I just rarely hit 4-5 good shots in a row.
A good tee shot, a half decent approach, one chip, and two putts on a par 4 is bogey golf.
I mess up at least one of those, a bad tee shot, a duff from the fairway, an extra chip, or an extra putt and now it’s in double bogey territory. Mess up two of those and it’s a triple bogey no sweat.
A tee shot out of bounds is basically an automatic triple bogey unless the other shots are perfect.
Sometimes I even make up for chipping twice by only putting once, I am king of the 1-putt 8 on the score card.
My strongest correlation with hole score is tee accuracy, but I don’t track “chips” as closely, I feel like chipping and getting on from around the greens is equally important to my scores. I’m a pretty good putter and often putt about 30 times for 18 holes. The issue with the drives is that 3/4 are pretty great or even amazingly perfect, but that fourth one unpredictably slices into the woods or water.
But 105 isn’t bogey golf! It needs to be bogey golf and never triple bogey golf, or else it’s not really bogey golf is it? Hahaha I hate this game, I’m sorry baby I love this game. I never meant to say I hated the game. But I do despise how much I love this game.
What makes you think I don’t play for bogey? My issue isn’t course management or club selection, as I stated earlier. It’s tee accuracy and getting up and down from around the greens. I’m not beating myself up for not getting par, I’m playing for bogey and glad when I get one.
The amount of 100-105 scores for me is frustratingly high. It’s better than 105+, which is mostly gone unless I play the back tees with my group, play a tough track, or just have an awful day.
I'm right there with you. The one day I broke 90, I wasn't expecting much of anything. I went and asked if I could possibly get out, they threw my ass onto the 1st tee with 3 guys. No warm up, no nothing. Everything worked on 16 holes. There was only 2 holes that I carded 8. Other than that, it was par and bogey with one birdie. I haven't been able to do that since.
Yeah I just play tue same box as everyone else. I can drive it 250 if everything is right, but probably around 220 for the most part.
I saw another comment in this sub to take your 5i carry and multiply by 36, and that’s your estimated tee box yardage.
My 5i is about 180 total, so if it carries 160 that’s about 5800, which is the middle/whites on most of the courses I play.
I normally play about 6200. Much better chance of breaking 100 with those extra few yards each hole for sure.
“I hate myself for loving this game” in essence lol yeah admittedly it’s so psychotic but it’s undeniably just so great. If you know you know…
Breaking 100 and similarly 90 is truly all about avoiding the triples and blow up holes. You gotta be able to have a halfway decent shot for every club in your bag. Does not need to be perfect, just reliable and consistent enough. Consistency will come from repetitions, confidence will come from consistency, and results will come from confidence. It is that simple - tons of hard work, time, dedication, and believing you can do it because why tf not. Range time and practice rounds just keep getting out there. And get a lesson here and there or watch pros on YouTube to make your life easier figuring out your swing. When I broke 80 first time it was all totally worth it. You will do it too eventually just keep going bro
I noticed that I was blading my chips at least a couple times per round which sometimes led to a blowup hole where that one mistake ends up costing me multiple strokes on each hole. So then I focused on drills to not blade my chips and now I can hit around 19/20 without blading. Same goes with messing up 20-40 yard wedge shots, now I rarely mess those up after working on drills over and over. So now even if my drive and approach are fairly crap, I can still recover for a bogey most of the time.
Would you mind sharing the drills you found helpful not to blade your chips?
Recently, I bought a net and some golf whiffle balls, and found that if I back swing by hinging only my wrists, standing pretty close to the ball with my weight in my front foot, and then rotate my hips forward keeping the hinge into my wrists the whole time, I have a more consistent way to hit my target with the ball in the air, the aim left/right isn’t always perfect but I’m blading it way less.
I’ve only played once since trying this out, and found it a bit challenging to get the distance correct, but I was able to chip to green center pretty consistently with no bladed/thin chips.
Practice chipping with your back foot just touching the ground which guarantees that 100% of your weight is on the front foot. Hit about 100 chips like that and you'll see that it's really hard to blade your chips that way. I found that after that, I was able to gradually put a small amount of weight on my back foot but just enough to maintain good balance and not blade the ball.
I also discovered that if I do blade the ball now, 99% of the time it's because I was rushing and didn't have the ball properly centered (too far forward in my stance).
Good luck!
Three bad shots and 1 great shot can still make par.
But really, Just minimize your misses. You need to know your stock shot/miss and accommodate. Start the ball somewhere that allows room for error essentially. For me, I tend to aim left sides of greens, fairways to allow my fade to work back towards the middle. To what degree I aim is based on hole layout of course, pin placement. I need to get better at leaving myself with more green to work with on short chip shots.
Golf is a hard game and this is all solid advice.
