Rough day....

[Spooky67]

The goal this year has been to break 90. Last year I was shooting in the low 100s. Lately I’ve been shooting 95-93 trending towards scoring better, today was one of those days where I can’t tell if things are still getting better or getting worse. Shot a 99 today, not good considering how I had been trending, but I shot a 99 with three 8s and two 7s. The 8s were a quad and two triples, the 7s were a triple and a double. Now on one hand the 8s and 7s were total breakdowns but I’m trying to stay positive and focus on how I played the other holes to keep my score in double digits...? Not sure if breaking 90 will come this year? Any one else have days like this?

[Carl Spackler3]

Only the guys who are truthful!

[2bGood]

> @"Carl Spackler3" said:

> Only the guys who are ~~truthful~~ awful!

 

Fixed.

 

[Lefty96]

^ well that was just mean.

 

Sure we all have days like that. Everyone has rounds where we go out and have a few blow up holes that completely wreck a round. For me it happens when I’m struggling to control it off the tee. A couple OB’s can turn a potentially acceptable round into something I don’t like. It’s all about perception. Guys who shoot near par have bad days where they shoot 80. Guys who shoot 80 sometimes shoot 90. And guys who shoot in the 90s occasionally shoot in the 100s. It’s common to have a bad round.

 

Now, if you want to break 90 for the first time you need to do a few things:

First, work on your short game. Anytime you get up and down is a saved stroke and one step closer.

Second, only hit your driver on holes where you know you won’t go OB. OB is an automatic double or worse. You need to avoid it.

Finally, play to make a bogey on every hole. If that means playing each par 4 as a par 5 (laying up) then do that. Don’t try to make or or birdie. If they happen, and they will, that’s great. But all you are trying to do is make 18 bogies. If that’s your plan and you put some work into your short game and putting, you’ll break 90 in weeks.

[Spooky67]

> @"Carl Spackler3" said:

> Only the guys who are truthful!

 

Agreed. I know it happens to everyone, but it was very unexpected today..lol. I was playing pretty well-for me- and out of the blue I kept having huge blow-up holes. Onward and upward though.

> @2bGood said:

> > @"Carl Spackler3" said:

> > Only the guys who are ~~truthful~~ awful!

>

> Fixed.

>

 

It is what it is.

> @Lefty96 said:

> ^ well that was just mean.

>

> Sure we all have days like that. Everyone has rounds where we go out and have a few blow up holes that completely wreck a round. For me it happens when I’m struggling to control it off the tee. A couple OB’s can turn a potentially acceptable round into something I don’t like. It’s all about perception. Guys who shoot near par have bad days where they shoot 80. Guys who shoot 80 sometimes shoot 90. And guys who shoot in the 90s occasionally shoot in the 100s. It’s common to have a bad round.

>

> Now, if you want to break 90 for the first time you need to do a few things:

> First, work on your short game. Anytime you get up and down is a saved stroke and one step closer.

> Second, only hit your driver on holes where you know you won’t go OB. OB is an automatic double or worse. You need to avoid it.

> Finally, play to make a bogey on every hole. If that means playing each par 4 as a par 5 (laying up) then do that. Don’t try to make or or birdie. If they happen, and they will, that’s great. But all you are trying to do is make 18 bogies. If that’s your plan and you put some work into your short game and putting, you’ll break 90 in weeks.

 

Playing for bogey is great advice. I can get into trouble at times trying to make up for a bad shot with a hero shot tomsave par or keep par in play. 18 bogeys is good advice, thanks.

[HitEmTrue]

Purposefully playing for bogey on every hole will make it harder to break 90. For example, if you purposefully turn a hole that you can reach in two shots into a three shot hole, and then mishit one shot, you now have to scramble just to get a bogey. You will mishit plenty of shots, or you wouldn’t be struggling to break 90.

 

However, you do have to know when to take your medicine. Make a mistake? Punch out safely (no risky-hero-recovery shot) and play for bogey, while still giving yourself a putt for par. And, on difficult holes where there is risk on a particular shot, yes, play safely with bogey as your target score.

[cardoustie]

Work on your short game ... hard. Find any shot that will find fairways off the tee

It will come

(I've had those days fwiw)

[2bGood]

> @"Carl Spackler3" said:

> Only the guys who are ~~truthful~~ awful!

 

Fixed.

> @HitEmTrue said:

> Purposefully playing for bogey on every hole will make it harder to break 90. For example, if you purposefully turn a hole that you can reach in two shots into a three shot hole, and then mishit one shot, you now have to scramble just to get a bogey. You will mishit plenty of shots, or you wouldn’t be struggling to break 90.

