How do you get "good" at golf?

[hurley999s]

Fair warning - long post incoming...@WristySwing i just went through the whole thread and you sound similar to me in some ways so I’ll offer what has helped me.
I grew up playing 2-3x a year with friends and family - no instruction or anything. I played other sports through college so I have some athletic ability. 2 years ago I decided to take the game seriously (what else is there in your late 30s?).
What I found out is that my “perception” of the golf swing, and specifically impact, was seriously wrong. Over the last 2 years, I’ve had similar instruction with all the familiar places - local pros, golf tec, YouTube (on my own without fully understanding my flaws), etc. I went through the same frustrations as you because it would be there and then vanish just as quickly.
Ive always had speed - mid summer when I’m grooving it, I’m over 120 with driver. No shot intimidates me - 230 yards out on a par 5? I’ll stand there confidently with a 4i, pick my target, and know I can stick it to inside 30 feet. Sometimes I did (and much closer), and sometimes I’d hit a ground ball to center field, hit it fat, and short 30 yards left or right...I’ve gone out and had many birdies and several eagles on long par 5s (including some tour courses) and then other times I’ve picked up, looking like a 30 cap. The thing is, for me it was nothing mental, never has been - no swing thoughts, pressure, etc ever got to me. It was basic lack of low point and club face control. The times I looked great, my timing was on. The time I wasn’t, I was off. Simple as that. I knew this was no way to play the game (especially with a 2 way miss) So my quest was to mitigate it.
Finally, after a lot of conversation and instruction with folks from here (Monte and Dan), as well as Gankas, my understanding of the swing and my flaws is light years ahead of what it was. So in the last 18 months, I’ve been focusing on the things that help me get a more repeatable swing. Like someone else said above, a perfect swing isn’t necessary, but if you can really dive deep with a knowledgeable instructor and find out what your issues are and work on them, you can get there. Heck I’m not even there yet, but at least I have a plan and am seeing progress.
Im saying all of this because reading the thread, there’s been input about short game vs long game. I felt obliged to chime in because from your name and your comments about frustration with instruction and having a flaw (stall, flip), it’s clear to me this is your big issue. If you understand and can apply the basic fundamentals of the swing, your entire game will improve - long and short.
So find an instructor(s) that you click with, put a good plan in place, and keep working at it. Be open to questioning anything you’ve ever done in your swing and open to change. For me this was big because I could get into good positions in slow motion doing drills, but that last split second before impact, my whole perception of how I should deliver the club to the ball was wrong. And 30+ years of screwing around without instruction really made my way seem natural.
And it’s important to note, this was/is a journey - there wasn’t one epiphany moment where my swing magically transformed. It’s come about with more knowledge of it and practice to ingrain new movements.

[Obee]

Hola!

At 52, my driver clubhead speed is 97. A 62 year old buddy is the same. We are both scratch/below golfers at 7300+ We are both scratch/below golfers at 6,200 (and yes, we've played from both of those distances - in competition, on courses we've never played or only played one practice round). You simply do NOT need high clubhead speed to be below a 5 handicap, and not even to be below scratch. You need repeatable, center-face contact, and no true weaknesses (other than lack of length) if you are going to swing it that slowly, but it's absolutely possible. The woods are actually chock full of senior golfers who are below 5 handicap (and many below scratch) who swing it below 100 mph.

And we're not really talking about "scoring well," because "well" is relative to slope and rating. Always. If I shoot a 72 at my current home course, Victoria Club (6,560, 71.3/129), that's a 0.7 differential, but at my former home course, Bear Creek, from the tips (7,190, 75.9/149), all I need to shoot is 76 for a 0.1 differential. I'm sure you know this, but the original poster may not.

Course rating and slope really do work, for the most part. Now what you will see with most shorter hitters, is that if step back to the tips on a long course that also has a high to very high slope, then their scores will wildly fluctuate. I can still shoot 72 at Bear Creek from the tippy tips (and even a bit lower), but I'm capable of shooting 84 there also in tough conditions -- because of that constant "pressure" on the game that you mentioned. But I don't even SNIFF 84 at Victoria Club. When I play poorly I shoot 75.

Bottom line: If you swing driver 97 mph and are a scratch or below golfer, you probably do pretty much everything else quite well. To me, that should be EVERYONE's goal: No real weaknesses. No shots or situations or pins that make you "uncomfortable" (within reason). :-)

Signing off! :-)

 

[Sean2]

Lol...the irony, if that is the correct word, is that a person doesn't need to be young or athletic to develop a good short game. Being young and athletic is probably a good idea if one wants to hit it 295, :-)

[HackDaddy360]

This is really good advice overall.

 

The lowest I ever got my handicap down to was about +1.6 to +1.8. That was a LONG time ago and I’m trying to get back to + territory.