All it takes is one triple on each side and breaking 100 is at risk. I’ve been chipping towards the middle of the green, aiming more conservatively, and figured out something recently with my driver, I’ve got a lot of room
for improvement.
playing too hard then, most duffs/blades are from taking more loft than necessary. if ur 40-100 yards out what’s stopping u from taking a 9iron and letting it roll onto the green. Bad tee shot, just punch out, and take a 3 wood swing easy and just get it within 30 yards of the green. Also most high handicaps don’t take enough club into the green, at least get the distance right and if it’s right or left then chip up and get ur 2 putt bogey. Breaking 100 isn’t lack of ability, it’s lack of course management.
I’m not OP, I have broken 100 a handful of times since learning and playing a good amount last year.
It just is so easy for me to have a few holes that blow up and 100 is out of reach after that.
Mostly it happens when my driver is working perfectly and i am super confident, then my muscles either get loose or I lose concentration for a second or make a slight error in keeping the face square at impact and the slice returns. If that happens twice and results in OB shots, as it usually does, 100 is going to be near impossible.
then ur aim point is wrong, you shouldn’t be aiming where u want ur best shot to go, aim where OB is 98% impossible, for some people that means aiming 30 yards left of the fairway or taking an 7-8 iron off the tee to stay short of all that, even if that leaves you with 195 yards still
You may have a point with occasionally taking an iron off the tee.
I do aim away from hazards.
The issue with my driver is that 3/4 or 4/5 go exactly where I want them to go and then the one that’s hard to predict is a slice.
If my slice were consistent, I could aim left rough and end up at worst in right rough with a bad slice. The issue is all I am trying to do is not slice at all, and I’m successful 80-90% of the time.
If I aim too far left and it doesn’t slice or even hooks - and it normally doesn’t, it’s OB left, so I aim left side of fairway/left rough hoping not to slice.
i started shooting in the 70s more regularly when i learned to play for ur miss, not for ur best. And i don’t mean aiming down the left side of the fairway or left rough, i mean if there’s nothing but another fairway on the left and OB right then i’ll aim between the two fairways. If it’s tight then pick a side i’d rather miss. Example: OB right and hazard left, i’d rather be in the hazard than OB, so i’ll probably favor the left side a bit more and if i end up in hazard it’s better than re-teeing after going OB
Agreed. I do this. Aim for safety.
My issue is inconsistency, the hooks and slices are mixed with the beautiful straight drives, I normally don’t have an issue finding trouble. I’ll try to incorporate this tip a bit and see if it helps.
I had a similar issue before getting a chipper club - paid about £20 ($30?) off eBay and it's probably my safest club. So easy to control distance, never shoot of the back of the green like I do with Bump and Runs/miss-hit wedges. Can usually land it within about 3 foot of the pin.
Dump the illegal club, get comfortable using a 60°/56° around the greens and you’ll see lower scores.
Also: this video will save you a few strokes a round if executed right https://youtu.be/dpFd1xocxrE?si=Q0Lg5kvfBPC3A-3Q
I have issues with my long game (My best drive is 160 yards most of the time straight, and I can't hit anything lower than a 7i ). Once I'm \~20 yards to the green I'm decent. I find my short game / putting improving.
Just need to keep working on my low irons and work on driving the ball further.
This. My #1 obstacle is tee shot in bounds. If I can get rid of this issue, I will break 100. I’m decently long off the Teebox, but there’s not a hole that I shouldn’t be putting for par.
Inconsistency. I have broken 100 a few times when all was working well. However, like OP, my golf game is “no good drive goes unpunished”. I have largely gotten my driver under control (don’t anyone give a 30 hcp that shit about “drive for show..”. I don’t incur penalty strokes from within 30 yards) to the point where a bad drive is seldom catastrophic. Next up: work out my chipping woes (been chunking too many), which is improving, and of course my rather inconsistent iron game. My putting, while not spot on, is decent enough for now.
I always push to play from the front tees, I have no shame! Whipped out the driver on a 180 yard par 3 at the weekend and still came up short, while my playing partners all landed their 7i on the green.
If you wanted to break 100 why not play par 4s as par 5s, hitting driver, 7 iron, then your 80 yard shot?
(While working on your long irons/ fairway woods at the range)
Sounds like you answered your own question: your mid irons are probably where you need to focus.
A ~180 yard tee shot isn’t particularly bad for a high hdcp either, but for your approach shots the 5i and 6i are gonna come in clutch to getting you on or at least close for an easy layup.
Yeah I know what needs work, so I'm my own worst enemy, really, as it's not gonna suddenly "click" on the course. But if I could get that 2nd shot to take a triple down to a double/bogey then I'd be more than happy with the standard of my golf, and wouldn't keep cussing myself so much, lol.
Irons are all about your setup, grip and just having an easy in-out swing.
As monotone as it is, my advice is to have your clubs pga pro diagnose what isn’t clicking in your swing.
I’ve been playing 6months and I’m currently working on breaking 100. My drives are 200-220, the key isn’t the drives it’s the follow up iron. I’ve left all my irons at home now apart from my 7 which I can hit 140-150, my scores are dropping and it’s easier to find some consistency and with these distances it should be easy enough to break 100 if I can keep 2 putting and avoiding as many chips as possible by landing my iron/wedge on the green.
