Getting into the 80s

[Krt22]

> @davep043 said:

> > @GMN_02 said:

> > Start thinking about holes from green to tee. Whats the longest club you are comfortable hitting into a green that you know will land on the dance floor 7/10 times? What club off the tee gets you to that distance or better without bringing in trouble or a big miss? Getting into the high 70s and low 80s was mostly course management from my experience.

>

> I'm not sure that I agree with this. I think shooting lower scores comes from hitting better shots. Decision-making is certainly valuable, but the best decisions fail when the shot is hit poorly.

 

Agreed. That level of course management requires you have reasonable control of your ball, make repeatable contact, have a one way miss. Most 90+ shooters still need to hit the ball better to get to that level.

[xmanhockey7]

Depends on your game. One thing I saw when I was at that level (it’s been a while) is to always give yourself a putt at par. I don’t care if it’s a 30 footer. Just a putt at par.

[evilelf]

Obsessing about wedge play in an open field was key for me. A good short game makes playing over 90 almost difficult IMO. I keep a shag tube of bright yellow game balls in my trunk with my wedge, along with soccer cones to walk off 60 yards. I try to do this at least once a week somewhere, in some field, when I get a half hour of free time. Changing my short game from "hitting the ball" to "using the bounce" was transformative. I concentrate on how the back of the wedge is interacting with the turf more than everything, then that determines how much I open the face and how far behind the ball I can hit the turf.

[Nicodimas]

Figured I would report back hit a 93 only last round and tracked all the suggestions.

Course was Papago in Phoenix. So 72/125/6721 yards. Conditions were windy. I wasn’t hitting my long irons well. A birdie on h11.

 

Hit 13/18 fairways

Hit 2/18 Greens in Regulation

Hit 15/18 up in down (if I did this correctly)

Hit 5/5 sand sands (1 hit one out?)

Water hazard (my nemesis hole)

36 putts. (3 x 1 putts and 3x three putts)

 

My up and down may be incorrect due to sand bunkers were all greenside.

[Golfbeat]

Take lessons and improve your overall game. Really tough to figure it all out on your own.

[Nicodimas]

> @Golfbeat said:

> Take lessons and improve your overall game. Really tough to figure it all out on your own.

 

I am taking lessons, just augmenting from what others have learned here. Like going to try today’s round with the whole focus of whatever it takes to increase GIR.

[sdandrea]

Par 4s

1. Find the fairway off the tee no matter what club it takes.

2. Advance the ball TOWARDS the green AND in play. If you hit a GIR, then good on ya.

3. Chip onto the green close enough to 2 putt, possibly 1 putt.

4. Get outa there with max score of bogey.

5. Similar strategy on par 3s and 5s.

 

Practice your short game until you own the chipping and putting arena. No high risk hero shots. If you can't hit a driver straight, then leave it in the car. If you make mostly bogeys with the occasional par, you break 90.

[SNIPERBBB]

> @Nicodimas said:

> Figured I would report back hit a 93 only last round and tracked all the suggestions.

> Course was Papago in Phoenix. So 72/125/6721 yards. Conditions were windy. I wasn’t hitting my long irons well. A birdie on h11.

>

> Hit 13/18 fairways

> Hit 2/18 Greens in Regulation

> Hit 15/18 up in down (if I did this correctly)

> Hit 5/5 sand sands (1 hit one out?)

> Water hazard (my nemesis hole)

> 36 putts. (3 x 1 putts and 3x three putts)

>

> My up and down may be incorrect due to sand bunkers were all greenside.

You can't have 18 chances at fairways unless you got a course with no par 3's(and it doesn't count as a FIR if you land there)

 

Up and down isn't a stat. Scrambling is missing a green in regulation, then making par. So you could only have 16 scrambling chances with 2 GIR.

 

Sand saves are the same as scrambling except out of a bunker.

[andrue]

I bounce around low 90s high 80s and have done for a couple of years now. Looking back at the good rounds (courtesy of Game Golf) there are a few standouts on the good rounds:

Fairway accuracy > 50%. Putts per hole < 1.8, but scrambling around 20%.

The only exception to that is a rather curious round where my fairway accuracy was a rather poor 38% but it looks to have been compensated for by 1.6 putts per hole and a rather good scrambling of 44%.

