My golf game

[phins]

I still suck at golf...played a really easy course and shot an 88. Here's the bad news, that's the best round of my life.

Putting gets me big time, and I have a tendency to hit a real nice shot (for me) and have an easy little chip to get on the green in regulation. Problem is, I'll then duff the chip and have to chip a second time to get on and putt for a bogey. See, the putting then sucks and I get a double bogey.

I can't tell you how many times I'm looking a nice par, only to turn it into a double due to short chips or missing 8-12 ft putts. Anytime someone says to you, "Drive for show, putt for dough," believe them. I can attest to how true it can be.

[jeffbgoofy]

You guys are better than me, I brok 100 a couple fo times, but never have played consistently, until now. Got me the really big on sale Nike Sumo Irons at Dicks yesterday. I know I will play at least 5 times this summer already so my wife justified my birthday/father's day present. If I play more, I get better..

[JackofDiamonds]

I've torn both rotator cuffs in the last 3 years. I tore my first, and my golf game went from consistently high-70s/low-80s to maybe break 90. Tore the second one this winter and I probably won't be able to play this summer. I caddied and drove carts for 6 years from 13-18, and played nearly everyday in the summer. I had such a pretty stroke...gone for a long time now.

[Richie Allen]

I can't tell you how many times I'm looking a nice par, only to turn it into a double due to short chips or missing 8-12 ft putts. Anytime someone says to you, "Drive for show, putt for dough," believe them. I can attest to how true it can be.

You're not alone struggling with the putter. And although it's the area almost everyone could most easily improve, it usually only gets a couple minutes of practice before each round. Put a little time into it and it'll improve very quickly, unlike working on your swing. Unfortunately, there's no guarantee your swing is going to get better simply from hitting a couple buckets of balls.

One thing I'd suggest to possibly help you with your putting; forget this notion I hear repeatedly, at scrambles and on the TV, about outside left edge, two balls to the right..really any "line" related aiming keys. The key to consistent putting is speed. If you spend some time at a good practice green putting 3 or 4 balls at a time, you'll soon find out there is more than one way (line) to get your ball to the hole. Once that confidence comes that you can roll your ball the right distance, you'll just step up to a putt and you can see the putt in your mind and let it fly. You shouldn't be aiming, you should be feeling the putt. Thinking about line will only help to sabotage the feel for the needed speed of the putt.

Also discard this notion that you should hit the ball hard enough for it to roll at least 2 or 3 feet past the hole. Nonsense. We want the ball to go in, not past the hole. In know, never up never in but if I were to putt every ball hard enough to roll 3 feet past the hole, I'd make only a fraction of the putts I do rolling the ball exactly hole-high. Get the speed down and start rolling it exactly hole-high and you'll be shocked how many balls drop it as they're slowing down right at the cup. The hole is way bigger for a ball rolling the right speed.

[cardinalkarp]

Easier said than done Richie, easier said than done.

[Richie Allen]

Easier said than done Richie, easier said than done.

Isn't everything? (Other than saying stuff)

I guess putting is too boring to motivate people to practice much.

[cardinalkarp]

I rarely have enough time to get out and play rounds of golf, let alone get out there and practice.

[clevername]

I think I might literally kill for a driving range and putting green in my back yard. I'd at least maim for a putting green.

[phins]

Easier said than done Richie, easier said than done.

Isn't everything? (Other than saying stuff)

I guess putting is too boring to motivate people to practice much.

You're right, I need to practice at it. What I really need is lessons that show me how to do it all correctly. I've come a long way though, I used to shoot 150 routinely, and now I'm usually in the 90's.

[phins]

I think I might literally kill for a driving range and putting green in my back yard. I'd at least maim for a putting green.

After I'm married it's either a sand trap and putting green in the back yard, or a country club membership at one of those lower level courses for a couple hundred a month.