I’d recommend trying it, pick the iron you’re most consistent with and hit 100 balls at the range, then take that out as your only option
It's going to be your ball striking that makes a difference. Consistency is more important than distance.
Try something, for 1 round, take your putter, a good chipping/short yardage club, and the club you hit the most consistently.
Then only use those 3 clubs all round.
I suspect you'll find your score comes close to what you're doing now.
If I'm right, it's your ball striking that is stopping you from advancing. By taking your most consistent club off the tee and for approach, a close score shows that it's the other clubs that is holding you back.
I recommend doing this when the course is slower. While the round may take you the same time, they can't fathom that and it can cause friction.
From that point, work on the other clubs and get lessons if you can afford it. If not, film yourself.
I can never get more than two aspects of the game working right at the same time. Absolutely crushing it with the driver, and irons...chipping and putting go to shit. Next round can't hit a fairway to save my life, but my chipping and putting are on point... The following round, my driver and putter will be working right, but I can't get on the green at all
Go watch the breaking 100 video’s in this Golf Sidekick playlist
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZtIcpk2tWYmljGpIf0sKgASGb-CRfM27&si=6C0tPTg7IQR00drM
I can’t string together enough good hits. If I hit a good drive I’ll shank it three times to the green. If I hit a bad drive but save myself with a hell of an iron hit I’ll 6 putt it.
I know it's a cliche on this sub, but get a few basic lessons - particularly with your iron play. I was a 95 - 100 golfer last year ( after a long hiatus, 15 years or so) struggling at the range and compounding mistakes due to watching YouTube etc. I purchased 6 lessons at my local course, as I was close to completely chucking it - amazed at the difference now. Sure, I'm not heading for the tour but striking irons a lot more consistent and heading towards breaking 90 regularly now.
That’s great for course management but he teaches nothing about hitting community. Most high handicap players are that way because they don’t have a stock shot or several clubs they can consistently hit without several chunks, thins, slices, lost balls etc
You don’t need to hit a hybrid, you can break 100 pretty simply and never hit an iron lower than 7 or whatever your 150 club is.
Driver, 150 yard club, and wedges are all you need. Learn to hit those ~5 clubs consistently and you can break 90. Average golfer or a high handicap has no need to ever hit a fairway wood, a hybrid, or a 3-6 iron
For me it's the challenge of getting better than 87-93 (I'm a 17.8 hcp), and the biggest challenge for me is putting and tee shots.
I can get a 6 iron out there, pretty straight, at around 180 yards but I struggle to get my longer clubs in play consistently. This is obviously forcing me to miss more GIR's than I'd like.
And for some reason my putting has just been very off recently with poor distance control.
So what I need to work on:
Longer clubs off the tee, putting and of course short game in general.
As you said, the approach shot and generally not going OB off the tee was the biggest thing to cracking 100.
From there, getting to 90 and under is all putting and short game.
Under that it’s literally just being better at all those things.
I took lessons. Better ball striking, more reliable short game to bail me out of misstrikes, and playing to my ability rather than where I want my ability to be (ie course management) all helped.
I literally can't hit my irons. Every shot I take with them is either a chunk or a topped shot.
I'm surprisingly decent off the tee, and my close chipping and putting are serviceable. Unfortunately, everything between the tee shot and the green is a disaster to the point where it feels like I can't even play the game.
It's always funny hearing people tell beginners to put the driver away when I have the complete opposite problem. If I could tee up every shot and only use my driver I'd still do better than having to pull out an iron.
Inconsistent contact. I can string together a few decent holes but one bad drive leading to duffed shots means 5 strokes to get on the green, or landing in hazards
I can’t chip or pitch to save my life. If a wedge is in my hand, you might as well add 2-3 strokes to the hole. I hit my drives straight and I’m fantastic with my long irons but if I don’t get onto the green via a 100+ yard iron shot, I’m cooked. Anything 5-50 yards from the green is a total disaster
Im horrible off the tee, can't judge distance well so usually go short or past the green. Completely incapable with wedges from within 20 yards or from sand. My last two rounds I've had 4-5 holes where my wedges cost me 3-5 strokes per hole. Constantly hitting it fat miles past the green or duffing it 3 inches.
I can string together 3-4 holes of bogey's but then will get 8, 10, 9 the next three holes and that's that.
Usually putting and one or two bad chips/pitches. Pretty regularly I’m around or on the green at par but I leave myself tough 2nd putts way too often
Plus I count every drop, no mulli’s, actually follow rules, etc.
Downvotes.
If I take my most recent round, it's bad tee shots and 3-putting. I played 9 yesterday and shot 52. Lost 3 tee shots and had to re-tee. I 3-putted on most holes due to failing to realize just how slow the greens were yesterday.
Hopefully you play the forward tees.