IMO, the difference between low single digits and plus handis is:

short game is better and you putt better more consistently your mental game is much more dialed in, tough, relaxed and confident. you make 2-3 fewer mental/physical mistakes a round. you consistently capitalize on planned opportunities. Getting 1% better is a phenomenal practice thought - I’ve never heard it. Great advice for someone trying to get better and frames getting better properly.

Helps a person remember that everything is incremental. Nothing happens overnight that’s material or with doing.

[Lincoln_Arcadia]

Driving to the correct fairway is yet another issue. I’d think they could easily take an extra stroke getting back.

But you’re generally correct. More people think they drive 295 while in reality it’s more like 240.

[mhawk709]

Get your golf skills better!

Putting

1. Do you hit your start line every time? Practice by rolling putts down a chalk line or metal yardstick.

2. Does your putting distance dispersion center over the hole? Practice your distance control using Scott Fawcett's 4 coin drill.

Short game

1. Can you land your chips and pitches in the right spot? Use a towel and practice landing on the towel.

2. Can you hit different trajectory pitches and chips? Practice hitting low, medium, and high.

3. Once you have trajectory and landing zone, how far does each club and trajectory roll out when you hit your landing zone?

4. Hit shots all around the green and get up and down or the ball within 5ft.

 

Full swing

1. Strike - where on the club so you strike the ball? Practice hitting the toe, heel, and center. Practice striking ball then ground (towel on ground behind ball)

2. Trajectory - practice hitting the ball low, medium, high.

3. Shot shape - own a shape. Do you know 9/10 of your shirts will curve the intended direction? If so, now focus on the ball landing within a certain distance of your target. Make it harder the more proficient you get.

4. Hit 3 clubs to one distance (ie. regular 8, soft 7, hard 9)

 

Tee shots

1. Develop a fairway finder tee shot. Scott Fawcett recommends at least 70 yards between hazards on your intended landing area. Pick a club and target that maximizes your opportunity to keep the ball in play.

 

It's a lot but all of these things can be scaled more or less difficult depending on your abilities. If it's easy, make it harder. If you can do it 70% or more it's too easy. 30% and less, it's too hard. Keep adjusting and keep learning! We've got a whole life of golf ahead of us to get "good" :)

 

[HackDaddy360]

I disagree with the 70 yard principle entirely and less so the comment about practicing hitting the ball on the toe/heel.

The rest is good advice IMO. And a good reminder for all of us who are low handicaps.

The 70 yard thing just blows me away. If I adopted that I’d never be aggressive and shoot a low a score. I’d shorten that window of comfort to a 10-15 yards.

As I say that, if you’re having trouble keeping the ball in play off the tee I’d say lots of breathing room is fine - but try to get to a much smaller comfort range.

 

[HackDaddy360]

I’m pretty new to the forum here but I get the sense you’re right. Kind of the like “I would have gone pro if it weren’t for xxxxxx” guys in lots of sports.

There’s probably 20 guys at my club who pump it out there as do I. Tour length or more. And that’s no lie. If we need a 5 man home-at-home I’d be really surprised if any of us got ran on off the tee or via club selection.

All of that power doesn’t mean a damned thing though if a lot of other pieces of the puzzle don’t fit together - like putting, short game, recovery shots, etc.

I factually hit the ball a long way - Particularly for a 35 y/o working husband of 1 and father of 2. And, also fact-based it’s an advantage. BUT - if I can’t putt, it doesn’t matter - if I miss greens it doesn’t matter - if I’m a mental mess it doesn’t matter...

Chicks dig the long ball but all c@ck and no balls doesn’t win golf tournaments... if you know what I mean...

Distance for the sake of distance is overhyped and overrated.

 

[NixLix26]

Forget about distance and numbers on a machine. just try and keep it in play and, the most important, practice chips, sand shots, flop shots, putts. short game is what saves scores. My best rounds are always a snooze fest of pars. The rounds i make eagles and birdies i always seem to balance out with explosion holes. weird, but my sub par rounds include a lot of up and downs and a few made putts nothing special. Keeping it in play is always key. Good Luck Dude. This game is hard.

[Toolish]

What is the 4 coin drill?

[mhawk709]

You lay 4 coins on the green separated by a foot each. You'll now have a 3 foot long area total. Starting at 5 feet, putt a ball to stop in the 1st one foot section. Once successful, move back a foot. Continue back to 10ft. Once you are at 10ft, the goal is to stop the ball within the 1st two sections (2ft area). Continue moving back 1ft with each successful attempt to 20ft. From 20-30ft, you are trying to stop within the total 3ft area. Once you get to 30ft, start over.

[mhawk709]

To clarify, trees, rough and bunkers don't qualify as hazards for this point. We're trying to eliminate penalty shots from water hazards, OB, and lost balls. If you've got 70 yds between water/OB, hit driver. If you hit it in the trees, take your medicine and punch out to a safe area. A lot of people end up hitting driver even more often when applying this principle.