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Ok guys, I am 23 years old and just started playing about six months ago, about once a week. I bought myself a beginner set of Adams clubs (1W,3W,5W, PW-5I, SW, putter) and I'm starting to feel pretty comfortable on the course. When a started I was shooting a "phantom" 120 or so. Now I have improved to a completely legit 96 to 99. My question is what next? What did you do to get over the hump? I feel like I have reach a plateau and cant improve my score. I know this is a vague/broad question, I'm just looking to hear about some personal experiences from people who have been in my shoes. Thanks

A couple lessons will do you good.

they will always find something wrong in your swing to work on.

Lessons and work on short game.. you will find it takes longer to drop in the 80's then it did in the high 90's!

Other than the short game which has been mentioned and cannot be stressed enough, most beginners and many seasonrd golfers do not pay enough attention to the legs and how they function in the swing, which when functioning properly, makes everthing else in the swing much much simpler.

100 yards and in - is what will drop your score. Practice wedges (pitches, chips) and sand play.

course management helped me drop my scores from the begining for 140's to consistent 100-mid 90's now just gotta work on long irons keeping and some of my short game

Don't just settle for getting the ball in play...get in position to score.

Shade

Lessons helped me, and spending a lot more time on my short game.

All I can say is get used to it - you're going to feel like that for a while, then you'll drop 5 shots all of the sudden, get stuck there a year, etc. etc.

I know how exciting the learning curve can be, but truly, at 6 months, there isn't a specific answer to "what's next?" There's putting, chipping, pitching, skulling, chunking, the shanks, a slice, a pull, the hook - your golf game is in it's infancy.

What's next is, keep playing. I've been at it 5 years with quite a bit of dedication, and I can't tell you how absolutely little I knew about the game after 6 months compared to what I thought I knew. You'll learn things, use them for a few weeks, lose your swing, forget what you learned, and then come back to it 2 years later and think, "oh yeah, I remember that..."

If I were able to give myself advice that I wish I had gotten at the 6 month stage I would say buy 4 books:

Golf is Not a Game of Perfect, by Dr. Bob Rotella
Five Lessons: The Modern Fundamentals of Golf, by Ben Hogan
The Art of Putting and The Art of the Short Game, by Stan Utley

It will take you years to digest everything that's in the Hogan book, and the other 3 are invaluable. If you can find a good teacher, godspeed, but there aren't that many of them out there, to be honest (and any good teacher will tell you the same thing).

My

My dad is in a very similar spot to you, and if he worked on his chipping/pitching, he would easily shave 3-4 strokes. Working on your short game will always benefit you. Personally I feel like I go back and forth with being able to drive the ball well, but chipping is something I always do well, and in the end that's what saves, or makes my score good.

Greetings. I am an LSU graduate by the way.

Do yourself a big favor and get a couple of lessons so you can learn good swings basics from which to further build your swing.

Another thing that came to mind as I thought about this thread (and anyone please feel free to disagree with me):

There is nothing more important in golf than the correct fundamentals: grip, stance, posture, alignment. Fully 95% of the time when I start hitting the ball poorly, I discover it is due to a fault in one of these areas.

I agree with working on the short game. Anyone can get around the green, it's what you do when you get there that lowers your scores.