What 7 Handicap Golf Actually Looks Like

I think a lot of golfers overestimate what it takes to play off a single digit handicap it's not as pretty as you may think the blues here at Langdon Farms play to a modest 6200 yd and at this length accuracy is more important than distance off the tea and you'll see that most of my drives aren't pretty but virtually always in Play We Are stiff into wind here so I have 134 playing 136 going to hit a 155 CL and the heavy wi today only compounds my distance disadvantage Rel Rel to many golfers I'm taking two extra clubs on this approach shot and I still come up short wasn't particularly well struck but this is the area where I'm often able to claw Strokes back I'll opt for a bump and run with my gap wedge here and it's close enough that I'll escape this opening hole with a paw thanks still stiff into a breeze at least a one Club it's more of the same on the second a short dog leg left uh leaking right my t-shot leaks a bit right and once again I'm grabbing two extra clubs into this well protected green this strike is a whole lot better than my last approach think that got there and leaves me about 30 feet for birdie and while the single biggest key to my single digigit handicap game is a tidy short game the reality is that I don't have it every single day with the flat stick little more little meat there my first lag of the day is a bit short and sadly I can't convert the second one here oh no so I'll have to settle for a three p bogey here on too so 177 in here playing 168 slope but we're into wind still but one part of the game that's easy to be consistent on every day is levelheaded course management hit a little five hybrid I'm still thinking through each approach shot and once again I've chosen the right stick here on three be the number it leaves another lag up the hill and evidently I still haven't dialed in the speed of the greens just yet H okay I'll have another tester for par oh two in a row Adam and once again I fail to convert so single digigit handicap golf yeah it doesn't always look pretty still straight into wind but like I said a key to harnessing single-digit handicap golf is having a strong mental game I've put the last two holes in the rearview mirror standing over the ball on this short par 4 and another Drive in play leaves just a flip wedge in this one's right at the Target and for the third straight hole I'll have a testy four-footer but this time I'm able to get it to go and I move back to one overp it's a good strike here on the T of five but missing Fairways can be penal on this course and you'll see the lie I'm dealt here from the right R 133 got the ball quite a bit above my feet going to be aimed at the left edge of the Trap o chunk tip coming out of the r from just short of the green I'll up for another bump and run o just kept going which ultimately winds up about 6t past the hole going left Edge I'm committed to my line here and after a rough start with the putter there we go it feels good to knock this one home 130 back pin feels like a smooth night iron this is a costly Miss on this short par three oo that was such a poor strike ah I'm in a tough sale beneath the green here and I have to ensure I get it up and onto the screen just didn't want to leave that short even if it means missing past the hole I'm left with a downhill slider here and once again my pace is off never good when you have to reposition the camera after a butt okay time to grind but fortunately I'm getting tidier with these ones inside 6 ft and I'm able to limit the damage to a bogie onto the tea of the only par five on the front and after a decent strike here let's pause so if you watch the channel for long you know that this is probably the best weapon in my bag it's not long but it's usually in play and before working with an instructor I used to have a common Miss which was a snap left a lot of us have a common Miss with our driver with other clubs in our back what I don't want you to do if you have a common Miss is go down the rabbit hole of YouTube watching every instructional video you can the best instruction is tailored to your golf swing and usually it's a bite-sized piece of information that can really help you fix a m so the sponsor of today's video is Swing tweaks what swing tweaks allows you to do is film a swing the way I just did right now submit it in the app and within hours you'll have a PGA Pro giving you feedback not about generic swing advice but specific to your swing the best part of it relative to taking the time and cost of an in person lesson you get that lesson on swing tweaks for about the price of a glove if you use the code on screen you'll get 20% off of that stop wasting time stop not improving your game use swing tweaks and start leveling up your game okay so 255 to the stick which I don't have there's a creek out there that's like 160 170 to carry now in theory I'm going to carry that most of the time with a 3-wood but I'm never getting there so why bring it into play we're going to hit at 150 and then have wedge in it's a good plan on this shot but as for execution or we're we're going to hit it 103 yards and then have 160 the poor execution continues here Adam but this time we get a generous Bounce from the golf Gods oh off the rock onto another bump and run and the distance control is good but oh it never turned and again even with this typically being the best part of my game I'll miss my share of them too oh turn left okay aiming at the barn it's the first long par 4 of the day fortunately downwind but it's also my first straight t- shot of the day or 100 yard right at the barn leaving me in a tricky spot I'm forced to play away from the pin here with a tree on my line with the pin tacked on the right side of the green the goal is to hit it pin High left and leave myself plenty of green to work with to try to get up and down and I'll lean into the one part of the game I've done well consistently thus far today it's another good one here that rides a ridge and releases towards the hole thanks and the Jackal and hide game continues with the putter 50% of the time today they've gone in every time and after all the highs and lows on this front nine we're taking a three over score into nine this is a 10 Bell strike for me and into this stiff breeze it gets out there only about 240 got 133 into my eight iron's a 140 club and it might not get there in this wind but it looks like short is below the hole so that's okay and another good strike here over the appro but as anticipated it doesn't quite get there into this wind yeah little short and as handicap