Plus and Minus

[Davebud]

OK those of you that have shown the poor taste to pay any attention what so ever to my past post's about my game have likely inferrred two things. First of all I am probably the worst putter on this forum, secondly that I drive the ball like a demon. Neither proved to be the case this weekend. The wife went out of town with her mother leaving me all by my lonesome, that meant I would have to entertain myself, poor me. Needless to say what that really meant is Golf on Saturday and Golf on Sunday. To this point threee rounds in a month is rare and unlikely, but I got 2 in one weekend, yee haa.

Now the nuts and bolts, putting was a whole bunch better, rained friday night and while warming up we all noticed that the greens were turtle slow, but the sun was out in the morning so it would get better, First hole I 4 putted, so I was thinking that not much was going to be different than usual, but after that I 1 putted, 2 putted twice, 1 putted again and by the end of the round I had 1 four putt and 3 one putts to offset that, 8 two putts and 6 three putts, all in all an improvement over the norm. However my best drive of the day was all of 240 and my average drive was more like 200 and way in the trees to the right.

Sunday my putting was even better, not one 4 putt thankfully, but no 1 putts either, I did manage 14 two putts and that is awesome from my perspective, only had 4 three putts, had one really good drive to about 270 and middle uphill, everything else was complete hack work with the driver though. The sad thing is I hit that par 5 drive long and center, hit my second with the 2 iron long and pure, so I am out about 95 from the green and taking my third shot for a GIR on the longest hole on the course, all I need is a decent GW shot here, and the GW is money so I have already pictured a 1 putt here and I chunked it, walked 30 feet to the next shot and hit it almost at a 45 degree angle right into the trees, by the time I did get onto the green and down with a 2 putt i had already hit 6 shots into the green, needless to say I was a tad frustrated with myself.

Overall this weekend was a blast though and when I do figure out where my driver went and if I can keep the putting in this general neighborhood I should be sub 100 on a regular basis.

[Jules150]

Boy, 4 putts thats got to be tough to swallow, i bet all you need is some practice on the greens, or maybe a putting lesson, and you be putting much better. Congrats on the good rounds though.

[warbirdlover]

Don't worry about it. Gotta get the winter cobwebs out before you can score. Just being able to play (for me) is Heaven.

[flomarilius]

How old are you? To crank a ball on avg 200 yard takes alot of guts to admit because many people would never ever to admit to it?

now on the putting it will take short game work to get the 3 putts kinked out. Its just weird that you hit your driver 200 yards yet you hit your GW just around the same in my vacinity? Also why are you using a 2 Iron!?

[mont86]

I got caught in a grove a trees about 100yds from the. Par 5..Good 1st and 2nd shot and sliced it into the trees two putted and carded a TEN!!!!!! Felt like Tim Robbins in shawshank!...But I did par 3 holes.

[ezra76]

Glad to hear that flatstick is working a little better. Now just get those drives back on track. Are you being tenative or more agressive? I say if you just aimed at something and ripped before, just keep on doing it. If I can offer any advice on the short shots it's acceleration. Always accelerate through the ball, on all shots really, even putts.

[Davebud]

Originally Posted by flomarilius

How old are you? To crank a ball on avg 200 yard takes alot of guts to admit because many people would never ever to admit to it?

now on the putting it will take short game work to get the 3 putts kinked out. Its just weird that you hit your driver 200 yards yet you hit your GW just around the same in my vacinity? Also why are you using a 2 Iron!?

I can admit that because when my driver is on there may be 2 guys on this whole forum that could poke it out there with me and most of the guys here would be happy to get past me in two.

Why do I use a 2 iron, well like the driver when its working it's a very good club, 270 and straight as heck off the tee, and it worked fine the only time I grabbed it, pulled it out hit 240 off the deck and was pretty happy with my results. The 2 iron for 220-250 does not scare me at all, it's the putter from 6 feet that has me shaking.

[Davebud]

Originally Posted by ezra76

Glad to hear that flatstick is working a little better. Now just get those drives back on track. Are you being tenative or more agressive? I say if you just aimed at something and ripped before, just keep on doing it. If I can offer any advice on the short shots it's acceleration. Always accelerate through the ball, on all shots really, even putts.

As to where my driving skills went I can honestly say I have no idea WTF I am doing wrong now. I can definitively say, I am doing it wrong though.

[Eracer]

Dave - I want you to do this drill.

Find a flat lie on the practice green.

Set up 4 tees in a 2-ft. square box.

Put balls down 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 feet away, in a line stretching away from the box.

Putt the balls into the box (start with the one at 3 ft., then 4, etc.)

Your target is the line closest to you. You get a point whenever the ball stays in the box. Note that if you carom a ball out of the box you have to deduct a point, so it helps to make your first putts end up at the back of the box. Don't stop until you get all 10 balls into the box.

You can vary this drill by setting up on slopes.

Once you can consistently get all 10 balls in the box, start doing the drill by putting with the bottom edge of your 5-iron.

Trust me - this WILL improve your putting.

[jc@bg]

Cripes, I've had plenty of days with 200-yard averages on my drives, and am driving the ball at least as far now as I did when I was 20 (a few decades ago). Season average for my drives is probably 225, not helped by the fact that at my home course on any given day, 1/3 to 1/2 of the drives will be behind their pitch mark in the fairway. With luck, though, we all have our equalizers. One of mine is a putting average around 29 per 18 holes--and I'd like to putt a lot better.

Originally Posted by flomarilius

How old are you? To crank a ball on avg 200 yard takes alot of guts to admit because many people would never ever to admit to it?