Yes to all that, especially a shorter driver shaft.

Anecdotal story time. I'm playing in a Wednesday night league. (Spark) My partner and I are tied for 4th currently, and I'm on top of the skins standings. He plays hickory clubs. His longest "drives" barely reach 160, mine around 190. The last two weeks, we've been paired up with a team that has a long bomber. This guy has a beautiful driver swing, and he's super long But his second shot is usually from an adjoining fairway or he's having to drop. He puts a ton of pressure on his short game as a result. It's obvious that his range time is devoted to his driver. We've beaten them two weeks running. True enough, if he ever gets his drives straightened out, we may be in trouble. LOL

I think the issue is most advice on this thread is good in general, but a not all of it is universal. It depends on what your deficiencies are.

I had a big ol' banana slice for ages. No amount of short game practice was going to get me under 100. I had to fix that first. Getting off the tee was bad enough, but my approach game was non existent. Some people don't have that problem

Now I consistently hit 3w 210-230 and 3H 200 yards. GPS verified. 3h is the one club I will NOT miss a fairway with. I play from the middle tees. I don't need a driver to break 90. It'll help down the road and I'm working on it, but not my main concern right now.

Leaving the driver in the bag doesn't necessarily mean you'll be hitting 5 irons on approach all day. My last round I teed off with 3H all day, shot 95, and I had 8i or less to most greens. Ironically the other times I hit the green with 3h(3 putt), and was greenside hole high with 5i(up and down).

I actually feel I really figured out my driver in the past few weeks. Strengthening my grip with my left hand and getting into a proper backswing and my slice has greatly improved. I do realize I need a lot of work on putting... Spent about 30 minutes on the putting green yesterday and realized how much practice I need. Other than that really struggling with consistency with mid irons. Short irons are consistent.

Appreciate everyone's advice! Going to play a round today... I'll track fairways, GIRs and putts...

One thing I do is change the par of a hole based on how I've played it so far. For example let's use a par 4. If I hit a bad drive into the rough/ trees/ fairway bunker I will mentally change the par to 5. This keeps me from getting too aggressive and turning a 5 into a 6 or worse.


If I end up making a putt for 4 it feels like a birdie.

Hit the driver when needed for sure... Its important to find a distance you like and aim to hit from there on shorter Par 4's. If you like 130 don't hit a 3 wood and leave yourself 150, hit the big stick

This is my goal for the past month. Thankfully we have a free "learning course" in our county. Just a 9 hole - par 30 course attached to a main course. But free golf makes it a lot easier to practice. I've worked down from a double bogey a hole average to just under a bogey a hole. Once I can get down to 4-5 shots over par on average, then I plan on rewarding myself with a bigger course.

I agree with the idea of not forcing shots because you "could" make it. Take the shot you will make instead of regretting the error.

G Martin 87 said:

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proudaggie02 said:

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1. Driver is by far the most important club to get good at with a full swing.
2. Putting: become automatic inside 3 feet, really good in the 4-8 foot range, and practice speed/lag putting quite a bit. It's easy to get a serviceable putting strike; the rest is repetitions.
3. Chipping: watch Mickelson's videos. Get good at a low, running chip (with 8, 9, PW) when you have a lot of green and are near the green. Get good with hitting different types of shots with SW. Don't take on more risk than is required.

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Agree with #2 and #3, but not #1. When you're trying to break 100 consistently, you need to get that first shot in the fairway with a reasonable distance most of the time. I can hit my 5 wood off the tee and get 185-190 yards straight almost every single time, no stress or fuss. My driver goes a little further, but dispersion is much higher. My scores are lower when I'm not having to chip back into the fairway from behind trees or taking drops because the ball went OB. Find a reliable tee club first. If that's a driver, bonus. (Breaking 90, though, yes you're going to have to get your driver sorted.)

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Like Bingo Bango Bongo said, my comment on Driver is geared toward more than breaking 100... that can be a start/goal, but I think most golfers want a lot more than breaking 100. The fairway is nice, but I'm content to be near the fairway unless the rough is really up. I'd rather be *110 out/5 yards in the rough on a long par 4 than 180 or 200 out from the fairway if I'd hit hybrid or 4i off the tee. I also play to my strengths, which is usually hitting my 56* at 60-90%.

