Game Improvement Plan

[O.B.Left]

tball

I'm only a local and provincial amateur tourney hack but....

I like the fact you have goals and have decided to set up a plan of action to achieve them. That is the first and best step. Congratulations.

I have three comments......

-5 handicap is good enough to win a club tourney maybe but try to get it down.
-short game 100 yards and in, is what matters most score wise. By far. I cant overstate this.
-play as many tournaments as you can. Its a different game tournament golf. You have to get to the point where though you are nervous , you like it, love it, want to do it again and again. Its a cruel game, you have to be able to take the lumps , the losses , the failures that tournament play brings. It takes reps to toughen your skin. The five handicap who is tournament tough will beat the five handicap , "vanity cap" club player when it matters, every time.

[tball88]

OB, thanks so much for your reply. I've made some key decisions. 1. I'm sticking to a hitting motion for the entire year, in the past, I've toyed with different swings, which while fun, I believe has hurt my consistentcy.

2. I'm working very hard on my driving accuracy. When in the fairway, my iron play is very strong and I notice a big drop off when I miss.

3. Trying very hard to get a one way ball flight(preferably a fade)

4. As you suggest, working on short game, especially 50-80 yd shots, we have 5 par fives and when I can't get home in two, I need to be able to get up and down.

Thanks for your advice on tournaments, I need to find a way to get in more play.

thanks so much for your feedback.

[O.B.Left]

Thanks tball

Hitting lends itself nicely to a fade given the Angled Hinging it tends to produce.

You've probably read the story of Tom Kite who in his day had the lowest average score on par 5's despite the fact he no where close to being amongst the long hitters on tour. His method was a simple one ......get his third shot to his favorite distance from the green. If that meant he could hit a 5 iron of the tee , then so be it.

Not a popular attitude any more......but something to consider.

[BerntR]

I bet it was those favourite distance wedges of Tom Kite that made the career for David Peltz as well. They worked close together for quite some time.

I have Peltz book somewhere. His 3x3 system was a pretty good idea, but I guess the best part was the discovery that the 3/4 wedge was the shot with the most reliable distances. Didn't like the strokes that he teached though.

Hmm... That's something I ought to do myself. I am pretty good distance wise at the "easy" full range wedge now I haven't thought on the Pelz system for quite some time. Maybe there's more in the candy bag?

For what it's worth, I recommend doing a systematic, subjective analysis of lost & won strokes for every round. Drive, approach, bunker, putts, chips and other. If you miss the green and find a bunker it's 0.5 strokes lost or whatever. If you knock it close from the same bunker and have a 4 footer for par it's 0.5 shots won back. And so on. FIRs, GIRs and putts are fine, but IMO a proper subjective evaluation will tell you much more about where you have most to gain.

[tball88]

Interesting idea on the plus and minus system today. Let me see if this makes sense, I shot a 38 for 9 holes today.

I missed one fairway, so -.5 for Driving

I missed one green, which happened to be on the fairway I missed, so -.5 for iron plan.

I had two three puts(21) and one one putt (+1) for a net -1

Is that how the system would work? I'm assuming putts would be a full stroke as opposed to half?

I like the approach, it is a bit more scientific.

[BerntR]

Something like that.

I did it a couple of seasons a while ago. It gave me a very clear picture of where I had most room for improvement.

[faux_maestro]

All good suggestions. I know some people don't like Dr. Bob Rotella anymore but I learned a lot from his books (Golf is not a game of perfect etc.). He talks about having a routine that you follow on every shot and if you don't follow it or something distracts you, back off. He talks about game plan and attitude. The biggest thing I got from him was about how short game and putting are like defense and free throws in basketball. The truly great teams do those things well. Often these little things will help a team with inferior talent come out on top. Full swing mechanics are only part of the equation.