What is the best way to reduce your score

i wrote this a while back....

breaking 90: think if one manage his/her game well, it should be attainable, most strokes are lost in 2 main areas......

1) penalty strokes ie OB, hazard, lost ball etc
2) in/around the greens

if one play around the hazard n keep the ball in play most times, i dun see how it cant be attained.

as mentioned previously, analyse the course, not all par3s are 180m, par4s are 400m n par5 500m, thus from white tees, just play smart n be realistic about your level of play, there are many ways to play par and sometimes there's a thing call a good bogey, as long as one keeps away from triple or worse, breaking 90 is very possible.......

for example; par 4 320m, bunker at 210-220m left n right, take 3w/5w n play abt 190m/200m, only left 120-130m to the green, no reason to cheong driver, if not a wood person, then play 5i to 150m, follow by 6i to abt 20-30m away from the green, away from greenside bunkers, hit those high percentage shots, dun need to cheong for GIR, chip on green n 2 putted for bogey, if most holes bogey follow by couple of double, u shd be playing 90-100 (course management, u are playing away from all hazards).......

in addition, u are also honing your short game, those 10-30m chip will become 2nd nature....



gonna spent 4-5hrs on the course, why get frustrated, work is already frustrating, so just enjoy the walk n company of friends........ u can be frustrated at the range, but once on the course, a wise old man said to me "why pay n be frustrated, so stupid"

dun just play to chase a certain score..... u are adding undue pressure onto oneself

confidence is your friend, take him along with you n just enjoy the game....

golfool2009 wrote:

All good advice above.  For me, what I struggle with is developing a consistent miss, be it a pull or a slice.....if it's going both ways (and i don't know which way it's headed) then it's impossible to score well....my preferred shot is hitting a baby fade with my driver, FWs and hybrids....and a pull draw with my irons.....the minute it starts going the opp, then i'm in trouble.....

If all goes well, i can aim at the left edge of the fairway and then let the ball come back to the middle....even on a bad miss, it will end up on the right edge of the fairway.....same thing for the green...just aim to one side and pull draw it back to the middle......side note: always take an extra club if there's a hazard in front......

If you're able to develop a consistent miss, then you will be opening up the fairways and eliminating hazards etc.......

As always, it's easy to give advice but I'm truly struggling with this myself....

As for the old debate abt which is the most important club, driver or wedges or putter, look at it this way.....getting your driver under control prevents big numbers (hitting ob, into hazards, etc whereas your wedges and putter are your scoring clubs and the easiest to work on......

how come u never struggle when u golf with ME!!!

slinger wrote:

i wrote this a while back....

breaking 90: think if one manage his/her game well, it should be attainable, most strokes are lost in 2 main areas......

1) penalty strokes ie OB, hazard, lost ball etc
2) in/around the greens

if one play around the hazard n keep the ball in play most times, i dun see how it cant be attained.

as mentioned previously, analyse the course, not all par3s are 180m, par4s are 400m n par5 500m, thus from white tees, just play smart n be realistic about your level of play, there are many ways to play par and sometimes there's a thing call a good bogey, as long as one keeps away from triple or worse, breaking 90 is very possible.......

for example; par 4 320m, bunker at 210-220m left n right, take 3w/5w n play abt 190m/200m, only left 120-130m to the green, no reason to cheong driver, if not a wood person, then play 5i to 150m, follow by 6i to abt 20-30m away from the green, away from greenside bunkers, hit those high percentage shots, dun need to cheong for GIR, chip on green n 2 putted for bogey, if most holes bogey follow by couple of double, u shd be playing 90-100 (course management, u are playing away from all hazards).......

in addition, u are also honing your short game, those 10-30m chip will become 2nd nature....



gonna spent 4-5hrs on the course, why get frustrated, work is already frustrating, so just enjoy the walk n company of friends........ u can be frustrated at the range, but once on the course, a wise old man said to me "why pay n be frustrated, so stupid"

dun just play to chase a certain score..... u are adding undue pressure onto oneself

confidence is your friend, take him along with you n just enjoy the game....

ur right ... the only thing on my mind when golfing is "win one hole"

Thank you all for all the great feedback and wonderful advices and on behalf of all the high hcpers, I thank you all again.

just work on the balance n follow thru n don't stray. hit the ball toward your target , even if u top it.
you will play a better game

I usually play from the blue but occasionally will play off white. But the score is only 4-5 stroke different.

I will spend more time practicing my putting / chipping / pitching since if I can approach close to the pin, I shld be able to reduce my putt to under 2 strokes.

willytan wrote:

I usually play from the blue but occasionally will play off white. But the score is only 4-5 stroke different.

I will spend more time practicing my putting / chipping / pitching since if I can approach close to the pin, I shld be able to reduce my putt to under 2 strokes.

Bro, if u play white.....taking the 4 or 5 strokes in consideration, you would have break 90 liao

My best from white is only 92...... 