>

> However, you do have to know when to take your medicine. Make a mistake? Punch out safely (no risky-hero-recovery shot) and play for bogey, while still giving yourself a putt for par. And, on difficult holes where there is risk on a particular shot, yes, play safely with bogey as your target score.

 

> @Lefty96 said:

> ^ well that was just mean.

 

Yes poor attempt at dark humour. I nailed the dark part though.

 

 

 

[2bGood]

> @HitEmTrue said:

> Purposefully playing for bogey on every hole will make it harder to break 90. For example, if you purposefully turn a hole that you can reach in two shots into a three shot hole, and then mishit one shot, you now have to scramble just to get a bogey. You will mishit plenty of shots, or you wouldn’t be struggling to break 90.

>

> However, you do have to know when to take your medicine. Make a mistake? Punch out safely (no risky-hero-recovery shot) and play for bogey, while still giving yourself a putt for par. And, on difficult holes where there is risk on a particular shot, yes, play safely with bogey as your target score.

 

 

I think it was Bob Rotella that said you should choose conservative shots that you can hit aggressively. Some time that means playing for bogie of the tee, and often means playing for bogie after your drive. Basically no hero shots.

 

 

 

[jbrunk]

Do you own a laser range finder or GPS? For me, breaking 90 was all about distance control (and anticipating the big numbers). If you’re not measuring every shot, yes EVERY shot, then you’re lost. It’s not about one area of your game either. The strokes gained research shows that the difference between any level of scoring is 25% driving, 40% approaches, 15% short game, and 20% putting. You’ll need a little of everything, 2/3 of it full swing, to get there.

Off the tee, measure to the widest part of the fairway and hit the club that takes you there. If you can’t reach it with your driver, move up a tee box. If you’re teeing off with hybrid or fairway wood 1/3 of the time, that’s probably just about right.

On approach shots, measure and aim for the middle of the green. Every time. Pay attention to how far you carry each iron, not carry+roll for total distance. Don’t forget to factor in the wind and elevation.

Practicing short game is a great idea, if not only because it helps improve your consistency of contact. Develop a system with your wedges for chipping and pitching. Something like 7-8-9 o’clock backswings with each wedge gives you such & such carry & roll. Definitely measure out your typical carry on a half-swing with each wedge, and practice hitting that number. The goal is to get from 10-30 yds around the green to inside a 15ft circle from the pin.

For putting, practice ladder drills at various intervals. With four balls on the same line, pace off 3-6-9-12 ft, or 4-8-12-16, 5-10-15-20 etc. Vary the break & slope. The goal is zero three putts inside 30 ft. On the course, pace off putts as well; not just for distance but also to use your feet and balance to read the break and slope.

Even with a consistent approach, you’ll still have a bad shot, bad hole, or bad round. That’s just golf. Use the past to motivate your practice. Otherwise, forget about it. Learn how to quiet your mind of doubts, grind out each moment while anticipating the next.

That’s all I got, good luck to you Spooky!

[Lefty96]

> @HitEmTrue said:

> Purposefully playing for bogey on every hole will make it harder to break 90. For example, if you purposefully turn a hole that you can reach in two shots into a three shot hole, and then mishit one shot, you now have to scramble just to get a bogey. You will mishit plenty of shots, or you wouldn’t be struggling to break 90.

>

> However, you do have to know when to take your medicine. Make a mistake? Punch out safely (no risky-hero-recovery shot) and play for bogey, while still giving yourself a putt for par. And, on difficult holes where there is risk on a particular shot, yes, play safely with bogey as your target score.

 

You and I are thinking the same thing. I may not have worded it correctly. I by no means am saying to lay up on a hole that getting there in two poses no risk. I am saying that finding the way to play each hole where the most likely outcome is no worse than bogey should be the goal.

 

As an example let’s take a short par 4. Let’s imagine this hole isn’t necessarily a tight driving hole, but a driver can put you out of play. Sure, most of the time you can hit driver-wedge without running into an issue, but sometimes you will be out of play and take double. If your goal is to break 90 I would propose a 5 iron off the tee and a 5 iron up near the green to give yourself a chance at an up and down for par. Bogey at worst is all but a given. If you play with that mentality, and take advantage of your easy holes (par 5s by laying up, and your shorter par 3s) then breaking 90 becomes a much easier task. Big numbers put you over 90, bogies don’t.

 

[fbang]

Plus handicap amateurs and pros (with wins) often drop 80s. Golf is hard. You're always gonna have more bad days than good.

The real question is what have you done to your game to make your scores lower? Do you practice more? Do you try to make your technique better? Do you try to play smarter?

 

I know a lot of people that think the scores are just gonna come without changing stuff and often times it doesn't.

