turning 72 into 68.

[dxf411]

say i have an arbitrary amount of time per day, three hours shall we say.

 

what is the best way to distribute these three hours to make the most difference to my scores, when i am already around the par mark?

 

my mother is moving house and two of the three houses in the shortlist are within 200 yards of a golf and country club. ergo, i will have plenty of time on my hands to practice.

 

btw, the club is ~6600 yards par 72, so very standard in terms of length i guess. driver and short iron into most holes. just need to take a few shots off my scores now. my theory is to spend the majority of the time working on <120 yards, but not really too sure on how to spend the time constructively, so any good advice would be greatfully received. perhaps someone could share their practice routine if its good.

 

and also does anyone know what a typical professional does in a days practice? say tigers routine. that would be awesome to know!

[MR MIZUN0]

I would focus 2 hours to 100-120 yards and in. What I was told was to just try and put all of those shots from 100-120 and in within 10 feet every shot, eventually you will get pretty close. The other hour would go to the long game (driver, woods, long irons). If you have extra time you should do the Phil putting drill.

BY the way, to make a birdie, you need to make a putt, so really try to focus on that too.

[peat24]

depends on how your ball striking is. i would go 2 hours on 50 yards and in, and the rest on the other stuff. there has been a lot of talk on this board about putting, and if you look at a score card, it is the majority of your strokes.

 

i am a teacher and spent the majority of my summer off hitting balls when in fact i should have been chipping and putting. i just started to hone putting and that has saved my golf game as such. i can hit right, WAY right, chip out, hit the green and still make par--because of putting.

 

putt baby putt.

[dxf411]

what exactly is the phil putting drill?

is that simply surrounding the hole with loads of balls?

[ccpgolf]

 

Phils putting drill

[emc]

Do Par 18 for an hour evey day. This is 9 locations around the green, short and long chip and run, pitch, uphill, downhill, sidehill, bunker shot, flop shot and 50 yard pitch. Every location has a par of 2. These are the 9 most common shots you;ll have when you miss a green. If you're shooting around par, you already make 2 or 3 birds a round so if you can limit the bogeys to max 2 in a decent round, you'll have a better chance. Also, if the course is 6,600 yards, make sure you have a drive that you can put in play about 240ish 9/10 times.

[dxf411]

i fly 3 wood 255 and a driver 270-280. i do however have a very impressive push cut which will jump out once or twice a round when im trying to hit a draw which proves problematic. therefore i have loads of approaches into greens in the region of 80-150 yards. i figure if i can get the driver going as an arrow just then get the short shots hot and the numbers should tumble.

[cg460]

I think that almost all practice should consist of just driver, wedges, and putter. Thats pretty much %75 of a typical round of golf, and then with any left over time you have or if you start to get REALLY bord working on these things, then work on the irons. Most of the work obviously should be with the putter though.

[KC21Balla]

wow! i was in your exact shoes about 2 years ago. i think the biggest thing you need to do is work with your head. as well as short game. i would practice alot of putting chipping and <50 yds. the biggest thing that helped me was playing smart. if i can put myself in that 120-180 range with a 3 wood or 2iron i will take that over my driver because you can still be on the green in two and have a putt at it. also i would really focus on hitting your clubs different distances. alot of times i will be at 110 and say i can smash a 54 deg there if i get it all. now i think alright 1/2 swing with a pitching wedge or 9 iron. i dunno if this will help you at all but it helped me get unstuck from that even par spot i was at.

[greenmachine0227]

also i would really focus on hitting your clubs different distances.

 

Hit the nail on the head right there. I can't tell you how much my scores dropped once I figured that out, especially since I'm not known as one of the straightest drivers of the golf ball. Our range has flags at 75 yards, 125 yards, 150 yards and a large tree on the side of the range at 160. This summer, I worked on hitting balls with a 7 iron to all of the targets, focusing heavily on the trajectory and shot shape. A couple weeks after I started with this drill I played in a tournement, and even though I only hit 3 fairways all day, I was able to hit most of those punch shots from the trees onto the green and saved enough pars to shoot 76. Being able to escape from your misses will save you a lot of strokes.

 

 

 

Well........that and putting well. :drinks:

[gentles]

I would also look at getting a new driver, cause the Gbb+ is gonna be illegal at the end of the year. Its a shame, as it was one of my favourite callaway heads.

