All great stuff as mentioned:
Playing to an 8 in winter, was around a 6 in season

Putts average 32.5 a round
GIR- average at 45-55%
Fairways - 60%

Biggest improvements I’ve seen in the last two years when I became re-obsessed

-try to avoid blowup holes (the 6,7,8’s) with course management and staying within your mental game
-work on lag putting outside 20-40ft (where most am’s leave it out on approach)
-get comfortable getting up/down vs nervous and just take each shot as it goes and try not to become outcome or results focused while in round

Enjoy!

The better you are around the hole the lower your handicap will get. Spend time chipping and putting. That is truly the way to eliminate shots from your game.

Hovering around a 12 right now but should come down come golf season.

1) 30 give or take
(You want to eliminate 3 putts completely)

2) Roughly 7-12 GIR, 12-16 FIR
(You need a reliable off the tee fairway finder)
For me this is my trusty TSI2 3wood that for some reason always flys straight and high.

3) Everyone should tell you short game (100yd and in) and for good reason. That's where your scoring opportunities come from. Whatever yardage you are inside 100, be sure you can hit that or at least be close. Work on this the most.

4) Love this question because it is an underrated art. Just watch the pros and observe common characteristics. Weight mostly on front foot, driver pointing between 1-3 o'clock, and torso facing your target. That same width that you should have in your backswing should allow you to have a good finish as well.

Good luck

i would say the short game is where to make it up

Expectation management is possibly the key to bringing your handicap lower.

The game is not about making more birdies, but avoiding doubles and more. Making par on a hole is a great score. Separation tends to occur with the long game. Being pretty reliable with driver is important. Being able to knock it down there, and have shorter clubs in is better than laying back with other clubs and having longer shots in.

I read or heard somewhere the phrase "Long game dictates how high your score, short game dictates how low your score" which I would tend to agree with. Get it in play off the tee, and as far up the hole as possible, and everything else can fall into place.

Have a 'go to' shot around the green, a reliable technique out of bunkers. Hitting it to 15ft, but out of the trap is better than leaving it in the bunker.

I"m at 13-14 now, probably a sign of increasing age and relatively little play/practice, something I hope will change for the better this year.

I had the opportunity to caddie for the defending state amateur (and multi-time mid amateur champion) many years ago. Spent a long week (7 rounds) with him when he defended (successfully) his state am title. Here is one thing that made a great impression on me. It isn't necessary to follow up a bad shot with a great shot. Every golfer will hit a bad shot. His mind set wasn't, "How do I get on the green?" but rather, "Where can I give myself a chance to make a par?" It's a subtle but real difference. And, of course, you'll need what everyone else has suggested - a solid short game. Remember one additional piece of wisdom, from my golf mentor: Only one of the two strokes needs to be particularly good, to get it up and down!

Best of fortune in your pursuit of golf goals!

Currently 21 Handicap Last round March 14 1. Putts 35. 2.Fairways Hit 12/13 92%.3. GIR 8/18 44%. Score 87

I hadn't been active for awhile. Thank you everyone for sharing your experience and advice. Thanks!

1/2) average 9.1 fairways 10.9 greens 30.4 putts. It’s golf so variance exists in these obviously.

3) You kind of answered this one yourself. If you have the distance, finding a a way to reduce penalty strokes and what I would call “unusable” tee shots is going to be your quickest ticket to improving everything else in your game. 2nd would be putting, and 3rd would be short irons and wedges.

Putting is obvious. Reducing 3-putts to once every 2-3 rounds should be your goal, and most of that comes down to putting lag puts within 3-4 feet, not necessarily making more medium length putts. You should strive to improve your speed and start line control, but your players are still 50% from 8 fr.

For short iron/wedge play, Tour pros miss greens with mid and long irons all the time, but they rarely hit short irons and wedge shots that make a bogey more likely than a par. Getting to the point where a 50th percentile shot for you from 100 yards is going to 15-20 feet is generally a good spot to be if you want a low-ish handicap, especially if you’re coming from a place where that’s a weakness in your game. 150 yards that 50th % shot is gonna look more like 25-30 feet and that’s okay. Good golf for us amateurs is usually incredibly boring.

