Any single digit handicaps ever see step change improvement immediately after making a change?

[thejazzmarauder]

I've been stuck in the upper 70s for a decade (b/w 76 and 80 almost without exception). I recently made two changes (flatter backswing + claw grip putting) and saw immediate improvement, which translated to the course. I've had a chance to break par in four straight rounds (it still feels surreal). 

 

I imagine there are others out there with similar stories; what'd you change?

[AndrewPlunkettPGA]

1 hour ago, thejazzmarauder said:

I've been stuck in the upper 70s for a decade (b/w 76 and 80 almost without exception). I recently made two changes (flatter backswing + claw grip putting) and saw immediate improvement, which translated to the course. I've had a chance to break par in four straight rounds (it still feels surreal). 

 

I imagine there are others out there with similar stories; what'd you change?

Amazing progress, well done! Taking out driver more often and having the confidence to get further down the hole helped me a ton!

[ZacR88]

Yes definitely. As you get better you will always be tinkering and trying new ways to find that shot shape, control, consistency, etc. 
 

I truly believe you should follow what works in that sense. Keep building on it and layering it. Creates depth in your swing which in turn gives you more consistency. 
 

Unless it’s breaking fundamentals to an extreme , obviously for some that works. 

 

 

[puttnforthe8]

I had 2 of these:

 

I took a putting lesson with James Jankowski and saw a significant putting improvement.

 

I took a swing lesson, irons, and he picked out one item for me that made a huge improvement.  

 

Combined I went from a 6-7 to a 3 over the last 1.5 years since the putting lesson and 8 months since the irons lesson.

[bladehunter]

Oh yea.  Spent an entire winter building a conventional putting stroke.  Huge gains.  Huge. Spent 2020 going from a hard fade back to my natural draw , this year I’m down to a +1 handicap ( 1 shot lower than I’d ever been ) and picked up in the neighborhood of 30 yards on driver best vs best with the swing change.  That change was necessitated by an elbow injury.  The steeper , hold on fade just hurts to hit every shot .  I’m healed up now. But I don’t want to go back. I understand the swing better now and that’s why I gained distance etc. I’m hitting it square with the same speed.  I reallly don’t play a big draw either. It’s more like a straight ball that falls left.  

[SNIPERBBB]

Aimpoint express has probably been my biggest boost. 

[liquorandpoker]

After 15 years of trying to focus on my body and ignoring my hands I switched to Malaska methods.

 

I use my hands to direct the club's momentum from the top, and then feel like my body is along for the ride to the finish.  Dropped about 6 from handicap in roughly 4 months.  Broke par for first time.  Just easier to hit good shots and tougher to hit off the planet misses.

[liquorandpoker]

For reference to above post:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3l8PZX6-EY

[phizzy30]

3 hours ago, bladehunter said:

Oh yea.  Spent an entire winter building a conventional putting stroke.  Huge gains.  Huge. Spent 2020 going from a hard fade back to my natural draw , this year I’m down to a +1 handicap ( 1 shot lower than I’d ever been ) and picked up in the neighborhood of 30 yards on driver best vs best with the swing change.  That change was necessitated by an elbow injury.  The steeper , hold on fade just hurts to hit every shot .  I’m healed up now. But I don’t want to go back. I understand the swing better now and that’s why I gained distance etc. I’m hitting it square with the same speed.  I reallly don’t play a big draw either. It’s more like a straight ball that falls left.  

I'm essentially doing the opposite of you.  Always played a big draw but now working on hitting a baby fade.  It's hit or miss for me atm.  Patrick Reed is also doing the same it seems and he's obviously a work in progress.  He did win down in San Diego earlier this year if I remember correctly but he's been struggling ever since.  I know a lot of the elite guys who've played the draw as their natural shot have been going to the fade ie. Spieth, DJ, etc.  Bryson is the only one I can think of that has stuck to his draw.  I think I will learn how to hit the fade on command but only use it when I absolutely have to.  My only problem with this is that when my swing is off, I tend to hit duckies all day.  We all know you can talk to a fade but a hook won't listen.  -Lee Trevino. 

Edited August 17, 2021 by phizzy30

[bladehunter]

3 hours ago, phizzy30 said:

I'm essentially doing the opposite of you.  Always played a big draw but now working on hitting a baby fade.  It's hit or miss for me atm.  Patrick Reed is also doing the same it seems and he's obviously a work in progress.  He did win down in San Diego earlier this year if I remember correctly but he's been struggling ever since.  I know a lot of the elite guys who've played the draw as their natural shot have been going to the fade ie. Spieth, DJ, etc.  Bryson is the only one I can think of that has stuck to his draw.  I think I will learn how to hit the fade on command but only use it when I absolutely have to.  My only problem with this is that when my swing is off, I tend to hit duckies all day.  We all know you can talk to a fade but a hook won't listen.  -Lee Trevino. 

