I have good standard of shots. Why cannot I get my handicap down?

Question

My driveing is good and straight, my mid irons are fine and my putting is acceptable. My concentration is not so good and at times my backswing get too fast and the shot goes bad.

Answer 1

You didn't say anything about how you putt or chip the ball.  That is probably why your handicap isn't getting lower.  Shortgame is the key.

Answer 2

There are so many things that go into scoring well. Accurate drving is one of the biggest problems with most players. If you hit fairways and do not get into trouble, then chances are you are not hitting the ball as far as you think you should. Basically, what I am saying is you need to know exactly how far you hit each club in your bag. For me, I know that my pitching wedge goes up to 135 yards and I have a feel for how much I have to take off of my swing strength to hit the ball 100 yards.

To learn this, go to a driving range and buy a bucket of balls. Take your pitching wedge out of the bag. Take four or five swings to see how far you hit the ball. Once you have the distance, move to your nine iron and concentrate on hitting the ball that far. Once you get the feel for that distance, hit the ball with your normal swing. Hit the ball several times to get that distance and then move to your eight iron... continue this process until you get all the way through your bag.

Once you get through that, you can work with all of your clubs to see what it takes to hit them all 100 yards. then 110 yards. then 120 yards...

Bottom line, if you hit the ball straight, you have to know how far you need to hit it in order to get it in...

Good luck!

Answer 3

I think you have already answered your own question. Staying focused is the key because course management is so important. A back swing "getting too fast" is usually a sign of stress - how "acceptable" is your putting in the closing holes of a medal round? Anyway, bringing your handicap down usually entails passing through a series of plateaus. Golfers can be stuck for months trying to break, say, 90 before they suddenly drop to the mid 80's. They best thing you can do is play with golfers better than yourself. We are all natural mimics.