Can making the game harder for yourself make you a better player?

[One Planer]

I played for the first time since my 2 week break in Rhodes tonight. Due to the light, I only managed 8 holes.

A good friend of mine who is a Cat 1 player joined me on the 3rd tee, at the time I was 1 over. Come the end of the 8 holes I finished 3 over, him 1 under.

He passed a comment after shaking hands and looking at the contents of my bag on the 8th green that got me thinking. He said

Why make the game harder for yourself with the equipment your using

"Better player" blade irons. "Better player" driver (Smaller head, open face). "Better player" fairway (Small head, shallow face). Higher spin ball. Blade 3 and 4 irons over hybrids (Although I do carry a 2 iron replacement hybrid).

My answer:

I'm still learning. I've only been playing 2 years. The way I look at it is if I learn the game with the equipment I have, I'll be able to hit anything

This season I've dropped from 18.3 to 16.7 using my current set up. It would have been more except for the weather making a few comps non-qualifiers. I beat my handicap by 2 or 3 shots pretty much every round, and hit buffer a few times too.

My question to you good people exactly that. Can making the game harder for yourself by using unforgiving equipment (Like when people had no other choice but to) make you a better player in the long run?

 

[LanDog]

I think that a lot of the time it depends on the player, their commitment to the game, and their persistence to make it work, ie getting lessons, practicing.

But yes I'd say if you commit to better clubs accompanied by a good work ethic for golf, I think you'll see the rewards in your game.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

I am all for forgiveness and making it as easy as possible. It is no coincidence that a lot of pros are now looking for small cavity irons and not pure blades. I am working hard on a swing rebuild and hope I can come out next season playing better more consistently. I won't be changing to blades as a result and still need the "protection" a cavity iron gives me. You've done well getting cut this season but does it beg the question how lower it could have been with easier to play kit. At the end of the day it's all about personal choice so if you feel you are progressing with your set up then go for it

 

[BTatHome]

Make the game as easy as possible for me.

Find suitable clubs you hit well and that cover up your slight mi*****. The idea of golf is to shot the lowest round you can, not to be the best/cleanest striker of the day. I know that a clean strike may give a better result but in the long run I will hit the ball better with a GI iron more often than I will a pretty blade clean.

I dropped 2.4 off my handicap (1/3 off) and haven't used anything that would be considered "better player" in fact the last thing better player (my TP driver) was replaced.

 

[Foxholer]

I believe he has a point about the 3 and 4 iron.

Have you tried hybrids? Some don't get on with them, but they save me several shots a round!

The small headed, open faced Driver talk is only talk - 15ccs short of the maximum. And it's a 5 wood, so will be small/shallow-headed (but high lofted).

There will be some times when the near-blades will cost you - particularly from this time of year - when you won't be able to hit anything more than an 8-iron from soggy rough when a CB might get the 5 or 6 that will get you on the green.

But the game is really about the Driver and the short clubs - from 8 down and particularly the putter! So if you are happy with those, then play him for money off your handicaps!

 

[JustOne]

Can making the game harder for yourself by using unforgiving equipment make you a better player in the long run?

No.

 

[One Planer]

I believe he has a point about the 3 and 4 iron.

Have you tried hybrids? Some don't get on with them, but they save me several shots a round!

To be honest I can't abide them. I'm very much in the Brendy chain of thought on hybrids.

I can hit my 3 and 4 iron well enough to warrant not changing to the hybrid option.

Every hybrid I have ever owned I've given a fair chance to, but always gone back to what I hit better (Long irons). The 17* I carry comes in handy but is used very infrequently.

 

[One Planer]

No.

Why?

 

[pendodave]

Just changed to a mallet putter with lovely alignment aid. Can't believe it's taken me this long. Did putting with a less forgiving putter make me any better ? No !!

 

[CMAC]

I think a fairer question Gareth would be if I challenge myself more could it make me a better player? certainly using Blades is challenging, remember we (all us old folk) only had blades to start, there wasn't 'chunkies' to help, so you had to improve your striking or accept your limitations. Now there is help in the form of technology which is possibly making it more fun for a lot that might not have carried on if unforgiving blades was the only tools to play.

I do commend your thought process though, a man after my own heart:thup:

 

[Birchy]

Its all about doing whatever gets the ball in the hole in the least shots within the rules imo. I dont understand why anybody would make the game harder for themselves at all because its hard enough as it is!

 

[G1BB0]

No.

Why?

because he said so

As a high handicapper I would say as much help as possible. I have had some harder to hit clubs and when hit well there was no denying how great they were but the odds were for more bad than good overall.

Each to their own though

 

[timchump]

looking down at a thin top line, blade type iron, does inspire confidence in quite a few golfers, me included, concentrates the mind, you know if you hit it out the button its going to feel so sweet and your gonna get a great penetrating flight.

looking down at shovels meh...

 

[JustOne]

Why?

