Higher handicap getting serious. Any advice?

[Pepperturbo]

On 6/10/2021 at 7:20 PM, Kevin P said:

Plan on moving on to shaping shots once my ball striking gets better.

It's good to have golf goals, but don't get ahead of yourself.  Golfwrx can do that to people. Lol 

 

If a high handicap, you have a long ways to go before you're shaping shots.  A lot of single digit players think and talk as if they can shape shots, but it's seldom the case.  I've played with guys and against guys that thought they were working the ball, when they'd hit a fade/slice. 😛

 

Key is to learn to hit the ball straight, control your distances and keep dispersion to a minimum and work on course management.  From the tee, identify what the designer has in mind when playing each hole.  Take your time, be patient, and you may surprise yourself.

[LukeDonaldsTiger]

Regarding shot shaping, I find it very beneficial to learn a reliable punch shot, to get out of the trees or stay under low hanging branches.

Obviously, chip out sideways when you can, but sometimes that’s a shot you need and it’s 100x more important than left-to-right or the opposite shot shape. 
 

Generally speaking, I’m finding that clubbing up really takes off the pressure to hit it perfectly to get the desired yardage, which in turn loosens up my swing and I make better contact. Hitting greens has been a major factor in my improvement. 
 

I‘m a 19 hcp and have moved on from mid/high 90s scores to regularly breaking 90. 

[xmanhockey7]

Take lessons with a good instructor. Practice what you learn and make your practice efficient. There are plenty of games that can be done. Play often. Do all 3 consistently. If you can track progress (not just score) even better. 

[glk]

I recommend getting Tyler Ferrell stock tour swing.    

[Kevin P]

On 6/11/2021 at 1:12 AM, HackDaddy360 said:

This is good advice. 
 

Also, learn to love practicing putting.  
 

And then go practice putting a lot.  

Alright so play alot and practice putting. I haven't practiced putting very much I will have to include that/ find a good place to practice.

[Kevin P]

3 hours ago, xmanhockey7 said:

Take lessons with a good instructor. Practice what you learn and make your practice efficient. There are plenty of games that can be done. Play often. Do all 3 consistently. If you can track progress (not just score) even better. 

I am unsure how to track progress at this point. have the instructor and lots of practice thing going for me. I am working on honing in my practice techniques and routines.

[Kevin P]

3 hours ago, glk said:

I recommend getting Tyler Ferrell stock tour swing.    

I'll look into this, thanks!

[Kevin P]

4 hours ago, LukeDonaldsTiger said:

Regarding shot shaping, I find it very beneficial to learn a reliable punch shot, to get out of the trees or stay under low hanging branches.

Obviously, chip out sideways when you can, but sometimes that’s a shot you need and it’s 100x more important than left-to-right or the opposite shot shape. 
 

Generally speaking, I’m finding that clubbing up really takes off the pressure to hit it perfectly to get the desired yardage, which in turn loosens up my swing and I make better contact. Hitting greens has been a major factor in my improvement. 
 

I‘m a 19 hcp and have moved on from mid/high 90s scores to regularly breaking 90. 

Yea it sounds like I will avoid shaping shots for now and work on ball flight. My instructor agrees that is the right course. I have never gone with the one club up play, personally I've always loved full swings so I'm not sure that would work for me. Thank you and keep grinding!

[jordan2240]

No idea, but if any of the advice you get works, pass it on to me.

[Kevin P]

4 hours ago, Pepperturbo said:

It's good to have golf goals, but don't get ahead of yourself.  Golfwrx can do that to people. Lol 

 

If a high handicap, you have a long ways to go before you're shaping shots.  A lot of single digit players think and talk as if they can shape shots, but it's seldom the case.  I've played with guys and against guys that thought they were working the ball, when they'd hit a fade/slice. 😛

 

Key is to learn to hit the ball straight, control your distances and keep dispersion to a minimum and work on course management.  From the tee, identify what the designer has in mind when playing each hole.  Take your time, be patient, and you may surprise yourself.

I do love understanding a course. Yea wrx may have gotten to me! Had this membership for a week and bought blades lol. I am going to work more on shot dispersion and ball flight for now. You guys are awesome, stay grinding.

[Kevin P]

On 6/11/2021 at 10:27 AM, bcski said:

Practice DOES NOT make perfect.

 

PERFECT PRACTICE makes PERFECT

This might be the best advice right here. Looking into ways to make sure I am practicing the right things.

