and use the stroke index to set the "par" for each hole. This would set you bogey targets for 10 holes and double bogey for the other 8. Once you are hitting around this target & below sometimes/often - set yourself a lower handicap e.g 24 & so on.

Physiologically I think this can help - so say par for a course is 72 - with your handicap the target is 98 But you mark each hole as above or below the par for the stroke index. If you running score is say 3 over your par (scored 101)come off and see where you lost those 3 shots and what you can do next time to avoid. If you finish say 2 under your par (scored 96) smile and say did well today and again look at where you may have also lost shots against the stroke index to shoot further under your par next time.

Another target to go for (as mentioned above) is to try to get to each green in regulation + 1 this then gives you a possibility of a good bogey if two puts or a par if your green shot is v good. So for par 4's your target is to hit the green in 3.

Obviously also practice short game especially where just fail to reach the green to get those up and downs.

> @Nickc said:

> Agree fully with the above.

> A first step maybe set yourself a target of say 26 handicap and use the stroke index to set the "par" for each hole. This would set you bogey targets for 10 holes and double bogey for the other 8. Once you are hitting around this target & below sometimes/often - set yourself a lower handicap e.g 24 & so on.

This is somewhat how I look at it. On that round I mentioned my original post I was happy with the front nine. I had two bad holes where duffs cost me a decent score. I missed a couple of putts that would have helped my score but in my mind a three putt isn't so much about that third putt as it is the first two. I was really happy with that nine. But then my bad shots entered the game and the back nine I had too many duffs that entered my game. I lost 5 shots due to penalty strokes. So had I just kept the ball in play I would have broke 100.

The last two rounds I have been having horrible mishits. Tee shots OB, whether driver or long iron. Duffs that go 70yds instead of 140yds. Stubbing chips and taking two shots to get on the green from 20-30yds. I worked on what I felt I was doing wrong the last time to the range and seemed to work out some of my problems. I think it's just time to schedule my next lesson.

Take this for what it's worth. I'm not scratch but usually shoot in the 70's and very occasionally break par. I think the guys telling you to hit less than driver are wrong. Just my opinion. If you can't consistently break 100, then either you aren't getting hardly any practice, or your hand eye coordination just doesn't translate to golf. Either way, I think doing the following few steps would guarantee almost anyone breaking 100, and even 90 consistently within a couple months.

1: Read some threads on here, or watch some YouTube videos, or read books or whatever it takes to find the info you need to make a proper grip and setup. This will take a couple weeks as there are multiple ways to do this but find which one feels best and go with it. Golf is way easier with a halfway decent setup.

2. Try and go to the range once a week, maybe at lunch time. When you do, pound driver. Over and over and over. You don't need to worry about angle of attack. You don't need to worry about where you are at p6. You just need to consistently not duff it. It really shouldn't take long to develop a consistent shot. If you're like 90% of golfers I see, it's going to be somewhere between a fade and a slice. Don't fight that for now. Embrace it. You'll be able to setup down the left side and count on it moving to the right.

3. For the iron game, get some of those orange nerf balls and hit in your yard every night with pitching wedge. Make this a game with your kids. Make little "courses" around the yard. You'll quickly develop decent enough iron/wedge skill.

4. Buy a birdieball putting mat. Practice 8 footers for 10 minutes each night. Once again if you have kids this is something that you can include them on.

5. Before rounds, hit a bucket to regroove that driver, and then head over to the putting green to practice lags and chips and pitches. On the course, your goal is to ALWAYS get on the green with the next shot if you've missed your approach. So look at consistent contact to fat parts of greens.

Working on these 5 items will quickly get you what you need to break 100 regularly.

> @"Chief Illiniwek" said:

> Take this for what it's worth. I'm not scratch but usually shoot in the 70's and very occasionally break par. I think the guys telling you to hit less than driver are wrong. Just my opinion. If you can't consistently break 100, then either you aren't getting hardly any practice, or your hand eye coordination just doesn't translate to golf. Either way, I think doing the following few steps would guarantee almost anyone breaking 100, and even 90 consistently within a couple months.

>

> 1: Read some threads on here, or watch some YouTube videos, or read books or whatever it takes to find the info you need to make a proper grip and setup. This will take a couple weeks as there are multiple ways to do this but find which one feels best and go with it. Golf is way easier with a halfway decent setup.

>

> 2. Try and go to the range once a week, maybe at lunch time. When you do, pound driver. Over and over and over. You don't need to worry about angle of attack. You don't need to worry about where you are at p6. You just need to consistently not duff it. It really shouldn't take long to develop a consistent shot. If you're like 90% of golfers I see, it's going to be somewhere between a fade and a slice. Don't fight that for now. Embrace it. You'll be able to setup down the left side and count on it moving to the right.

