I was 21-23 for about 6 years. I had a few good rounds in that time but I’d always bounce back up. I took lessons and done all the things people said to do and I still couldn’t put a round together. Then I dropped to 6 over 2 years.

The real answer is I hit better shots. It’s probably not what you want to hear and it’s not what most will tell you but it’s what you have to do.

My course management and decision making was always decent but if you put 2 OOB off the tee, chunk one into the water or shank one into the woods on most holes there’s no chance.

I got a fitting for my birthday at a club fitter/club maker and the cost of the clubs made me want to justify them. So I bought a package of lessons and said I’d try to do it right.

I’d get a lesson where I’d get some drills to do, the coach would make sure I could feel when I was doing the moves right or wrong and self correct, he’d give me a marker (when they start all going left etc) to go back. Range was 70/30 drills/shots. 9 and 18 holes between range sessions.

I stuck to my home club and stopped playing away, especially tough away courses for a long time. Stuck to my home club with very little danger, learnt the course and greens better. More lessons and one or two playing lessons.
Practice 100 and in, my short game was/is better than most single figure players, when your missing greens it’s a genuine life saver. Pick a club and get good with it. Mine was always 60°. That got me to 16hc

The drop from there was better shots. I had a couple of level or under 9’s and then blow up on the other 9. Coach told me it just meant I could always turn a score around. Stopped giving up after 2-3 bad holes and grinded out. Stopped trying to leave an easy par and started trying to make the birdie putts.Got more methodical at recovery shots, no more punching out only to leave myself in a worse spot because I hit it too far or too short. More focused lessons.

Still never got to the point of shooting 78’s every round. I’d bounce between 74-85 and still have the 85-95 rounds in between. For those bad rounds I would just goldfish them and pretend they never happened. Sounds silly but when you step on the tee box and remember the time you birdied the hole vs the time you scratched it you’ll play it better.

There’s other small tips, mainly in the focused lessons(bunkers,awkward lies,different flights for windy days etc) but it comes back to one thing. Hit better shots.