The A, B, C, D, and F's

[Iktomi]

The golfing season in South Dakota is almost over. I was wondering how people feel about their past season. I am going to give myself a letter grade on different parts of my game. How do you feel about your progress, lack of, where you made strides and how you rate your game. I am grading handicap, driving, iron play to the green, chipping/pitching and putting. I am also giving myself an all around grade for the season.

Handicap-A: I went from a 15 to a 9 this year.
Driving-B: The ball is still fading but good distance and reasonably reliable.
Irons-C+ to a B-: Hitting more greens in regulation but I'm shaky from 100 yards in.
Chipping/Pitching: If it weren't for the last month it would be a D, but I've gotten much more touch and feel so a C-.
Putting-B: I've improved vastly on longer putts (3 putted once in the last tourney I played). I've gotten much more aggressive on short putts.
All around improvement-B to a B-: I've finally gotten to the point of not giving up on around. Several times this year I shot a 45 on the front and 36 on the back to shoot my handicap.

How do you feel about your game? I appreciate everybody's feedback and look forward to your response.

[LowPost42]

Re: The A, B, C, D, and F's

Handicap - C: I went from a 29 to a 24 this year. I expected to be better than I am (I did shoot 94 once...) but could never seem to get the game together at the same time to drop it into the 'teens.

Driving - C: From the end of last year (long and straight) to playing the fade/pull all year. It's an indian thing... I've tried a bunch of arrows. I may have to move to an offset driver if I don't get my swing fixed.

Irons - B: Please keep in mind I'm a 24 capper. I've hit my irons much, much better than I ever have. I'm left with an interesting dilemma, though. When I make 'best contact', I push-fade the ball. Otherwise, I hit a straight ball with OK contact. Again, swing work over the winter is needing to pay off.

Chipping/Pitching - B/D-: Chipping is a solid B (got some feel this year), but Pitching was about a D-, as I didn't start feeling it until the end of the year. And compared to last year, it's brutal. Granted, I spent zero time working on it this year. (A trip to Romania and moving in the middle of August is my excuse. That, and 3 kids under 5).

Putting - A: This has always been my strength (relative to my game). I've dropped 2 ppr this year. Although, I think I'll have to put more work into green reading to get that number down. That, or chipping/pitching marks need to come up.

All around improvement - A: I know, it seems incongruous with the rest of the report; but when I consider that I hadn't broken 100 last year, was averaging 38+ PPR, couldn't consistently hit my irons, was taking a TON of penalties off the tee (and often, off the rest of the course, too), I've come a long way in my mind. The highlight was winning my flight at Club Champ (where I shot my 94 on the first day [then backed it up with a 100 x( ]
I've got a long way to go - I'm working on a shorter backswing and a better hip turn (I slide a touch too much), as I've seen some great strikes with that swing. Although I'm also on a quest to lose weight (and gut), so I'm sure that will mess with my swing, too. The less gut I have to manouver around, the more orthodox my swing will become, I figure.

[bill reed]

Re: The A, B, C, D, and F's

hi
when i started using the shots in my handicap i found it a lot easrer to play, every time stood at a par 5 i think i have 6 shots to get there, and on most i could get there with 3 5 irons, i fond that using this aproch to each hole soon had me playing better as i started to feel like i had shots in hand, back when i was of 18 that ment i had 2 shots to get the ball on the green at the short 100yrs par 3, it changed how i though about the game and i started to play better and more relaxed. i stoped trying to out hit every one and started to swing at 90% and started hitting the fairways more and more. dave plez books helped my short game and my putting and a broomhandle putter turned me in to a really good putter now.
my aim is to break 10 over but i have a way to go but feel i can do it on a good day,
bill

[slater170]

Re: The A, B, C, D, and F's

hi iktomi
great thread

Handicap-B: although not official (online calculator) i started the year on 24 now its down to 17
Driving-C to A- with 3wood good distance and accuracy.D to B- great distance but still prone to fading/pushing
Irons-C- to a B-: getting more GIR's need to improve distance control
Chipping A-/Pitching:B- chipping has become strong part of my game. pitching once again distance control needs improving
Putting-A-: cant remember the last time i had a 3 putt!
All around improvement-B- have made great strides in all areas this year got a good practise regime set for winter
looking to make a big breakthrough next year!

