Cutting out the silly mistakes..

[cliveb]

There is a difference between a silly mistake and a mistake. A silly mistake is trying to knock your country best 3 wood over water onto a green and walking off with a double or triple. A mistake is trying to lay up to the water and hitting it too far and it goes into the water.

Surely when laying up, choosing a club that could conceivably reach the water if you absolutely flush it is just as silly?

 

[Backache]

Surely when laying up, choosing a club that could conceivably reach the water if you absolutely flush it is just as silly?

For me balls that go much further than I intended are rarely a result of flushing it. Usually a big kick forward by landing on the downside of a lump, occasionally a bladed shot on short irons.

 

[Imurg]

When laying up in front of any sort of hazard pick the club that will get you there if you flush it with your Sunday best....and come down a club.
If it still gets there then that's unlucky.

 

[MadAdey]

Surely when laying up, choosing a club that could conceivably reach the water if you absolutely flush it is just as silly?

Not really, I am talking about when you catch it a bit thin, or it takes a really hard bounce on the fairway. That is what I call a mistake, it didn't happen because you played a stupid shot.

 

[cliveb]

Not really, I am talking about when you catch it a bit thin, or it takes a really hard bounce on the fairway. That is what I call a mistake, it didn't happen because you played a stupid shot.

I disagree. When choosing a club to lay up to water, you should consider all possibilities. Thinning it, getting a hard bounce are all factors. You really need to select one that simply cannot reach no matter what. Doing anything else is bad course management.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

One meltdown ruined a reasonable medal yesterday. Left a bunker shot in the sand (cardinal on its own) and then bladed the next into cabbage. Several thrashes and an obligatory 3 stab and it was a 10 when a par 4 from the middle of the fairway beckoned. That would have been the start of the wheels coming off and a lost ball on the 11th didn't help (although I rescued a double on the par 3) but then steadied the ship with a goal to ensure the net score at least started with a 7 at the front. Really ground it out and made a tap in birdie on the last for a net 78. Had that 10 even been a double I'd have taken the 74. The point was the mental toughness is now in built and instead of giving up I stuck to the task and didn't dwell on what had just happened

 

[TigerTime]

Well despite my moaning about silly mistakes yesterday I finally broke 80 (+9 79) for the first time.

4 double bogeys
1 bogey
13 pars

The mistakes were still there. I went out 7 over par and came back in 2 over, with most of my GIR on the back 9 and I must’ve had 4/5 reasonable shouts at birdies, on another day some of those would’ve gone in.

7/15 fairways
9/18 greens
30 putts

And for the person who asked about comparing myself to a 10.. well usually that’s what I have it set it, just thought it would be fun to compare to a scratch.

Strokes Gained for the round compared to a 10 hc

Driving -3.5 (distance and accuracy)
Approach +2.6
Short Game +0.6
Putting +4.4

Think I struck the driver quite well, but did find myself in the trees a few times.

Overall strokes gained now v 10hc

Driving -1.2
Approach -0.5
Short game -0.4
Putting +2.4

Time to work on driver it seems.

 

[Orikoru]

Interesting point on silly mistakes v mistakes. Mine tends to be an awful over-the-top swing out of nowhere, that slices it into the next county. It feels very silly at the time, but I guess it's just a regular old mistake as it's poor execution. That doesn't make it any easier to take as you prepare to hit 3 off the tee though.

 

[bobmac]

I disagree. When choosing a club to lay up to water, you should consider all possibilities. Thinning it, getting a hard bounce are all factors. You really need to select one that simply cannot reach no matter what. Doing anything else is bad course management.

I disagree.
You can have 150 to the water and hit PW which you normally hit 120 so 30 yards short....not if you thin it

 

[Orikoru]

I disagree.
You can have 150 to the water and hit PW which you normally hit 120 so 30 yards short....not if you thin it

Yeah it's a tough balancing act. You don't want to make a mistake the other way, laying up too far back and still give yourself a more difficult carry than it needed to be.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

I disagree. When choosing a club to lay up to water, you should consider all possibilities. Thinning it, getting a hard bounce are all factors. You really need to select one that simply cannot reach no matter what. Doing anything else is bad course management.

I disagree as that is only putting negativity into the process and if you stand there thinking "what if I thin it" the chances of doing so are increased

 

[Springveldt]

Low sample size.l so far but after 3 rounds with Arccos…

14 handicap and comparing me to scratch…strokes gained

Driving -3.7
Approach -5.2
Short game -3.2
Putting +1

Although it’s only 3 rounds the pattern is forming. Arccos says I need to work on distance off the tee, driving accuracy and approach play 150-200 yards.