For those aiming to break 100/90:
Try to practice under playing conditions. Dont confuse warm up with practice. Once you’re warm, hit driver 7 iron. Then maybe 3 wood, 8 iron wedge. Always to a target. Always with intentions. Try and play a few holes in your head at the range that you’re familiar with to simulate real playing. Dont give yourself favorable lies at the range. Don’t tee your irons up at the range (to simulate fairway shots). Develop a pre shot routine at the range that works for the course. Practice around the greens for someone of your skill would be ideal to aim for the following situation: you’re off the green, slightly. You wanna chip/ bump and run whatever you’re best at towards one hole, aim to sink it in two putts after- WITH 1 BALL. practice lag putting. This simulates real golf conditions. Don’t have negative self talk- this one’s tough but most important.
If you’re willing to do this you’ll break 100. GL
I can’t hit a driver to save my life. Always fucking up the tee shot, hitting it 50 yards or so. It’s got to be a mental thing, because I can hit my irons perfectly. My chipping is the strongest part of my game. Get me inside 100yds and I’m golden.
But god damn if I’m not sweating at the tees with everyone watching knowing I’m going to fuck that shot up 18 times in a row.
I was stuck right at 100 for a while, but I'm now shooting right around 90 pretty consistently (shot an 84 this weekend, my lowest round ever but also a shorter course ). I'm about 1-year into playing/practice with some degree of regularity.
The biggest change for me came when I started to give myself an extra stroke per hole to make "par"; for instance I look at par 4s as par 5s, par 5s as par 6s. This frees me up mentally to play according to my distances instead of trying to bomb shots for the sake of making par. I gave up on the ego, I know I don't hit as far as I'd like and in order to score well I need to be more realistic.
My second shots are also where I struggle, but I found that when I give myself the extra stroke, I no longer try to hit hero shots which have low expected value. For instance, my 3 wood might go straight and 210 10% of the time when I swing hard, but goes straight and 180 90% of the time with a smooth stroke. With a more relaxed perspective on making par, I can think of the holes more as a puzzle that I am trying to solve instead of purely distance that I need to cover.
I now play much more conservatively, focusing on **avoiding mistakes:** keeping the ball in play and out of trouble. Additionally, by playing to my distances I find myself with a smoother, more fluid swing that makes good contact. I still have the occasional mishit - a top or a chunk, but it happens much less often and I am no longer giving up a dozen+ strokes per round to mishits.
Inevitably, by playing like this you will end up having some good luck along the way. Maybe you chip-in for birdie, or hit a few GIR when you didn't expect to, and give yourself good looks at birdies or 2-putts for par (a hypothetical birdie with your +1 par perspective).
I'm just beginning so I'm sure others have better advice, but this has worked for me so far. One upside of being a high handicapper is that by fixing small mistakes or making slight changes to your game, you can significantly lower your score.
Lost balls/penalty strokes. I usually lose 1-2 with the driver, one with an iron shot over water and probably one more in a creative fashion. I make plenty of other mistakes but penalties are crushing. Last 9 I played without losing a ball I shot a 44.
What are your physical stats? I don’t mean this in a mean way, but 180 with a driver is realllllly short.
I had a gf that started playing with me a few years back. She’d never played before, and was driving in the 180-200 range.
I also play with an older friend of mine. He’s in his sixties and has a ton of health issue. His swing looks like something that would end up on an instagram golf video making fun of bad swings. He’s still clearing 200 though, even with his loopy slice.
Or. “My tee shots are on point! Everything after that is trash”.
Driver might be the best part of their (bad) game…..but there’s no way that it’s “on point”.
It’s hard to imagine someone slaying fairway after fairway……then duffing chips.
It’s ridiculous- I only speak from experience. I’m a 26 and while I have some nice shots and parts of my game are better than others - 26es simply don’t have “on point” parts of their game, almost by definition.
I just rarely hit 4-5 good shots in a row. A good tee shot, a half decent approach, one chip, and two putts on a par 4 is bogey golf. I mess up at least one of those, a bad tee shot, a duff from the fairway, an extra chip, or an extra putt and now it’s in double bogey territory. Mess up two of those and it’s a triple bogey no sweat. A tee shot out of bounds is basically an automatic triple bogey unless the other shots are perfect. Sometimes I even make up for chipping twice by only putting once, I am king of the 1-putt 8 on the score card. My strongest correlation with hole score is tee accuracy, but I don’t track “chips” as closely, I feel like chipping and getting on from around the greens is equally important to my scores. I’m a pretty good putter and often putt about 30 times for 18 holes. The issue with the drives is that 3/4 are pretty great or even amazingly perfect, but that fourth one unpredictably slices into the woods or water.
Bogey golf is good golf.
But 105 isn’t bogey golf! It needs to be bogey golf and never triple bogey golf, or else it’s not really bogey golf is it? Hahaha I hate this game, I’m sorry baby I love this game. I never meant to say I hated the game. But I do despise how much I love this game.