> 3. For the iron game, get some of those orange nerf balls and hit in your yard every night with pitching wedge. Make this a game with your kids. Make little "courses" around the yard. You'll quickly develop decent enough iron/wedge skill.

> 4. Buy a birdieball putting mat. Practice 8 footers for 10 minutes each night. Once again if you have kids this is something that you can include them on.

> 5. Before rounds, hit a bucket to regroove that driver, and then head over to the putting green to practice lags and chips and pitches. On the course, your goal is to ALWAYS get on the green with the next shot if you've missed your approach. So look at consistent contact to fat parts of greens.

>

> Working on these 5 items will quickly get you what you need to break 100 regularly.

Hell yes. Finally someone that doesn't say "leave the driver in the bag and learn how to putt"

If you're not consistently in the 80s most likely you're duffing a ton of balls. Hitting a shit ton of balls to build the motor patterns and coordination is the absolutely necessary.

Putting is sooo much easier then ball striking.

> @"Chief Illiniwek" said:

> 1: Read some threads on here, or watch some YouTube videos, or read books or whatever it takes to find the info you need to make a proper grip and setup. This will take a couple weeks as there are multiple ways to do this but find which one feels best and go with it. Golf is way easier with a halfway decent setup.

>

Setup isn't a problem. I have a good base and know what my typical faults are and what to look for to know if I need to check myself.

> 2. Try and go to the range once a week, maybe at lunch time. When you do, pound driver. Over and over and over. You don't need to worry about angle of attack. You don't need to worry about where you are at p6. You just need to consistently not duff it. It really shouldn't take long to develop a consistent shot. If you're like 90% of golfers I see, it's going to be somewhere between a fade and a slice. Don't fight that for now. Embrace it. You'll be able to setup down the left side and count on it moving to the right.

I do go to the range normally once a week. My typical shot with driver is a slight to strong fade. I play with it. Unfortunately the last few weeks I have developed a pull hook. Last range session I really worked on things to eliminate that and for the most part I think figured out what I was doing.

> 3. For the iron game, get some of those orange nerf balls and hit in your yard every night with pitching wedge. Make this a game with your kids. Make little "courses" around the yard. You'll quickly develop decent enough iron/wedge skill.

I also work on my chipping when I go and plan on my next lesson to be a short game one. I will admit I should practice more on this.

> 4. Buy a birdieball putting mat. Practice 8 footers for 10 minutes each night. Once again if you have kids this is something that you can include them on.

This is where I loose a lot of shots. I probably on average loose 4 or 5 shots over 8 due to 3 putts. I have difficulty reading greens and also when I stand over the ball it doesn't look like I am aiming where I have lined up my putt, so that plays with my stroke. I have a tendency to push my putts because it looks like I am lined up right, I'm a lefty.

> 5. Before rounds, hit a bucket to regroove that driver, and then head over to the putting green to practice lags and chips and pitches. On the course, your goal is to ALWAYS get on the green with the next shot if you've missed your approach. So look at consistent contact to fat parts of greens.

>

> Working on these 5 items will quickly get you what you need to break 100 regularly.

> @Three_Jack said:

> If you're not consistently in the 80s most likely you're duffing a ton of balls. Hitting a **** ton of balls to build the motor patterns and coordination is the absolutely necessary.

>

I admit I duff way too many shots. I have improved dramatically in this aspect. I used to hit a solid shot a few in a round. Now I typically hit a solid shot each hole. It may not be perfect strike but it was solid and generally where I was aiming, maybe a slight push or pull. Par 5s are the toughest because I rarely hit three solid shots in a row. So I may hit a good drive then duff my second shot. My approach may be good but just miss. I rarely get up and down so I normally will loose a shot on that part of my game.

> Putting is sooo much easier then ball striking.

I struggle so much with this part of my game. Reading the greens is really where I have problems. I will think it breaks one way and then reality hits when the ball is going the other way.

You are the classic case of the short game being the focus to improve - taking lessons and working on your long game is fine - however you will see more immediate improvement via the short game. Best part it's cheap - buy a shag bag and get some balls - find a field, drop towels/headcovers at say 30, 45, 60, 75 yards - hit your wedges to them - vary it up - take a SW and hit to 45, then 60, then 30, etc. Pickem up and do it again. Then spend your time around the practice green with chips/putts. Ignore the range pretty much and go there only to work on things from lessons. Long ago, I couldn't break 90 and did this and posted my first handicap 3 months later and was a 9. It works, maybe you won't have the same success as me but you should pretty much be able to break 100 and even 90 doing this in a few months of working at it. Good luck.

It works cause it focuses on hitting shots that don’t require full swing - and to hit them distances and accurately - and you are probably seeing a fair amount of these in a round - and from partials swings to full is just

A bit more turn - if you can’t hit partial swings decently then why would you just practice full swings.