[HonestPlayer]

I've had two great rounds this week followed by a horrible round, beaten myself up a bit but it's pointless. I think when I get too worried about my score I play worse. Usually I worry about the score more when I already feel like s*** anyway, already in a bad mood so it's compounded.

 

Remember the only shot that matters in golf is your next shot, can't change the last one. When I remember this I play better.

[andrue]

> You and I are thinking the same thing. I may not have worded it correctly. I by no means am saying to lay up on a hole that getting there in two poses no risk. I am saying that finding the way to play each hole where the most likely outcome is no worse than bogey should be the goal.

 

Got a good example of that [here](https://goo.gl/maps/jhuVV3wWvjWtgD5AA "here"). This is usually the first hole at my club (always is for comps) so players aren't always properly warmed up. Although there's a slight incline away from the tee at 285 yards it's pretty short. However the bunkers are just waiting to catch a typical drive. It's a tight hole with OB left and whilst the grass under the trees on both sides is short you're unlikely to have a shot for the green if you fade or draw.

The sensible play here for most amateurs is a long iron. Something that goes about 170 yards. That will likely leave you on the fairway or at least first cut, short of the bunkers and with a nice wedge onto the green. There's still a lot of players take a driver off the tee though.

[Itsjustagame]

Everybody- including the pros- routinely have 6-7 shot swings from round to round. It's just golf.

[Roody]

Shot 76 this past Friday. Then a 91 yesterday. 15 strokes worse. I went from the swing feeling fantastic to completely out of sync in one day.

 

Yet, I still love this game.

[nsxguy]

> @Spooky67 said:

> The goal this year has been to break 90. Last year I was shooting in the low 100s. Lately I’ve been shooting 95-93 trending towards scoring better, today was one of those days where I can’t tell if things are still getting better or getting worse. Shot a 99 today, not good considering how I had been trending, but I shot a 99 with three 8s and two 7s. The 8s were a quad and two triples, the 7s were a triple and a double. Now on one hand the 8s and 7s were total breakdowns but I’m trying to stay positive and focus on how I played the other holes to keep my score in double digits...? Not sure if breaking 90 will come this year? Any one else have days like this?

 

Have you taken lessons ?

 

If not, do so. If you have, take more.

[MelloYello]

Just play more.

 

If you just want to break 90 once it'll randomly happen and you can move on knowing you did it.

 

On the long run you have to get better at golf. Good players are _good_ mostly because they know where the ball is going. It doesn't mean perfect mechanics or elite club head speed. All you have to do is be able to repeat the same swing. Playing a lot will help ingrain your swing and it'll help you keep your rhythm & timing consistent as well.

 

As others have said, golf scores are somewhat random. Virtually everyone has a few rounds which are disastrously high as well as a few inexplicably low rounds where they were able to avoid serious mistakes for an entire 18 holes or lucked out multiple times getting themselves out of trouble. Truth is, I usually have up and down periods that last weeks. I'll have a really strong 2-3 weeks and then fall off and get down on myself.

 

The trick is to avoid getting emotional. You have to expect it to be tough. You have to anticipate that bad stretches are going to come. Focus on learning something rather than projecting your imagination into the future thinking about what will or won't happen.

[stryper]

> @Lefty96 said:

> > @HitEmTrue said:

> > Purposefully playing for bogey on every hole will make it harder to break 90. For example, if you purposefully turn a hole that you can reach in two shots into a three shot hole, and then mishit one shot, you now have to scramble just to get a bogey. You will mishit plenty of shots, or you wouldn’t be struggling to break 90.

> >

> > However, you do have to know when to take your medicine. Make a mistake? Punch out safely (no risky-hero-recovery shot) and play for bogey, while still giving yourself a putt for par. And, on difficult holes where there is risk on a particular shot, yes, play safely with bogey as your target score.

>

> You and I are thinking the same thing. I may not have worded it correctly. I by no means am saying to lay up on a hole that getting there in two poses no risk. I am saying that finding the way to play each hole where the most likely outcome is no worse than bogey should be the goal.

>

> As an example let’s take a short par 4. Let’s imagine this hole isn’t necessarily a tight driving hole, but a driver can put you out of play. Sure, most of the time you can hit driver-wedge without running into an issue, but sometimes you will be out of play and take double. **If your goal is to break 90 I would propose a 5 iron off the tee and a 5 iron up near the green to give yourself a chance at an up and down for par**. Bogey at worst is all but a given. If you play with that mentality, and take advantage of your easy holes (par 5s by laying up, and your shorter par 3s) then breaking 90 becomes a much easier task. Big numbers put you over 90, bogies don’t.