Outside of just making better contact and having a somewhat consistent swing, picking targets that put less of your normal shot dispersion pattern in bad spots is a huge key to this.

4) It’s impossible to tell without seeing your swing. It most likely stems from a combination of swing motor patterns and physical limitations (by limitations I basically mean not being in Adam Scott or Rory’s body with ideal mobility/strength matchups for golf). Easiest way forward here is to get in the gym and build general strength while keeping in mind golf’s extremely unusual and specific movement demands. Feel free to reply to this if you want some suggestions on where to find good information. Beyond that, the evergreen advice is to get a professional to take a look at your motion. People can build functional patterns to swing a club that match up in all sorts of ways, and a good professional is gonna help you build a pattern that works for you.

Sorry for all the words

Age 78, Index 7.7. FIR about 64%, GIR about 48%. PPR higher than I would like, but averaging about 32-33.

This best advice I ever got was "Don't try the hero shot!" If you put yourself in trouble, or in a dangerous next shot situation, play to give yourself a good opportunity for bogey, with a possible par. Trying that "hero shot" brings double, and triple, bogey into play,,making it difficult to lower you scoring. Of course, this all relies heavily on your short game, as several others have said. Working on that portion of your game makes scrambling possible, and can save lots of strokes.

this is one of the most inciteful threads i have seen.. love it

Andy, you note that you have distance off the tee. Which is great. It will help you to decrease your dispersion off the tee, that makes everything else easier. However, work on approach shots into the MIDDLE of the green. As mentioned above 120 range and in. If you have a preferred approach distance, maybe its 135, get great at that distance with a go-to club and get to that distance as often as you can. Finally, eliminate 3-putts, and work on chipping/pitching around the green. Im a 9.1 handicap; 41.6% fairways; 40% GIR (Im focused on improving this this season); 1.86 putts per hole. My most recent round was 75 with 7/14 fairways; 8/18 GIR; and 30 total putts.

I just keep track of putt qty and gir

If you get to wound up in figures it can take your mind off making par!

Andy,

9.1 handicap here.

1 - Pre-shot routine for all shots. Keep it the same, and don't ever feel like you have to rush it.

2- Practice, Practice, Practice, despite what Allen Iverson says, only going out once a week to play 18/9 won't cut it. The less you practice/play the less you have time to get more comfortable with different shots.

3- Short game/bunker play. Get comfortable with chips/pitches and your bunker play. You don't have to hit it close to the hole, but having the ability to get with 10-15 ft will help a lot.

4- Revert back to number 1!!!

Additionally the types of courses you play make a big difference as well. If you are consistently playing forward tees at a relatively easy course your handicap won't follow the downward trajectory as much as you would like. Shooting an 85 at somewhere like Bethpage Black from mid tees, has more weight than shooting an 80 at local cookie cutter course.

Keep us updated on your progress!!

I'm a 10 and it has been great to hear the takeaways from the single digit handicappers. The one thing I would add, would be to consistently find time to play. I have 2 kids under 5 so getting away for 5-7 hours multiple times a week isn't that doable. But I go to the range a few times a week for an hour or so during my lunch and just work on shots I know I will see on the course and then end with chipping and putting.

Love the discussion!

I was a 7 pre-kids who is now starting to play more again, the handicap has gone up to a 10 but has stabilized and started to come back down. Here's what I am focusing on and it seems to be working...

1.) I don't look at fairways hit, I qualify a good tee shot as "Do I have a reasonable chance to achieve a GIR?" That means avoiding penalty shots, obstructions (trees) and bunkers. Part of this is planning for your most common miss. The other part is course management. Remember part of the advantage of being a long hitter is being able to hit more controlled clubs off the tee to achieve the same distance.