It's ok. Break 90 from white first

willytan wrote:

My best from white is only 92...... 

White 92 Blue 88? Ok ma...

I think the shortest way is to erase the score!!

someone asked tony robbins what was the fastest way to lose weight. he said " cut off one leg, that's 20 kgs"

so.........

fastest way to break 90 is to skip the par 5s

Immediately reduce 20 strokes.

I think is short game especially for high handicappers. high handicappers usually seldom have low GIR so short game like 30-70m pitching shots can save their day.

the other part will be putting. Putting is the easiest to reduce stroke as it is not as dynamic as a golf swing. Keep a count of total number of putts per game n u will realize whether putting contributes to your high score.

I can don't drive well but still play a decent score if I can recover from my 3rd shot which is pitching or chipping. pitch or chip near pin also means easier n shorter putts.

poresia wrote:

I think is short game especially for high handicappers. high handicappers usually seldom have low GIR so short game like 30-70m pitching shots can save their day.

the other part will be putting. Putting is the easiest to reduce stroke as it is not as dynamic as a golf swing. Keep a count of total number of putts per game n u will realize whether putting contributes to your high score.

I can don't drive well but still play a decent score if I can recover from my 3rd shot which is pitching or chipping. pitch or chip near pin also means easier n shorter putts.

Totally agree.  Approach shots are most critical  

I will have to start monitoring my putts Liao.

Hopefully with better short game, I can reduce my score.

I used Golfshot (Apple app) to track my game so agar agar you know which departments to note on..

Also occasionally make small note on what was good to my that particular good golfing day..

if u really want to play well... prep the course u gonna play

before u step onto the teebox, form a plan how u wanna tackle the course...

that means u need to know the course layout before u play...

and u form a strategy which holes u gonna attack and which holes u will play conservatively...


eg

kranji 1st hole par 4... 300m to the pin, OB left and water right from tee to green, left bunker at 100m mark, i will play a 190m shot before left bunker which is the fattest part of fairway, which leave me abt 100-120m to the pin depending on pin position that day, as long as i dun hook or slice, i take both left n right hazards out of play including the bunkers....

warren 3rd hole par 4.... 390-400m, think index 1, OB left and water right from tee to green, left faairway and right fairway got 2 bunkers, rather than cheong driver n hope to carry the bunkers, i choose 3w such that i would not reach both left n right bunkers, then i hit a 2H or 4H to try to reach the green, if cant reach reach, nevermind, ball only 10-30m away, can chip my way to the pin n hope for 1 putt... bogey still a good score for index 1 hole, but i dun put up big number for this hole


good preparation, knowing what to do..... can help maintain focus and mitigate anxieties

Long long time ago.....there was this trio...they call themselves ' ASS- Team". Rumor has it that when you play with them, the after effect is awesome.......you either give up...or you actually learnt and play better.

I want to re-affirm that its the latter.

I am a living and yet still occcasionlly golfing consequence.


Last I heard....they dis-banded liao. Waiting for the next Eagles re-union before joining forces again.

Absolutely ... This is good course management ... One must plan for the subsequent shot before he/she hits the preceding shot ...

Duval_S wrote:

Long long time ago.....there was this trio...they call themselves ' ASS- Team". Rumor has it that when you play with them, the after effect is awesome.......you either give up...or you actually learnt and play better.

I want to re-affirm that its the latter.

I am a living and yet still occcasionlly golfing consequence.


Last I heard....they dis-banded liao. Waiting for the next Eagles re-union before joining forces again.

The Eagles didn't broke up, they just took a 17 year vacation.....

ASS

Never see A before
Saw one of the S multiple time @ NSRCC driving range but he dunno who am I
Played a few times with another S.  Learnt a lot from him especially "heng lah, win you only 1 hole, come again next time ok"

Duval_S wrote:

Long long time ago.....there was this trio...they call themselves ' ASS- Team". Rumor has it that when you play with them, the after effect is awesome.......you either give up...or you actually learnt and play better.

I want to re-affirm that its the latter.

I am a living and yet still occcasionlly golfing consequence.


Last I heard....they dis-banded liao. Waiting for the next Eagles re-union before joining forces again.

They didn't disband....they are now solo acts..as there wasn't anyone worthy enough to take on the ASS team.....and have divided the country...one takes west, one takes east, the other one waiting to pounce at sicc.....

As said earlier, 

"Play with the best and you will be spurred to train harder and focus harder in-order to play a lower score to reduce your strokes against the best"

I have been lucky to be able to break 90 without any lessons or fitting.

I find that for players above 100 is easy to reduce stroke by improving one aspect of their game.
But to break 90, it requires proficiency in all aspects of the game.

I seldom play a course twice in a row. So I dun have the luxary to do course management.
But my take is, the good shots will manage itself. There is not need to care too much.
But it is important to manage the bad shots.

If u slice or hook, it is important to factor those shots in. If u hit straight and know your distances, why do you need to manage so much. just point and shoot.