Largest one time drop in handicap and what swing change

[FairwaysToHeaven]

Watching Golf Academy last night Tom Watson mentioned that he had an 'eureka' moment where one swing change or swing thought changed his game and he went on to win several upcoming tournaments.

 

I'm curious, do most golfers slowly get better with minor changes or even major changes and see their handicap slowly drop little by little, or at what point did you instantly drop significantly due to swing change or thought. if that was the case, what was your before and after handicap and what change or thought led to the significant improvement.

 

Last year i struggled with EE and hovered around 7 or 8 handicap. I've worked on fixing EE and with Monte's help started turning the right hip like i should along with steeper shoulder turn. My ball striking with irons and woods almost instantly got much more consistent and longer. I'm actually drawing the ball and hitting tee shots solid instead of off the toe blocks. i'm now at a 4 and going lower.

 

we've all had the moment on the range where something really sticks, but it usually doesn't last and lead to significant drop in handicap.

 

any major drops in handicap that come almost instantly from a swing change or thought, or has it been a steady decline with minor changes and constant practice.

 

btw, Watson's thought was about keeping the clubface more square to target on the takeaway.

[sonofagunn]

My most significant handicap drop came after my first chip/pitch lesson where my instructor had me lifting the club up more (I was too low and inside). It was sooo easy and helped a lot. Now I can salvage bogeys and sometimes par after a poor shot. I went from ~16-17 hdcp to ~12-14 hdcp and broke 80 a couple of times.

[Schnee]

I was a 14 handicap when I started working with Monte. I had a severe case of EE and arm lidt. Once we got rid of that for the most part, my scores plummeted. I was a terrible ball striker. Now it's becoming much more of a strength. I'm now at a 5.7 handicap.

[thedillz]

[quote name='CSchnee' timestamp='1410967755' post='10132499']
I was a 14 handicap when I started working with Monte. I had a severe case of EE and arm lidt. Once we got rid of that for the most part, my scores plummeted. I was a terrible ball striker. Now it's becoming much more of a strength. I'm now at a 5.7 handicap.
[/quote]

Nice work... Show off!
But really, a good amount of your improvement is the work you've been putting in.
Monte can lead you to water, but he can't make you drink...

[exgolfpro]

[quote name='HoosierMizuno' timestamp='1410964859' post='10132191']
Watching Golf Academy last night Tom Watson mentioned that he had an 'eureka' moment where one swing change or swing thought changed his game and he went on to win several upcoming tournaments.

I'm curious, do most golfers slowly get better with minor changes or even major changes and see their handicap slowly drop little by little, or at what point did you instantly drop significantly due to swing change or thought. if that was the case, what was your before and after handicap and what change or thought led to the significant improvement.

Last year i struggled with EE and hovered around 7 or 8 handicap. I've worked on fixing EE and with Monte's help started turning the right hip like i should along with steeper shoulder turn. My ball striking with irons and woods almost instantly got much more consistent and longer. I'm actually drawing the ball and hitting tee shots solid instead of off the toe blocks. i'm now at a 4 and going lower.

we've all had the moment on the range where something really sticks, but it usually doesn't last and lead to significant drop in handicap.

any major drops in handicap that come almost instantly from a swing change or thought, or has it been a steady decline with minor changes and constant practice.

btw, Watson's thought was about keeping the clubface more square to target on the takeaway.
[/quote]

Its probably not what you are looking for, but on my last update, my handicap went from a 0.8 to 0.3. That is a drop of 62.5%!!!! But it was one score that did it. A 79 dropped off and a 71 went on.

[Emthree]

Back when I was a junior, I went from a 9 to a 4 in the space of a few months just by tilting a little more at address, started flushing it, bad hits were merely offline as opposed to a misshit. I hadn't seen my instructor for the best part of a year before then, took him 2 hours to have me hitting it decent again and it only improved from there. That really was my Eureka moment.

Fast forward 12 years and had been hitting the ball terrible all last winter and the start of this season, would get stuck a lot on the longer clubs and save it with the hands. just so happened to watch one of Monte's videos on the subject (thank you Monte) and the light bulb clicked on again. Handicap has only gone down a few decimal places, but that's not due to ballstriking. Inspired me to get in touch with my instructor again for a lesson or two in the coming months.

[MadGolfer76]

I learned how to lag putt and dropped 8 strokes in about a week and a half of regular playing. Learned how to chip and pitch, and dropped about 5 more. That was when I first started playing, and I went from high 90's to mid-80's. From there, what got me to the 70's scoring range was overall ball striking. I am still not great, but fairly consistent.

[Reasonability]

For me -- I tend to side with what each and every poster has contributed. I believe there are break-throughs. There are those moments which outclass the goofy thoughts at the range that don't seem to hold up. Those break throughs (IMO) are born in something deeply rooted in things like keeping the posture working well, linking the setup and grip to the flow of the swing from takeaway to the top and back down to the finish... "something" or "things" such as that hold up beyond the one-hit-wonder stuff we sometimes "think" was discovered at the range. Then inside the short game, and/or the mental side of the game...every bit of that same "stuff" also applies.

All that said -- for me personally is see it this way --- We all have tendencies of our own. Some are good ones -- some not so good. So the eureka moments and big break-throughs are fantastic, but we all (I think) will need to be in constant touch with our own good and not so good tendencies to stay sharp. Example -- I can very gradually introduce tension into my game. So stretching and being almost hyper-aware of this is very important for me personally. I'm personally guilty of getting a little quick with the takeaway or transition versus letting the flow of the swing to stretch out in time. This tendency (for me) introduces what I call "rip-sway" in transition. So even the break-throughs can have a shelf life -- meaning that I have to manage any good break-through in the context of managing my own tendencies. Some changes therefore are game changers -- and then its a matter of incremental and smaller steps and some days are (welcome to golf) better than others. If anyone out there has had one of those days where the game from tee to green feels like the dreaded blue screen hard-drive crash --- you can appreciate exactly what I'm sharing. Some days its just not there. Then two days later its game on.