I’ve always been a solid putter so I’m not really surprised that’s the strongest part of my game. Although to actually gain strokes on a scratch player is pretty mad.

I'm a big advocate of all things get longer off the tee but based on these the obvious thing to knock a couple of strokes off your handicap would be short game if Arccos is anything like Shot Scope.

Shot Scope has short game as 50 yards and in, it shouldn't take you long to practice hitting 30, 40 and 50 yard pitch shots that you can reliable hit to those distances most of the time. Would probably take you an hour or 2 practice.

 

[cliveb]

I disagree.
You can have 150 to the water and hit PW which you normally hit 120 so 30 yards short....not if you thin it

In the context of MadAdey's post, he was talking about taking water out of the equation.
Failing to nail a 3 wood dumps you in the drink.
Thinning a PW also dumps you in the drink.
Both are examples of failing to hit a club correctly and ending up swimming.
I don't see why one is less silly than the other.
(In fact, if I decide to play safe and still cock it up, I feel even sillier).

How many times have we heard that the art of course management is to consider where you'll end up if things go wrong?
If the object is to avoid the water at all costs, then hit a club which - EVEN IF YOU MISS HIT IT - keeps you out of the water.

 

[CountLippe]

There's a line between 'course management' and just playing negative golf.

I have the capacity to pull a 5 wood 50 yards left. I can go weeks without doing it, sometimes in happens multiple times in a round. Does this mean I should never use it?

In my opinion, the hardest part of course management is changing strategy depending on where your game is. If i'm playing well I'm more likely to be over ambitious.

 

[VVega]

Failing to nail a 3 wood dumps you in the drink.
Thinning a PW also dumps you in the drink.

Surely the point is that the probability of failing to “nail” a wood is much higher than thinning a PW?

Everyone can thin, shank etc any club on occasion, there is no point thinking about it as a part of course management though, is there?

 

[Orikoru]

There's a line between 'course management' and just playing negative golf.

I have the capacity to pull a 5 wood 50 yards left. I can go weeks without doing it, sometimes in happens multiple times in a round. Does this mean I should never use it?

In my opinion, the hardest part of course management is changing strategy depending on where your game is. If i'm playing well I'm more likely to be over ambitious.

I'm pretty sure it means don't hit it when there's a hazard or trouble 50 yards to the left.

 

[CountLippe]

I'm pretty sure it means don't hit it when there's a hazard or trouble 50 yards to the left.

There is generally trouble 50 yards left on virtually every hole i've ever played! I understand your point though.

 

[Orikoru]

There is generally trouble 50 yards left on virtually every hole i've ever played! I understand your point though.

Well there's trouble and then there's TROUBLE.

 

[cliveb]

There's a line between 'course management' and just playing negative golf.

I have the capacity to pull a 5 wood 50 yards left. I can go weeks without doing it, sometimes in happens multiple times in a round. Does this mean I should never use it?

In my opinion, the hardest part of course management is changing strategy depending on where your game is. If i'm playing well I'm more likely to be over ambitious.

I have no argument with that.
It's all a matter of balancing the likelihood of executing the shot well or badly and what the consequences would be depending on the hazards you're facing.
The more dangerous the hazard, the more you need to make sure you avoid it at all costs.
But of course we all have to sometimes risk hitting OOB, or into water. But if you can limit the chances of doing so, that's what you should do.

Bob's example of thinning a PW is interesting. Since he's a pro, he probably hardly ever thins a shot. So his personal approach to laying up to water with a PW doesn't need to factor in the danger of thinning it. But mine certainly does.

 

[Backache]

In the context of MadAdey's post, he was talking about taking water out of the equation.
Failing to nail a 3 wood dumps you in the drink.
Thinning a PW also dumps you in the drink.
Both are examples of failing to hit a club correctly and ending up swimming.
I don't see why one is less silly than the other.
(In fact, if I decide to play safe and still cock it up, I feel even sillier).

How many times have we heard that the art of course management is to consider where you'll end up if things go wrong?
If the object is to avoid the water at all costs, then hit a club which - EVEN IF YOU MISS HIT IT - keeps you out of the water.

If you have to cross the water there is always going to be a chance of going into it, you can thin your second shot into it. The point is a long carry has a relatively high probability of ending the drink , the lay up low, neither is zero.