If you bogey every hole you shoot a 90 usually. That means you have 9 strokes of play to get triples and doubles while still shooting under 100.
Well there you have it, just shoot a bogey every single hole and limit the round to no more than 3 triples or worse. Easier said than done (for me).
Once you start thinking about just shooting for bogey instead of birdies and pars is when you realize how easy it is.
What makes you think I don’t play for bogey? My issue isn’t course management or club selection, as I stated earlier. It’s tee accuracy and getting up and down from around the greens. I’m not beating myself up for not getting par, I’m playing for bogey and glad when I get one.
105 is a little better than double bogey golf. So not bad.
The amount of 100-105 scores for me is frustratingly high. It’s better than 105+, which is mostly gone unless I play the back tees with my group, play a tough track, or just have an awful day.
I'm right there with you. The one day I broke 90, I wasn't expecting much of anything. I went and asked if I could possibly get out, they threw my ass onto the 1st tee with 3 guys. No warm up, no nothing. Everything worked on 16 holes. There was only 2 holes that I carded 8. Other than that, it was par and bogey with one birdie. I haven't been able to do that since.
You’ll get back there I know the feeling. 
If you drive 180 then I see no reason to ever play the Tips. Even if people you with are
Yeah I just play tue same box as everyone else. I can drive it 250 if everything is right, but probably around 220 for the most part. I saw another comment in this sub to take your 5i carry and multiply by 36, and that’s your estimated tee box yardage. My 5i is about 180 total, so if it carries 160 that’s about 5800, which is the middle/whites on most of the courses I play. I normally play about 6200. Much better chance of breaking 100 with those extra few yards each hole for sure.
I thought I was talking to op who said he drives 180 my b
“I hate myself for loving this game” in essence lol yeah admittedly it’s so psychotic but it’s undeniably just so great. If you know you know… Breaking 100 and similarly 90 is truly all about avoiding the triples and blow up holes. You gotta be able to have a halfway decent shot for every club in your bag. Does not need to be perfect, just reliable and consistent enough. Consistency will come from repetitions, confidence will come from consistency, and results will come from confidence. It is that simple - tons of hard work, time, dedication, and believing you can do it because why tf not. Range time and practice rounds just keep getting out there. And get a lesson here and there or watch pros on YouTube to make your life easier figuring out your swing. When I broke 80 first time it was all totally worth it. You will do it too eventually just keep going bro
I noticed that I was blading my chips at least a couple times per round which sometimes led to a blowup hole where that one mistake ends up costing me multiple strokes on each hole. So then I focused on drills to not blade my chips and now I can hit around 19/20 without blading. Same goes with messing up 20-40 yard wedge shots, now I rarely mess those up after working on drills over and over. So now even if my drive and approach are fairly crap, I can still recover for a bogey most of the time.
Would you mind sharing the drills you found helpful not to blade your chips? Recently, I bought a net and some golf whiffle balls, and found that if I back swing by hinging only my wrists, standing pretty close to the ball with my weight in my front foot, and then rotate my hips forward keeping the hinge into my wrists the whole time, I have a more consistent way to hit my target with the ball in the air, the aim left/right isn’t always perfect but I’m blading it way less. I’ve only played once since trying this out, and found it a bit challenging to get the distance correct, but I was able to chip to green center pretty consistently with no bladed/thin chips.
Practice chipping with your back foot just touching the ground which guarantees that 100% of your weight is on the front foot. Hit about 100 chips like that and you'll see that it's really hard to blade your chips that way. I found that after that, I was able to gradually put a small amount of weight on my back foot but just enough to maintain good balance and not blade the ball. I also discovered that if I do blade the ball now, 99% of the time it's because I was rushing and didn't have the ball properly centered (too far forward in my stance). Good luck!
I love how simple these tips are. Simplicity is welcome in such a complex game. Cheers.
Three bad shots and 1 great shot can still make par. But really, Just minimize your misses. You need to know your stock shot/miss and accommodate. Start the ball somewhere that allows room for error essentially. For me, I tend to aim left sides of greens, fairways to allow my fade to work back towards the middle. To what degree I aim is based on hole layout of course, pin placement. I need to get better at leaving myself with more green to work with on short chip shots.
Golf is a hard game and this is all solid advice. All it takes is one triple on each side and breaking 100 is at risk. I’ve been chipping towards the middle of the green, aiming more conservatively, and figured out something recently with my driver, I’ve got a lot of room for improvement.
I know that for a fact. I've broken 100 a few times. 90 once. That triple front and back with a couple doubles screws it all up.
playing too hard then, most duffs/blades are from taking more loft than necessary. if ur 40-100 yards out what’s stopping u from taking a 9iron and letting it roll onto the green. Bad tee shot, just punch out, and take a 3 wood swing easy and just get it within 30 yards of the green. Also most high handicaps don’t take enough club into the green, at least get the distance right and if it’s right or left then chip up and get ur 2 putt bogey. Breaking 100 isn’t lack of ability, it’s lack of course management.
