Playing better but score plateaued

I don't think that in general terms my game has ever been in such, relative for me, good shape so I should be scoring better but I'm not.

Apart from the occassional bad hair day I'm consistently in the high eighties the problem is that I seem to find new and inventive ways of producing the blow up holes that keep my score there rather than making the next dip down.

If I get the ball away from the tee (and at last I am now doing so more often than not) then my 2nd shot is woeful - either fluffed on the fives or wide in trouble on the fours.

If I duff the tee shot but pull off a recovery then I'll s***k the up and down pitch.

If I hit the heart of the green then I'll 3-putt.

If get to the short and easy par-3 eighteenth unscathed by any of the above then I'll go OOB for a 3-off the tee and frustrated triple.

One day though I'll concentrate all the way round and post that breakthrough score. The question is whether it gets easier when you've down it once and broken down whatever pyschological barriers are holding you back.

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I firmly believe that we should try to experience all that life affords, except, perhaps, bestiality and of course Morris Dancing.

Welcome to the wonderful game of golf.... :-)

Hi Robin,

Sure don't look like the Pope.

Just about all those problems come down to a lack of consistency in your ball striking. So! to improve you need to work on a plan that gives you a good repeatable, reliable golf swing that has the basis for a wide range of shots (Tee, fairway, pitch, chip etc).

Something I have worked on for some time is a simple swing that I can repeat time after time, funnily enough it also seems to hit the ball farther and straighter than the more text book swing I used to have.

The swing this guy has in the video is the model swing I am working towards.

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Best Regards
Brian

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Funny o'l game!

keep plugging away and concentrate, it is a psychological barrier, once you get under 85 you then seem to stay around that area, but you will get into the magic 70's. Although by the sounds of it you are not concentrating on every shot and thats a killer
Good luck

Morning!

I had exactly your issue about 3 years ago.

My handicap was stuck on 16 on a par 70 course.

It seemed that no matter what I did I kept shooting 86. In fact, I shot exactly 86 for 11 rounds in a row! Frustrating much???!!!

What happened with me was on one glorious day I shot something like a 78. I proved to myself that I could do it. After that I went back up to the mid eighties but gradually over the course of a couple of months my averages began to drop. Come mid-summer I was shooting in the high seventies regularly and my handicap dropped like a stone to 7, straight from 16.

Breaking the 80 barrier is a big psychological step, the same as breaking 100, 90 or 70. It's like the belief you carry around each individual hole to be able to save yourself from a bad shot depends a lot on previous experience. Unfortunately, to change ones experiences, one must change first, then the rest follows! Stupid game.

It's been said time and time again, but playing one shot at a time was key for me. Try to teach yourself to enjoy your good shots for a few seconds, but forget your bad ones straight away. The only shot that matters is the one you're about to hit. You won't get to re-hit your bad ones, and you're not concerned yet with the good ones you'll hit later, so don't spend mental time on them.

Initially it's tricky to do for 4 hours, and success won't come immediately. You may find you start to string 3 or 4 pars together before the mind-set goes (because by then you've been thinking well for almost an hour) and you then go bogey, double, triple. Once you get used to it your recovery from a string of bad holes will gradually whittle down to recovering from one bad shot.

Good luck! You'll cry before you smile!

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Luke: I don't believe it!
Yoda: That is why you fail.

Concentration, concentration, concentration. Have you been watching me play Neil?

I think the major cause of me losing concentration at the moment is getting ahead of myself.

I'm much better than I used to be at dealing with the bad shots (plenty of practice I suppose) but seem to be falling into the trap of trying to follow up a good shot with another good one, "forcing it" rather than just playing the next shot - clumsily put but I'm sure you know what I mean.

The other problem area is after one of those interminable delays that seem to be a feature of golf these days; again, I still "lose it" sometimes but picking up on Keith and Brian's points, I'm getting better at switching back into a plan or routine that helps me concentrate. Better but not infallible.

Thanks for the encouragement.

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I firmly believe that we should try to experience all that life affords, except, perhaps, bestiality and of course Morris Dancing.

[/quote]
I'm much better than I used to be at dealing with the bad shots (plenty of practice I suppose) but seem to be falling into the trap of trying to follow up a good shot with another good one, "forcing it" rather than just playing the next shot - clumsily put but I'm sure you know what I mean.
[/quote]

I know exactly what you mean!

The number of times I place a swing to the ball on the range and (seemingly accidentally!) bust one, then make the mistake of trying to bust the next one only to see it fall 15 yards short and 20 yards wide of the previous one that I didn't try to nail.

