From a 6,5 to a 3... Gunna be hard eh?

[Sluggo42]

I'm guessing there is a similar difference From a 6 to a 3 as there is to move from a 20 to a ten. Or is it even tougher?

[Rickles]

I am currently around a 1 and have been as good as plus 2. I don't know how much time it will take but I can tell you what to work on to help make it happen. If you are already a 6 you probably already have the skills with ball striking, chipping, and putting to be scratch. Now it is the little things. What it will take to move down to a low single digit is focus, good course management and lots of short game practice (chipping and putting). The difference at your level is usually avoiding mistakes, making a couple more putts and getting up and down a couple more times.

 

1. For focus, check out RPJ III's thread on here about the mental game. Get a pre-shot routine, always visualize your shots, be very specific with your targets and get fully committed before you hit every shot.

 

2. For course management eliminate mistakes. You should never hit out of bounds or have other dumb penalties. Always know where to miss and never hit a club that you aren't confident in. Play to your strengths and give yourself short shot yardages you like. Develop a game plan for the courses you play and stick to it.

 

3. For short Game: Practice your short putts religiously. The 3 and 4 foot circle drill is your friend. Do it until three footers feel automatic and you almost never miss inside 5 feet. Then find a drill to work on dialing in your speed on mid range putts. I like Dave Pelz's drill where you find a whole and mark off two 15 foot putts, one straight uphill, one straight downhill. You get three balls and have to do 10 straight putts 3 up, 3 down, 3 up, 1 down. If you miss the ball has to finish even with the cup to 3 feet past the hole. If you leave one short or more than 3 feet past you start over. When you can do 10 in a row you will have really good distance control.

For around the green work on your weaknesses: Dave Pelz again has test you can take for all your shots inside of 100 yards. I'm sure you can find it online. Take the test a couple of times and you will know what your weaknesses are. For me it is bunker play and flop shots. I am good at 15 yard pitch shots, bump and runs and ok at distance wedge. So I spend more time practicing sand and lobs and distance wedges and just practice the other stuff a little bit.

It goes without saying, that on every short shot, chip, pitch, or putt, you will go through your routine on every shot. If you do not feel like you can completely focus and go through your routine while practicing or if you start getting bored, don't practice!

 

I know that was a lot, but I know that if you work hard you can be scratch or better, forget being a 3. Also, I would forget about how long it's going to take. Just set up a solid practice regimen, work hard, and remember the joy is in the striving. I personally think it is just as much fun to spend a couple hours on focused practice as it is to play.

[JBones]

I don't think it's that hard. I've went from a 6 to a 3.1 in a short amount of time. I am hitting more fairways, which has lead to approaches that are a little closer to the pin. Honestly though, I've just been making a few more putts at 3.1 than I was at 6. I have been working with MGS_MBP on my putting, as he is a putting guru, and I have went from averaging about 34-36 putts per round, down to about 28-31 per round and it's getting better every day. I've also upped my mental/management game; I will play 20yds out into the right rough to not even flirt with trouble left and vice versa.

[Kor.A.Door]

Focused Practice. I could use some of that.

One thing I always have a problem with on the course is what the guy said in the movie 'the Last Samuria"

"Too Many Mind". I can't get my mind out of the way. Therefore I think too much, I know there has to be a thought process, but for me there is a line in there that I cannot seem to stay in front of, and when I cross it, the round is over because it mulrtiplies on itself.

[Tyk]

To add to the good posts from Rickles and JBones, I would say that "hard" is not the right word for it. Going from a mid single digit to a low single digit is a completely different thing than going from a 20 to a 10.

 

Going from a 20 to a 10 is in some ways about the big things, fixing glaring swing flaws, learning your distances, shaving off some 3 putts, losing fewer balls and some general improved course management, stuff like that. It isn't easy, it's just a different phase of improvement for most golfers.

 

To get to a 6, you've pretty much figured out and corrected the low hanging fruit. Being in the same place as you (I bounce around between a 4 and 7, although I'm bouncing less lately) improving the handicap really comes down to consistency, course management, and the mental game. It's about knowing when to save bogey; when to play away from the pin and when to attack it; knowing when to lay up, and knowing where to lay up to! It's alot about seeing the course better and playing to your strength. Little things like "ok, I'm going to lay up, it's down wind the pin is tucked left, I like 120 but with the wind I want to be 130 and I want to be on the right to give me a better angle into the green to give me an opportunity to knock it close. . " and then if you fail to do that, knowing to play to the center of the green and be happy with a 25' birdie putt or an easy 2 putt par.

 

For me, the biggest difference in my game between being a high single digit and a mid/low is ball striking and distance control with my irons (if this is an issue for you, get a Tour Striker!). I hit alot more greens, and I hit them in better places, which improves the putting stats without actually improving the putting. My next goal is to improve the driver and see if I can find a way to reduce the "big miss" and work on the putter. I don't 3 putt much, but I don't feel like I make enough of the 5-12 footers.

[Hula Rock]

SHORT GAME, SHORT GAME, SHORT GAME !!!!! I go to the course with just my wedges and putter and practice for at least a couple of hours, Dropped from a 7 to a 4.5 in little over a month.

[Sluggo42]

Wow, that is some fantastic advice you guys!

I'm streaky I guess, I'll go 3-4 holes clean, then I read a text from the wife and then blow a shot.

Concentration is probably a weak point.

Course management, as well. I also need to quit taking the crazy 230 over the water to try to catch a corner of the green shot too.