For me though it mostly just feels like I lack consistency. Most days there's one or two holes that go badly wrong and a couple of others that ought to be par but aren't because of an unfortunate chip. Then every now and again I get a day where nothing goes wrong and most things go according to plan.

[gsrjc]

Definitely got to hit more greens. I’m at a 12 and when I hit more than half my greens I’m always in the low 80s.

[Grayback1973]

I went from 90's to 80's when I read Bob Rotella's "Golf is not a game of perfect", specifically the section on relishing the short game.To this day I love the short game and enjoy it WAY more than the dreaded long game.

 

People with horrendous full swings like me can cover over a multitude of sin with a sound short game.Not a "great" short game but just sound.That means NOT skulling a chip across the green or chunking every other chip shot,etc.

[platgof]

How does one go low; confidence. Believing in yourself makes a huge difference, and once your consistency shows up, making the same score on a regular basis, then your scores will go down. There are some days that will be total frustration, and that will happen. Ball striking and the proper clubs will help. You are playing a long course by my standards, so it will be tough. Work on your divot and follow through. Chipping is an art and makes the rest of the game easier. I use a 9 iron for most chips, and I do break the wrists going back, but from ball contact on, I do not. When the left wrist is straight it stays that way on through. When you see guys that can't hit a green and go on and par 80% of the holes, it is no accident, they know how to chip and take your money.

[Nicodimas]

Kinda dissapointed... hit a 43 on my back 9 , but had an awful front 9 ...total @ 93. Nothing went right on my first 4 holes it was just ugly, my swing just fell apart. Well at least I know a 86 is possible!!

 

I lifted before golfing and that’s a never again thing...

 

So up and down isn’t a thing ? Or scrambling the same thing

https://www.liveabout.com/how-to-make-an-up-and-down-1561028

[Hawkeye77]

For me, better ballstriking. Then to break 80, better ballstriking and better short game. That’s what made the difference looking back. Now, wanting to shoot even lower - need more fairways and greens - surprise, better ballstriking, short game needs to keep improving. I could practice putting more but I won’t, so no use pretending I ever will, and I’m not a bad putter and okay with it most of the time. If I did practice, it would be 8-10 feet and in. I actually bought a Putt Out and honestly should use it, but ........

[JAMH03]

> @Nicodimas said:

> I want what people here personally did to break into the 80s. Just your general advice what helped you the most ?

>

> Help! ( I am hitting around 91-93 right now)

 

* You have to hit the green from 100 yards.

* One putt sometimes

* 3 putt much less often.

* Get your tee-ball in play as well.

* Math is going to say hit some greens in reg.

* I might add stop listening to fools.

[ezpz]

Pre shot routine :)

Be good off the tee (AKA very few penalty shots), don't worry about having to hit it 280y but have a solid pattern.

Be a good short putter.

Work on eliminating the extreme misshits (Duffs, tops etc etc).

Manage yourself around the course in such a way that you avoid shortsiding approach shots.

Obviously there are a ton of ways to shoot 79 so you have to find out how to work with your own strengths and around your own weaknesses on how to do it in your own way.

[andrue]

Well whatever the secret is I did it today in style. 82 off the standard tees at my course. And that included two par 4s that I normally par but which I mucked up and double bogeyed. So all things being equal I almost scored 78 (that's +8 for the course). Pretty damn epic for someone with an official handicap of 22. But that was casual play off the standard tees. In a competition it's a different story. I'm still not sure why but one possible factor is that our competition tees result in a course that's nearly 10% longer (5700 yards v 6100).

 

The only difference I noticed was that I took my practice swings more seriously and concentrated more when swinging. I'm not saying I normally just step up to the ball and swing randomly but today I felt like I was doing it with more purpose. Almost every shot came off as I intended (apart from the two aforementioned holes).

[andrue]

Actually I just realised there was one other change. I had a lesson on Friday and the pro pointed out that my backswing was still very short and that I had a very fast transition. Virtually threw my club at the ball from what passed for the top.

So I've been trying to go further round and today started my down swing by moving my lead knee over my lead foot instead of my usual 'hip bump'. This does seem to calm my swing down and wouldn't it be so nice if that was the fix rather than the usual random vagaries of golf?

[FormerBigDaddy]

> @Nicodimas said:

> I want what people here personally did to break into the 80s. Just your general advice what helped you the most ?