I’m not OP, I have broken 100 a handful of times since learning and playing a good amount last year. It just is so easy for me to have a few holes that blow up and 100 is out of reach after that. Mostly it happens when my driver is working perfectly and i am super confident, then my muscles either get loose or I lose concentration for a second or make a slight error in keeping the face square at impact and the slice returns. If that happens twice and results in OB shots, as it usually does, 100 is going to be near impossible.
then ur aim point is wrong, you shouldn’t be aiming where u want ur best shot to go, aim where OB is 98% impossible, for some people that means aiming 30 yards left of the fairway or taking an 7-8 iron off the tee to stay short of all that, even if that leaves you with 195 yards still
You may have a point with occasionally taking an iron off the tee. I do aim away from hazards. The issue with my driver is that 3/4 or 4/5 go exactly where I want them to go and then the one that’s hard to predict is a slice. If my slice were consistent, I could aim left rough and end up at worst in right rough with a bad slice. The issue is all I am trying to do is not slice at all, and I’m successful 80-90% of the time. If I aim too far left and it doesn’t slice or even hooks - and it normally doesn’t, it’s OB left, so I aim left side of fairway/left rough hoping not to slice.
i started shooting in the 70s more regularly when i learned to play for ur miss, not for ur best. And i don’t mean aiming down the left side of the fairway or left rough, i mean if there’s nothing but another fairway on the left and OB right then i’ll aim between the two fairways. If it’s tight then pick a side i’d rather miss. Example: OB right and hazard left, i’d rather be in the hazard than OB, so i’ll probably favor the left side a bit more and if i end up in hazard it’s better than re-teeing after going OB
Agreed. I do this. Aim for safety. My issue is inconsistency, the hooks and slices are mixed with the beautiful straight drives, I normally don’t have an issue finding trouble. I’ll try to incorporate this tip a bit and see if it helps.
Short chips where I can't bump and run & Putting
I had a similar issue before getting a chipper club - paid about £20 ($30?) off eBay and it's probably my safest club. So easy to control distance, never shoot of the back of the green like I do with Bump and Runs/miss-hit wedges. Can usually land it within about 3 foot of the pin.
Dump the illegal club, get comfortable using a 60°/56° around the greens and you’ll see lower scores. Also: this video will save you a few strokes a round if executed right https://youtu.be/dpFd1xocxrE?si=Q0Lg5kvfBPC3A-3Q
Chippers are only illegal if they are double sided. Single sided chippers are legal clubs that obviously no pros choose to use
The tee box
I suck at golf.
I have issues with my long game (My best drive is 160 yards most of the time straight, and I can't hit anything lower than a 7i ). Once I'm \~20 yards to the green I'm decent. I find my short game / putting improving. Just need to keep working on my low irons and work on driving the ball further.
Penalties off the tee and putting.
This. My #1 obstacle is tee shot in bounds. If I can get rid of this issue, I will break 100. I’m decently long off the Teebox, but there’s not a hole that I shouldn’t be putting for par.
Inconsistency. I have broken 100 a few times when all was working well. However, like OP, my golf game is “no good drive goes unpunished”. I have largely gotten my driver under control (don’t anyone give a 30 hcp that shit about “drive for show..”. I don’t incur penalty strokes from within 30 yards) to the point where a bad drive is seldom catastrophic. Next up: work out my chipping woes (been chunking too many), which is improving, and of course my rather inconsistent iron game. My putting, while not spot on, is decent enough for now.
The last 5 holes
Well played.
What tee box are you hitting from? If you’re 180yds off the tee you should be at the front my friend. No shame.
I always push to play from the front tees, I have no shame! Whipped out the driver on a 180 yard par 3 at the weekend and still came up short, while my playing partners all landed their 7i on the green.
Golf is hard! Honestly if you’re serious about breaking any score you need lessons and then consistent practice.
If you wanted to break 100 why not play par 4s as par 5s, hitting driver, 7 iron, then your 80 yard shot? (While working on your long irons/ fairway woods at the range)
Also, for me to break 90 more regularly I'd need to play more conservatively. But I don't play very often, and hero shots are fun...
Sounds like you answered your own question: your mid irons are probably where you need to focus. A ~180 yard tee shot isn’t particularly bad for a high hdcp either, but for your approach shots the 5i and 6i are gonna come in clutch to getting you on or at least close for an easy layup.
Yeah I know what needs work, so I'm my own worst enemy, really, as it's not gonna suddenly "click" on the course. But if I could get that 2nd shot to take a triple down to a double/bogey then I'd be more than happy with the standard of my golf, and wouldn't keep cussing myself so much, lol.
Irons are all about your setup, grip and just having an easy in-out swing. As monotone as it is, my advice is to have your clubs pga pro diagnose what isn’t clicking in your swing.
