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Post by gmbtempe on Apr 2, 2011 12:19:03 GMT -5
When Cloran would post his rounds it sounded like a lot of extra strokes were from around and on the green. Mix in a couple bad tee shots and its not that hard to get to the upper 80's.
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Post by cloran on Apr 2, 2011 12:34:26 GMT -5
I wish I had a good answer for my scoring problems. Short game is poor for sure. I get up and down for par MAYBE once/round.
I played 18 this morning. I'm cutting myself some slack because the greens were just punched and top dressed, it was like 35*, and the wind was gusting over 30 mph... but I threw the score card away at the turn. I went out in 51!!
I've been working on some things with my swing lately. I swear on my life that had anyone watched me on the range yesterday you would have thought I was a scratch player. I was flushing 3 irons, hitting every shot on the screws. Not today.
I'm working on controlling the motion of my centers throughout the swing and I'm slowly getting there... but until I really understand what needs to move, when it needs to move, and how things change with each club; I'm in a bit of a rutt.
I hit some beautiful tee shots today only to chunk the approach shot. I flubbed chips, 4 putted once, and overall just had a very poor day.
I don't think I'm all that far off from being where I really want to be. I'm holding on to that thought with all my might, lol.
Here's an example of how my day went: 9th hole: Dogleg right par 5. Tee ball is perfect, dead center of fairway. I pull the 3 wood and try to knock it up as close to the green as possible... but I also try to account for my "normal" 3 wood miss which is a big fade. So, I aim to a spot along the left side of the fairway. I end up hitting the ball dead straight, and through the fairway. Now I'm in the woods, but have a good lie, and have about 75 yards to the flag. I couldn't go low because there was a bunker between me and the green. I pull the lob wedge and hit it just as I wanted... but about 3 feet too low and the ball clips the very top branch of a tree. It falls straight down into the bunker, plugged. I blast it out of the bunker, but still short of the green. I chip on, but way too hard and the ball is now 15 feet past the hole. I'm left with a downhill putt for bogey... I three putt from there.
I take risks, but I really don't try to get crazy with things. Should I have laid up with an iron instead of hitting the 3 wood? In retrospect, absolutely.
I had glimpses of hope today though, too.
Basically, I'm just not a very good golfer (srs)... and I'm going to bust my ass until I am.
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Post by cloran on Apr 2, 2011 12:50:57 GMT -5
When Cloran would post his rounds it sounded like a lot of extra strokes were from around and on the green. Mix in a couple bad tee shots and its not that hard to get to the upper 80's. That pretty much sums it up... Unfortunately. I don't have anything I can use to "save" a round. It's a struggle from tee to green sometimes, like today. I took my camera with me today. I'll post a few vids in a little bit n
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Post by cloran on Apr 2, 2011 13:40:34 GMT -5
9 iron off tee on par 3. Result: Hit thin, pin high on right fringe:
Driver. Result: Straight-Fade, 260 yards, plugged in center of fairway:
8 iron (this was the result of the previous videos drive). Result: (camera angle a little off. ball position was in center of stance) Thin fade into right greenside bunker.
When I was hitting it so well at the range I had the thought of being fluid. Something I'm trying to rid myself of is the abrupt/crappy transition move I have. It just leads to trouble and is a big part of my inconsistency, imho. My swing gets very short and I struggle with low point control. Yesterday, I was visualizing the slicefixer videos of Spider... and flushing it. I could feel the club load from P4 to P5, and was only thinking of the pivot. I guess I was subconsciously afraid to trust that today because I reverted right back to my old BS.
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Post by rohlio on Apr 2, 2011 14:41:56 GMT -5
Fair enough. I will spare the internet penny ante psychology, I am sure you have heard it all.
You should be aware however that your golf swing is good enough for you to comfortably play at the level of a mid single digit. I applaud your attitude of being bound and determined to be good at something that didn't come easily to you. That is exactly how I made my progress and I think most of us who learned the game as adults could trace a similar progression.
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Post by cloran on Apr 2, 2011 15:31:36 GMT -5
Fair enough. I will spare the internet penny ante psychology, I am sure you have heard it all. You should be aware however that your golf swing is good enough for you to comfortably play at the level of a mid single digit. I applaud your attitude of being bound and determined to be good at something that didn't come easily to you. That is exactly how I made my progress and I think most of us who learned the game as adults could trace a similar progression. Thanks rholio, I try and take something positive from each round, even today's. I just spent two hours in my back yard chipping and pitching. I get into trouble when I try to move my hands into impact. If I keep them passive I have good results. And guess what? It's the exact same thing with my full swing. I need to really work on this. I'd guess that some of my putting problems stem from this same phenomenon.
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Post by gmbtempe on Apr 2, 2011 16:34:31 GMT -5
What did you make on those two holes, should not have been worse than +1?
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Post by Richie3Jack on Apr 2, 2011 20:17:42 GMT -5
My feeling from scoring, from a statistical perspective is that it goes
1) Danger Zone t-2) Driving and Putting 3) Shots around the Green (20 yards and in) 4) all other shots
Of course, that's for the PGA Tour.
For the average amateur, it's a little different. Although it's tough to really get something concrete as to what it is.
Driving is very important...even on the PGA Tour. It's what really holds back Tiger and Phil from time to time. They hit it long, so they avoid the Danger Zone more. But, they also find the woods and trouble more. Tiger and Phil are traditionally very good from the Danger Zone, but if they find the woods, they can't use that skill to their advantage.
For the average amateur, some may be pretty decent from the fairway, even if it's a Danger Zone shot. But, if they hit a really awful drive and go O.B. or in the water or get in the woods, they can't use that skill.