*I live in Denver and used to compete in long drive, so my numbers are unique.

No doubt. He hit a great 300+ drive on a blind dogleg left 363 par 4 the other night. An almost Bubba-esque shot that left an easy pitch to the green. Still made a bogey, though.

Go to the driving range with a 7i, PW and putter. You figure out those 3 and everything else will become much easier

NColoradoAG said:

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bdgol07 said:

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I think I remember Bob Ellis telling us during one of my Golf elective classes that 50% of all golf shots are from 100yds and in. Work on being accurate with wedges first, then getting off the box efficiently and keeping the ball in play.

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I think beginners trying to break 100 need to work on keeping the ball in play as the number one goal. Spraying balls OB and in hazards every time you hit a tee shot is the quickest way to high scores.

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I agree 100% with this. I'm not very long off the tee but I'm usually in the fairway or just off in the first cut. Makes the game so much easier if you can find your ball and keep it in play.

Edit: I'm not suggesting you don't hit driver. Learn how to hit it and keep it in play.

Id rather be 115 out on my approach as opposedto 55, 60 yards.

I can sacrifice distance as long as im in the fairway.

Bingo Bango Bongo said:

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Yep. That's a common myth Dave Pelz has always attacked. We think we have our comfort zone, but closer to start ultimately means ending up closer to the hole on average

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Does that take into account short siding yourself at the green? There is a short par 4 at the course I usually play. It has a raised green with deadly bunkers protecting it. The green is usually super fast as well.
Most of the time I find it easier to be 80 yards out from the green where I can hit a full swing wedge and have it check up, than hit a quarter swing wedge from 20 yards out.

Id rather hit a full swing vs trying a half wedge. This halfsies is when i thin one or even hit a fatty.

Closer = better

There are some exceptions...pin location is one but even then its not an absolute. If you can't generate enough spin to stop the ball fast enough then maybe there is an exception there. Typically most courses don't run things that firm and fast and msybe the issue is technique.

I forget which hole it was yesterday but some guys laid up and wedged it to front right pin....and some tried to dtive the green. Harding Park is firm and fast...PGA pros couldnt even spin a green side bunker shot enough to stop it at that hole location.

But as a general rule of thumb like stated above....the closer you are the better your results in proximity to target

to dalama henry penick essentially said the same thiing.just better

Harvey's contrarian brother, author of the big purple book?

Spend 6 days at the range and putting green.
Play 1 round a week.
Buy expensive golf balls.

Short game, short game, short game.

Ball striking in general. If you cannot consistently put the club on the back of the ball and at least know where it is going or at that it will go anywhere at all you don't have a shot at 100.

Ragoo said:

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Ball striking in general. If you cannot consistently put the club on the back of the ball and at least know where it is going or at that it will go anywhere at all you don't have a shot at 100.

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Agreed, definitely. Gotta have good drives to counter bad approaches, and good approaches to counter bad drives. Id the "bad" doesn't include a penalty, you won't be having to drop and pick up strokes.

If you want to eliminate strokes, you elimate the shots around the green You can't eliminate a drive or an iron shot. For the avg golfer 60% -70% of the shots are around the green. The avg. Golfer is not hitting the green in regulation, nor are they getting up an down regularly, if you can elimate a chip shot or extra putt, and change the triples and doubles to just bogeys, hell you will shoot 90.

If you are not hitting the driver well, then switch to a three wood or a five iron, and put yourself in the middle of the fairway, but I guarantee the avg. golfer will still miss the green, chip and two putt or three putt.

But hey, to each their own. You do you bud.

Chipotlemonger said:

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Your argument's premise is that the player can get to the green or area surrounding the green in the GIR number of strokes. You just beat down your own argument.

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Exactly. 60-70% of your strokes are not around the green if you are hacking the ball all over the course with your long game. To 1-chip 2-putt bogey, you had to be in the vicinity of the green in reg with your long game