Improving Scores

Hello, my name is Corey Wells. I'm 15 years old and i shoot in the 90's typically. My golf game is fairly good when i am swinging the club well. The main thing that i lack is consistency in my shot making. On one hole i can hit a 250 yard 3-wood, hit an iron within two feet of the hole and birdie easily. Then the next hole i can flub my drive, and just play poorly for the entire whole and double it. My main problem is just hitting consistently. I feel if i improve accuracy with my woods and mid to long irons then i can get my scores into the low 80's. My pitching, chipping, and putting is overall pretty good and i rarely to never 3 putt, 1 putting a lot of time. What are some things i can to do improve accuracy with my longer shots, and what are some things i can do to improve my drive distance?

Hi Corey,

If you are hittig your 3W 250 yards, you do not need to worry about distance. As you said, you need to work on consistancy and accuracy.

My suggestion is to work on target practice with your longer clubs at the range. Don't just step up and start hitting balls, plan out a routine. Pick out a target and hit to that target. Make sure that you take the time to restart your address and alignment each shot. What might help is to imagine a hazzard on both sides and only a 15 yard landing area. Try hitting some draws, fades and straight shots to keep you entertained.

Remember, if you are just hitting balls, you are only exercising. Practice suggests you are actually swinging with purpose.

__________________
Gord

Quote of the month:
"It's easy to see golf not as a game at all but as some whey-faced, nineteenth-century Presbyterian minister's fever dream of exorcism achieved through ritual and self-mortification." ~Bruce McCall

Today I got out on the course again. Again my swing is lacking consistency. On some of the shots that I am hitting i strike the ball well and hit where I am aiming. Then other times i hook the ball. Since i started playing i have stopped fading the ball naturally. Now i can only fade when i have to. I am now working on my takeaway, but I'm sure there are other things to correct this. What can I do?

Corey,

You are asking for to many things to be addressed...I'm confused, your drawing, fading naturally, working on your back swing, 1 putting, scoring 90s....250yds three wood..no worries there then.

Start to simplify things........

Stop drawing and fading for a start..you must be changing you stance for every tee shot.........most player who hit driver don't bother trying to fade or draw with this club...as Gord says pick a small target and let it rip the same stance and tee box position everytime. If you fade with a "normal square stance" tee up on the right of the tee...if you draw then tee up on the left every time........This will start to gain you some consistancy off the tee.

Next: work on a pre shot routine, the same every time...this will help with the consistancy....stand behind your ball pick a target and then one swing...step into the shot and see your target, then send the ball there.


Remember your 15 years old you have time to build strengh in your golf swing which will build consistancy.


Just work on the above for a few weeks and don't read to much into the game...for now you need to get the ball of the tee with some regularity and this will help your scores.


Good Luck



Ian.

__________________
Once you learn the swing, your next step is mastering golf psychology................

Off of the tee box i dont do anything at all with my stance. I aim the same way everytime, of course on one side of the box or another. On all of my slices i block the ball, and on all of my hooks i just pull the heck out of it. Soon i will get some video on here of my swing and then u can critique.

It sounds like your long game needs a lot of work, but happily its just practice.

It sounds like you are trying to hit the ball too hard, a common complaint among young golfers. This also causes you to lose control of your body and if you are getting ahead of the ball or spinning out of it all sorts of things can go wrong, without you really knowing the true cause of it.

The main thing to check is if you are over active body wise. Have a friend check your swing out from behind the ball and standing facing you. Make sure your hips arent swaying excessively and your head isnt moving to far from side to side. Try and get the feeling of letting the right shoulder get past the ball keeping the body in time with it.

Then make sure you are making a nice full turn away from the ball, if you start the downswing before you have got the club far enough back then you will start making all sorts of mistakes on the way back to the ball.

Slow everything up as well. Hit a few seven irons with the intention of only hitting them 9 iron distance. If you find that you hit the ball much more consistently then concentrate on slowing the swing down with all the clubs.

You can never chip and putt too well, this is where scores are made, there are a lot of single figure handicappers out there that only hit the ball averagely yet score on the greens and around them. Practice short game at least as much as your long game.

Good Luck,

D.

The pro at my club gave me a great piece of advice for simplifying....

Try to connect with the centre of the club!
Now thats all I think about ive much improved, may sound simple but its what many people forget.

On the take away, when the shaft is paralell with the ground should the head be up and down, or paralell with the ground going the other way. Just a question that might be wrong with my swing. Thanx

Actually, that's right.

When your shaft is parallel to the ground, your head should be pointing to the sky (or perpendicular to the ground).

This will help me a lot i think. I just realized that i changed this for some reason and took the club back so that when the shaft was parallel, the club head was also just about parallel. When i get out to the course tomorrow i will see how this change benifits my swing

On my drive i can hit the ball straight if i ope the club face through impact. I know that this is not the proper way to swing and i was wondering if anyone could try to diagnose the problem without seeing my swing firsthand. Also, for some reason, my driver looks closed a bit. i will take a picture and see what you think!