Course management.

[Tashyboy]

Played today at Nottinghamshire, lovely set up and for £25 with a meal= a steal. Anyway I cannot remember hitting my drives so well. I was a machine. But I was crap after that, I must of lost five balls in the water. My shot selection was atrocious. One of the lads who plays off 1 in the fiddle. He is our club singles champ, won last month in Vale de Lobo, and is playing at west Lancs for the chance to play at ? TPC sawgrass. Anyway after the front nine, I had 13 points. He was marking the cards and was gobsmacked at my low score. The back nine was even worse. Stood on the 18th, A par 5, he told me where to put me drive and I did. Got to me ball and said 3 wood. He said why, five iron and a wedge onto the green. I did. I parred it to finish with 9 points on the back nine. He said to me " Tash you can obviously hit it, but your shot selection/ course management is crap".
So how do you improve that, nigh on everyone has had lessons, but how do you get better at shot selection. Am convinced a low single handicapper manages his game better than someone/ me playing off 19. So what gets you in the zone to think about all options.
EG, I smashed one drive, it was sat half up, half down and I said it's an iron or a three wood. He said " hybrid". I never even thought about it.
Thoughts please me dears.

 

[virtuocity]

It's all relative to handicap, isn't it? I mean, if I was off 28, I'd be looking at hitting 7 iron off the tee until I stopped losing tonnes of balls. It's easy for a 1 handicapper to question club choice, but it's likely that they can hit that same 7 iron 180 yards, making their selection a lot easier. That's a driver for those with a slow swing speed.

To try and completely generalise 'course management' without factoring in your handicap, swing speed, accuracy/dispersion, ball striking skills i.e. your personal strengths and weaknesses is very golf mag-esque and could actually do more harm than good for some people.

 

[backwoodsman]

Assuming your drive is a good one - or reasonably so - just ask yourself what will most likely get you closest to the flag? Is it one shot that is an absolute stunner, or two reasonably decent ones. For us higher HC players, the answer is much more likely to be the second choice but we seldom choose it.

 

[Robin Hood]

Can't help you Tash, but I am looking forward to the responses.
Which course did you play ?

 

[Deleted member 16999]

Be realistic on the course and on each tee and then each shot.
i.e. we probably all stand on the 1st after looking at the card or playing it before and thinking, “I can par this hole” we probably think we can do that on all 18, difference is, very few can and they are normally the best players (Low Cat 1 and better) who are consistent ball strikers, understand their strengths and weakness’s and are full of ability.
The rest of us probably get ahead of ourselves and don’t use our shots or think we’re better than we actually are!

Have you or can you Par every hole on your course?

 

[Grant85]

Played today at Nottinghamshire, lovely set up and for £25 with a meal= a steal. Anyway I cannot remember hitting my drives so well. I was a machine. But I was crap after that, I must of lost five balls in the water. My shot selection was atrocious. One of the lads who plays off 1 in the fiddle. He is our club singles champ, won last month in Vale de Lobo, and is playing at west Lancs for the chance to play at ? TPC sawgrass. Anyway after the front nine, I had 13 points. He was marking the cards and was gobsmacked at my low score. The back nine was even worse. Stood on the 18th, A par 5, he told me where to put me drive and I did. Got to me ball and said 3 wood. He said why, five iron and a wedge onto the green. I did. I parred it to finish with 9 points on the back nine. He said to me " Tash you can obviously hit it, but your shot selection/ course management is crap".
So how do you improve that, nigh on everyone has had lessons, but how do you get better at shot selection. Am convinced a low single handicapper manages his game better than someone/ me playing off 19. So what gets you in the zone to think about all options.
EG, I smashed one drive, it was sat half up, half down and I said it's an iron or a three wood. He said " hybrid". I never even thought about it.
Thoughts please me dears.

I'd say as a handicap golfer you want to be playing the shot you are comfortable with.

The chances of messing up a 5 iron and a wedge are much lower than going for it with a 3 wood. There are far more things that can go wrong with a mishit 3 wood, where as a mishit 5 iron is still potentially in play and in a position you are probably going to get down in 3 from. Also you get a good bit of confidence from playing a well struck iron and a nicely hit wedge to the middle of the green.

There is also the additional pressure of playing a 'hail mary' shot where you know there are a greater number of bad outcomes. This puts pressure on your swing and makes it more likely you will play a poor shot.

But that said, you do have to mix it up and go for it on some holes. You would never enjoy golf if you were just to plod around and not giving yourself a chance of birdies. But just calculate where you take those risks - for example at holes where there is more margin for error.

Also you have to play with the game you've got on that day. If you are losing everything right then you'll probably get better results with starting everything a bit left, rather than convincing yourself you'll hit the next one straight.

 

[Tashyboy]

Can't help you Tash, but I am looking forward to the responses.
Which course did you play ?

The open course, the one with most water, the one that has most of me balls, thought for £25 it was a steal. We played it coz the lads who set up the fiddle are there for the senior open on 26th and wanted to get familiar. Having played it I can thoroughly understand the reasoning.

 

[Tashyboy]

Be realistic on the course and on each tee and then each shot.
i.e. we probably all stand on the 1st after looking at the card or playing it before and thinking, “I can par this hole” we probably think we can do that on all 18, difference is, very few can and they are normally the best players (Low Cat 1 and better) who are consistent ball strikers, understand their strengths and weakness’s and are full of ability.
The rest of us probably get ahead of ourselves and don’t use our shots or think we’re better than we actually are!