[dxf411]

yeah i got that driver on the cheap as well. paid £50 for it brand new. its superb, moves the ball both ways, fairly long, all with the crappy callaway shaft in it.

 

what would be a good replacement driver? i dont mind anything that isnt as manouverable, but it has to be a driver that doesnt sit closed. i just cant stand the way they look!

 

so ideally, something that sits square, maybe even a touch open, with a nice sweet spot on it! any ideas anyone?? is anybody flogging any drivers that would fit that description?

[Ditty_72]

How about a Titleist 907 D2? Or any kind of Taylormade TP driver, but I'd recommend the D2 before any Taylormade.

[gentles]

If youre looking for cheap, Id say a 905 driver from Titleist. The T is most definately workable, and the R will offer a bit of forgiveness.

[emc]

I second the 905T, great club, coming from the GBB2 you'll probably find it quite forgiving but still really workable and you'll get it for a steal

[Adam Brewer]

two and a half words for you:

Stack & Tilt.

[beachgrovejunior]

two and a half words for you:

Stack & Tilt.

:russian_roulette: I am quite sure that stack and tilt will not take 4 shots off my game, along with most other people, just because some pros are doing it and playing well this week, and youve only read about it in golf digest, it will not turn a 72 into a 68

[Adam Brewer]

i just got back from my first lesson.

i originally went to get measured to see if a standard off the rack set would work, but then he wanted me to hit a "few shots". those 'few shots" eventually turned into an hour, but along the way, he taught me S&T.

before today, i struggled to get 200 yrds out of a 3 wood. but after that hour, i was hitting a 5 iron as far as 180 yrds, averaging about 150-170.

S&T works. you just have to believe that it does.

[beachgrovejunior]

i just got back from my first lesson.

i originally went to get measured to see if a standard off the rack set would work, but then he wanted me to hit a "few shots". those 'few shots" eventually turned into an hour, but along the way, he taught me S&T.

before today, i struggled to get 200 yrds out of a 3 wood. but after that hour, i was hitting a 5 iron as far as 180 yrds, averaging about 150-170.

S&T works. you just have to believe that it does.

 

I worry about things like this, you go for an iron fitting and you get taught stack and tilt, does he know P&B?

[Adam Brewer]

P&B?

never heard of it.

[beachgrovejunior]

Andy plummer and Mike Bennett, they are the two guys who are the "gurus" of stack and tilt to badds, weir etc. some of the guys who actually know alot about stack and tilt know plummer and bennett

[VAgolfer]

TGW and golfsmith just lowered the price of the sumo to 200 and is about 170 with the labor day sale

[Adam Brewer]

no, he's just a 77 year old guy by the name of Art Jones that likes to teach the game to young people.

and as if to prove his commitment to his pledge, he didn't charge me a dime.

[dxf411]

im sceptical of stack & tilt.

not many top pros use it. baddeley does yes. but mike wei is about the only other top one and his game has (relatively) fallen apart this year.

[mumf91]

AP and MB and aren't the real gurus of stack and tilt. All there information was learned for Mac O'Grady. Mac is to crazy to ever keep a student for long though.

[JKB]

Do what Tiger does: Try to make your weakness your strength

[Adam Brewer]

i'm not saying that S&T will fix all of your problems.

all i am saying that it is at least worth a try.

for a hacker like me, it did wonders just after an hour and i can't wait until i get out to the range and get it consistent.

[beachgrovejunior]

AP and MB and aren't the real gurus of stack and tilt. All there information was learned for Mac O'Grady. Mac is to crazy to ever keep a student for long though.

 

I was also going to add that in but decided to leave it at P&B, my bad

[GolfMN]

Learn to hit different clubs different distances, after you work on sticking the 125 and in shots close to the hole. I hear a lot of people saying that one of the things you can do at a higher level is to learn to hit a given shot with more than a couple clubs. I've only played around with it my wedges, but I suck so ignore that. You can always putt...

[PreppySlapCut]

i'm not saying that S&T will fix all of your problems.

all i am saying that it is at least worth a try.

for a hacker like me, it did wonders just after an hour and i can't wait until i get out to the range and get it consistent.

Right, but the issue comes with him not being a hacker. He hits the ball fine, hense his ability to shoot aorund par consistantly.