I’m currently a 3 handicap and playing mediocre in my opinion.
Some rounds I go low and play great, for example i shoot a 34 on a par 36 (only played the front 9 of the course). The course wasn’t extremely tough, but it’s not simple either. I went and played 18 holes at a harder course over the weekend and shoot an 80. I couldn’t putt worth a crap. 34 total putts later it was a mess.
Anyways, I have been thinking about getting bettor and how to accomplish that. First off I want to say that i work 40 hours aweekMonday through Friday. I can’t do a Tiger day which starts at 8am and ends and 8pm.
My thoughts and plans on how to get from a 3 handicap to scratch or bettor. So, in other words my goal is to lower my handicap by at least 3 or more. the ultimate goal would be a +3 to +5 handicap (PGA Tour level).
just to give some background in how i break down the golf swing:
mechanics (grip posture, alignment, etc)
The Swing (arm swing [releasing the club], body swing [upper and lower] and contact)
Advanced Swing (tempo, ball flight, controlling spin)
Here Is the practice schedule i have lay out for myself.
Monday, Wednesday, Friday:
30 minutes focusing on one aspect of my short game (pitching, chipping, putting, etc.)
15 minutes on the range focusing on one aspect of mechanics. (for me typically alignment)
30 minutes on the range focusing on one aspect of the swing (for me currently the arm swing)
30 minutes on the range focusing on one aspect of the advanced swing (currently it’s tempo for me)
15 minutes on the range focusing on the previous two aspects working as a unit (working together)
Tuesday and Thursday:
30 minute warm up, my routine is typically 8iron, 5iron, 5wood, Driver, LW, PW, then if I have played the course before i will practice the 1st hole. Tee Shoot, Approach Shoot, and pretend I missed the green and hit some kind of pitch shot. I’m just tryign to get loosend up and understand where my miss is going to be that day (left with a hook, left with a pull, right with a slice, etc.)
I then putt for 5 minutes to gauge a speed of the greens and i go and play 9 holes. I don’t really keep to close attention to my score, rather I view my stats as most important and i chose one area to try and lower that round, for instance, if my average number of putts per 18 holes is 32 i want to get that down to 30 or lower.
Saturday and Sunday:
I play 18 holes, both days. I come to the course with at least 1 hour before my tee time. if it’s a tournament i come with at lest 1.5 hours before my tee time. I will take 15 minutes on putting, 15 minutes on pitching, 15 minutes on chipping,
Goog luck on your quest. I tried something similar a few years back. Started by just trying to practice at least 2 hours a day after work. After a few months something happened I couldn’t believe, I actually got burnt out on golf. Well practicing anyway. Don’t know how the pros can do it day in and day out.
I think that tour pros just have a love for the game and the love for simply being outside and enjoying beautiful weather. Then you have the benefits of being able to bank from it…
I play match play a lot with friends for money, basically the concept of it is $5 per hole won… so if you are playing $5 a hole and you finish 4 up you made $20… the money from holes that are tied are not carried over… then you can through in like $1 closest to pins on par 3s and $1 longest in fairways or something if you want…
If i thought i could win I’d play all the way up to $100 a hole personally… now you bettor believe that i would have the BR on me if i did lose for some reason or another, i always play with a roll that can cover a lose of 9holes, you have to expect to at least tie 9 of the holes or win a couple… hardly ever should you lose by more then 4… if the match is fair the lose of 5 happens sometimes, but on average you are looking at 1-3 holes…
it’s all about what are you looking for in return for your efforts, for me I’m competitive and like to win, plus the money is a good thing to cover greens fees and a little extra…
golf is fun when you shoot low… simple as that, golf can be frustrating as heck when you are loosing balls, hacking it around, etc… for some practice of GOOD habits can push them to enjoy the sport more… i emphasize good habits because practicing bad ones will only make you worse in the long run…
I’ll be blogging on here about my experiences, and my successes and failures lol… if it gets moved to a different location I’ll note that…
play good and get bettor, jmiller065