Bad Holes

[Brendan]

Just going through a few threads and notice the same pattern, people complaining about the one bad hole thats wrecked their card. Be it triple or 10 or whatever.

Q. What causes us to rack up these and how can we stop them appearing.

Personally I think its caused by trying to rescue an already hit bad shot, that just seems to result in another bad shot.

The saying must be through. "one bad shot deserves another"


Ps Yes i am in work and yes i am bored

 

[USER1999]

That is why we have the handicaps we do. If we didn't mess up, we would all be off scratch. Not going to happen.

 

[AndrewG]

Yep - I'm starting to learn that after a bad shot - better to just get it onto the middle of the fairway for the next one, not a 3 wood from tough rough to try to make the green, ending up 20 yards left or right of the green in even thicker rough...

Playing threes or fives off the tee is more of a pain though - they are unrecoverable

I'm just glad the handicap system only counts doubles max!

 

[brendy]

Our 5th,6th and 7th holes are our very own Amen corner and I find if I can get a couple of good teeshots away, the rest of the round comes together. One hole has a bank and lots of thick trees and grass, its a real mental hazard as the fairway is fairly straight. Common sense says hit something short of the trouble and hit a mid iron in, head and heart says DRIVER! This is what I am working on at the minute, 3 irons, and 3 wood and have to say it certainly works.

 

[Imurg]

Its between the ears!

Murph, Homer, me and probably a lot of you have parred every hole on their course - maybe even birdied every one. So you know you can do it.
At my last course there was a par 5 that I had eagled twice, birdied more times than I care to mention and parred almost every other time. Then all of a sudden I started messing it up, taking 7's and 8's. I got it into my head that I was stuggling to play it when everything else was working well. That was my only bad hole. Eventually I managed to get the brain in gear and normal service was resumed.

It's all in the head!!!!


I will concede to some of the higher handicappers that they may have holes where they play that, ability-wise, are bad holes for them. The layout of the hole vs how far they hit the ball may not be a fair fight and all I can say to them is keep trying.

 

[jammydodger]

'Never have to play 2 recovery shots in a row'

Read that somewhere and it's a very sound piece of advice for us all

 

[bernix]

PRESSURE!

If I hit my teeshot middle of fairway (rarely enuff) and have a 160 yarder to the green, I can swing without pressure. If I hit the green with a decent shot just like the last one, good. Birdie or par, if I dont I can still par the hole with a good chip or putt bombed in, at worst bogey.

When I land in the thick stuff (more often than I wish to) and hack out sideways or have to lay-up the ramifications of a missed third are much more severe. No more hopes for birdie and to scramble a par I have to hit at least one good shot - and remember the previous shot still lurking in the memory wasnt a particularly good one either. Double or worse come into the equation.

Summed up you are under much more pressure, the muscles are tense, the hands sweaty, the grip tight - ideal conditions for a decent shot.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

I had trouble with 16 and 17 recently. Playing on Sunday not expecting a good score after a real hack with mates on Saturday (3 lost balls) where no single shot seemed out of the middle. Got to 16 and I'd been trying 3 woods off the tee to keep it away from the OB left but just pulled the driver and let it go. Wallop and cue a 271 yard drive (huge for me!!!!) and just a 6 left in.

Its purely a mental thing. You've played these so called bad holes well before and can again. Its about belief

 

[Faldo_Fan]

Jammydodger is spot on!

Don't compound an error with another.

When taking my boss out for one of his first rounds i had to physically wrestle a 3 wood out of his hand from knee deep grass and 240 yards from the pin, handing him his SW and turning him through 90 degrees and pointing to the middle of the fairway!!!!.....mind you, he still does it!

 

[minty18]

I think it works both ways lads, I've par'd 17 and 18 on my course the last 3 times i've played it, now I just stand on the tee thinking i'm going to do nothing but par it.

If you are confident and postive about the shot 9/10 the ball will go pretty much where you want, if you are hesitant and worried about the shot the swing will reflect this.

God that Bob Rotella book has warped my mind!

 

[HomerJSimpson]

Rotella is right though. The brain doesn't recognise don't and so standing there saying don't hit OB or don't slice is only reinforcing the brain to command your body to respond to those thoughts.

Mind you he also talks about silencing the inner voice. Mine has a megaphone and pumps it out all the time in competitions. I can't get it to shut up!

 

[Brendan]

I think all i hear is " don't cut it, don't cut it, don't cut it, don't cut it, don't cut it, don't cut it, don't cut it, don't cut it, what the F**k I said don't cut it" LOL

 

[Society_Fan]

The thing about hitting a "Seve Style" recovery shot is that it is up there with hitting a massive drive down the middle or draining a 15 footer for Par.
The other thing, with my driving (30% fairways hit) I feel I have to try and hit a reasonably progressive recovery shot to have a chance to play to my handicap, or maybe I just need to work on my driving???

 

[RGDave]

I can't speak for anyone else, but I reckon I just try too hard in 2 circumstances;
1) Trying to make the best of the previous good shot...I put more pressure on myself after a cracking drive than a bad one. On a bad one, I'm happy to see the ball (after my next shot) somewhere down there and walk off with a bogey or try for par save.
2) After a truly bad shot, I tend to bite off more than I can chew with the next.

It's knowing when these moments are just about to happen and re-consider my strategy to avoid disaster, even if the chances are minimal.