[ogallalabob]

Re: The A, B, C, D, and F's

Hi

Interesting thread, one actually needs to think about there whole year.

Handicap (not official) B Has gone from a 15 to a 10 ( 75 last time out gives me hope, and nice wether this weekend I can see if it was a fluke). My scores were pretty steady all year low 80's mostly at the start, Mid 80's in the middle of the year and back to low 80's toward the end with the lowest round last time out. More 70's then 90's.

Driving B: started out the year with a club shaft that was a little too stiff, went with a newer, larger clubhead. a lot less miss hits. gained about 20 yards and a lot of confidence.

Irons "no improvement": It was the strength of my game last year. Started off the year hitting them great. Then had problems and now starting hitting them ok but, need to get to the range. Makes a huge diference if I hit a few times on the range. Which I have not done this year.

Chipping/pitching B: This has become the strength of my game. It has really helped to arrive 20 minutes before playing and doing nothing but putting and chiping. But the last several times out I would say I got up and down from around the green 2 out of 3 times. Though I mainly use a lob wedge from around the green, I do need to work on my other clubs and be more diverse. I really struggled when I went and played a course with nothing but tight lies around the greens.

Putting c: Been very up and down. Lately I have started making some putts. Middle of the year I was missing a lot of short putts. I think I have improved in reading putts and making mental notes as to the breaks of the greens. Which I believe is my weakness, if I can get a line I generally can hit the putt there.

I think that my game has really improved this is the first year I really played more then once a week which helped. I really started scoring a lot better. The 20 yards on my driver, really helped when playing our back 9 (longer and tougher side), I think that by next year I can be mostly in the 70's we will see.

[vp27519]

Re: The A, B, C, D, and F's

hmmmmm,

Handicap - C. Gone from 16 to 11. Now 12.4 had 14 .1's in last rounds. Achievable goal of low single figures. Just got to keep working on it.

Driving - E. Hit 3 to 5 fairways per round.

Irons - C.

Short game - A/B. Love my short game. Got good imagination.

Putting - B/C. Don't spend any time on putting. average 28 - 34 putts per round. Depends on the day.

As per Lowpost I have a 3 y.o. and 5 y.o. When they're off to school - watch out

Nicole

[Robert O' Keeffe]

Re: The A, B, C, D, and F's

Hi Guys,

I am quite happy with my game this season. Made great improvements all round,

A. Handicap from 18 to 14.

B. Driving: A. Solid and average 250 straight.

C. Irons. B. good strikes but consistency not quite there.

D. Short game: C. just recently getting sockets.

E Putting. A. Knocking in anything from 2 to 12 feet. This is saving me from the dreaded sockets of late.

[bloodredsun]

Re: The A, B, C, D, and F's

Handicap: A :Officially I have gone down from 16 to 14 in my society handicap but as I've been improving recently (77, 84, 82, 77, 75) I'm not sure that this is a real relection of my improvement. Online calculators think that I'm closer to a 7 or 8 handicap.

Driving: B : Still long but I've gained to ability to shape the ball both ways and control the height of my drives. This has really helped when it's been windy. Still not as reliable as I need it to be though and the occasional snap hook is my bad shot.

Irons: A : Biggest improvement this year. A free swing check at my local driving range picked up a grip fault which was costing me distance. Strengthening my right hand has given me better control and some extra distance but the real kicker is my bad shots just aren't a bad as they used to be. A mishit ends up either on the green or just near it. So rather than costing me a full shot, mishits now tend to only cost me the chance of a birdie. The area I need to look at most is the 3/4 wedge shot - I don't have the necessary distance control to put the ball close time after time.

Chipping/Pitching: B+ : My chipping has improved greatly. I used to alway pitch the ball at the flag when I was off the green as I didn't have great distance control on my chips but that seems to have been sorted out. This has led to shorter and easier par save putts and increased the (rare) likelihood of chipping in.