I'm gradually learning to be more accidental!

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Luke: I don't believe it!
Yoda: That is why you fail.

If I start hitting poor shots I just cannot get into a positive mind set, I have read the books, wore the T shirt but it does not help. I can do it for one or two but not a succession or when the directions a lottery. The only way I can beat blow up golf is to be confident with my ball striking and play within my limitations.

You have to laugh really.

The flip side of playing well but not scoring better apperar to be playing rubbish and scoring more or less the same

Started today's round with a qaudruple bogey 8 (don't ask), developed a bad case of the tops but somehow stilll reached the turn in 45 - only 6 over for the 8, and a final 92 - which is not that far off my "normal" 88.

Looking at the number of single putts on my card I guess I was scrambling well - off to look up threads and fixes on topping now.

I have the same problem, I start getting a head of myself and thinking about my score I am going to make on the hole instead of taking one shot at a time. Towards the end of last year I started to relax not get over anxious after a good shot and had a few rounds below 80.

Hey Robin...

Maybe another way to break the plateau, and something I've been trying lately, is to "switch on" and "switch off" the golfing brain as you go around...

So on the first tee its "switch on", go thru psr, commit to shot, pull trigger, watch result & "switch off"......

From then, right up until you are about 5 yards from your ball, "switch on" assess lie, possible shots, club selection, psr, pull trigger, watch result & switch off"......

I have found that this works more easily for me when I am grouped with a few particular guys from my club because they are similarly "disposed" about their game if you like, and we "shoot the breeze" about pretty much any topic other than our golf games...

The other thing I do is ignore the scorecard...

Those pars and birdies you have from time to time are not "luck", in my view, they are windows to your real potential, you simply have to believe...

Keep at it mate...

It will come...

The fun part is we just never know when...

Cheers

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Every time a golfer makes a birdie, he must subsequently make two triple bogeys to restore the fundamental equilibrium of the universe....

Good, bad, or indifferent, your last shot is a done deal. It's over, and should for the most part be forgotten. The only shot of importance, that requires focus on your part is your next one.

If your last shot upset you, it will most likely upset you during you next shot. If your last shot was a "career" shot, you need to forget about it till later on. If you are still thinking about either one of these shots while addressing your next shot, then your focus is on the wrong shot. GJS

I hope you're right Scrags; yesterday I started quadruple, double, double and followed it with bogey, bogey, bogey, par, par, birdie and it would be nice to think that the first 3 holes represent the past and the last 6 the future

Some good advice from all you guys as usual, and, as you point out for me the key issue for me now is to just play the next shot - and to concentrate on it.

Right that's sorted then
Seriously though, like all golf, presumably this comes in time with practice.

Robin,

What caused the quadruple and doubles? Your short game always sounds in pretty good shape.

LOL I did say "don't ask"

First Par 4.

Had been warming up nicely with one omission (see below); hitting the ball well. Got to first tee where a two ball was obviously ready to go but they picked up their balls and waved me though.

1. Rushed (I know, I know) and topped.
2. Sensible recovery to middle of fairway to set up "easy approach" with full wedge "which I can follow with 2 putts for bogey".
3. Hit approach into water.
5. Didn't take deep breath, thinned chip.
6. Left return chip short.
7,8 2 putted.

Second Par 5

Despite the Horlicks of the first have now caught Ladies 3-ball who move to one side of fairway. Hit 4 wood over them; only 200ish and a bit right but sigh of relief. Pick up tee and stroll down feeling better, top my attempt to hit a rescue wood within short iron distance. and repeat same in frustration. Play rest of hole as planned but having thown two away.

Third Par 5

Another 4 wood bang down middle.
Hit the second well and clear the water. Don't often manage that from the back tees. Happy. Top third. Put fourth pin high but wide. Don't get the up and down.

The Rest

So topping badly and with short game - the bit I hadn't warmed up - rubbish I came to the short 4th. Put Sand Iron in greenside water and pitched to two inches for the bogey. Off and running, the six putts I had on holes 4 to 9 compensating for the rest of the game.

Short game good?

Thanks, I have off days but generally I suppose so. But then failing to hit the green with my approaches means that I play a lot of shots from near the green and when I'm chipping well then, thank the Golfing Gods, my putting often gives me the chance to claw back an ealier fluff.

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I firmly believe that we should try to experience all that life affords, except, perhaps, bestiality and of course Morris Dancing.