What a goofy game!

[LittleLeftToRight]

When I started playing a little under a year ago I shot in the low 90s. At this point I have put up a couple of 60s. How is that for improvement?

To be honest, I didn't play for 20 years so the 90s were to be expected, and I was a +2.5 when I quit so shooting in the 60s didn't seem like that big a deal. I am also 20 years older so I am not prone to doing stupid things, which helps my scoring tremendously. Actually, I still do stupid things, but now I know they are stupid before I do them. It helps.

I think the better you are, the more subtle improvements seem to help the most, although it is difficult to really improve. It is almost like changing the oil on your car. You go along for a while then you realize your oil is dirty and you better do something about it.

[JasonFL]

How about the opposite

My handicap went through the roof by listening to an instructor that said I was taking the club back too inside. Started coming back more vertical. Began to hit moon shot irons and drivers. Did this for almost two years while in Colorado.

Just moved back to FL from CO and the first thing my friends said was "Wow youre swinging steep!!!". Started to bring it back uncomfortably inside and like magic my distance came back, ball is flying lower, just all around predictable. I see a lower cap in my future!

[Smash Factors]

The closest thing to an "Epiphany" moment I've had was when I started soling the club correctly at address having a bit of forward shaft lean. Instant results. Went from drawing every (And I mean EVERY) shot to hitting the ball straight. That was a few years ago and it has never left me. It wasn't the "Answer" though. It took a few strokes off my card but there's still a lot left that needs to get figured out.

I tend to think that improvement does come rather quickly. It's the result of discovering the right changes and having the ability to apply them. Practice and repetition makes it repeatable.

[rbhan12]

Had my second eureka yesterday actually. Short game pitches and chips require me to keep my eyes on the ground, at the ball, through and well after contact.

First real eureka was when I learned how to exit left with my hands before contact. Holy crap, contact improved dramatically.

[Late4ttime]

Played to a 9 last summer, wasn't improving and my swing lacked repeatability.

Overhauled in winter, a bad attempt at a repeatable swing, high hands, steep path, (felt upper body driven) index this summer 14!

After shooting like garbage at our Am and club championship, I stepped away for a couple weeks. PO'd I was playing this bad, not having any fun, and realizing I was playing swing not golf- something had to change.

I began cyber stalking Monte- posts / videos / blogs, and read about biomechanics vs swing plane. Found out I'm a mid-track guy, not high track. Simply changing planes and incorporating Monte's swing transition- my last 3 rounds have been under my index- 2/3 played to a 9, last revision dropped me to a 12.9. I trust my swing, shot shape (back to a push draw) and love golf again- I foresee consistent single digits in my future!

Next time I visit family in SoCal, I want to play a round with Monte and buy him a beer or 10! Lol

[shanksfornuthin]

Mine was a grip change. My right hand always had a gap between thumb and forefinger and at the top of my backswing and the handle would slip into the gap and cause terribly inconsistent ball striking with all clubs except wedges (half swings). When I pinched the thumb and forefinger together impact improved dramatically with resulting better distance and accuracy. Went from 90ish to 80ish overnight.

[spud3]

Huge drop in hci after I watched this video:

[url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-FH5r5_tROU&list=UUxM0FrLNVF8tLyGRG9m3a7Q&index=116"]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-FH5r5_tROU&list=UUxM0FrLNVF8tLyGRG9m3a7Q&index=116[/url]


and started incorporating less "techniques" and more simplicity. Went from 10-12 down to 9 within just a few weeks of playing.

The other big drop, from ~9 to my current 6.2, came by no longer spending hours on the range hammering buckets and by spending about half that time on the chipping/putting greens. This was aided by Monte's short game video. My pitching/chipping has improved dramatically, and my putting has also gotten much better.

[pmcuk]

As above - played 9 hole par 3 course instead of hitting buckets on the range.

The other thing was narrowing my stance and opening lead foot. Rotation became easier.

[vbb]

I started off this year as an "unofficial" 19 (wasn't keep a GHIN handicap) and was having major trouble with my driver or really anything off of the tee box. I also had a tendency to hit everything off of the heel. Somewhere around May, I started playing with my grip, and remembered an instructor telling me at a lesson last year to strengthen my grip in my left hand (basically point the "v's" between my thumb and forefinger at my right shoulder at setup). A simple, classic tip. I tried it when I was taking the lesson, but it felt so weird and I hit it so poorly that I promptly went back to a weaker grip.

Well, on the range in May I went back to trying the stronger grip again and by the middle of the bucket I was hitting, I just started flushing shots. I was so shocked by the change that I got another bucket and noticed I was hitting shots easily 20yds farther than I was used to and hitting a draw bias as opposed to the high weak fade I was prone to hit. That swing change alone helped a lot. About 6 weeks after that, while still getting used to the new grip I ran into a friend at the range that I'd played a few rounds with before. He is a low handicapper and has a great swing. He watched me hit some shots and noticed that I was hitting everything a bit too left, and told me to simply move my right thumb over to the left a bit. That took my hooking draw miss to a more controlled draw and really helped again.

I'm a 14 handicap trending down with a realistic shot at finishing this calendar year around 12-13. Plus, my distances are legit now as opposed to being the short-knocker I'd been in the past. I'm not super long or anything, but having a 160yd 7 iron and a tee'd up 3W that I can routinely knock out there 230+ is a huge improvement to where I was.

So yeah, it was all the grip change for me.