100% Inconsistent!

[DenisO]

Yea only a low percentage of 'golfers' ever break 100, but this includes all of those once a year hackers as well. People who actually play the game I believe on average have something like a 15 handicap, at least that's what I read somewhere if I remember correctly.

[Kilroy]

Of the 3500 handicps on the OG system, golfers who care enough to enter at least 5 scores in an online system, 17 hcp is at the 50% percentile. 15 hcp is 60%.

Going by that I'd say at least 50% of avid golfers can break 90 on a good day.

[Gobble_It]

Of the 3500 handicps on the OG system, golfers who care enough to enter at least 5 scores in an online system, 17 hcp is at the 50% percentile. 15 hcp is 60%.

Going by that I'd say at least 50% of avid golfers can break 90 on a good day.

I can't see a weekend hacker breaking 90 playing once a week..especially if he/she can't even drive >220yards..from the white.

[cobra]

Never mind consistency between rounds, how about between holes? I don't understand how I can birdie a hole and they double the next. One hole I'll play like a pro and then the next one is a total abortion. I'm trying to minimize those blow up holes...I always have 2 or 3 per round.

[stevek]

Never mind consistency between rounds, how about between holes? I don't understand how I can birdie a hole and they double the next. One hole I'll play like a pro and then the next one is a total abortion. I'm trying to minimize those blow up holes...I always have 2 or 3 per round.

Yah gotta pay hard for those birds. This is why I'm trying to avoid them as shown by my meagre standings in the Birds for Charity thread.

(Also taking a break from golf for a while avoids birds as well.)

[HTN2]

I'm not sure if this is what the OP is getting at, but for me, this consistent inconsistency is extremely frustrating because even though I've been an AVID golfer for 14 years, and I've practiced, ardently, read EVERYTHING there is to read, taped my swing, done really everything possible to improve, NOTHING EVER HELPS.

People preach practice and play, get out often, get lessons, you'll improve if you put the time/effort in, well, I can tell you without a doubt that is not true.

Golf is not fair. You do not improve with practice, you do not improve with lessons, you do not improve with playing more. Golf simply is not fair.

This weekend I shot 83 on a fairly difficult, long course, and 91 on an easier, shorter course. I've played and practiced for 14 years and haven't ever improved at all despite trying EVERYTHING...

Golf just isn't fair.

[goochy]

I'm not sure if this is what the OP is getting at, but for me, this consistent inconsistency is extremely frustrating because even though I've been an AVID golfer for 14 years, and I've practiced, ardently, read EVERYTHING there is to read, taped my swing, done really everything possible to improve, NOTHING EVER HELPS.

People preach practice and play, get out often, get lessons, you'll improve if you put the time/effort in, well, I can tell you without a doubt that is not true.

Golf is not fair. You do not improve with practice, you do not improve with lessons, you do not improve with playing more. Golf simply is not fair.

This weekend I shot 83 on a fairly difficult, long course, and 91 on an easier, shorter course. I've played and practiced for 14 years and haven't ever improved at all despite trying EVERYTHING...

Golf just isn't fair.

wanna sell your clubs?..I pay top dollar

[justsomeguy]

This weekend I shot 83 on a fairly difficult, long course, and 91 on an easier, shorter course. I've played and practiced for 14 years and haven't ever improved at all despite trying EVERYTHING...

Golf just isn't fair.

Have you ever shot 83 or lower on that fairly difficult, long course before?

Its all relative...

[HTN2]

Have you ever shot 83 or lower on that fairly difficult, long course before?

Its all relative...

Yes, another 83 there earlier this year, 84 there from the tips a couple years ago. This year I've been as low as 79, as high as 102, I've had 25% of my scores under 85, 25% over 90, and the rest pretty much in between.

Golf IS inconsistency, as far as I can tell, and in my experience, there's really no way to overcome it. As others have noted, even the pros suffer through it...

[HTN2]

wanna sell your clubs?..I pay top dollar

Sure, 3-pw Callaway Steelhead X14 irons, Titleist DComp 11.5* driver(but with an x shaft so it doesn't balloon really high), what'll you offer me for those ?

[goochy]

Sure, 3-pw Callaway Steelhead X14 irons, Titleist DComp 11.5* driver(but with an x shaft so it doesn't balloon really high), what'll you offer me for those ?

just teasing you mate and trying to lighten your pain. I'm sure we've ALL felt how you describe (I know I have...today included).