I would agree with the comments above. I admittedly rarely go to the range, but when I do, I spend most of my time working on short game (short irons, wedges, and putting). It does help to work on tee shots, though, because it really doesn't matter how good your short game is if it takes 4 shots to get to the green due to a bad tee shot. Like many sports, particularly in golf, it takes practice and experience to become good (I.e., More consistent). I started golfing about 3ish years ago and just recently started breaking 100 regularly (not trying to brag but stating I've been in the same position). Like I said, I barely practice on the range, but I've found that every year I've gotten better because I feel like I've gotten more comfortable with my swing.

Also, not sure who your playing partners are, but something that helped me was playing with golfers who were better than me (10-20 handicap). Yeah, of course it's not fun blading a chip into someone's ankles who's already on the green or journeying in the land Ents while they're in fairway, BUT playing with those guys (and gals) made me want to play better golf. It did help that they're all super helpful and nice people but sometimes just seeing what other better golfers are doing can be a huge help.

Either way, I hope you continue to enjoy the process!

> @glk said:

> You are the classic case of the short game being the focus to improve - taking lessons and working on your long game is fine - however you will see more immediate improvement via the short game. Best part it's cheap - buy a shag bag and get some balls - find a field, drop towels/headcovers at say 30, 45, 60, 75 yards - hit your wedges to them - vary it up - take a SW and hit to 45, then 60, then 30, etc. Pickem up and do it again. Then spend your time around the practice green with chips/putts. Ignore the range pretty much and go there only to work on things from lessons. Long ago, I couldn't break 90 and did this and posted my first handicap 3 months later and was a 9. It works, maybe you won't have the same success as me but you should pretty much be able to break 100 and even 90 doing this in a few months of working at it. Good luck.

> It works cause it focuses on hitting shots that don’t require full swing - and to hit them distances and accurately - and you are probably seeing a fair amount of these in a round - and from partials swings to full is just

> A bit more turn - if you can’t hit partial swings decently then why would you just practice full swings.

This!^^^^^^ And if doesn't work for you because you could possibly go off script, you will still see benefits in other parts of your game. Seriously, just dink that little ball around the practice green, yard, neighborhood, living room, et cetera. You can't go wrong.

Hmmm, ok, $0.02 worth from a hacker who can now shoot high 80s, but, struggled to break 100...

- make sure the flex of your club shafts fits your swing. I struggled with the driver fade / slice until in dawned on me I was fighting the shaft flex.

- short game for anyone, everyone, inside 50m should be an up and down game, so 2 shots tops is your goal. Chip it close and putt it in. Work out what you chip best with and practice it. Track your actual on course progress and get a lesson on how to chip, putt and even bunker shots.

- Take driver off the tee but don't swing out of your shoes. Watch the old blokes and their shorter backswing and bunt style ... It's better distance than an iron and you stay out of trouble. Find a reliable tee shot swing.

- work the numbers. Aim for 9 extra shots on the 9 hardest holes. So, if a long par 3, lay up away from trouble inside 50m, chip it in to safety and two putt it home. A hard, long par 4, do the same, heck any hole you cannot get long enough off the tee, just get to inside 50m from the green in 2, then get up and down.

Before you know it, you'll be losing the double and triple bogey scores and having nothing worse than a bogey. Then a couple of par results hit the card and bingo, you're under 90!

Practice like you play. If you have trouble stringing together solid shots I really believe playing virtual rounds on the range helps because you’re not...like you’re not just pounding driver or slinging 7 irons constantly. You’re jumping back and forth and thinking like you do on the course. I get warmed up and then start with a course I know and pretend like I’m playing the first hole. Then I hit my approach. Then I move on to the next tee shot.

As for three putts...work on distance control and speed. I know my three putts are caused when I blow it 6 feet past or leave it four feet short. I like the drill where you put something (a club or a ball sleeve or a few tees) about 30” behind the hole and then hit balls and try to get them past the hole but not past what you put down. Start from 5 feet. Then go out to 10...out to 25 or 30...back to five. From inside 30” you’re going to make 90%. It’s a really good drill I use all the time. Pair that with the traditional “star drill” to practice making those 2-4’ putts.

You have the right mindset. Just hit the ball solid. Eventually you will find the swing that does that for you with the most consistency. Good luck.

Lots of ways to approach this. I agree with Three_Jack above that you need to be able to hit driver to score well. HOWEVER, I don't believe you need it to break 100, or even 90. You DO, however need a decent short game and approach game.

I recommend taking it in phases. I like Mike Malaska's video on breaking 100 with three clubs [https://youtube.com/watch?v=9E00F6q1yog](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9E00F6q1yog "https://youtube.com/watch?v=9E00F6q1yog") . You can get yourself down into the low 90's or high 80's while you're working on your driver at the range. Once you've got your driver ready to go, and you have a solid approach game and short game that you've developed using the above method, you should see rapid improvements.