>

 

A 90-100 shooter is going to have a hard time hitting decent 5i's back-to-back on a regular basis. Even with the occasional OB, driver/wedge is going to result in lower scores in the long run. My suggestion would be to develop a go-to shot with the driver (or FW) that increases the odds of finding the fairway, whether it's teeing it lower or gripping down or whatever, whenever this situation comes up.

[Edward_Majorwin]

Rough weekend!

Began yesterday on fire and was just one over after 5 holes...completely died rest of the way and ended up with 89

Thought today couldn't possibly get worse but just got home after carding a 93

Can't recall one great strike with irons or driver all weekend. S**tshow!!

[RainShadow]

> @Spooky67 said:

> The goal this year has been to break 90. Last year I was shooting in the low 100s. Lately I’ve been shooting 95-93 trending towards scoring better, today was one of those days where I can’t tell if things are still getting better or getting worse. Shot a 99 today, not good considering how I had been trending, but I shot a 99 with three 8s and two 7s. The 8s were a quad and two triples, the 7s were a triple and a double. Now on one hand the 8s and 7s were total breakdowns but I’m trying to stay positive and focus on how I played the other holes to keep my score in double digits...? Not sure if breaking 90 will come this year? Any one else have days like this?

 

It's golf......the devil's game.

I usually score between 77-83 pretty consistently ( 8.5-9.2 index until recently). I shot 90 last weekend w/ 5 doubles.....lost my match to a 14 handicap who played just as poorly.

Lately there have been quite a few 88-90's and I've thought about hanging it up for a bit, but it sucks me back in.

Played yesterday and had an 81 w/ 4 doubles and 34 putts.....nothing went in the hole from more than 3 feet away......

Golf is a fickle mistress.

 

[DavePelz4]

David Duval shot a 59 to win the old Bob Hope Chrysler Champion. Today at the Open Championship he shot 90. A THIRTY ONE shot differential.

[Lord Helmet]

I would split the 18 holes into 6 3hole mini rounds. I would want to keep my 3hole score at 15 or better. After the 3hole mini round is over, forget it. You can start at any number. Im at 12 or 13 now, but I started at 16 or 17, cant recall. By doing this, my focus was narrower and more centered.

 

Hero shots? Forget it. Take medicine.

 

If a hole does not require a driver - dont pull it. Play from the pin pack (yardage). I love to play from 120-140 out. PW or 9i. If I have to use a 5i off the T to get there - then guess what I pull.

 

At your stage, hit the middle of the green. No need to go pin hunting.

 

Practice putting. Allot. Making those knee knocking 5ft putts to save par are all too important. Rinse and repeat, practice putting more.

[Spooky67]

> @stryper said:

> > @Lefty96 said:

> > > @HitEmTrue said:

> > > Purposefully playing for bogey on every hole will make it harder to break 90. For example, if you purposefully turn a hole that you can reach in two shots into a three shot hole, and then mishit one shot, you now have to scramble just to get a bogey. You will mishit plenty of shots, or you wouldn’t be struggling to break 90.

> > >

> > > However, you do have to know when to take your medicine. Make a mistake? Punch out safely (no risky-hero-recovery shot) and play for bogey, while still giving yourself a putt for par. And, on difficult holes where there is risk on a particular shot, yes, play safely with bogey as your target score.

> >

> > You and I are thinking the same thing. I may not have worded it correctly. I by no means am saying to lay up on a hole that getting there in two poses no risk. I am saying that finding the way to play each hole where the most likely outcome is no worse than bogey should be the goal.

> >

> > As an example let’s take a short par 4. Let’s imagine this hole isn’t necessarily a tight driving hole, but a driver can put you out of play. Sure, most of the time you can hit driver-wedge without running into an issue, but sometimes you will be out of play and take double. **If your goal is to break 90 I would propose a 5 iron off the tee and a 5 iron up near the green to give yourself a chance at an up and down for par**. Bogey at worst is all but a given. If you play with that mentality, and take advantage of your easy holes (par 5s by laying up, and your shorter par 3s) then breaking 90 becomes a much easier task. Big numbers put you over 90, bogies don’t.

> >

>

> A 90-100 shooter is going to have a hard time hitting decent 5i's back-to-back on a regular basis. Even with the occasional OB, driver/wedge is going to result in lower scores in the long run. My suggestion would be to develop a go-to shot with the driver (or FW) that increases the odds of finding the fairway, whether it's teeing it lower or gripping down or whatever, whenever this situation comes up.

 

Glad to hear someone mention that iron/iron isn’t the gimmie play people say it is. I can hit driver, 5i, PW into the woods equally well...lol. Driver wedge usually results in better scores for me if I hit the wedge well...lol