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Sarzar Takes on Lessons to Break 100

Looking forward to following your progress
 
Wishing you the best. I played baseball and softball for many years and started taking real golf lessons in summer of 2020. I'm still taking monthly lessons. I had a lot to unlearn, and it's still easy to revert into bad habits. However, I can say there's definitely noticeable progress, but I need to put it all together consistently.
 
I am working on getting the side by side comparison of what I was doing verse what I should be doing from my coach. He is busy working a member tournament this weekend but hopefully he can squeeze in a minute to send me the comparison to share with you all.
 
 
Good luck with the lessons, and I look forward to seeing you posting in the breaking 100, then breaking 90 thread :)

Don't be surprised if things take a turn for the worse initially whilst you try to work on anything new, just stick with it and trust the process and it will all be worth it in the end
 
TheDoctor said:
Don't be surprised if things take a turn for the worse initially whilst you try to work on anything new, just stick with it and trust the process and it will all be worth it in the end
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This is a very good point. I had some pretty terrible scores as I was working through swing changes. Fortunately, I stuck with it and kept working.
 
So to break 100, when you go out to play, remember that the par numbers are for scratch golfers. From your HC of 30, you're shooting about 102 eight times of out of 20. You just want to break 100. Add 1 to the par rating for each hole on the course and play it like it was that. i.e. play a par 4 like it was a par 5 - this means you have 3 shots to reach the green instead the the pressure to reach the green in two. On a par 5 you play it as a par 6, so you have 4 shots to reach the green instead of the pressure to reach it in 3. On a par 3, you have two shots to reach the green instead of 1, but if you can reach the green in 1 you should do it.

And you can break 90 with this advice too.

A lot of problems arise when us hackers try to play beyond our ability. Many of us can't reach 400 yd par 4s in 2. Many of us can't reach 370 yd. par 4s in 2 without getting into trouble. We're better off keeping the ball in play and hitting 3 onto the green. But we have egos. This is why some of our handicaps are so high.

Take this advice for what it is.
 
I want to add one thing: With what I posted above, you can tee off with your 7i or 6i if you want. Just get the ball in the fairway.
 
Sarzar said:
When I first started golfing I took a few very helpful lessons to learn how to properly hold the club, where to stand in relation to the ball with each club, and generally how to swing.
Over the past couple years I took a lesson here and there maybe once or twice throughout the whole season.

I've kept in touch with my instructor as he has moved locations because I was very impressed with the way he taught me how to play and is a huge contributor to how I do now.

Since I am playing more this year and I have a goal to break 100, I reached out and have 6 lessons planned, with the first one being tonight.

I'll use this thread to document my lessons and this journey to break 100.
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First day on the course with the new swing adjustments... Definitely going to take some time to get use to it.
With not having as much body movement in my back swing, I wasn't getting jammed up as much so I found myself topping the ball more today.

Definitely need to practice more to get used to it and stop pulling out now that I'm not jamming myself up anymore then build it into muscle memory.
 
Sarzar said:
First day on the course with the new swing adjustments... Definitely going to take some time to get use to it.
With not having as much body movement in my back swing, I wasn't getting jammed up as much so I found myself topping the ball more today.

Definitely need to practice more to get used to it and stop pulling out now that I'm not jamming myself up anymore then build it into muscle memory.
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The tough part is sticking with it when it doesn't look like it's working. Sounds like you are in the right frame of mind though! It'll come.
 
That post said:
The tough part is sticking with it when it doesn't look like it's working. Sounds like you are in the right frame of mind though! It'll come.
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I'm trusting the process. I have a great coach and understand what he is telling/showing me. He created my swing in the first place. It's just about repetition & practice to break the old habit and form a new better one.
 
You'll have some higher scores for a while. Swing changes take months. You have new feels with the new swing movements. Make sure you keep a consistent tempo with the new stuff. Swing easier for a while until the new moves are settled in. I'm a musician. When learning new music we play it slower when we're learning. The speed comes with practice.
 
@Sarzar I didn't see it posted anywhere - approximately how many strokes are you needing to drop to cross the century mark?

It's awesome that you've made the commitment and investment in your game to get better. Golf is much more fun when we play better.

As others have identified, when you first try to make changes things will probably get worse before they get better. Having an athletic background you understand that improvement takes time, and it doesn't come automatically just because you took a lesson or two.

Maybe we should start a pool to guess when you break 100? I'm sure there's something in the corner of the tech studio that JB would gladly give away 😂
 
Junkyard said:
@Sarzar I didn't see it posted anywhere - approximately how many strokes are you needing to drop to cross the century mark?

It's awesome that you've made the commitment and investment in your game to get better. Golf is much more fun when we play better.

As others have identified, when you first try to make changes things will probably get worse before they get better. Having an athletic background you understand that improvement takes time, and it doesn't come automatically just because you took a lesson or two.

Maybe we should start a pool to guess when you break 100? I'm sure there's something in the corner of the tech studio that JB would gladly give away 😂
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My lowest score played on 3/25 this year has been a 103.
My highest score played today (5/21) was a 113.
Typically I am around a 108-109.
 
Sarzar said:
My lowest score played on 3/25 this year has been a 103.
My highest score played today (5/21) was a 113.
Typically I am around a 108-109.
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Piece of cake. You got this!
 
Good luck pards! You'll break 100 easily.

I finally got my stubborn son ;) to take a few lessons and it's made a nice change to his scoring.
 
Try for a 5 on every hole. If you get a par on a par three, you have 2 strokes in your “account” that you can use against a 6 or a 7 to drop them down to a 5. Every time I get a 5 or lower, I take that as a good step toward 90.
 
So yesterday @blazinden had a full bag fitting to see how his clubs were performing and checking for any gapping issues. Since it was a 3 hour long fitting he took a few short breaks in between clubs. I utilized this time to swing some of my clubs and practice what my coach went over with me in my last lesson. I am getting better with the back swing and distributing my weight properly throughout each part of the swing, but now trying to figure out how to swing through consistently. As I am learning this new swing, I noticed I am swinging slower so I can feel each movement and I tend to top the ball because I was so used to being jammed over the ball and having to pull up.
 
This will be a great follow!
 
I'm enjoying your progression in your journey. Once you cross that century mark you'll crave to break 90! I know because it was only a few years ago that I was on that same path. I'm now typically scoring anywhere in the mid 80's to mid 90's for the majority of my rounds. But, the path to get there has yielded two scores for me that broke 80! I only say that to let you know the path you are on is two fold. First, it is extremely satisfying and will ultimately result in a newfound joy for playing this game. The second is more profound though. It's that once you reach that milestone, the journey doesn't end. You'll inevitably want to go for the next milestone!

Keep it up and I'm awaiting your success.
 
Another one of my highest scores on Monday... I guess you gotta go up before you can come down.

I am getting better contact with some of my clubs and bombing my driver, I just need to learn to string things together. I get stuck in thick rough and it takes a few tried to get out of it which gives me so many unnecessary strokes.

I can say my chipping has definitely improved over the last few rounds.
 
Sarzar said:
Another one of my highest scores on Monday... I guess you gotta go up before you can come down.

I am getting better contact with some of my clubs and bombing my driver, I just need to learn to string things together. I get stuck in thick rough and it takes a few tried to get out of it which gives me so many unnecessary strokes.

I can say my chipping has definitely improved over the last few rounds.
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Are you having difficulty chopping the ball out of the rough? Are you trying to just get it out to the short grass, or get it out AND advance it? Just doing what it takes to get it into the short stuff, even without advancing it, is the right play. I've often racked up an extra stroke or three trying to get it out AND advance it, instead of just popping it out and going from there.
 
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