Why Most Golfers Suck.....

[naval2006]

I may say the article sums up all the stuff you find among high handicappers. I’ve played with guys who are short the whole round due to their poor swing. But what annoys me is the high capper that hits three awful shots in a row and they simply give up trying for the round. It’s like no grit to plot along. Very seldom I bump into a newbie with determination. I become their instant fan. 

 

Great to to hear from you again, Richard. 

 

Alex

Edited August 23, 2020 by naval2006

[SNIPERBBB]

59 minutes ago, naval2006 said:

I may say the article sums up all the stuff you find among high handicappers. I’ve played with guys who are short the whole round due to their poor swing. But what annoys me is the high capper that hits three awful shots in a row and they simply give up trying for the round. It’s like no grit to plot along. Very seldom I bump into a newbie with determination. I become their instant fan. 

 

Great to to hear from you again, Richard. 

 

Alex

That's the evil of non competitive golf.

[Justsomeguy]

I think one that's missing from this list has nothing to do with these arguably mental aspects.

Most amateurs, assuming right handed, have a terrible left to right ball.

There's a ton of extra loft and either an open face or outside in (or both) swing issues.

Bad contact, diminished distance, bad slice, all result from this. If the average bad amateur got rid of this, the rest of it would be easy to fix.

[95124hacker]

Weekend warriors rarely have time to work on their game so their ball striking and touch/feel around the greens never improve. Also I think they play courses/tees too hard for their ability. I’ll put myself in this category. Same swing on a muni course, my misses are playable, but are penalty strokes on a championship type course. Flat muni greens, 3-putts are rare, but on tough courses, pretty common.

[Barfolomew]

Great list

 

I would add lack of confidence.  Feeling nervous over a certain shot vs feeling this aint no thang its just a 30 yarder over a bunker with a nice roll out... and I'm gonna hit a sweet one here

[Obee]

I would add this:

• Lack of Self-Awareness as it Pertains to Golf and Their Golf Game
  • Lack of awareness of just how bad they truly are at certain areas of the game compared to players of similar age/ability/flexibility, etc.
  • Lack of awareness of just how much they could improve individual areas of their games with the right effort in the right areas
  • Lack of awareness of just how much time and energy they would need to put in to improve in those areas

[North Butte]

I hit too many really bad, awful shots. Shots which don't just hook or slice or come up 20 yards short. I'm talking shots that leave me no closer to the hole or even in a worse position than before I hit them. Something like 6-10 of those shots would be a typical round for me. So I'm at about eight over par before we even start talking about the mediocre-to-poor mishits and wasted short-game opportunities.

 

The only way that would change would be a program of regular practice, lessons and improving my physical strength and flexibility. Been there, done that, no thanks. I'll just live with the duffs and foozles. On the plus side, I usually hit several really excellent shots per round and once in a while I'll make a 20-foot putt or chip in from the fringe or something. That's the fun part.

[95124hacker]

But golf looks so easy on TV... !!!  Fairways, greens, 360 feet of made putts...  30 under par!

[chippa13]

On 8/23/2020 at 11:40 AM, QuigleyDU said:

I can tell you why I suck.  Here is a perfect example. I just played 3 rounds of golf over two days. All on courses I had never played. 
 

the first day I played pretty well I was hitting solid shots and could expect a certain outcome. The second to rounds, 36 holes played on the same day but different courses. I had no idea where the ball was going. My swing felt the same but I was not longer making solid contact and I went from hitting draws to fades and big slices. No idea why.. obviously something changed in my swing but I have zero ability to tell you what or why..

Most average Joes play worse on unfamiliar courses. It brings that level of uncertainty that can get players looking up early,  steering shots, and hitting into trouble because they don't know either where it is or where to avoid it. I've found the use of a GPS app and pre-scouting a course map online has done wonders for me in this respect.

[QuigleyDU]

16 minutes ago, chippa13 said:

Most average Joes play worse on unfamiliar courses. It brings that level of uncertainty that can get players looking up early,  steering shots, and hitting into trouble because they don't know either where it is or where to avoid it. I've found the use of a GPS app and pre-scouting a course map online has done wonders for me in this respect.

