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Questions For + Handicappers

golfmonke

Well-Known Member
Jul 15, 2007
10
0
I am currently a 5 handicap and want to get to the next level...

I was wondering if you could recollect and report what were the factors that allowed you to go from the mid single digit hdcp level to your current level.

A few questions:

1- How much time practicing did you put in during this time? What % of this time went to working on which areas of your game?

2 - Did your distance increase, decrease, stay the same? What about the length of your swing.

3 - How often did you take lessons? ( If any) How did you find the "right" teacher?

4 - How long did it take you to get from lets say a 5 to where you are now?

5 - What do you do now to maintain where you are , how much time do you put into what ever activities you do now?

6 - What was the MOST important factor in allowing you to make this improvement?

7 - What would you say is the least important factor which gets passed on as "a must to improve to scratch or better", but u found wasn't actually that important.


I've personally only taken 1 lesson , treated his advice as from God and worked on perfecting it. Dropped my handicap from 10-5 over that summer, I was able to play almost every day though that summer.

Currently I get to the range 1-2 times a week and play 1-2 on the weekend. <!--IBF.ATTACHMENT_1882708-->
 

slickpitt

Well-Known Member
Aug 15, 2006
2,706
3
Well I'm not down that low yet... but everyone I've ever talked to does nothing but preach short game practice. Pitching/chipping/general wedge play.
 

acarty

Future Pro!
Oct 13, 2007
425
1
+1 to what Slick says. I know a few +cap lads, and my pro is the same. He says that when he plays his grudge match with a few +cappers, the big difference is no matter where they are, if they miss the green, they're getting up and down. Simple as that.

Everyone, in theory, can make a birdie or two. Hell these lads at like +1 or +2 only have to make one or two birdies, but if they can save par when they need to, and just churn pars out for fun, then the game becomes a lot easier.

Start looking at your stats, and analyse where and why you make bogeys. Is it a bad drive, or a missed green, or sand... etc? I bet if you're down to 5, it's all short game. Missing greens and not saving par.

I hope that helps...!
 

fisher

Well-Known Member
Nov 16, 2008
1,263
0
One of my playing partners is a +2 handicap who just turned pro last summer. His short game and putting are just on a whole nother level than me as a single digit handicap. Also his iron shots into greens are probably on average a 1/3rd to half the distance shorter to the flag as me. If he's inside 80 yards its just lights out, he is goona be inside a flagstick length virtually every time. All my friend does is play and practice golf. He hits about a thousand balls a day on the range and plays between 9 and 36 holes a day, day in and day out.

We played 9 holes together last night. I actually drove the ball better than he did last night. Our greens in regulation were about even. But in the end he was two under par and I was four over. Thats a 6 shot difference in nine holes. He recovered from his missed fairways better than I would have, his approach shots were closer to the pin, he made his putts, he chipped in for birdie on the 8th hole. He made 3 birdies and one bogie in nine holes.

In short to answer the original poster's question is to get to that sort of level give up your job and play and practice 8 hours a day and you too can become a + handicap.
 

SilverUberXeno

El Tigre Blanco
Jul 26, 2005
4,620
26
My estimation would be that you need to practice enough to hit a LOT of greens in regulation, and then convert those into birdies. You need to putt well enough to make birdies from where you hit your approach shots. So if you can only hit your approach shots to 20 feet, you better make 20 footers.

If you can hit your approach shots to 6 feet, you better make 6 footers. Closer is better, obviously.

Recovering from missed shots is the toher caveat of being a +, I'd guess. Even +caps miss fairways and miss greens. But they make MANY fewer bogeys after the fact than guys like us. If you can hit the green from the rough 150 yards out, you make that missed fairway inconsequential.

You NEED to get the ball close enough to the hole to make a lot of putts, and you need to make those putts. Practice however much you need to to make that happen.
 

Highdraw34

Well-Known Member
Mar 27, 2006
300
0
I think what everyone else has said is spot on. I am in the same boat as the OP. My thoughts are probably useless but I'll share them. I work at a course and we have 4 pros, a cart kid who qualified for the Junior Am and a kid who works in the grill that was the numebr one junior player in the state of Maryland in high school. I play most of my round with a mix of these guys. They are all scratch, + or right on the edge. I'm a 7 right now. They give me tips and tell me what I need to work on and I lower my cap every few months. What makes them good golfers is a mix of things. First off their short games are good/great. Our best pro is over 50, doesn't hit the ball far but he has two things the other guys don't. First off he has every shot around the green. I'm not talking about just getting up and down. He is an F'ing wizard. He puts the club on the ball in ways I can't even imagine. He hits high flops, bump and runs and is automatic par or better unless he is OB or dead off the tee. Second he is big time when they go play in the Mid Atlantic PGA tournaments. He knows how to play under pressure and he makes a check every time he enters a tourney. On the opposite end is the kid that was #1 in the state in high school. He hits it Tiger Long. He demolishes the par fives. I'm talking eagle putts on all the par fives at our course. We played the other day at TPC Avanel and he hit a 270 yard 3wood out of the rough. All carry. The other players all have something they do better than average. My point is these people all have skill and talent. They have a god given ability to do things that others just can't do. When I ask them about their strengths they always seem to say that they just have always had it. On a side note the one thing that clearly seperates them from me on their scorecards is the blow up hole. They don't have them. There are no triples or quads and very rarely a double.