>

> Help! ( I am hitting around 91-93 right now)

 

So I’ve been a 90s player the last 10 years or so and my last 2 rounds have been in the 80s. The 2 big things for me was not losing balls off the tee and short game.

 

For not losing balls there is no easy answer. I identified a few things in my swing that eliminated a two way miss (for the most part) and have just be playing for the miss I still have. Doing that has kept the ball in play.

 

Short game wise I really have spent time practicing in bunkers, chipping, pitching, and putting. Instead of endlessly hitting balls on the range I have gone to different courses/ranges with practice areas where I can spend an hour or so a couple of days a week just working on these things.

 

You can be as specific as you want but if you do those 2 things I think you’ll see 80s. It takes work not just focus. Keep it in play off the tee, get it near the green on 2nd, get it in the hole in 3 shots from there for no worse than bogey. Outnumber doubles with pars.

[trilerian]

I shoot 90% of my rounds in the 80s, with a few being upper 70s and a few being lower 90s. Couple things you can do to help. Play an easier course to get the feel of shooting in the 80s, this will help with the nerves. Stay in play off the tee with a reasonable chance at going for the green on your second shot. Dial in your irons to where your bad misses are within 30yds of the green. Learn to chip/pitch to the middle of the green from within 50yds, eliminate 3 putts. If you can accomplish the above, then all it takes is a couple GIRs or 1 putts and you have broke 90.

 

On the days when I break 80, I notice I hit more fairways, more GIR and less putts.

[andrue]

> @trilerian said:

> On the days when I break 80, I notice I hit more fairways, more GIR and less putts.

Yup. I've just uploaded [my round from yesterday](http://www.gamegolf.com/player/Andrue/round/2610652 "my round from yesterday") and like the other good rounds those stats are all better than normal.

 

Such a shame about the 1st and 7th. The 7th in particular is almost _always_ a par and the 1st is almost always a par when played as the 10th which it was yesterday. That hole was ruined by the hooked 8i. One of those swings where my body stops and my arms just carried on around. Possibly because it was close to a tree trunk. Then I made a bog of the first chip :-/

[jim rockford]

i've done this the last 10 years.

basically what has been mentioned.

 

the points i post may overlap:

 

1) get it in reasonable position from the tee

 

2) no penalty strokes

 

3) no skulls/chunks/etc. (basically a penalty stroke in disguise)

 

4) not too many 3 putts (but not as important as earlier points)

BASICALLY, no shots with terrible outcomes

 

you didn't ask but breaking 80 (i'm trying right now) i think means every single shot being minimally decent (i.e. decent ball strike on everything... i.e ball goes towards the hole/fairway in the air). zero 3 putts, making putts under 8 feet.

 

alot of it comes naturally from playing/practicing alot...... i find when i don't play that much, my scores on holes don't correlate to hole's difficulty. more a result of whether i hit decent shots.

 

breaking 90 is getting rid of huge mistakes...... breaking 80 is hitting greens in regulation and not 3 putting....... people may disagree but getting up down around the green (exclude easy chips/putts from off green) is overrated in breaking 80 but i think it gets very important if you want to break 75

[Nicodimas]

Hit 3 rounds all low 90s this weeeknd. Some points have been heavily invested into my game moving forward. Have to figure out GIR! I hit fine on the *range* in terms of distance, I hit all my balls very straight .. but just short of GIR in play, lots of chips or bump and rolls. Lots of shots are short. I’m on 70% the fairway about 250 yards avg on my drives so that’s a shining point. Those times I’m not it’s ugly though and those result in some nasty scores.

 

Next round I may upclub and aim over the green to try a experiment. Maybe it’s the club I pick up on approach shots. Lots of really high wedge shots.

 

Hoping this makes me more accountable.

 

(The mistakes gotta go for sure)

[Nard_S]

Practice smoothing out short irons and try to hit them low. 3/4 punch shots without quitting on effort. Too easy and common to swing at "11" with them when control is what's needed. Strive to hit wedges low, & Driver high.

[SNIPERBBB]

> @Nicodimas said:

> Hit 3 rounds all low 90s this weeeknd. Some points have been heavily invested into my game moving forward. Have to figure out GIR! I hit fine on the *range* in terms of distance, I hit all my balls very straight .. but just short of GIR in play, lots of chips or bump and rolls. Lots of shots are short. I’m on 70% the fairway about 250 yards avg on my drives so that’s a shining point. Those times I’m not it’s ugly though and those result in some nasty scores.