2.) Practice short putts - 8 ft and in. I putt on the carpet at home but only really do it from 6 ft in with a focus of just starting the ball on the line I want. The more confident you get in those the better off you are because it feeds into items 3&4

3.) If you have limited short game practice time focus on technique that will give you solid predictable contact. Remember, if you're doing item 2, it means you should feel really good if you can get within 3 feet, and still pretty good if you get within 6 feet.

4.) Once you're outside 20 feet from the whole, mentally shift your focus to lag it close. Again aim for inside 3 feet. You'll find you get way more focused on speed without being stressed. If you've item 2, you're golden. A PGA Tour pro and a 7 handicap both make about 7% of their putts from 30 feet. The difference is a Tour pro will only 3 putt 5% of the time from there and a 7 will 3 putt 16%!

Focusing on these things have stabilized my scores and lowered the ceiling dramatically and keep your bad days from being so bad.

But if you want to know the answer to your original questions:
Fairways: 49%
GIR: 35%
Putts per round: 31

Not sure you’re still looking at this thread - but for me… 1.7 WHI

Putting averaging 30-32 per round
GIR (target 14, actual so far this year just over 12) however, proximity to pin is also important, ie I’d rather be a foot off the green and putting from 15ft than wrong side of the pin / green with a 60ft putt etc…
FIR 65% actuall 68% :)

Re distance question someone said get with a PGA pro and work on your game, that is key, not just about technical, but mental aspects and the ‘how to practice’ to make it as close to pressure you feel on course. Just bashing ball after ball (not saying you’re doing this but a general term) at a random target with no consequences on the range I personally think doesn’t help.

Other part for me is to work on and eliminate 3 putts, double chips, OOB / lost balls these are just handing shots away, you can recover from bogey’s with the odd birdie or 2 anything worse hurts more…

Only other thing I’d add is I recently got a ShotScope X5 stat tracker this thing is amazing for c. $200 (ish) takes about 10min after each round to update but the info gives you data that doesn’t lie and helps focus where to practice..

But someone else on here said, golf is fun, it’s our leisure time, not serious, not relied on for income, so enjoy it everything always better when smiling and sun’s out…

Q1) how many putts do you average in a game ? 2) how many GIR and fairway hits per game on average?

3) i have the distance but poor direction which area should i focus more time on to bring my score to mid 80s - tee shot , approach shot, chip and put or putting ?

4) why is it that my driver finish cannot finish like those good players or even the pros. Is it due to the wrong swing path. I swing steep and finished high up without shoulder rotating to the left.

im only off 12 so not the best on here but whats helped me drop over the last few months is my 40-100 yard shots. i feel really confident in getting it within 15-20 feet most times

Currently a .8, but Mr. GHIN hasn't seen me play lately, I'm in a bad way at the moment. My lifelong advice to myself is I have to challenge myself on the course, to play the course, in my mind. It's a match play event, and for me, I play the course straight up. I don't beat her very often, but it makes every shot count, especially around the greens. I play with 2 Korn Ferry guys regularly, I saw a 60 (He's a +6) last month, guys that hit it 320 and hit every iron shot 12-15' are fun to watch. Keep grinding!

I’m a 12. I’ve hit as low as 4 over par in 18 holes and have hit par on some 9 hole courses. On a regulation par 72, I’ve hit 78 but generally score 84. Lowest score on an exec course for 18 holes is 64.

I generally get two or 3 “sneaky pars” per round.

I don’t have the driving distance I used to have. Even so, I can still make a 400 yard par 4 with a drive and 7 wood. Still capable of 265-270 and I have been using a 12* driver.

Greens in regulation are about 55%. I do find the center of the fairway.

I’ve played some of my best golf with only a driver and 7 wood.

I’ve actually gotten pretty deadly with a 7W and 5H.

The burning issue is a sudden swing fault that pops up where I’ll hit over the top or shank. I could be even par to almost the last hole and have shanked my 8 or 9 iron. I was on a 140 yard par 3 one time and shanked my 8 iron about 75 yards. Somehow salvaged a bogey. My right foot seems to have glue on it.