Hang on to those clubs, and as the song says "accentuate the positive, eliminate the negative and don't mess with Mr. inbetween"...crappy as the bad days feel the good days are great, and it's just a game after all

[nokids]

NOTHING EVER HELPS.

People preach practice and play, get out often, get lessons, you'll improve if you put the time/effort in, well, I can tell you without a doubt that is not true.

Golf is not fair. You do not improve with practice, you do not improve with lessons, you do not improve with playing more. Golf simply is not fair.

How many times per week do you practice? how often do you play? how many lessons have you had this year?

[DenisO]

If you've truly put in the time, effort, and mental game and you're still no improving then this game might just not be for you. I find as long as I continue to practice, try to learn, and fix anything I know is causing me issues, then my consistency is higher. If I don't play for a bit I come back and I'm stiff and rusty and can play well, but not always.

As far as my game is concerned, 10 out of the last 16 games have been within 3 strokes of my handicap, which at least when Im looking at it, looks consistent. I think golf is fair, as long as I'm not having a bad round!

[HTN2]

How many times per week do you practice? how often do you play? how many lessons have you had this year?

You're going to tell me I haven't practiced ENOUGH, right ? Haven't played enough, right ? I really wish you could tell me the secret because really, I've tried it all...

Well, not this year, because I firmly believe it won't do any good, but in years past, for a whole summer one year, I practiced OR played EVERY DAY, for a good 4 months straight. Made time to do it, and I work shifts so I have lots of days off, and my improvement was maybe a stroke from my handicap. And, I still had games in the 90's. There were some in the low 80's, and even a couple in the high 70's, but overall, very, very little change. I have the same spread in scores nowadays with virtually no practice(but I still get out to play about 60 times in a season).

Over the years I've tried to experiment to actually SEE what works, and what doesn't, and I haven't found ANYTHING which consistently "works". I've tried tons of practice and lessons, and to contrast, I tried one entire season where I didn't hit ANY balls except no more than 10-15 as warmup before a round. Guess what ? I played BETTER overall the season I didn't practice or get any lessons at all than I did the year I did absolutely everything possible to improve.

As for lessons, again, this year, none, and I'm very wary of lessons because there are a LOT of pro's out there who 1.)Don't know how to teach, and/or 2.)Don't know ANYTHING about how to get someone hitting the ball better. I've had a teacher give me an assessment, watch me hit balls, listen to me explain what I'm trying to do, and pronounce after 20 minutes that I need to "roll my wrists more". To this day I still have no idea what he meant by that, even though the entire rest of the lesson was devoted to it......Of the 20 or so lessons I've had, from about a half dozen or so instructors, out of all that, only a single instructor in all that time EVER taught me ANYTHING that had a concrete effect on improving my game over a period of time. And that guy left after one season so I was back to the drawing board.

My point is, often, there just isn't a fix for golfers. I've got a buddy who practices every day, is going to end up playing 100 times this summer, has a pro who really knows his swing and provides valuable instruction, and his handicap is going UP !

This game isn't fair; in that, it doesn't reward hard work, effort, and time with lower scores, not for the vast majority of players. Some, sure, but most, not at all...

And EVERYONE, even the pro's, has an 88 or 91 just waiting to happen...

But, even this frustration of realizing that I'll likely never get any better doesn't drive me from the game, the possibility of shooting those scores so tantalizingly close to perfection are very addicting, even if they only happen a couple times a season...

[nokids]

HTN2, i hear what you're saying. And 14 years playing golf is a long time. There's probably very little i tell you that you haven't already heard because I'm fresh and new to the sport.

My own view is that practice, lessons, and playing have helped me a lot. Last year I played 30 rounds and practiced once or twice a week. I was a 23 handicap. This year I practiced almost every day, took lessons, and have played 45 rounds so far this year. I'm around a 9 handicap. My last two rounds have been stinkers thanks to me forgetting how to hit my irons, but rather than letting the problem fester, I'm going to see my teacher to work on a solution. I'm confident we'll get to the bottom of what i'm doing wrong and my game can continue to improve. If I dont go see my teacher, I'll try to fix it myself with a bad habit and i'll probably ruin my confidence in golf in the long run. I can't afford to have a 2 month slump because then I'll develop some demons and doubt in my head about certain shots. Before my slump I thought I could hit any shot on the golf course. Now I am starting to doubt certain shots (ahem Mr. 180-190 yard shot to the flag). I must fix these problems asap if I truly want to enjoy the game.

