How skewed am I?

Latley i've been working with leadbetter. I have nothing to hide. I could shoot good scores before and i've been strugling latley.

http://www.floridajuniortour.org/players/v...r.asp?pID=36675

I am a junior. College wise. How bad is this looking for me. Dont feel harsh telling the truth. But only post if you know. Don't be some of you forum guys who just post to get posts.

I'm assuming you are talking about your scores in your tournaments. If you are trying to play D1 golf then you are far behind a lot of other golfers. That being said you still have your senior year to improve. If you do really well on your golf team and post some great scores in other tournaments I would think that coaches would take the improvement into account. I think it all depends on where you want to play and how hard you want to work to get there. I don't know if this helps at all but just keep trying and I'm sure you will do fine.

Where do you think you are losing most of your strokes?

[quote name='jaskanski' post='2122867' date='Dec 13 2009, 06:09 PM']Where do you think you are losing most of your strokes?[/quote]


Today in my tournament 10 fairways 3 gir 27 putts (that was the 90 today). You do the math. Yes i want to paly D1. I went to regionals for school this year. I am thinking about taking the next 2 weeks off and just restarting with a touring pro and have him teach me. Or go with Mike Calbot. But yes. D1

short game....short game....short game...

if you are only hitting 3 greens in regulation....you need to have your putts per round down to 20 or 21...there is 6 to 7 shots...

where are the rest of your shots? 10 fairways is decent, were the other 4 in the woods or water?

do you hit a lot of fat chunks or huge misses?

if you can start hitting more greens and/or getting up and down more regularly....you'd be in much better shape.

can you work the ball? high, low, left, right? that helps a ton in getting out of trouble and getting your approaches on the green...

hope that helps!

Don't be afraid of giving another teacher a go. Lead's got a good reputation but it's not for everyone. Find someone who you feel comfortable with, also someone who isn't going to make a huge quantity of swing changes to mess with your mind. Get back to basic fundamentals and work from there using your natural swing. Get a bit of rhythm going and see how you it goes. It may not be easy, but keep plugging away. But keep a positive mental approach at all times. Wish you luck.

I'd say you would have to be darn near a scratch golfer in order to play D1 golf, especially at one of the better schools. If you would like to get a scholarship to a D1 school, I'd definitely say you need to trim about 18 strokes off of your average. With your tournament scores averaging 90 (bogey golf) it doesn't look very good. Keep working on your swing and maybe you can turn it around for your senior year.

My sage advice would be to make golf your second priority, the first being getting good grades in order to get into a good college. Earn yourself a good degree and you can enjoy golf the rest of your life. I'm not saying to drop golf alltogether, just don't expect to make a career out of it.

I mean my goal is to be a teaching pro eventually. But today I made a 9 on hole number 8 after being 1 over i was 220 out and went for the green in 2 on a par 5 but i heard my dad say your insnae or soemthing liek that. and i thined it into the hazard. than took a drop and hit my only shot fat all day and put it back in the hazard and ended up making a 9. than the 18th hole got on in two and had my 2nd 3 put off the day. I can work the ball left right easily. I just always start off bad. I had a 7 par streak going or something like that and I had tons of pars on the day. I just had another quadroople on a par 3 where i got an unlucky break. I mean thats +8 on two holes.

The other 4 were not in woods or water. They were all playing just barley outside the rough.

difficult to be critical of a 17yr old....improvement can be dramatic w/ proper practice and committment.

i would evaluate yourself relative to your peers. why are they scoring 141 when you're at 178?

that answer should help determine your practice priorities.

also make sure your equipment is working "with you" and you're not struggling to make it "perform" for you.

Prior to this tournament I took off a week of golf and practiced this past week im not going to lie. the only round i played before these past two days was the practice round friday. think that could have been a major problem?

I've worked with many junior & collegiate players over the years and if you are truly interested
in playing D1 college golf you have a lot work to do. Shooting anywhere in the 80's won't get you
where you want to be. Somehow you need to hook up with a good teaching pro who has plenty of
experience working with young collegiate golfers and see if you can consistently get into the 70's
and then somehow work your way down to par and better. Top D1 players are shooting in the 60's
all the time and are very polished and experienced players.

If you are consistently shooting over 85, then all parts of your game need improving......FAST!!

Agreed. Mike Calbot came up to me this weekend wanting to work with me and after I take my break for 2 weeks and going back to Philadelphia I think I am going to take him up on that. I feel like he knows a lot about the game and has worked with some very accomplised players.

[quote name='GolfLover23' post='2123001' date='Dec 13 2009, 07:08 PM']Agreed. Mike Calbot came up to me this weekend wanting to work with me and after I take my break for 2 weeks and going back to Philadelphia I think I am going to take him up on that. I feel like he knows a lot about the game and has worked with some very accomplised players.[/quote]

Good thinking! I believe that is an excellent thing to do. Good luck!!

I am sorry but a scoring avg of 90 isnt going to cut it for college golf for D1 you ahve to be below 71. If you are hitting 3 girs you dont need a super expensive world renound instructor, just find a guy who know what he is doing, and hit a couple hundred golf balls a day. The range should be your home a way from home, and dont mindlessly beat balls, pick targets and yardages.
A Typical D1 player is about
>60% of fairways
>12 GIR
<30 Putts
>260 yard tee shot
And they have a damn good short game

On a normal day, are you shooting in the 70s?

