Recently I gave a lesson to a lady who’s goal was to break 100.
Her grip was a little weak, and we worked on her weight shift to get her a little more power, and before you know it, she was hitting the ball straight and down the fairway well enough. These were not PGA Tour type shots. They were about 15-20 feet high, flying about 120 yards and rolling another 30 to 50 yards. She did more or less the same thing with her approach shots, low and rolling towards the green.
We went out and played six holes after practicing for about 20 to 30 minutes. On holes 1-4 she was within 3-15 yards from the green in regulation each time. On holes 5 and 6 she rolled them onto the green and was putting for birdie. Yet despite this, she did not make par on any of the holes.
So in only 30 minutes we were able to get down the fairway well enough, but didn’t manage to improve her score. Why? Because during this lesson, we only addressed the first of my top four ways to lower your score. We didn’t work on her short game, which is vital to scoring!
If you want to lower your scores, here are the top four things to work on:
1) Learn to drive the ball in play. Is does not have to be great, just good enough to move down the fairway.
2) Learn how to hit a sand wedge in the air 25 yards, with loft, and have it land soft.
3) Learn how to bump and run a 7 iron when you do not need to approach the green with loft.
4) Learn how to gauge the right speed on your putts.
Bonus: If you practice your pitch shots, your full swing will improve!
OK, so here is the summary. Hit the ball in play and down the fairway. Worm burner shots are fine. Knock the next one near the green. There are no bonus points for beauty. Just hit it well enough. Practice pitching the ball, so you are confident you can hit it on the green and two putt.
There you go, now you are shooting in the mid 80’s without having to revamp your whole swing.
I look forward to seeing you out on the Silver Creek chipping/pitching green.