What inconsistent in your game? Is it the driver, irons, wedges, putter? a mix of problems? shot selection? course management?

[HTN2]

I'm around a 9 handicap.

Getting there is the easy part(believe it or not...), its from about 9 down where there is virtually no correlation between effort and improvement...

My best handicap index is 8.2, the effort to get there was enormous, and staying there was impossible for ME. Going from 20+ to around 10 there is a very linear connection between effort and improvement, from 10 down the curve just isn't straight anymore.

My experience is that to take a single stroke off a handicap below 10 requires an exponential amount of investment compared to taking strokes off a handicap above 10.

But getting back more to the OP's original post, I think what he's experiencing is the change that occurs when one goes from a "casual" golfer, to an "avid" golfer.

I would define a casual golfer as anyone who doesn't really care about the quality of the golf they play. Even if they get out often, they aren't really all that concerned when they shoot a good OR bad score. This is in contrast to an avid golfer, who is very concerned with the quality of their game, and doesn't necessarily enjoy the game as much UNLESS they have a good quality game.

When this change occurs, often the result is that scores go up. Strange as that sounds, in golf, caring about making a good score is often anathema to PLAYING good golf.

And to the OP, my personal experience leads me to say, if you want to be more consistent, stop worrying about being so INconsistent. When you're on the course, the concentration has to stay on the GAME, not on your swing changes, or what you've done wrong, or really anything else except PLAYING the game of golf. Sorry if this sounds simplistic, but it can help to get the best game you have on any given day out of you. It still likely won't be a 74 or 81 or whatever number you have in your head every round, but it might be closer to the lowest number you're capable of on that particular day.

[hackzaw]

What I want to know is how does someone who's only held a golf club 20 times in their first year, follow up a second season shooting 38/40 rounds in the 80's and 2/40 low nineties!!!! That is remarkable. You must be a natural, because accomplishing that, isn't natural.

I think you must have been good, before you knew you were good. Once you realized you were good, you started enjoying the sport more, taking it more seriously. You've placed an enormous amount of pressure on yourself to perform, whether conscious or not, and you've lost your natural ability.

With regard to other comments about people's ability to improve, I believe that everybody is ultimately limited by their "golf fingerprint". When you look at someone's swing today, a couple years later, it will look almost identical in terms of the type of action they put on the ball. It's like a fingerprint. It looks the same day in day out (be it good or bad fundamentals).

How often do you see someone you play with regularly slumping, with a swing that looks aparently the same as it always has. Then suddenly they improve! They'll say "I'm working on something a little different in my swing", but in reality, it looks just that same as any other day.

IMO, let's hope you've got a fingerprint with some good fundamentals that lead to solid striking.

[DenisO]

Yea, everyone has their natural swing that they're comfortable with at the start but I think to improve you really do need to continue to make small adjustments to get what you're looking for, and eventually you'll ingrain these new habits to become natural.

As for your slumping example, that's one of the main things I've been working on this year and its really improved my ball striking a lot. It's easier for me to just slump over, but I know I won't hit it the way I want to if I don't position the ball properly after fixing my posture and setup. It might not feel natural as I'm standing over the ball, but after I hit it, the improved balance I get feels a lot more natural. Eventually it'll become second nature to me I'm hoping.

[adam]

Romeo: Put your change in your left pocket. Go on, do it. Now, tie your left shoe in a double knot.

Roy: Tie my left shoe?

Romeo: Right now, do it! Turn the hat backwards. Turn your hat around. Do it, Roy! Take this tee and stick it behind your left ear.

Roy: I look like a fool!

[Roy hits the ball straight]

Definitely sounds like mental approach issue. Great shooters don't think about missing, great passers don't think about interceptionsand any golfer thinking about shanks is gonna have a bad day.
Just go out thinking about good shots and good shots will come.

[iggsplode]

well this is a refreshing thread.. my game has been off the last 2 or 3 games and for the life of me i can't figure out what's wrong. after coming off a streak of 5 mid to low 90's scores and 8 of 10 breaking 100 and just feeling really good about my game and it's progression the last 3 rounds have been horrible. i can't seem to hit a ball to save my life. topped myself up a couple of holes and when i did hit it i had to look 100 yards to the right. i also now have a scuffed up 4 iron that hit a hidden rock. definatly in a downspell right now.