>

> Next round I may upclub and aim over the green to try a experiment. Maybe it’s the club I pick up on approach shots. Lots of really high wedge shots.

>

> Hoping this makes me more accountable.

>

> (The mistakes gotta go for sure)

 

If you're consistently short on approach shots, it's time to get brutally honest with yourself. Are you short because you are mishitting the ball, or do you need to reevaluate how far you are hitting your irons, or not getting an accurate yardage from gps, rangefinders or markers or is it a combination there of. Most people it's the first two.

[elthrill]

go to a driving range. Get warmed up. Take out tour driver. Pick out an area 50 yards wide. Hit 10 drives into the 50 yard wide area. Take a break. Work on something else. Then hit 10 more.

 

Tell me how many of your drives stayed within that 50 yd wide area in each of your 10 shot groupings. Be honest.

 

 

[elthrill]

If you hit the fairways like you say you do and cant break 90, your answer is simple. You are a sorry iron player. Hitting the green from 120 and in has to happen basically 80% plus. 70 yr old grannies can do that. Work 8i 9i and pw. Smooth controlled swings. Ball on the green. Its not that hard. Visualize the shot and hit it.

[mcc0819]

What I did to get into the 80s or even break 70 may be unique to me and might not work for anyone else. My opinion is getting better happens during practice. Golf practice should be goal oriented. When I go to the range and bang away at a 100 balls, I feel like i didn't get better. But if I went to the range with the goal of hitting the blue target 8/10 times or keeping 80% of my drives between the posts then I feel like there's a sense of accomplishment. There are a million "best practices" but here's my advice and what I would do if I was looking to shoot in the 80's.

 

Here's my advice:

1. Find a club you can be consistent with off the tee. It can be your driver, 3 wood, 5 wood, driving iron or whatever you can use to keep the ball in play. When your game isn't at its best, have a club you can be comfortable in.

2. Play smart and manage the course. If it's a 300 yard par 4, the urge to "go for it" may be strong. Instead, hit 200 off the tee and leave yourself with a comfortable 100 yard wedge in. This is the perfect segue to...

3. Know your distances!!! Anyone who aspires to be decent golfer needs to know their distances. At the range take 10 shots with each club and average the carry distance. Write it down or type it into your phone for reference when you might need it on the course.

4. When practicing at the range, practice like you would play. Make that bucket last. Perform every should as you would on the course. Take your pre-shot routine, make sure your alignment is correct and aim for a target. This is also where you need to be cognizant of your swing techniques. Record yourself and see where your swing is at.

5. SHORT GAME. This is the money maker. Having a solid short game will have you shooting in the 80's even on your bad days. Practice your pitching and chipping. Anything 50 yards and in should take up the majority of your practice time. This is where you learn different techniques that will help you get out of "rough" situations on the course.

6. Putting. I don't care if you can drive it 350 yards, if you can't putt then you won't consistently get a good score. Practice your putts from 3, 6, 9, 12 feet. Line up tees in this increments and hit to them to get a feel for those distances.

 

That's my advice for now. Know your strengths and weaknesses. Keep grinding and keep putting the time in. You'll eventually get to a point where shooting in the 80s suck! That just means you're working your tail off and it's paying off. Goodluck!

 

 

[msg]

Yesterday I shot 84. My round was a funny one.

 

I hit 6 greens and three putted twice on those two greens that I hit. I birdied one hole. I scrambled once. I got four pars. NO doubles or triples for me. No lost balls. No penalty strokes. I missed four or five greens from 120 yards below, unbelievable as these shots are usually my bread and butter. Just one of those days.

 

Though my short game was unbelievably crappy...I realized that just by eliminating the big numbers, I am almost automatic at breaking 80 and some short game improvement, I am breaking 80. I usually hit 6 greens and get up and down 3 x a round. But I also usually get 2 or 3 bad holes, with doubles or triples, sometimes worse.

 

So with this round yesterday and my realization...start off safely off the tee. Then figure out how to hit the green or at least miss around the green. Then try to get up and down at least more than once and keep on doing this and you will surely break 90 all the time.