Gotten bad...lol

Squeeze nothing out of my rounds and just can't seem to piece it all together.

One thing I have noticed is my footwork is really sloppy at times and I end up with too much weight on one side or the other which is an impossible way to play. Anyone got any ideas on drills, etc to improve footwork, weight distribution, etc?

Yes. I retooled my swing this year; part of my swing issues before included a reverse pivot, which is hard to get rid of if you don't work at it and the movements that cause it.

I would start by doing drills without a club in your hand. Throw a club up by your shoulders parallel with the ground and turn as if you're getting to the top of your swing. The club should be turned ~90 degrees and if you look face on in a mirror you should look like you're loading your right side (specifically your right heel). The most important thing for me to remember is that if I think about starting the swing as a pull with the right side of my body (pulling my right shoulder blade back, using obliques as well) instead of a push from the left side of my body, you will have a much more sustainable takeaway and you'll move much less off of the ball. You'll also turn much more naturally with your hips and load into your right heel easier.

Then as you get more comfortable start doing small swings (9-3 drill is great for drilling this) and work your way up gradually. It really helps to have a mirror or video when doing this, as you'll have instant feedback.

TL;DR: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1mNjonSuhU0

Play lots and lots of golf. In 3.5 months I have managed to go from about a 12 down to a 6. I never thought that would have been doable but golf got easier when I started playing 3-4 days a week with more than a 18 each day for the most part. I feel like this is close to my wall though with out really grinding and getting lessons.

Question for the really good players that frequent the forum. I'll provide some context before I get to the question itself.

Briefly- Current HCP right around scratch. Age: mid 20s, played a bunch of junior golf, didn't play in college, really regret that. I want to see how good I can get at this game.

Since February of this year I've been almost exclusively working on the fundamentals of the golf swing. I have a swing coach who gives me really good feedback, we have a good plan and I spend at least half an hour to an hour each day working on drills.

It's now early August and I'm very happy with the progress I've made in my full swing on video, on the golf course, and so far in tournament play. I'm confident that I've reached a new plateau ballstriking-wise:

-Longer + straighter
-Better in wind
-Better good shots
-Better misses
-Easier to duplicate
-Higher margin of error (less reliance on timing)

As you might imagine, though, I haven't dedicated time to improving my short game. Relative to my ballstriking, it's really behind.

How would you begin to gameplan in order to improve the short game? I'm struggling to come up with ways that mirror how I did that with the long game (fundamentals, smart practice w/ instant feedback, checking in with a coach every two weeks).

Secondly, is there possibly a mental hurdle that involves the mindset of loss aversion (trying not to make bogeys) and switching gears and just going out and demolishing the golf course? I would argue that my mental game is one of my biggest strengths (I'm very very good at staying present), but in this case I'm not as sure.

Thanks for any feedback.

I'm just a crappy 3 at this point but I used to be able to play a bit. Hopefully that qualifies...haha

Re: short game struggles. That can mean a lot of things, pitching, chipping, sand play, putting. Then putting could be lag putting or short putting, etc.

I would start with the areas that are weakest. Obv those areas can provide quicker improvements if you spend some time focused on them.

Doc had a routine I think called the Ultimate practice or something to that effect. That covered all the bases on short game practice I think.

^Yeah I looked at that, thanks for referencing.

Last year, I charted all of my rounds using software that tries to approximate strokes gained relative to your HCP. Considering everything from driving to putting, the software suggested that the easiest way to pick up shots was to improve 1-putts from 11-15 ft. 2nd easiest was 1-putts from 16-20 ft. Here are the results from 36 rounds in 2014:



So as you can probably tell, drastically improving my long game widened that gap. The reason I was able to improve so much this year is because I was hyper-focused on instilling the right patterns and on building the best golf swing I could from the ground up. Doing so requires the right information, the right feedback, and the time and effort necessary to build movement patterns. Doc mentioned this in his Ult. Practice thread:

I'm lost on how to begin to analyze the mechanical side of my putting stroke so that when I need to get the reps in (Ult. Practice, etc.), I know that it's reinforcing the correct patterns.

What software is that?

It's called shotbyshot (you can google it- not sure if posting a direct link is okay).

I stopped using it this year because I wasn't playing rounds until June, plus there are some great spreadsheet tools that you can use from this forum.

I did enjoy using it for what it was. The short game aspect is far more detailed and precise in terms of capturing shot data. Long game is simply fairways/greens. No measure of how long you're hitting it/ what club you're using.

Do you practice short game? I know someone already said "work on the stuff you're bad at".

The mentally hard part about practice for me is that when I go, I want to feel good about myself, so I repeat the stuff I'm already good at and I ignore all the stuff I'm not good at. It's why I don't go to the gym. It's hard. This obviously is a terrible cycle. Once you realize you're doing this, you can start working on the stuff you're not good at and it'll slowly (or maybe even quickly) get better.

Relative Stats

40 yo
Amateur
Roughly 18 handicap (not on GHIN currently).
Limited practice time, maybe 2-3 times a week tops.
Started playing when I was 8 yo and played competitvely in the Houston Golf Association as a kid. Never much of a competitor, just something fun to do.
Just signed up for the Central Texas Golf Association to play some fun, lightly competitive events. First tournament is August 23rd.
Definitely have the ablity to get my handicap down in single digits, just need to work at it.

Strengths

Driving distance and accuracy
Rescue shots
Bunker play
Putting

Weaknesses

Lately its been my wedge play which used to be a strength, but I cannot consistenly hit any wedge where I'm not using a full swing.
Fairway woods (control)
Long irons (control)

Somewhere in the middle

Fitness
Ball striking
Mid irons

Ideas for improvement

Lots of range work with my trouble clubs, working repetitiously to create consistency in my ball striking and control with long irons and fairway woods.

Lots of repetitious wedge work practicing 30%-80% wedge shots to develop consistency in distance and accuracy. Recently discovered that I was decelerating through the ball on shorter wedges, so my focus is on a shorter backswing and accelerating through the ball. So far I'm seeing improvement on the range - need to make sure that carries over to the course.

Continuous putting and chipping practice to shave strokes overall.

Adapting my Tai Chi practice & workouts to benefit my core strength and flexibility in golf which will increase my range of motion and clubhead speed as well. Bonus help on mental game to help with pressure situations.

I would just include getting some sort of instruction so that when you are practicing its moving you in the right direction. Otherwise you risk ingraining bad habits.

It might sound silly but I would also develop a really really repeatable pre-shot routine. That's always important but especially so if you are going to play competitive golf.

How important do others believe a coaches ability to play competitively factors into their ability to coach students attempting to play competitively?

There is a coach that I took a bunch of lessons from some years ago that was adamant that the fact that he was a player (played multiple tour events, multiple PGAs and won the PGA club championship) made him a better coach. I thought it was a bit self serving but I wonder if there is any legitimacy at all. I am considering a few coaches with varying degrees of success on the course and not sure how much I should consider it if at all.

Any opinions?

How many of his other students have played tour events ect?

None that I am aware but definitely a bunch have played high level amateur golf, college, etc. But the other coach has a similar if shorter roster of players (simply due to being younger).

After a night of sleeping on it, I'm not sure this is a necessary part of a coaches resume for coaching a low single digit handicapper.

I have never had any experience with high level coaches in golf so can't really say. It more comes down to if he is a good teacher or not. Obv being great golf at one point won't hurt but at the same time it might be golf always came easy for him. Now if he is giving you on course game management advice and such then I think playing at a high level is a must.

Ask me 2016. Now? Quit sucking.