[Kevin P]

On 6/11/2021 at 10:31 AM, jomatty said:

I would not personally worry very much about shaping shots until you are at least a single digit.  I would focus much more on finding a consistent stock shot shape.  In my humble opinion, unless you get to be a plus handicap, having a stock shot shape that you use over 90% of the time will lead to lower scores than trying to shape shots throughout the round.  Learning how to flight the ball is more important, and falls under the category of shaping, but hitting a draw or fade on command is over rated for all but the best ball strikers.  Other advice, of the same type, is to develop a shot pattern where you have a consistent miss, rather than a two way miss.  If you can develop this it is so much easier to get around the course.  
you can’t work enough on shots 50 yards and in.  Pitching, chipping and putting.  When I play with high handicappers they miss the green by 30 yards and end up missing again and making a bogey.  The good players are getting these up and down fairly often for par, and almost never duffing or skulling the pitch and making double.  If you can get to the point where you are very rarely turning these situations into a double and are regularly saving par, it really keeps you in rounds.  
The other thing that can really lower your scores easily is to learn to manage the course.  Learn where to miss and when to attack the pins and when to hit safer shots towards the center of the green.  Think about the around the green and the green topography.  Think of the consequences, good and bad, of different shots.  In general I try to be aggressive off the tee and a little more conservative into many greens.  Don’t miss the green in places that will leave you a near impossible up and down.  
good luck!

I will take this advice to heart. pitching and chipping has always been a strong suite of mine I generally lose strokes on putting and driving. Although you all have me thinking, my goal with those shorter to mid range shots has always been to get on the green. When chipping I try to pin seek. Think its time to change my mentality when shooting 15-60 yards away from the pin. This would have never crossed my mind as its been my approach for years and have been semi successful with that approach. Used to be happy getting on the green then I became satisfied with it and 3-4 putt. Thanks for the tip!

[sshadow2]

Find a place where you can practice chipping, pitching out of various grass lies, and bunker shots out various sand lies.

 

In my area, I had to become a member of a golf club to use their facilities. A low tier short game area only member but still.

[HackDaddy360]

2 hours ago, Kevin P said:

Alright so play alot and practice putting. I haven't practiced putting very much I will have to include that/ find a good place to practice.

If you’re trying to get better, a better short game will help a bunch - and being a good putter takes a lot of pressure off the rest of the game. 
 

If you’re already a decent ball striker, you’re close to playing very well.  Excellent putting is the key to that next step. 100%. 

[LukeDonaldsTiger]

7 hours ago, Kevin P said:

I have never gone with the one club up play, personally I've always loved full swings so I'm not sure that would work for me. Thank you and keep grinding!

To clarify this part, if you have, say, a 155 shot and your 8i goes 155 on a perfect strike, hit your 7i with a relaxed, full swing, instead of hammering your 8i. Better contact and spin control.

Us amateurs have a tendency to judge club selection by our perfect, 2 out ouf 10, driving-range-off-a-mat yardage, which makes no sense. 
 

Another good one I learned here: if you use a range finder and have a GPS that gives you front/middle/back distances, shoot the flag and split the difference between flag and back of the green. Shoot for that distance. 
Obviously, this depends on green shape and hazard positions around the green, but it’s another way of judging distance a little more conservatively and works for me. 

Edited June 13, 2021 by LukeDonaldsTiger

[glk]

12 hours ago, Kevin P said:

This might be the best advice right here. Looking into ways to make sure I am practicing the right things.

How one practices can make a huge difference     Game Like Training is an excellent resource.    Attached a snippet of Iain Highfield's book and link to the youtube.   also on instagram etc.

 

sample of their training

 

 

 

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPvGlDhU2r1KbJUP2H__MVQ

 

How_to_practice_golf_-_Download_.pdf

[oscar10]

18 hours ago, glk said:

I recommend getting Tyler Ferrell stock tour swing.    

+1 Great book

[xmanhockey7]

22 hours ago, Kevin P said:

I am unsure how to track progress at this point. have the instructor and lots of practice thing going for me. I am working on honing in my practice techniques and routines.

Check out Golf Metrics app. Will let you keep detailed stats. 

[Kevin P]

1 hour ago, xmanhockey7 said:

Check out Golf Metrics app. Will let you keep detailed stats. 

Downloaded I’ll check it out.

[dubbelbogey]

I'm 100% with those above who posted that shaping shots in actual rounds of golf is highly overrated. There's a good number of top-level pros (DJ and Morikawa come to mind) who really stick to their primary shape the vast majority of the time. Even to the point of sticking to their stock fades on dogleg left holes. (As one who does the same, I admit it's somewhat gratifying to see this.)

 

That said, I think it can be a valuable learning exercise to know what sort of strike leads to different shapes. The most valuable thing a golfer can learn is how to deliver the center of the clubface to the ball as reliably as possible. Teaching your hands and body how to do that in different ways will help improve your ability to so with your stock swing. Don't get me wrong, I don't think it's useful to spend the majority of your practice time hitting fades and draws on purpose, but it can be a useful drill. To me, it's similar to hitting softer shots, harder shots, low shots and high shots. If you can hit those shots with some degree of success, your regular shots should be that much simpler to execute.

 

Sure, hitting that slinging hook or sweeping slice to get out of trouble is a lot of fun, but from a scoring perspective, not a high percentage play. Almost always better to pitch out, take your medicine and move on. But in a non-competitive practice round, it is definitely fun!

 

 

[Kdaniel72]

I would focus my practice on Driver, 7i, SW and Putter. Only chip with one club and leave the 60* at home. Hitting off mats only helps your driver.....all the other clubs you need real grass. Almost every club out there will let you putt and chip for free (at least public course’s) so put the SW and putter in your trunk!