golfers we're going to miss greens and face a ton of little chips and pitches like this so a brief word about them so I see a lot of people get to positions like this and they just by default grab a 58 or 60 there's no reason you need that I'm hitting a gap wedge and just bumping it and the margin for error you know even if I M hit this a bit it's like just get it rolling I'm sure to accelerate through it and once again I'll have a makeable par putt that and after this one our conversion rate from this distance gets another bump today I counted 10 poor shots on the front nine but with only one drive out of position and some solid scrambling I'm thrilled with a 3 over 38 heading into the back 10 turns into a bit of a microcosm of my round it's another great strike off the T that was good followed by level-headed thinking over my Approach okay so there's a pretty big cross Breeze here 115 there's so much room behind the pin that I'm actually going to take a 30 Club feed a little closer together this turns out to be the right plan and onto my birdie putt but sadly the up and down game with the putter continues this first one is rammed by and as for the comebacker of the greens I've hit today I've three putted almost all them one more good strike on the T of 11 my best of the day thus far and on to planning this second shot so 315 pins in the middle of the Tall Tree cluster oh it's not my best but luckily I'll still Leave myself a wedge in with a tuck pin in the ball below my feet I'm happy with this approach leaving me a long lag for birdie and I wish I could say that I finally dialed in the speeds on these lag putts but as mentioned even the best parts of our game are prone to failing us from time to time what's important is that I don't dwell on it and treat every Putt in isolation without regard for the one that came before it in this time I am able to clean up the parp finally it's just more of the same here on 12 a great Drive in play followed by sound thinking over the approach shot we are downwind but everything short is a nasty bunker okay 163 a smooth six iron aimed left to that and after quite a few mediocre strikes with irons today this is finally a solid one hit right on my target line should be good and on to this it feels more like a mini golf putt than one you'd usually face on a golf course and it's not all together a bad effort although it will leave me some work and man I'm getting a bit tired of this today five three putts today five sorry four okay so 153 so scary to aim at the water and Trust the wind and this is a nervy one it's playing into and across so I'm grabbing extra club and taking on a pretty scary line left of the pin thanks fortunately it's another good strike leading to our eighth green and regulation through 13 holes and after a brutal start with the flat stick th far on the back n it's a relief to at least get this one close and tidy up for par and wouldn't you know it another solid drive here on 14 keeping them in play off the tea has allowed us to mitigate big numbers on the card thus far but not after this shot oh shanked it indeed a key to single digigit handicap golf that I haven't mentioned today is that putting up scores is far more about limiting the big numbers than it is about making fistfuls of birdies but even then Devils will creep onto the card from time to time from a rough lie I hit another stinker and by compounding bad shots on this hole suddenly I'm trying to scramble not for par but for Bogey and this one leaves me with 12 or 14 ft where I can't quite get it to go and it all adds up to our first double square on the cart today but we'll put it behind us on this short par 4 where a good drive leaves just a wedge in I pushed this one a bit but for the second time today it's a good break from the golf Gods oh great bounce and the result is an uphill birdie Putt and right away I don't like it but at least it gets to the hole and we'll escape with the par and just to emphasize the importance of a solid te game this is only really my second drive off line today KCK a little left but like I mentioned missing Fairways on this course often leads to S Hill lies from the rough like this one and just like the last time I faced this shot I catch it a bit chunky and Miss shorten left of my Target and next is just another poor shot with the flat stick from The Fringe Adam I leave it a full 12T short and I follow it up with another one I immediately know isn't online okay and sadly the part train was shortlived it's a bogey here on 16 next is a long Par 3 but at long last it's finally one playing a bit downwind I'll commit to the 190 Club here and aim at the middle of the green and even though it's a bit of a push it does prove to be the right stick and misses pin high right this time I'll opt for another bump and run in lie of the flat stick my distance control with these has been far better than it has with the putter throughout the round and this one's no exception my playing Partners generously give me this one after watching me struggle from this range today for the channel but just for you I'll ensure to knock it in on to 18 where I'm able to hit one final great drive today that was good okay so it's a back back flag and I'm 255 out from it 190 to the bunkers on the left I could even hit a 200 Club at the bunkers cuz it's not going to get there but just to take all the fear out of my mind hitting a 190 Club at the bunkers I chose the right club with a conservative Target over this second shot and even though I leak it quite a bit off my target line fortunately it does manage to skirt the water that was not what I was trying to do but this it's just one more example of the fact that single-digit handicap golf doesn't always look pretty it leaves me with a long shot from a greenside bunker and though I'm able to get it on it leaves me a good 30 ft for par I've been terrible from this range today but at long long last I'm able to hit one that leaves me just a tap in it all adds up to a 9 over 80 and a single digit differential which I'm content with given some of my mishaps on course today despite almost a bad shot per hole and way way too many pots solid play off the te and levelheaded course management throughout the day kept things in check I hope you enjoyed following along and appreciate this demonstration that single digigit handicap golf doesn't always have to look the way many of us are led to believe it has to

Channel: Not A Scratch Golfer

Views: 32,040

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Id: 2r11oBMXf8o

Length: 13min 16sec (796 seconds)

Published: Thu May 30 2024