Any chance of some advice??!?

Hi everyone....

I have a few questions...

I am a reasonable golfer to say I have only been playng for about 6 months. The par for my local course is 72, Its Morley Hayes in Derbyshire and I have never hit higher than a 100, the average tends to be about 94/95. I have a few good holes and seem to be consistently hitting 2 over par on every hole.

After some discussions witha friend of mine who plays off 5, he tells me I should use as much "Course Management" as possible....can you explain what this is and how you use it?

My drives are okay, long and straight, no problems at all. Now my irons are what I struggle with....i get no divots at all, no matter what club i use and i'll either sweep it off the surface of the grass, hit it superbly and it will zoom off the backend of the green or duff it totally.....how do it reach a happy medium? I'd like to hit the ball solid yet not have to worry about it zooming off the green...if i aim before the green it dont reach it etc...

So when my shot lands short of the green i normally get the 7 Iron out and chip on or the using the sand wedge and end up over shooting....one option is to use the flop shot, now i try this in the back garden and never manage to do it....any advice on how to properly do this shot?

Now for an overall game....whats the best way to improve your overall game....i am in the back garden every night for about 30 mins swinging clubs, practising chips and drives and iron shots....

Thanks for all your time.
Stuart

Stuie,

Do you still need some advice? I'm a teaching professional and I'd love to help if I can ... I only joined today, hence the late post of a reply!

Stuart, I wouldnt worry about course management just yet. It is of more use when you have settled into a consistent quality of strike with every club in the bag. What I would say though is:

Always take a club more, you arent as big a hitter as you think you are.

Fairway is better than rough less power means more accuracy, you can always get another 20 yards run off a fairway.

Forget the phrase 'never up never in' when it comes to putting. I would rather leave a birdie putt six inches short than chase it three feet past and have to hole the return.

Sometimes bogey is a good score, dont run up a seven or eight trying to get out of an impossible situation, take the drop!

Learn the rules, there are as many that help you as there are that penalise you. Knowing them can save you shots.

Now about your ball striking.

I would concentrate on hitting balls until your hands bleed (yes folks the only true way to improve if you are a beginner) I would hope teachingpro would agree that a beginner cannot hit too many shots. What you want to aim for with the irons is a feeling of striking down on the ball almost as if you want to drive the club into the turf. This will help you get to the bottom of the ball generating both height and spin. As far as your chipping goes, you really need to find a club that you are confident with and again it is impossible to spend too much time practicing chipping and putting. Flop shots are for tall fat left handed american tour pros who have enough time to practice them. Beginners and probably mid handicappers should leave them well alone, they are tricky and not suited to inconsistent non tour putting surfaces. I also am of the opinion that to carry the lob wedge (for tis it you require to play the flop usually) is wasting a club that you will only use rarely in a round. The rule of thumb I go by is this:

Putt the ball....

If you cant putt it, chip it,

If you cant chip it, pitch it,

if you cant pitch it youre in bother.....

As far as what you are doing every night goes keep it up. It's always a good idea to keep your swing loose and oiled by regularly swinging a couple of clubs.

Good Luck

Now keep in mind I'm not a Pro by any stretch of the imagination. I started hitting my irons consistently within the past two years. I payed little or no attention to course management, where I want to hit it, until this year.

Work on the contact you make and taking a divot in front of the ball (keep the course employees working). Once you start to hit the ball consistently, I would start to work on gauging your distance with clubs (full swings first).

I did this all last year (30 rounds or so) and now know exactly what club I need to hit a shot. I can't stress how much this has helped my game.

Good luck

May your Drives be long and your birdies plentiful

Course management.....I rarely say this would be the smart thing to do. I play a shot that I can and It turns out well. I still am focussing just on my swing technique: perfecting my grip, then go to course management