Yep. I started playing the game and hit a big hook.  Got mad and changed  it to a hold on fade.  But. A proper fade requires speed and strength to hold the face square while going left.  I was Great at it.  Until the day a sand wedge went into the ground and didn’t come out.  Elbow in immediate pain.  Of course that was a poor swing.  But. It wasn’t that horrible.  I hit ball first and was a good shot , but it was a touch steep. And I paid for it.  
 

I can still fade it on command. But. I’ve enjoyed the added distance of a free release that going through other way provides. But I’m really hitting a very straight ball.  With driver I try to hit it straight.  Sometimes it falls left. A lot of times it barely falls right.  But it’s straight enough that the miss is reallly good.  The only big miss I have with driver is if I get it too far inside going back.  I can hit a big push coming from the way inside.  
 

But I agree. A fade is infinitely easier to control.  You really can’t have a huge miss right. But. It’s because it’s a slightly glancing blow that spins more.  I use it now if I need to take a half club off. I just hit a fade full speed. Bingo. Half club shorter.  And yes. On bad days now I won’t try a fade except with driver.  Because the miss anymore is a big pull of the toe shuts down.  I never had that miss whne I was playing a hard fade only. Alwasy was a wipe right miss. Which really just came up short . 

Edited August 17, 2021 by bladehunter

[dubbelbogey]

The one big step change that brought me down from the high single/low double (10/11) range was going to a fade 100% of the time with the driver.

 

Like those who posted above, I used to hit a draw with the driver. When on, it was great, when off, it sucked - badly. Running low snap hooks OB. Hard blocks over into the trees. Once I learned to hit a consistent fade, the misses, while still there (of course), are infinitely more tolerable. Unplayable and lost balls just don't happen very often anymore. I even hit the fade on doglegs where conventional teaching dictates a draw would be "ideal".  The only time I hit a draw with the driver anymore is when I'm just goofing around, just to prove to myself I can still do it. (I can, but it's not a very good shot anymore.)

 

 

[Valtiel]

On 8/16/2021 at 4:45 PM, thejazzmarauder said:

I've been stuck in the upper 70s for a decade (b/w 76 and 80 almost without exception). I recently made two changes (flatter backswing + claw grip putting) and saw immediate improvement, which translated to the course. I've had a chance to break par in four straight rounds (it still feels surreal). 

 

I imagine there are others out there with similar stories; what'd you change?

Pretty similar move for me recently as well. COVID meant a lot more time studying the swing and my own mental game, which lead to the exact same scenario the next time I played (very good chance to break par, ended up +2). Understanding how and why things go wrong without even swinging a golf club was a big thing for me. 
 

11 hours ago, bladehunter said:

Spent an entire winter building a conventional putting stroke.  Huge gains.  

Same, although not "huge" gains for me, but a definite improvement. 
 

4 hours ago, bladehunter said:

Until the day a sand wedge went into the ground and didn’t come out.  Elbow in immediate pain.  Of course that was a poor swing.  But. It wasn’t that horrible.  I hit ball first and was a good shot , but it was a touch steep. And I paid for it.  
 

Also same, except it was the wrist for me. Hitting wedges too close to the rope line on the range in the grass area and snagged it on the way down, big time wrist tweak that didn't hurt much at the time, but started hurting a bit later that evening. Played a round not too long after with only minor pain, but got a little steep on a wedge approach and dug into what was in hindsight an usually soft spot just off the fairway. Got stuck + immediate pain that took probably 6-8 months to even start feeling normal again, and that was when I was in my 20's. 😬

[Hawkeye77]

11 hours ago, bladehunter said:

Oh yea.  Spent an entire winter building a conventional putting stroke.  Huge gains.  Huge. Spent 2020 going from a hard fade back to my natural draw , this year I’m down to a +1 handicap ( 1 shot lower than I’d ever been ) and picked up in the neighborhood of 30 yards on driver best vs best with the swing change.  That change was necessitated by an elbow injury.  The steeper , hold on fade just hurts to hit every shot .  I’m healed up now. But I don’t want to go back. I understand the swing better now and that’s why I gained distance etc. I’m hitting it square with the same speed.  I reallly don’t play a big draw either. It’s more like a straight ball that falls left.  

Not related to the thread, but very interesting.  I've found that different wrist action in transition and through the ball and not holding on actually makes my post-surgery elbow a lot happier.  Kind of thinking that decades of doing it wrong probably caused the tennis elbow - duh, I guess.

[bladehunter]

43 minutes ago, Hawkeye77 said:

Not related to the thread, but very interesting.  I've found that different wrist action in transition and through the ball and not holding on actually makes my post-surgery elbow a lot happier.  Kind of thinking that decades of doing it wrong probably caused the tennis elbow - duh, I guess.

Yep.  I’m sure.  I think that about me. Not that it was “ wrong “. But that it was much harder on the body.    Kind of like watching Bryson hit full irons.  I don’t think he’s wrong. But.  I do believe his move into the ball looks to me like it’s hard on the body.   Wrists , elbows and back.  Same thing with Lexi Thompson.  Not wrong. But , she makes me hurt to watch.  And I love her as a player.