How to go from Good to Great!!!

Question
Hi,
I've been playing golf for around 4 years just playing in saturday comps etc not really practicing stuck playing off 17. Anyway over the last 10 months i've started practicing for a couple of hours every day and have really improved. I now shoot mid/low 70's almost every round. However, I feel like i've hit a wall. I practice and practice, learn how to hit new shots, improved my focus etc but for last 2 months i've not seen any improvement.
There are alot of players at my club who play off 4-7 handicap, but only 1 or 2 who play off scratch or better. Whats the difference between them and me? making the next step?
I've been told that the better you get the harder it is to improve significantly. Is it just the case that its a very gradual thing improving to a high playing standard or am i missing something?
Oh my stats are the following:

Current/Best Ever Handicap:  5.4/5.4
- Distance hit with driver, 5 iron, SW: 280ish/180ish/105
- Avg putts per round:  29
- Avg and preferred ball flight depending on club: Fade - woods 3i4i5i - straight 6i up
- Tournament experience if any: home club comps
- Hours you do/can dedicate to golf improvement every week: 1 1/2 to 3 hours per day

Dan

Answer
Hi and thank you for asking.  There are many factors towards the answer to your question.  Let me list some here quickly:

- Talent (I know, not something anyone wants to hear, but unfortunately not everyone can become a scratch or better purely on hard work, just like baseball, football, etc...)
- Technique (Guaranteed your technique is not near perfect for every shot you have... you need to have several people who know how to teach take a look at you)
- Practice (Unfortunately to get near scratch or better, 1-2 hrs a day is not enough.  Think, what can you do in 1-2 hours?  Most pros spend 1-2 hours a day on PUTTING ALONE... I used to practice from 9am to 8pm 6 days a week if you want some type of comparison.. Tiger isnt the only one out there with his "famed" work ethic, well, definitely not now!)
- Your short game seems decent from your 29 putts, but that means you r not shooting enough birdies, ie, your iron accuracy is not good.

This is really as much as I can say without watching your game.  If you are in the FL area you are welcome to come take a playing lesson with me at my club.

If you have any followups and further questions in the future,
please ask me in my more commonly used web site,
Answerway.com.  You can go to my direct link at

http://answerway.com/profile.php?expid=Dathaeus

and check out all my public FAQ's as well as ask me a direct
question.  Thank you and good luck.