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The frustration of a few more strokes

Kumabjorn

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Oct 30, 2009
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The snow is piling up on the roof, there is no chanse of practicing anything but putting on the carpet, so it is time to ponder the year that went and to make plans for the coming season.

My "normal" score is in the vicinity between 78 and 82. I usually hiy 9 or 10 greens, I have around 30 putts, I hit 9 or 10 fairways. I get up and down from a bunker around 30% of the time, and around 50% if I'm close to the green (fringe). A little bit further off and I don't get down as much as I would like to. I began playing when I was 9 years old and stopped cold turkey when I was 19. Took up the game again at 43 and playing of a 6 hcp now at age 52. I can usually get one good round together in a season, playing on par or maybe even a shot below.

For the upcoming season my main priority is that my "normal" round should be between 74 and 77.A good round between 71 and 73 and an exceptional round would be breaking 70. I am racking my - granted insufficient - noggin to figure out what it is I have to accomplish in order to raise my "worst" level a few strokes. I'm actually OK if I won't make a 69 in the upcoming season, but I really would like to not go over 76 under normal conditions.

Doesn anyone have some advice that can help me get rid of those 3-4-or-5 unnnecessary shots in a round?
 

BStone

PGA Class A Professional
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Jan 18, 2006
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Focus on your ballstriking with your irons, if you are shooting 6-10 over and only hitting half of the greens in regulation, you're short game is above average. You need to eliminate some of the missed greens to give yourself more chances at birdie or two putt pars. I tend to hit anywhere between 14 and 16 greens in regulation and with similar putting statistics to what you mentioned, I will be between 3 under and one over for an average round.
 
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Kumabjorn

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Oct 30, 2009
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Thanx for the advice, one reason I'm not hitting as many greens as you guys do is that an average green size here is around 4,300 sq feet. I believe the average US green is something like 50% larger. But you're very likely right that I need to utilize my irons better. I am trying to be as brutally honest as I can in analyzing my game, and I think that one problem I encounter is that when I've played something like 13 holes and I might be standing on, one or two over par, I begin to subconsciously put too much pressure on myself. Also, I could probably benefit from being in better shape. Maybe it is a combination of being overweight (we need a medical exemption to use a cart) and putting pressure on myself?
 

limpalong

Mental Ward Escapee
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Oct 18, 2006
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If you are an honest 6, you're usual score would be lower than 78 to 82. To maintain a 6, you don't have too many flaws in your game. You say you're "around" 30 putts. If you're keeping the putts below two/hole... and hitting greens in regulation... that's not bad. However, you indicate small greens and a little higher percent of up and down from around the green that I would expect. We have "postage stamp" size greens at our home course. Our GIR's run a little lower than some due to that. But, our number of putts is lower since we're chipping... hopefully, to where we can 1-putt.
I have developed the mental attitude that I'm going to chip in from off the green. This past season, I probably chipped in over a dozen times. If you're confident that you can make the chip... if you're putting the chip close enough that it had a chance to go in... your number of putts will quickly come down.
Again, your fundamentals must be good to be at a 6. Work on your mental game. What separates "good" players from "stellar" players is the 5 1/2 inches between your ears. Many will get into the mid-single digits and find themselves over-analyzing and see their scores go back up. Trust your game... you are playing better than 90% who play this game. Keep your short game sharp... on a course with small greens you must be as confident with your chipping as with your putting. Cut out mental errors... don't let a single bad shot turn into two.
 

Bignose

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Oct 23, 2006
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To most accurately know this, I think you probably need to take some more detailed stats while you are playing.

I.e. don't just record fairways hit, but actual distance of the drive (laser/GPS measured to avoid inflation), and how far off-line misses are. Don't just record GIR, but how close to the pin/how far away the miss was, and what club you used. Not just number of chips, but how close they ended up. Not just number of putts, but how far away they were, how far they ended up, and if they went in or not.

That way you'll have data to back up things like "I'm not making as many 7 foot putts as I should" or "my mid-irons need some works" or etc. Having data in hand is the best way to identify what needs to be identified
 
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Kumabjorn

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Oct 30, 2009
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One reason for the discrepancy in scoring is divergent hcp systems. Ours is based on the Stableford system and it is not uncommon for me to have a triple or quadruple in a round, usually a lost ball in conjunction with a chip and two (or three) putt. This however doesn't affect the hcp very much, I might still get around with Stableford accumulated points that are within the "buffer zone" IOW I need to have less than 33 Stableford points in order to raise my hcp 0.1 strokes, so a score of 80 that ought to b the equivalent to 32 points might very well score 34 points if I have a disaster on a hole where I'm not eligible for an index stroke.

I am unquestionably having mental melt downs on the course. The few times when I actually do get around in par or just around that I have usually been very serene and calm. Even when I do stupid mistakes I just don't let them affect me. But most of the times they begin to frustrate and irritate me. So I really need to be able to calm my mind and get away from letting the ball control me instead of the other way around. I just don't know how to do it. I don't even know how I am able to do it in the good rounds that I play. After playing a good round I'm usually too exhausted (mentally) to even appreciate the salutations and congratulatory comments I receive afterward. For some reason I would actually prefer to be alone after a round like that. Does that have any significance?
 
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Kumabjorn

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Oct 30, 2009
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@bignose

I appreciate what you are saying. During the 2007 and 2008 season I used IntelliGolf to get as much stats as I could. So I'm reasonably confident in my distances with different clubs. I can easily say that distances of 20 yrds to 60 yrds away from the green is where I wish I was more precise and I DO practice those distances a lot. I might hit it to 8 feet with a resulting lip-out. So I'm like <-> close to making a par but I walk away with a bogey. One of the things I've discovered during practice is that the second shot will be stone dead. But the first is always a few feet too far away. I just wish I could make my second shot my first.
 

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