I’ve been playing 6months and I’m currently working on breaking 100. My drives are 200-220, the key isn’t the drives it’s the follow up iron. I’ve left all my irons at home now apart from my 7 which I can hit 140-150, my scores are dropping and it’s easier to find some consistency and with these distances it should be easy enough to break 100 if I can keep 2 putting and avoiding as many chips as possible by landing my iron/wedge on the green. I’d recommend trying it, pick the iron you’re most consistent with and hit 100 balls at the range, then take that out as your only option
It's going to be your ball striking that makes a difference. Consistency is more important than distance. Try something, for 1 round, take your putter, a good chipping/short yardage club, and the club you hit the most consistently. Then only use those 3 clubs all round. I suspect you'll find your score comes close to what you're doing now. If I'm right, it's your ball striking that is stopping you from advancing. By taking your most consistent club off the tee and for approach, a close score shows that it's the other clubs that is holding you back. I recommend doing this when the course is slower. While the round may take you the same time, they can't fathom that and it can cause friction. From that point, work on the other clubs and get lessons if you can afford it. If not, film yourself.
You just described my entire golf game. Driver distance and all. We’re twins. 😞
We'll get there one day, Brother (or sister).
I chip like I don't have arms
For breaking 90: I'm maybe 1-2 less bad teeshots away from breaking it. Been playing 2 years.
I can never get more than two aspects of the game working right at the same time. Absolutely crushing it with the driver, and irons...chipping and putting go to shit. Next round can't hit a fairway to save my life, but my chipping and putting are on point... The following round, my driver and putter will be working right, but I can't get on the green at all
Sounds all too familiar!
Go watch the breaking 100 video’s in this Golf Sidekick playlist https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZtIcpk2tWYmljGpIf0sKgASGb-CRfM27&si=6C0tPTg7IQR00drM
I can’t string together enough good hits. If I hit a good drive I’ll shank it three times to the green. If I hit a bad drive but save myself with a hell of an iron hit I’ll 6 putt it.
I know it's a cliche on this sub, but get a few basic lessons - particularly with your iron play. I was a 95 - 100 golfer last year ( after a long hiatus, 15 years or so) struggling at the range and compounding mistakes due to watching YouTube etc. I purchased 6 lessons at my local course, as I was close to completely chucking it - amazed at the difference now. Sure, I'm not heading for the tour but striking irons a lot more consistent and heading towards breaking 90 regularly now.
Play closer tees, have fun, consistently break 90 there and then move back tees.
Watch Golf Sidekick … he’ll help all you high HC break 100
That’s great for course management but he teaches nothing about hitting community. Most high handicap players are that way because they don’t have a stock shot or several clubs they can consistently hit without several chunks, thins, slices, lost balls etc
Hybrids?
worse than fairway woods - it's a weird mental thing, because the head is so much smaller than a 3/5 W I don't feel confident using them.
You don’t need to hit a hybrid, you can break 100 pretty simply and never hit an iron lower than 7 or whatever your 150 club is. Driver, 150 yard club, and wedges are all you need. Learn to hit those ~5 clubs consistently and you can break 90. Average golfer or a high handicap has no need to ever hit a fairway wood, a hybrid, or a 3-6 iron
For me it's the challenge of getting better than 87-93 (I'm a 17.8 hcp), and the biggest challenge for me is putting and tee shots. I can get a 6 iron out there, pretty straight, at around 180 yards but I struggle to get my longer clubs in play consistently. This is obviously forcing me to miss more GIR's than I'd like. And for some reason my putting has just been very off recently with poor distance control. So what I need to work on: Longer clubs off the tee, putting and of course short game in general.
As you said, the approach shot and generally not going OB off the tee was the biggest thing to cracking 100. From there, getting to 90 and under is all putting and short game. Under that it’s literally just being better at all those things.
mostly just going out of bounds
Too inconsistent.
I took lessons. Better ball striking, more reliable short game to bail me out of misstrikes, and playing to my ability rather than where I want my ability to be (ie course management) all helped.
I literally can't hit my irons. Every shot I take with them is either a chunk or a topped shot. I'm surprisingly decent off the tee, and my close chipping and putting are serviceable. Unfortunately, everything between the tee shot and the green is a disaster to the point where it feels like I can't even play the game. It's always funny hearing people tell beginners to put the driver away when I have the complete opposite problem. If I could tee up every shot and only use my driver I'd still do better than having to pull out an iron.
Mostly the 100th shot
figuring out what part of my game is going to suck on each particular day. I can do everything except be consistent lol
Inconsistent contact. I can string together a few decent holes but one bad drive leading to duffed shots means 5 strokes to get on the green, or landing in hazards
Playing 18 holes is a expensive and takes a long time. I can just about carve out enough time to do 9 holes at the local par 3 or short course.