I'm more interested to find out your reasoning behind why you think it would/might make you a better player :ears:

 

[Phil2511]

I agree.
Having recently ditched the AP1's for 4,5,6 CB 7,8,9,PW MB I have been cut from 27.6 to 24.6 and could have been to 23.3 if a playing partner hadn't been petty about a free drop plantation area as would have had an ESR added in.
Also made 7 birdies inc 3x2's and bumped my Stableford eclectic by about 12 points to win with 67 points all within about 6 or 7 comps. I found it makes me concentrate more and also get very consistent yardages albeit slightly shorter than before but I still have enough clubs in the bag to be able to hit all but 1 GIR on a long par 4, SI 1.

 

[Dave B]

If you look at how many pro's use Drivers like the Rocketballz, Ping G20 and Callaway Razr it tells a story. Lee Westwood now uses the Ping i20 irons and I wonder how long it will be before other pro's follow to gain more consistency.

One thing I will say is that in any sport confidence plays a big factor, so if you have a club that is easy to hit or that inspres confidence you will play better as a result.

If you have a particular club that is difficult to hit, even before you strike the ball there will be tension in the swing therefore there is a good chance that if you replaced the club with one that inspires confidence, you will pull the shot off instead of duffing it and adding 2 shots to your card that you could have avoided.

Some people do think that in order to be a single handicap player you need better player irons however the reality is that to get to single figures most players will need all the help they can get.

 

[Phil2511]

Would agree with the point that its about confidence.
If I get off the tee well I tend to play well on that hole, so if I can get off the tee well through the first 4 holes I can usually keep it going for the majority of the round and don't let an odd poor shot get to me. But if I struggle those first 4 holes on the tee box then I will struggle the entire round.

As and for the pros I would say its the same for them. i20's seem to go obscene distances and have great dispersion from mates that have bought them, so I can see why Westwood has them in his bag.

Each to their own really, if you are a good ball striker it really comes down to what you like the look and feel off.

 

[MashieNiblick]

...(all us old folk) only had blades to start, there wasn't 'chunkies' to help, so you had to improve your striking or accept your limitations.

This is sort of where I am on this.

I learned with blades and wooden woods. Unless you practised you had no chance of improving. I also had a fair few lessons as a kid. I'm sure that helped me develop better technique and become a better player than I might otherwise have done.

However it hasn't resulted in me becoming a low h/capper and there are many who are who have never hit a blade or a driver smaller than the current maximum.

Would using blades and old fashioned woods help me get better now? Nope (no brainer really).

However, I think having been brought up with blades and small headed woods actually makes it harder for me to feel comfortable with a large SGI iron, and I took a while to get myself a 460 driver which I still think just looks wrong.

Having said that I am all in favour of people playing with whatever they feel happy with. If a high h/capper wants to play blades because he/she likes them and enjoys the challenge of using them and the feel of hitting one out the middle, even if it means they might be losing a few shots a round, there's nothing wrong with that.

I know there's a school of thought that golf is already hard, so why make it harder, but on the other hand it's supposed to be hard and (to paraphrase JFK) we choose to play this game it because it is hard, so perhaps we shouldn't get too hung up about always trying to make it easier.

 

[One Planer]

I'm more interested to find out your reasoning behind why you think it would/might make you a better player :ears:

The point I was trying to make (Badly) is this.

If you were to learn the game with unforgiving equipment, will it make you a better player long-term? I belive it will. You have no, or very little margin for error so have to learn the correct things, improve your swing and, most importantly, practice.

Take Darths comment, sums it up nicely:

Certainly using Blades is challenging, remember we (all us old folk) only had blades to start, there wasn't 'chunkies' to help, so you had to improve your striking or accept your limitations.

Using blades as an example requires good striking to get the best out of the clubs. If you were to learn the game with them, and learn to improve the strike then, surely, in the long run it can only be of benefit to said persons game.

I'll also concede this point with one exception.

Now there is help in the form of technology which is possibly making it more fun for a lot that might not have carried on if unforgiving blades was the only tools to play.

The saying "If you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you've always got" springs to mind. Bob has said this on many threads about how little people seem to practice these days (For various reasons) and, in my view, "rely" on equipment as a bail out option.

That said. If they bring you more enjoyment and keep you playing, I have absolutley no issue with that, but that's not my point.

Take me as an example of my point, not the best I know, but a relivant one. I started paying in 2010, never hit a ball in anger before. Started off with a set of Taylormade R7 game improvers. I could hit those clubs anywhere on the face (Within reason) and the ball would fly straight, probably not quite as far but still pretty straight and good distance on a mis-hit.

This is what they are designed to do.

Could I do that with the blades I play now? No chance.

I have had to improve how I strike the ball. Lots of practice and a swing pattern that suits me have been key. I firmly belive that playing with equipment that offers me minimal help (Such as my current set-up) will help me in the long run because I have to continue to improve myself to get the best out of it.

Just my opinion of course which is why I though I'd see what the general concensus of the forum was as IMHO, I thought it a pretty good topic

Can I now ask, James, why you think it wont? :ears:

 

[BTatHome]

The thing is doing the practice and swing training with GI irons would probably achieve the same outcome.

Your work ethic is what is getting the results. If you used GI irons and did no practice then you would probably be at the same position as when you started. The practice etc is what is making the difference.