Have you or can you Par every hole on your course?

I have parred every one, just one some holes as it is a long course. This was a joy, hitting a drive and then a 9 iron into a green was a joy.

 

[Tashyboy]

I'd say as a handicap golfer you want to be playing the shot you are comfortable with.

The chances of messing up a 5 iron and a wedge are much lower than going for it with a 3 wood. There are far more things that can go wrong with a mishit 3 wood, where as a mishit 5 iron is still potentially in play and in a position you are probably going to get down in 3 from. Also you get a good bit of confidence from playing a well struck iron and a nicely hit wedge to the middle of the green.

There is also the additional pressure of playing a 'hail mary' shot where you know there are a greater number of bad outcomes. This puts pressure on your swing and makes it more likely you will play a poor shot.

But that said, you do have to mix it up and go for it on some holes. You would never enjoy golf if you were just to plod around and not giving yourself a chance of birdies. But just calculate where you take those risks - for example at holes where there is more margin for error.

Also you have to play with the game you've got on that day. If you are losing everything right then you'll probably get better results with starting everything a bit left, rather than convincing yourself you'll hit the next one straight.

Cheers grant me man. The five iron and wedge had me buzzing. Two putts later the round was finished. 😖

 

[garyinderry]

5 balls in water is not very good course management at any level.


What happened with these?

 

[Tashyboy]

Can't help you Tash, but I am looking forward to the responses.
Which course did you play ?

RH me man, what part of Nottingham you from, I have a feeling you could be a north east miners son. 👍

 

[Deleted member 16999]

I have parred every one, just one some holes as it is a long course. This was a joy, hitting a drive and then a 9 iron into a green was a joy.

But for most of us that’s our sunday best, we need to be realistic, almost boring and stay in the moment.
It’s easier when it’s social and no pressure, Comps, society days etc we go to pieces.

 

[duncan mackie]

As long as you are playing for the good shots it's difficult.

I've long held the belief that in the bar afterwards those off around 12 and under will remember the bad shots, those that cost - and the really good guys will recognise the poor decision making and what led to it.
12+ will remember the good ones....the rest simply happen and are why they have a handicap, etc etc

 

[Norrin Radd]

conservative golf Tashy ,dont play what you think you can hit ,play what you know you can hit ,you are getting a shot per hole ,use them and dont get greedy trying to hit sunday best shots all the time .

 

[Canary Kid]

Quote ... Have you or can you Par every hole on your course

A slight aside from the main point of the thread. I’m a 24 handicapper and I have parred every hole on my course in the two years that I have been a member there ... but rarely more than two or three of them on the same round. At the risk of creating a sub-thread, surely any (say) sub-28 handicapper is capable of parring any hole on the course if it is played regularly enough ... it’s the lack of consistency that dictates the high handicap.

On the main point of the thread, a good player once said to me “don’t simply use the club that will get to closest to the green, unless of course it can get you all the way there comfortably ... instead, use the club that can comfortably get you to the distance from which you can use your go-to club”. However, I’m as guilty as anyone of automatically reaching for the longest club in the bag, rather than perhaps a shorter one that will leave me a easier next shot. Course management is certainly a useful skill.

 

[Tashyboy]

5 balls in water is not very good course management at any level.


What happened with these?

Four of them were dykes. Hit a gorgeous drive on one that dropped into a dyke 3ft from the edge. Got rushed/ frustrated and played a drop a yard behind the dyke, left foot six inch below right and promptly knobbed it back into dyke. PP said " why did you drop it there". Me tyrets dropped in. Dropped a second time and hit a nine iron 15 ft from pin. Missed the 1 point putt. Just seemed today there were a lot of bad decisions.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

I wonder if the level of expectation was raised playing with guy off 1 and hitting it so well off tee. For me, being a handicap golfer, I'd be looking at using my shots. Old story but apt but when I played the Forest of Arden I refused to take on any par 4 over 400 yards as the risk being a short hitter was too high. I hit everything into the 80-100 yard area even if that meant the second was an 8 or 9 iron. I made two points (net par on each) bar one where I three putted. All about managing expectation and something I regularly fail to do at my own course when I should and too many times take on shots I shouldn't at my level

 

[full_throttle]

course management helped me drop 6 shots, play the percentage

 

[Robin Hood]

RH me man, what part of Nottingham you from, I have a feeling you could be a north east miners son. 👍

Correct.
Dad and grandad worked in the Yorkshire pits, but moved back to Durham area just after I was born.
I live in south Nottingham.

 

[Tashyboy]

I wonder if the level of expectation was raised playing with guy off 1 and hitting it so well off tee. For me, being a handicap golfer, I'd be looking at using my shots. Old story but apt but when I played the Forest of Arden I refused to take on any par 4 over 400 yards as the risk being a short hitter was too high. I hit everything into the 80-100 yard area even if that meant the second was an 8 or 9 iron. I made two points (net par on each) bar one where I three putted. All about managing expectation and something I regularly fail to do at my own course when I should and too many times take on shots I shouldn't at my level

To be honest Homer, I never really felt any pressure. He was the best there but one guy was off 18 and another off 15. I really enjoyed the day bar not playing well. But just wanna come away from today having learned something.

Thing is, me and tricky Trev have said recently if we feel a PP is playing the wrong shot we have to say " Lucy's carrot cake". To make us think.