True. I am sure there was a bit of that here, but I also lost my swing.. I have skycaddie so I can get hole lay out etc. 

[North Butte]

16 hours ago, 95124hacker said:

But golf looks so easy on TV... !!!  Fairways, greens, 360 feet of made putts...  30 under par!

Heck, golf looks easy for at least a couple of random holes during even my worst rounds. I can't decide if that's what makes golf bearable or if it just makes it more annoying.

 

Knock it out there in that wide patch of short grass with my 460cc driver, hit it up somewhere near the hole with my big fat game improvement irons, what could be easier? Then the next hole it's hard as hell again. 

 

 

[rich_s2]

Tale of three high cappers:

 

Brother in law-all arms, no rotation 20hdcp. He plays a round a week and asks me constantly how to improve, I tell him to just try keeping his right arm straighter and rotate more. Always offer to meet him at the range. This has gone on for 5 years, he is exactly the same as he was 5 years ago. Zero improvement.

 

Best friend-all arms, no rotation 20hdcp. He plays one round a week and asks me constantly how to improve. Meets me at the range to work on stuff and seems to get better every time we play. He started playing golf 2 years ago and could not break 70 for 9 holes. I will guess he is single digits late next year or the following. 

 

My Dad-not a bad full swing but short game is atrocious. He chunks 10 shots a round around the green. I tell him to use a PW instead of his 60. This has been going on for 10 years. Never seen him hit a chip with anything other than that 60 lol. 

 

I am no teacher and my game is a hot mess so I encourage my best friend to see a real teacher and when he stalls, I think he will go see Dan or Monte. Most people live the definition of insanity when it comes to golf. All you have to do is go to the range to see people hitting stock shot after stock shot wondering why they don't improve.  

[chippa13]

1 hour ago, rich_s2 said:

Tale of three high cappers:

 

Brother in law-all arms, no rotation 20hdcp. He plays a round a week and asks me constantly how to improve, I tell him to just try keeping his right arm straighter and rotate more. Always offer to meet him at the range. This has gone on for 5 years, he is exactly the same as he was 5 years ago. Zero improvement.

 

Best friend-all arms, no rotation 20hdcp. He plays one round a week and asks me constantly how to improve. Meets me at the range to work on stuff and seems to get better every time we play. He started playing golf 2 years ago and could not break 70 for 9 holes. I will guess he is single digits late next year or the following. 

 

My Dad-not a bad full swing but short game is atrocious. He chunks 10 shots a round around the green. I tell him to use a PW instead of his 60. This has been going on for 10 years. Never seen him hit a chip with anything other than that 60 lol. 

 

I am no teacher and my game is a hot mess so I encourage my best friend to see a real teacher and when he stalls, I think he will go see Dan or Monte. Most people live the definition of insanity when it comes to golf. All you have to do is go to the range to see people hitting stock shot after stock shot wondering why they don't improve.  

I hope he is a lefty.

[rich_s2]

18 minutes ago, chippa13 said:

I hope he is a lefty.

no, he is a righty. All arms, zero rotation because he breaks his right elbow immediately at takeaway. His chest is pointed at the ball at the top of his swing. Left arm across chest. 

[chippa13]

If he doesn't fold his right arm at some point then he'll be coming so far over the top that he'll be lucky to hit the ball.

[rich_s2]

3 minutes ago, chippa13 said:

If he doesn't fold his right arm at some point then he'll be coming so far over the top that he'll be lucky to hit the ball.

I know bud, I know ? You ever Seen Dan's straight arm drill? Thats the direction I was going

Edited August 25, 2020 by rich_s2

[Hawkeye77]

I'll add, and interested in Richard's thoughts because he's usually big on this - no PSR, or at least no consistent and useful PSR.

 

Guilty as charged and not a high handicap, but it seems that is something that would help golfers of all levels and I still struggle to have a useful one on a consistent basis.