Challenge For Anyone Over 5 Handicap

Practice
#1

Double bogey avoidance is one of the stats that correlates with low handicaps. Here is a challenge for anyone who is trying to understand where they are behind from a “strokes gained” perspective, but don’t punch every single shot into an app.

  • after your round look at all your double bogeys
  • jot down a single line of caddy notes for each hole (driver, 5 iron into hazard, p wedge to 10 ft, 2 putts) or something like that
  • try to understand whether it was 1) a bad long game swing 2) a series of poor swings 3) poor short game… sometimes these categories will over lap :slight_smile:

Today I made three double bogeys. Two of them were from TERRIBLE long iron swings (long par 3 and par 5 approach) but the had the same pattern (heel pushes… double cross for me)

One was short game related, and honestly was 50% a bad chipping swing (didn’t get it all the way up the hill) and 50% mental (rushed the next shot and made double)

You should start to see some patterns. For the majority of us, most doubles will occur because you have failed to advance your ball onto the green or greenside (NEARLY green in regulation) in two less than par. Frequently you will see errant shots and penalties. Less frequently you will see double chips and 3 putts after you successfully got the ball greenside or on the green.

There is plenty you can learn from spending 10 minutes reviewing your round that can help guide your practice, or give you something to talk to an instructor about. For instance, I am going to go to my coach and say “why the hell am I hitting these skanky 5 irons that are ruining my score?? Please fix this right now” :slight_smile:

9 Likes
#2

Even as a scratch I like this idea. I don’t make too many, but I made 3 in each of my last couple rounds from putting, bad swings, and bad strategy. Also do the same for every bogey on par 5. Maybe every bogey. But equally important is reviewing the birdies and things you did well, and keep a mental scorecard for the entire round.

3 Likes
#3

Sorta been doing this - tho not club specific and not thru the entire hole - but tracking tee shots plus penalties, ie. ball OB, 2-chips and 3-putts.

And it’s sort of a mixed bag for me … eg. generally comes down to either (a) duffed tee shot followed by hacked second shot requiring a decent third to get me where I might have been with a good tee shot … or … (b) do manage to get close to the green after 2 or 3 decent strokes and then stone cold hands butcher the short game.

So I’m working on it all! But seriously, I am taking lessons … currently focused on full swing … and do go back to the instructor with “last time out I had (these) kinda misses” and he tries to evaluate it and work it into the context of our lessons.

#4

My handicap isn’t above 5 but this is something that is critical in learning. Not necessarily going through the round from an execution standpoint, but more of a mental/strategy standpoint. Execution is what it is, but using my history I can be more prepared to execute the next time.

2 Likes
#5

I’m all for these types of round reviews and think it’s definitely a place where tech like Arccos Caddie and the like can really add a lot of value. With the info in the app, I can pretty much replay the whole round in my head as well as look into the analytics the system provides.

1 Like
#6

Never used applications. The nice thing is you can buy a loose leaf notebook for about $3 at cvs. For your average double digit handicap I would think understanding the outliers from your dispersion should really start to help folks think about what to practice

For most, you should start to see a pattern in long game w the extreme misses. This could be mental / approach based (why am I making a yippy swing) or it could be pattern based. Sometimes small tweaks can make your game massively more functional and eliminate extreme outliers.

Range games that emphasize keeping 8 out of 10 in a fairway (or something that replicated pressure) can start to have a massive impact

2 Likes
#7

Well said nick papageorgio

#8

Here’s what you won’t hear me say after blasting a hybrid 50 yds right and making double

“Can’t wait to get home and check my app to see how that shot compares to the avg on tour from a strokes gained perspective”

Mostly you will just hear 4 letter words

5 Likes
#9

Last Winter I was actually looking at digital ink notebooks - may revisit that idea; the goal being to accumulate individual round data into a spreadsheet for aggregate analysis.

(yes: a shot tracking app can do that for you automatically; yes: I’ve tried ShotScope)

#10

Completely understandable, but just note that the strokes gained analysis is based on target handicap levels, not the pros. So, a 15 handicap can compare where they are losing strokes to a 10 handicap for example.

#11

So I just reviewed the three rounds I played this week at Streamsong and all of my doubles except for one were the result of very difficult shots around the green that I don’t feel bad about.

1 Like
#12

You were within 10 paces of the green on each one in two shots under par?

#13

I’m an 8 handicap. My double bogeys mostly come from a huge miss left or a huge miss right. As far as I’m concerned its 100% physical. I have large dispersion on the course, large dispersion at the range, and large dispersion on a simulator. And strategy can only help you so much when you have massive dispersion patterns. I would venture that almost every golfer needs to tighten dispersion in order to significantly improve. I see a lot of people blame terrible shots on stuff like mental focus, but really they just don’t want to admit that they suck.

3 Likes
#14

@greenOak isn’t messing around tonight. May have gotten into the brown water.

You are correct. Long game improvement pays massive dividends. Most plateaus are probably related to ball striking ceiling

1 Like
#15

Yep, I think some people have an aversion to improving their ball-striking because it can seem like a daunting task but it’s simply necessary to improve significantly.

1 Like
#16

This is why controlling where your clubface is pointing at impact (in a way that is functional to your swing path) is perhaps the #1 ball striking skill IMO. If you can’t control the face, your dispersion goes wild.

Now how do you do it? I wish I had that answer for all of you :grimacing:

4 Likes
#17

So I’m a 6 handicap and thinking about how to get better… obviously avoiding doubles remains important, but I think my next step is avoiding bogeys (and having birdie putts) on the easier holes…

Short term focus will be 3/4 par fives that a good drive will put me close in two and an ok drive will put me at 50 yards…

From there focusing on converting good drives into putts while also taking my medicine and giving myself chances to make pars after singular mistakes (while settling for bogey and avoiding doubles)

2 Likes
#18

That sounds like a great mindset and plan. Quality strikes on the par 5 approaches will definitely lead to more birdies.

I’ve crept back up to 6.7. It’s mainly about bringing 2-3 errant shots per round back into play to make the next jump in scoring.

1 Like
#19

Yeah, I’ve document my struggles with putting and my recent injury… probably won’t get to play a round until late February… if I can continue to hit the ball like I was AND reduce my putts, while also having a better overall strategy I’m very hopeful my handicap will start to drop…

If I manage to achieve my chs goal, it “breaks” my last par five into a two shot hole while reducing the difficulty of every par 4… assuming I don’t re injure myself!

I’m hopeful I can achieve my goal from this season (72 on my home course) and get my handicap down at least four strokes…

Internalizing that it’s less about chasing birdies and more about making pars (and accepting bogeys to avoid doubles) is a big step for me… I’m really excited to play golf again.

1 Like
#20

My double bogies usually come down to frustration and failure to focus on the grind to minimize the damage. Mental focus is huge. It has to be one shot at a time and making the best decision possible. “Putt for par” is a goal a few of my friends tell themselves as they approach the next shot after an errant tee shot. Grinding to make that 10-15 footer for bogey is challenging but rewarding!

3 Likes