 

And putting... 33-36 ppr , isn't good enough....

 

Overall, concentration, course management, putting

 

PRACTICE

 

AWESOME TIPS GUYs!! Thanks!

[Sluggo42]

Shot +2 today, thanks on course management, and concentrating more. 30 putts.

Was -1 thru 11. Back to back bogs then clean to 18. Blocked into some rough and clanked out to a bog.

 

Thinking out each shot,playing smart, and nothing stupid. Also a 3- wood shooting laser beams helped...

[apprenti23]

I have a 52 year old korean male student who went from a 7.5 to a 2.5 last year in about four and a half months. Serious SWOT analysis, followed by one lesson a week, and a million balls. Other than a few swing flaws, his main issue was inside 125 yards including half, three quarter, and full shots, chip and pitch shots, and putts inside ten feet. Lots of beating seeds on the range at targets every ten yards, lots of on course work, it was fun. This year he wants to get to scratch and we're starting up again in about a week and half. All winter he was given some drills to work on in the off season and included a workout regimen to maintain flexibility and work on enhancing core strength and balance.

 

You can do it! Golfs such a great game in that as long as you know what you're doing, you'll get out of it exactly what you put into it!

 

Keep up the good work!

[sparnar]

Great posts, guys.

 

Makes me want to go practice!

 

All the best, Sluggo!

[JMiller]

I have to agree with everyone that has posted before me that has made comments about the short game / putting being the difference and course management.

 

Gery Player on a playing lesson on golf channel recently said "You take a 15 handicap and have Tiger Woods hit the first 2 shots into par4s / par5s then have them take over they would be a 13handicap, you take that same 15 handicap have them hit the first 2 shots then have Tiger Woods take over they would be a 3 handicap".

 

I have attached the wake forest practice routine, I found it awhile back on "the other site" wake_forest_practice.pdf

 

 

I use a drill given to me by Bruce Rearick (Burnt Edges Consulting) at putting "guru" called the coin drill. This drill is done by putting a small coin like a dime down on the green 18" in front of the ball then rolling the ball over that coin with different length strokes and the same tempo. It has worked great for me to find my speed, I take the target completely out of play make 5 putts with different length strokes and look at what my resulting distance happens to be. I try to determine speed of the greens in this manner so that when I visually look at greens / targets I can relate it back to feel / length of stroke from this coin drill.

 

I'm not implying that distance is less important then direction in putting, you need both to hole a putt. If you are trying to develop a consistent method, I have tried a lot of things and found that the coin drill works really well. If you start missing the coin one direction or the other on a regular basis maybe there is an issue in your putting stroke or an issue with the putter design for your method?

 

As for short game focus on shots inside 150 yards, whatever clubs you hit to that distance.

~ 0" choke with all clubs at 1/2, 3/4, full swings

~ 1" choke with all clubs at 1/2, 3/4, full swings

~ 2" choke down all clubs at 1/2, 3/4, full swings

~ 3" choke down all clubs at 1/2, 3/4. full swings

 

You might find that 3" choke on a 56* goes same distance as a 60* with 0" choke this gets into controlling spin / trajectory more. If you hit a lower shot it might not fly as far but releases more, if you hit a higher shot it might fly further and stop where it hits. You can really fine tune your distances on your scoring clubs when you get to the pint of knowing stock distances of the above suggestion then starting to control trajectory using the same amounts of choke and swing length.

 

Anyways, just thought I would toss out some ideas, I know with patience and hard work you can get there, just don't force the issue and make silly mistakes. Honestly your biggest asset in golf is patience and your mind.

 

EDIT

I had forgotten about some of the silly things that I used to do in college to make practicing fun.

 

~ 18 shots from various lenghs, lies, etc around the green then putt out the results. This would be to simulate missing 100% of the GIR in a round, I keep track of how many I saved and failed I would be after 18 times. If I save all 18 that's Par, up and two putt bogey, double pitches + 1 putt bogey, double pitches + 2 putts double bogey, etc.

 

~ 18 putts from around the green with 6 short, 6 medium, 6 long ranges to simulate various length birdie putts, again keep track of your score to par 1 putt = birdie, 2 putts = par, 3 putts bogey, etc.

 

I also totally forgot to mention course management after briefly skipping over it in my first sentence. I think JBones, Rickles covered it perfectly. It's common sense really "keep it in play, eliminate the places on the course where you don't want to be."

[Sluggo42]

I think for me at least, course management was equally important. A few examples would be things like teeing off with a 3-wood instead of the driver on a super narrow par 5. The 3 wood is short of the water on the left and the traps on the right that the driver usually finds. Another 3-wood and you have a short chip for a birds try, par at worst.

Another skinny hole I tee off with a 5 iron to give me 150 in. Avoid water on right and trees on left.

 

Avoiding trouble with the driver flat saves strokes, and gives you chances to land your second shot in a birdie situation

 

That to me was perhaps the best advice you guys gave me in this thread. Sure practice, practice, practice.... But understanding your game and playing smart golf is a true stroke saver... I used it seriously yesterday and shot my best game of my " comeback" after a ten year layoff...

 

Thanks agin guys!

[Sluggo42]

I might also add, it's not as fulfilling as lacing a 280 yard baby draw down the center of a 20 yard wide fairway, but putting for birdie sure beats hitting 3 off the tee again.

 

Ego checking at the door I think is a concept that also can be included into course management...