Putting: B : Alignment of putts is good, distance control is better than it was although by no means perfect. I just need to read the greens a little better to be really happy.

All around improvement: B+ : My goal for the year was to become a single figure handicapper which I sort of achieved so I'm happy with that. I'm also enjoying my golf more. This has been the biggest improvement I've experienced in one year which I can only attribute to the amount of time spent at the driving range.

My ultimate goal of playing off scratch is still way off!

[GoNavy]

Re: The A, B, C, D, and F's

I was looking at some of the old thread here and came across this, missed it the first time around, but I really like this idea...except...as I read through it, it seemed everyone was little subjective about their grading. So lets put some exact figures on here to put folks in a more structured grading. If we assume even par to be the "A" grade, and a perfect round on a par 72 course, then:

You receive an grade of "A" for:
Fairway Hit - 14 fairways in regulation (par 3 are excluded, covered in Greens in reg)
Greens in Regulation - 18 greens for par 5s in three shots (4 of these), par 4s in two shots (10 of these), and par 3s in one shot (4 of these), so you have 18 total.

Now where it gets a little sketchy, is in putts per round and chipping, so we are going to change up a little and say if you have 36 putts per round, we are going to call it a "C", instead of chipping we will say up/down, that is one chip or pitch and a putt.

Putts per round - 26 - 29, now normally there should be 36, two putts per hole, if each green is hit in reg. but 36 is really bad putting, so 26 is going to be the "A" because the top tour player are doing that, we can't hope to do better.
Up & Down - regardless of number, you get an "A" if they all resulted in one chip/pitch, sand shot and a single putt, or no up/down attempted.

So with the ground rules for an "A" here are the other grades

For "B":

FH - 10 - 13
GH - 15 - 17
Putts - 30 - 33
Up/Dn - regardless of number, one missed (up/down not completed).

For "C":

FH - 6 - 9
GH - 10 - 14
Putts - 34 - 36
Up/Dn - regardless of number, two missed (up/down not completed).

For "D":

FH - 2 - 5
GH - 5 - 9
Putts - 36 - 38
Up/Dn - regardless of number, three missed (up/down not completed).

For "F":

FH - 0 - 1
GH - 0 - 4
Putts - more then 38
Up/Dn - regardless of number, no up/down completed.

I think this might be a better grading system and number you need to shoot for, it might also show you what you need to work on in your game.

I am on average a scratch player that sometimes floats up to 3 or 4, but mostly scratch, here arre my grades

FH - have to give myself a B here
GH - have to give myself a B here to
Putts - "A" mostly, I very seldom go over 29 a round, but I do dip into the B category occassionally.
Up/Dn - Almost alway A, unless I hit allot of traps, my trap play is weak, I will drop into the B or even C category if I have three or four traps in a round, doesn't happen very often, usually I never hit a trap, I have gone several rounds and never hit a trap, probably why my trap play sucks..lol..don't do it very much.

[LowPost42]

Re: The A, B, C, D, and F's

For "A":
Fairway Hit - 14 fairways in regulation
Greens in Regulation - 18 greens
Putts per round - 26 - 29
Up & Down - 100%

For "B":
FH - 10 - 13
GIR - 15 - 17
PPR - 30 - 33
Up/Dn - regardless of number, one missed (up/down not completed).

For "C":
FH - 6 - 9
GIR - 10 - 14
PPR - 34 - 36
Up/Dn - regardless of number, two missed (up/down not completed).

For "D":

FH - 2 - 5
GIR - 5 - 9
PPR - 36 - 38
Up/Dn - regardless of number, three missed (up/down not completed).

For "F":

FH - 0 - 1
GIR - 0 - 4
PPR - more then 38
Up/Dn - regardless of number, no up/down completed.

I think this might be a better grading system and number you need to shoot for, it might also show you what you need to work on in your game.

I am on average a low 20's who sometimes floats up 6 or 8, but mostly low 20's, here arre my grades

FH - have to give myself a D here. My best effort is a C.
GIR - Fail. My best effort is a D.
PPR- " C, although my PB is an A-.
Up/Dn - D. My PB for U/D is 66% in a round, however, my average is around 20% (1 in 5).