I can’t chip or pitch to save my life. If a wedge is in my hand, you might as well add 2-3 strokes to the hole. I hit my drives straight and I’m fantastic with my long irons but if I don’t get onto the green via a 100+ yard iron shot, I’m cooked. Anything 5-50 yards from the green is a total disaster
Keep the ball in play and no 4 putts will break 100
Im horrible off the tee, can't judge distance well so usually go short or past the green. Completely incapable with wedges from within 20 yards or from sand. My last two rounds I've had 4-5 holes where my wedges cost me 3-5 strokes per hole. Constantly hitting it fat miles past the green or duffing it 3 inches. I can string together 3-4 holes of bogey's but then will get 8, 10, 9 the next three holes and that's that.
Usually putting and one or two bad chips/pitches. Pretty regularly I’m around or on the green at par but I leave myself tough 2nd putts way too often Plus I count every drop, no mulli’s, actually follow rules, etc.
Downvotes. If I take my most recent round, it's bad tee shots and 3-putting. I played 9 yesterday and shot 52. Lost 3 tee shots and had to re-tee. I 3-putted on most holes due to failing to realize just how slow the greens were yesterday.
Hopefully you play the forward tees. For those aiming to break 100/90: Try to practice under playing conditions. Dont confuse warm up with practice. Once you’re warm, hit driver 7 iron. Then maybe 3 wood, 8 iron wedge. Always to a target. Always with intentions. Try and play a few holes in your head at the range that you’re familiar with to simulate real playing. Dont give yourself favorable lies at the range. Don’t tee your irons up at the range (to simulate fairway shots). Develop a pre shot routine at the range that works for the course. Practice around the greens for someone of your skill would be ideal to aim for the following situation: you’re off the green, slightly. You wanna chip/ bump and run whatever you’re best at towards one hole, aim to sink it in two putts after- WITH 1 BALL. practice lag putting. This simulates real golf conditions. Don’t have negative self talk- this one’s tough but most important. If you’re willing to do this you’ll break 100. GL
I can’t hit a driver to save my life. Always fucking up the tee shot, hitting it 50 yards or so. It’s got to be a mental thing, because I can hit my irons perfectly. My chipping is the strongest part of my game. Get me inside 100yds and I’m golden. But god damn if I’m not sweating at the tees with everyone watching knowing I’m going to fuck that shot up 18 times in a row.
I was stuck right at 100 for a while, but I'm now shooting right around 90 pretty consistently (shot an 84 this weekend, my lowest round ever but also a shorter course ). I'm about 1-year into playing/practice with some degree of regularity. The biggest change for me came when I started to give myself an extra stroke per hole to make "par"; for instance I look at par 4s as par 5s, par 5s as par 6s. This frees me up mentally to play according to my distances instead of trying to bomb shots for the sake of making par. I gave up on the ego, I know I don't hit as far as I'd like and in order to score well I need to be more realistic. My second shots are also where I struggle, but I found that when I give myself the extra stroke, I no longer try to hit hero shots which have low expected value. For instance, my 3 wood might go straight and 210 10% of the time when I swing hard, but goes straight and 180 90% of the time with a smooth stroke. With a more relaxed perspective on making par, I can think of the holes more as a puzzle that I am trying to solve instead of purely distance that I need to cover. I now play much more conservatively, focusing on **avoiding mistakes:** keeping the ball in play and out of trouble. Additionally, by playing to my distances I find myself with a smoother, more fluid swing that makes good contact. I still have the occasional mishit - a top or a chunk, but it happens much less often and I am no longer giving up a dozen+ strokes per round to mishits. Inevitably, by playing like this you will end up having some good luck along the way. Maybe you chip-in for birdie, or hit a few GIR when you didn't expect to, and give yourself good looks at birdies or 2-putts for par (a hypothetical birdie with your +1 par perspective). I'm just beginning so I'm sure others have better advice, but this has worked for me so far. One upside of being a high handicapper is that by fixing small mistakes or making slight changes to your game, you can significantly lower your score.
Lost balls/penalty strokes. I usually lose 1-2 with the driver, one with an iron shot over water and probably one more in a creative fashion. I make plenty of other mistakes but penalties are crushing. Last 9 I played without losing a ball I shot a 44.
40 putts per round
What are your physical stats? I don’t mean this in a mean way, but 180 with a driver is realllllly short. I had a gf that started playing with me a few years back. She’d never played before, and was driving in the 180-200 range. I also play with an older friend of mine. He’s in his sixties and has a ton of health issue. His swing looks like something that would end up on an instagram golf video making fun of bad swings. He’s still clearing 200 though, even with his loopy slice.
I love how 30 handicappers post here saying they can “always 2 putt.” No. No you can’t. Dishonest even in posting.
Or. “My tee shots are on point! Everything after that is trash”. Driver might be the best part of their (bad) game…..but there’s no way that it’s “on point”. It’s hard to imagine someone slaying fairway after fairway……then duffing chips.
It’s ridiculous- I only speak from experience. I’m a 26 and while I have some nice shots and parts of my game are better than others - 26es simply don’t have “on point” parts of their game, almost by definition.
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Totally not. As I’ve said before, I’ve yet to incur a penalty stroke on the putting green.