[quote name='ahl3bomber ' post='2123037' date='Dec 13 2009, 07:27 PM']On a normal day, are you shooting in the 70s?[/quote]


Yes. Easily. And I hit the ball 260 on the dot. I do pick targets. Whenever I am playing weither on the range or not. Even on the range I go through my practice routine. I just feel like always in my tournament rounds I am fighting to get back. I never really start off good. Like day one. First hole I had to take an unplayable because my ball hit the green and kicked left hard into the bushes. my unplayable was beihnd the shrubs ended up making 6. Than pard the next hole went out to a par 5 had 100 yards left and plunked it in the water. I mean dont get me wrong. For this tournament everyones scores were high. But I had a horrible score dont get me wrong. But yes, anyways I do normally shoot in the 70s. I am not even nervous durign tournaments and I am always thinking postiive.

I had the 260 yard drive the 30 putts and the fairways. the only thing i didnt have was the greens in regulation

If you want to be a teaching pro you should think about checking out the Professional Golf Management programs that are in schools all around the country. I went to Methodist University and a guy I went to school with is now Jim McClean's right hand instructor and he has already worked with some of the greats and he's only 25! Plus a lot of the schools have awesome golf courses and you can play on the team.
PM me if you have any questions

Well obviously I want to try to make it on the tour a mini tour at least try. And I want to play collegeite golf. But can you get your PGM and play on the golf team? or no

So how are you hitting your irons? By that I mean what is the usual miss. If you hit 10 fwys and missed the rest by a couple yards with the length you're talking about you should not shoot 90. I have to imagine you have mid irons or less in on every hole which should translate into a lot more greens.

Also, I think you need to be realistic with your goals at this point. I'm not saying don't shoot for the best, you absolutely should do that. However, D-2 is probably looking like a better option for you at this point. Really, this upcoming summer is going to be key time for you. Practice hard over the next few months, play tournaments (make sure your dad stays at home) over the summer, and then evaluate.

Honestly. I was hitting my irons solid. I think the pin sheets were messing me up and I just don't know how to read them. Becuase when they were - I was short and when they were + i was long. And my misses are right but thats only when i slide my hips through impact big time. and thats my ONLY miss. and its good that i nkow that becuaseh when i do it i know whats wrong.

When I played in college, we played an event at Rio Pinar. I just did a quick Google search to see results from last year. Playing in tournament conditions, and playing it all the way back, only one kid average over an 80 for the three rounds, and that was out of 108 players

At rio te 2nd day it rained 6 inches and everything was casual water. Not making ecuses but it was awful.

[quote name='GolfLover23' post='2123091' date='Dec 13 2009, 07:50 PM']Well obviously I want to try to make it on the tour a mini tour at least try. And I want to play collegeite golf. But can you get your PGM and play on the golf team? or no[/quote]

I believe there is a college right in your neighborhood call Florida Gulf Coast University
that has a PGM program that you can take & play on the golf team too. I'm pretty sure
that is the school. Used to work with a young man that went through that program there.

Lets not blame the pin sheet's for bad scores....

Anyways, if you really want to play D-1 golf you have a ton of work to do. D-1 is almost every golfers goal if they want to play college but keep in mind D-2, NAIA, etc is also a good option. As for the PGM.. I had offers to go play D-2 golf (nothing D-1) but decided to take the PGM program and hopefully then take a shot playing on a tour of some sort. Either way if your only college golf idea is D-1 then you better get out on the range and find a swing coach that knows what he is doing. He doesn't need to be a Butch Harmon of a David Leadbetter but he needs to be someone you have a good relationship with.

Thats why I'm not to surue about leadbetter. Its to many swing thoughts. Its free and I don't know how I can pass up a deal like tat but idk. I feel liek I need to paly more. I think I spend to much time practicing. I never play unless its a practice round or tournament.

ignore the pin sheets
with 10 fairways and only 3 greens its pretty obvious to see that the problem lies in your iron play at the moment

for a short while, ignore the pin and just aim for the center of the green, if the pin is tucked away on the left you may only have to pull it 4 yards to find yourself in a bunker, whereas if you aim for the middle of the green you have a bigger margin of error, when you feel more confident about your ballstriking start to slowly get more aggressive with attacking pins

hope this helps and good luck!

[quote name='bk4' post='2123131' date='Dec 13 2009, 08:05 PM']When I played in college, we played an event at Rio Pinar. I just did a quick Google search to see results from last year. Playing in tournament conditions, and playing it all the way back, only one kid average over an 80 for the three rounds, and that was out of 108 players[/quote]


[quote name='steveh1591' post='2123198' date='Dec 13 2009, 08:27 PM']ignore the pin sheets
with 10 fairways and only 3 greens its pretty obvious to see that the problem lies in your iron play at the moment

for a short while, ignore the pin and just aim for the center of the green, if the pin is tucked away on the left you may only have to pull it 4 yards to find yourself in a bunker, whereas if you aim for the middle of the green you have a bigger margin of error, when you feel more confident about your ballstriking start to slowly get more aggressive with attacking pins

hope this helps and good luck![/quote]

agreed im going to forget about pinshots for a little now.

Hey man, you [i]are[/i] getting some honest assessments, but you should remember that a positive attitude and perseverance are important keys to success as well. You should definitely address any weaknesses in your game, but not obsess about them to the point where they get in your head and you get discouraged.

If you are making a lot of pars but your scores shoot up as the result of a couple blow up holes, I would work on the mental side and get a good pre-shot routine going. 3 GIRs and a lot of pars sounds like you are a good scrambler but not great on approach shots? Experiment with taking more club and aiming at the fat of the green. The goal should be leaving the ball below the hole. Go out to the range and really practice your iron play and hybrids. Like the previous poster said, hit to targets and yardages.

Finding an instructor that is going to give you a lot of personal attention is going to do you a world of good. +1 on that decision.