I'd also suggest that the average amateur needs to be sound from 20+ yards away from the green. Their misses on approach shots are likely to get bigger. I don't think they need to get up and down a lot from there because getting up and down from say 40 yards is pretty hard. But, I think they need to consistently find the green and then either 2-putt or 1-putt.
3JACK
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Post by cloran on Apr 2, 2011 22:37:38 GMT -5
What did you make on those two holes, should not have been worse than +1? On the first shot I made a "par." This is a pretty severe downhill par 3. I could only see the very top of the flag, but that's nothing out of the ordinary for this hole. I hit it thin and pushed it a bit, and when I got down to the green I saw that they had actually made a temporary green in front... BS. I continued to play the hole to a mark on the center of the green where you could tell the last cup was cut. Two putts, lol. What would I REALLY have made? Don't know. On the next hole I made a 7... triple bogey. Great drive. 8 iron thin and pushed into right bunker. Shitty dump out of bunker into the rough in front of the green. Chipped it well past the hole onto the back fringe. Three swings with the putter from there. +3. *sigh*
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Post by rohlio on Apr 2, 2011 23:30:36 GMT -5
My feeling from scoring, from a statistical perspective is that it goes 1) Danger Zone t-2) Driving and Putting 3) Shots around the Green (20 yards and in) 4) all other shots Of course, that's for the PGA Tour. For the average amateur, it's a little different. Although it's tough to really get something concrete as to what it is. Driving is very important...even on the PGA Tour. It's what really holds back Tiger and Phil from time to time. They hit it long, so they avoid the Danger Zone more. But, they also find the woods and trouble more. Tiger and Phil are traditionally very good from the Danger Zone, but if they find the woods, they can't use that skill to their advantage. For the average amateur, some may be pretty decent from the fairway, even if it's a Danger Zone shot. But, if they hit a really awful drive and go O.B. or in the water or get in the woods, they can't use that skill. I'd also suggest that the average amateur needs to be sound from 20+ yards away from the green. Their misses on approach shots are likely to get bigger. I don't think they need to get up and down a lot from there because getting up and down from say 40 yards is pretty hard. But, I think they need to consistently find the green and then either 2-putt or 1-putt. 3JACK If I could give one key to people trying to learn to break 80 it is this: "You must be within 10 yards of the green in regulation on every hole." That is to say you don't have to hit them all perfectly and you don't have to hit them all straight, but you can't mishit shots ( fat/thin, or into hazards/OB) Once you can do that you on a reasonably consistent basis it does become all about short game and fine tuning approach shots. Up until that point you have no chance no matter how good your wedge and putting is.
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Post by gmbtempe on Apr 3, 2011 0:16:15 GMT -5
What did you make on those two holes, should not have been worse than +1? On the first shot I made a "par." This is a pretty severe downhill par 3. I could only see the very top of the flag, but that's nothing out of the ordinary for this hole. I hit it thin and pushed it a bit, and when I got down to the green I saw that they had actually made a temporary green in front... BS. I continued to play the hole to a mark on the center of the green where you could tell the last cup was cut. Two putts, lol. What would I REALLY have made? Don't know. On the next hole I made a 7... triple bogey. Great drive. 8 iron thin and pushed into right bunker. Shitty dump out of bunker into the rough in front of the green. Chipped it well past the hole onto the back fringe. Three swings with the putter from there. +3. *sigh* That sounds like what I remember from some of your other other write ups........ball striking sounds like the least of your issues with the game...half your practice would probably be best served around the greens.
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carland
'88 Apex Redlines
Posts: 152
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Post by carland on Apr 3, 2011 6:25:37 GMT -5
If I could give one key to people trying to learn to break 80 it is this: You must be within 10 yards of the green in regulation on every hole. That is really good advice.
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Post by cloran on Apr 3, 2011 12:16:51 GMT -5
On the first shot I made a "par." This is a pretty severe downhill par 3. I could only see the very top of the flag, but that's nothing out of the ordinary for this hole. I hit it thin and pushed it a bit, and when I got down to the green I saw that they had actually made a temporary green in front... BS. I continued to play the hole to a mark on the center of the green where you could tell the last cup was cut. Two putts, lol. What would I REALLY have made? Don't know. On the next hole I made a 7... triple bogey. Great drive. 8 iron thin and pushed into right bunker. Shitty dump out of bunker into the rough in front of the green. Chipped it well past the hole onto the back fringe. Three swings with the putter from there. +3. *sigh* That sounds like what I remember from some of your other other write ups........ball striking sounds like the least of your issues with the game...half your practice would probably be best served around the greens. I'm hoping the range I go to opens up their short game area this week. It's been closed for the winter. I started spending a lot of time there last summer and that's when my scoring started to really improve. I chip and pitch (up to 20 yards) in the back yard a lot, but I have no idea how to judge the roll out once I'm on the course.
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Post by cloran on Apr 5, 2011 19:47:29 GMT -5
I've been working on trying to keep my head from drifting backward from P4 to P7. I tried a few drills to help ingrain the feelings... it's getting closer I guess.
In this first video I'm trying to feel the move from P4 into transition:
I then worked on making shorter back swings in an attempt to feel the pivot really power the swing. Sort of a 9-to-3 drill on steroids:
Full speed:
Slo-Mo:
I then made slow motion swings from P1 to P7, followed by a full swing. Really trying to stabilize my upper center.
This is the result of today's work... 350+ balls later... lots of drills:
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Post by Richie3Jack on Apr 5, 2011 20:30:09 GMT -5
good job with the practice. Tough to be patient doing that because your instincts work against you.
3JACK
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