I've tried to mimic them and do what they do and sometimes I can do it and sometimes I can't. I've also changed my practice routine this year. I don't hit a ball off of anything than grass. I won't go to a range that has plastic mats. They give you false sense, a miss can look great and give you poor feedback. It means I take less swings (home course is all mats) but when I do swing a club I'm getting more out of it. Since I can't always get on the course I'll spend a two hour range session in the bunker or short game only. These two things have really helped me I think.

My last three rounds have all been career rounds. I went 75-72-75 in my last three rounds. No doubles or higher in three rounds. I attribute this to my focus on short game and getting good feedback on every swing I make. I've also been reading the 15th club by Bob Rotella and it has improved my mental state on the course ten fold. Sure these things haven't gotten me to scratch or + but they have me playing better golf. There I'm done ranting now. Maybe this will be useful for someone.
 

BStone

PGA Class A Professional
Supporting Member
Jan 18, 2006
1,487
44
Country
United States United States
A few questions:

1- How much time practicing did you put in during this time? What % of this time went to working on which areas of your game?

When I was making the jump to try and reach the plus level, I was mainly focused on gaining control over my golf ball, that was the key for me. By that I mean being able to shape shots both directions, control trajectory, and control spin. I would spend 40 percent of the time working on shots from 125 and in (my pitching wedge distance and lower).

I also made sure to find a comfort shot off the tee for holes that did not suit my eye, or when I was not striking the ball well. This served as a fall back and confidence builder on the course, for me it was a four or five yard cut with the 3 wood, this served to replace a drive without taking away too much distance and helped me hit spots in tight fairways. A lot of people overlook getting off of the tee as an important part of dropping handicap, but even one OB tee shot can wreck a round when you are trying to shot in the 60's or low 70's. I would spend 25 percent of my time on controlling the ball off of the tee, working on hitting the proper side of the fairway to leave the best angle to the flag.

I would then spend about 15 percent of the time working on iron shots, again controlling shape and trajectory to ensure that I could go at flags when I needed to or the chance presented itself.

15 percent of the time I would spend on putting, and I would use three balls, toss them to different spots on the green and putt each one until it was in the holde. I find that hitting multiple putts from the same spot does not help much, I never have the exact same putt on a hole, I have to deal with the result of the first one and try and get the ball in the hole in two putts or less.

The last 5 percent was devoted to course management and mental aspects of the game. Determining the best time and situations to attack and when to play for a par was vital for me. When I was younger, I would go at every flag and would leave myself some near impossible up and downs for par. By minimizing those, it put less stress on the short game and allowed me to feel more comfortable when attacking flags.

2 - Did your distance increase, decrease, stay the same? What about the length of your swing.

My swing has not changed much, it is still long by most standards, but the consistency of it has improved dramatically. I am still working on keeping it consistent and repeatable, it doesn't stop at any level of play, you want to improve and get more consistent. As far as distance, I picked up some, but I gained far more control over it, I am now able to hit shots with multiple clubs that go the same distance, it is being able to control the distance that makes the biggest difference.

3 - How often did you take lessons? ( If any) How did you find the "right" teacher?

I don't take lessons, I do have a friend that I ask to watch my swing, he was the one that taught me how to play when we were in middle school and he knows my game better then anyone.

4 - How long did it take you to get from lets say a 5 to where you are now?

Two years of hard work, hitting between 500 and 1000 balls (pitches and chips included) three to four days a week, playing at least 54-72 holes a week, and practicing putting whenever I could in the house.

5 - What do you do now to maintain where you are , how much time do you put into what ever activities you do now?

I am a teaching pro, so I still spend a lot of time on my game.

6 - What was the MOST important factor in allowing you to make this improvement?

Work ethic and still being in school so that I did not have to deal with a job and "real world" stuff. I also feel that playing is the most important thing to improving your game, you don't get sidehill and uneven lies on most ranges, you also don't have to go and play the ball again on the range. It is far easier to shrug off a bad shot when you can just pull another ball over and try it again.

7 - What would you say is the least important factor which gets passed on as "a must to improve to scratch or better", but u found wasn't actually that important.

It depends on your game, if you are a phenomenal putter, the short game is less important then getting in position off of the tee, if you are a great driver, then tee shots are not as vital to work on. I feel that you need to take a weakness in your game and devote more time to that so that it becomes an average to strong aspect of your game, that is the best way to improve.
 

keithpbz

Well-Known Member
Nov 18, 2007
242
0
I play between a scratch and 1 handicap and have tracked my rounds over the last 2 years, i hit just over 50% of the fairways average about 65% greens but have a putting average of 32.5 for 18 holes. I used to hit range balls everyday and putted everyday but only for about 20 minutes and never chipped. Now i am putting alot longer and only hitting the range 2-3 times a week. I believe the tour average for putts is around 28.5 if i could just get to 30 putts per round i will be a plus handicap. Oh and not taking penalty's and knowing when to punch out and not go for the miracle shot also help in lowering handicaps, it did for me anyway
 

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