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Getting below 70

• notcold 6 Posts

  Tue, Apr 2 2013 7:59 PM

  Level 70 Pro and play everyday.

  How to I get below 70. I'm a fairly decent putter and usually just fall victim o WGT's stop 3" short or curve off at the last second gotta.

  Maybe a better wedge than the TaylorMade ATV  64 might help my wedge game.

  Hitting the TaylorMade R11 Woods& Irons w/the Calloway Tour I(s) which I think is the best overall ball.

  Play a lot of Ranked 18 holes Stroke games. Should I switch to 9 holes or different game all together?

  Help a desparate hacker out!

• 2,114 Posts

  Wed, Apr 3 2013 10:43 AM

   

  Just taking a quick glance at your stats, your GIR percentage is only just above 50%. I would imagine this is probably the biggest obstacle holding you up. If you're coming up 3" short on your putts consistently, and you're only hitting the green half the time, half of those putts are to save par. Considering your sand save and scrambling percentages, it doesn't look like those par saves happen often.

  If I could make a suggestion, after compensating for the wind and any elevation changes, aim for the middle of the green instead of the pin. You'll have more room to still land on the green if your shot is off any, and you'll have an opportunity to putt instead of trying to chip onto the green close enough to save par every time. If you truly are the fairly decent putter you claim to be, putting instead of chipping should help improve your scores a bit, plus it will help you get used to longer distance putts.

  Do this for a few rounds, then work your way back to aiming closer to the pin.

  Good luck - Kelsey  =)

   

• alosso 21,094 Posts

  Wed, Apr 3 2013 10:57 AM

  The ATC is a good wedge - maybe pick up a second one to replace the Starter SW?

  And - as a guess - make sure to fly the green on shorter approaches.

• lonniescott711 4,208 Posts

  Wed, Apr 3 2013 11:22 AM

  Get rid of the hybrid , and go with 3 wedges, to back up your irons.Try the Ping 54w L60+ 105 yds, and L42+58w -58 yds. Total cost 545 credits, they play well and dont cost a fortune. Then practice and work on your short game . You have to work on ball placement , and getting closer to the pin. 19 ft avg. to pin is not good .You need to be within 14ft. or less , if you want better chances for birdies. This is where the short game comes in . Use the Best of par 3s course for learning your irons , the Putting challenge, for your putting, and the CTTH challenges as well .What you can also do, is 9 hole practice rounds , using only your irons and wedges , from the easy tees. Hope this helps. Happy Swinging

• EasyEdward 13,507 Posts

  Wed, Apr 3 2013 11:26 AM

  notcold:

  Level 70 Pro and play everyday.

  How to I get below 70. I'm a fairly decent putter and usually just fall victim o WGT's stop 3" short or curve off at the last second gotta.

  Maybe a better wedge than the TaylorMade ATV  64 might help my wedge game.

  Hitting the TaylorMade R11 Woods& Irons w/the Calloway Tour I(s) which I think is the best overall ball.

  Play a lot of Ranked 18 holes Stroke games. Should I switch to 9 holes or different game all together?

  Help a desparate hacker out!

  You are playing pretty much the same clubs I did as a Pro, Tour Pro and partway into Master.    What worked for me was to dump the hybrid and the free sand wedge and replace those 2 with ATV 56 and ATV 60 degree wedges. I ued the same putter as you for a long time.

  Looking at your puttng stats I would say that you need to improve getting closer to the hole on the first putt so that all that remains is tap in.  I cannot of course say that is the problem with real certainty but the % of 3 putts should get to less than half of the % of 1 putts.   My guess is that distance control in putting may be the problem at work here.

  Here is on way to more acurately control putt distance on fast greens with your putter:

  1) Measure your power bar on the monitor you use when you have the putter selected.

  2) Divide the distance into 11 equal parts (e.g. if it is 4 inches long that is about 6/16ths of an inch)

  3) On a piece of painter's tape (or Post it Note) mark each distance off with a pen. The mark on the far right is 0 feet - each mark to the left of that is 2.5 feet (far left is 27.5 feet) of putting distance.

  4) place the tape below the power bar on your monitor.

  5) Use the simple formula putt power distance = distance +1 +/- number of inches up (+) or down (-)  Example a 12 foot putt up  inches = 12 + 1 + 2 = hit wit 15 feet of power  

   

   

• TarheelsRule 5,607 Posts

  Wed, Apr 3 2013 12:08 PM

  One of the things that I took a while to learn was to hit your putts more firmly.  In real golf I am a lag putter and read the breaks better when the ball is moving slowly toward the hole. 

  In WGT, I started to putt that way in the beginning but after a while figured out that unlike real golf, the 2 to 3 footers on here aren't to be feared. 

  Hitting the ball hard enough to go 2 feet by if you miss tends to make it stay on line a little better and not break as much.  Obviously you still have to pay a lot of attention to the break and the up or down hill part of the putt, but being a little more aggressive with putting is the quickest way I know to improve your putting.

• YankeeJim 25,827 Posts

  Wed, Apr 3 2013 12:16 PM

  notcold:

  Should I switch to 9 holes or different game all together?

  I would focus on the 22% Sand and 22% Scramble stats. Buying clubs isn't going to help you if you don't have a short game. They will perform better but only if you know the shots to use with them. 

  Learn the chip, pitch, punch and flop shots with all your wedges, including the set wedge. This alone will improve your putting stats as you'll be getting closer to the pin on your ups.GIRs improve when you start playing smart off the tee and hitting to spots you can make good approaches from (course management.) On errant drives, don't try to be a hero and make a miracle shot-get back to a spot where you can have a go at the green from the fairway.

  Once you're confident about making the shots you'll be able to make a better choice on the upgrades. The new stuff doesn't come with shots.  :-)

• Stobsbee 4,784 Posts

  Wed, Apr 3 2013 12:21 PM

  notcold:

  Play a lot of Ranked 18 holes Stroke games. Should I switch to 9 holes or different game all together?

  IMO you should consider switching to 9 hole stroke games and play the 35's. I.E.  back 9 on Conga, both 9's on Oakey, both 9's on BPB and both 9's on RSG are par 35's so if you score a 1 under 34 this will give you a cumulative 68 and you'll be under 70 in no time.

  
  

   

• MainzMan 9,593 Posts

  Wed, Apr 3 2013 1:14 PM

  Stobsbee:

  IMO you should consider switching to 9 hole stroke games and play the 35's. I.E.  back 9 on Conga, both 9's on Oakey, both 9's on BPB and both 9's on RSG are par 35's so if you score a 1 under 34 this will give you a cumulative 68 and you'll be under 70 in no time.

  This is obviously tempting but most, if you'll forgive me, lower tier players seem to get on better with St. Andrews and Kaiwah, both of which are par 72 so need 1 or 2 more birdies than the par 70 courses.  In theory I agree 100%, my course of choice for lowering my average would be BPB front 9 but that's not necessarily best for everyone.

  I haven't checked the OP's stats but it sounds like their short game needs some work.   Three decent wedges (Ping Tour W) can be bought for around 600 credits and will make a huge difference.  At least they will once, as Jim says, you learn to use the short game shots; chip, pitch and flop.  Each has it's own merits, personally I use pitch way more than either of the others as I find it easier to control the distance but each to their own.  Don't forget the punch shot too, use it with your wedges and it's like having an extra 3 clubs in your bag.

  Work on your short game, saving par when it looks hopeless will help you more than the odd miraculous putt.

• Hewsey 1,958 Posts

  Wed, Apr 3 2013 4:30 PM

  All good advise, and for me IMO only relax & enjoy the ride. You will be there soon enough & wish you were where you are now  LOL