Cutting out the silly mistakes..

[bobmac]

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.

If I'm 150 from the water there's little chance of me laying up, unless the pond is a 100 yard wide lake or I've got a bad lie

 

[cliveb]

If I'm 150 from the water there's little chance of me laying up, unless the pond is a 100 yard wide lake or I've got a bad lie

Touche!

Just goes to show that course management for a pro is an entirely different kettle of fish than for me.

 

[PJ87]

Never forget playing this one course , nice drive straight down the middle .. leaving 180 left into a green that's basically on same level as me but the fairway goes down to a water hazard then back up to the green .. 165 to carry 140 to lay up

Remember thinking right nice easy pitching wedge 100 yards then chip on
. Sensible

Hit the pw fine. However the ball just kept rolling , and rolling and rolling into the water

Should have just went for it and taken the hit if I'd gone in

 

[Skytot]

Have a watch at OMP trying to break his age 83 off the forward tees . What a player

 

[HomerJSimpson]

Old story to some on here but I played a GM final at Forest of Arden and because a lot of the par 4's were 420-450 off the white tees I decided to lay up on them all to around 100-120 where I was confident I could hit a reasonable 9 or PW onto the green and assume I could 2 putt (if not sneak the odd 1 putt) and so walk away with a net par and 2 points. doing so would reduce my chances of making a mistake and bringing double in and took the pressure off the drive as I knew I was laying up anyway so didn't feel the need to go for a glory shot if I hit a bad tee shot but just got it back into play as close to my preferred distance as possible

 

[bobmac]

One of the biggest mistakes I see on the course is handicap management.
By that I mean letting your handicap dictate what shot you play.

Bill has 170 to carry the water on a long par 4.
Thinks long and hard.
Checks the score card and lays up short of the water because he gets a stroke.
This may be sensible if Bill is off 25 and has a poor long game but not so good if he is a better player.
Letting your handicap dictate how you play is one good way of never beating your handicap.

If golf is a hobby that you play for fun, then have fun, take some risks, live a little...you might surprise yourself.

 

[Skytot]

Old story to some on here but I played a GM final at Forest of Arden and because a lot of the par 4's were 420-450 off the white tees I decided to lay up on them all to around 100-120 where I was confident I could hit a reasonable 9 or PW onto the green and assume I could 2 putt (if not sneak the odd 1 putt) and so walk away with a net par and 2 points. doing so would reduce my chances of making a mistake and bringing double in and took the pressure off the drive as I knew I was laying up anyway so didn't feel the need to go for a glory shot if I hit a bad tee shot but just got it back into play as close to my preferred distance as possible

Did you win ?

 

[Orikoru]

One of the biggest mistakes I see on the course is handicap management.
By that I mean letting your handicap dictate what shot you play.

Bill has 170 to carry the water on a long par 4.
Thinks long and hard.
Checks the score card and lays up short of the water because he gets a stroke.
This may be sensible if Bill is off 25 and has a poor long game but not so good if he is a better player.
Letting your handicap dictate how you play is one good way of never beating your handicap.

If golf is a hobby that you play for fun, then have fun, take some risks, live a little...you might surprise yourself.

Definitely agree with this. 'Using your shots' when it's not necessary is a weak mentality and a progress killer to my mind. I'll always go for the green unless it's a shot that I have a very low chance of pulling off successfully. For me a shot on a hole is simply to cover the mistake I'm likely to make - if I were to use that shot intentionally, it puts much more pressure on my short game and putting knowing that not getting up and down or three-putting is a double bogey.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

Did you win ?

Lost on back 6 countback to an Irish interloper. My psychiatrist says I should get over it by 2026

 

[Imurg]

One of the biggest mistakes I see on the course is handicap management.
By that I mean letting your handicap dictate what shot you play.

Bill has 170 to carry the water on a long par 4.
Thinks long and hard.
Checks the score card and lays up short of the water because he gets a stroke.
This may be sensible if Bill is off 25 and has a poor long game but not so good if he is a better player.
Letting your handicap dictate how you play is one good way of never beating your handicap.

If golf is a hobby that you play for fun, then have fun, take some risks, live a little...you might surprise yourself.

I get what you're saying but if Bill is a better player he won't think twice about carrying 170 over a pond regardless of whether he's getting a shot or not.

 

[mister v]

I just can’t stop screwing up, before every round I think just keep it in play, lay up if there’s to much danger going for a green and trust your chipping or putting but I just keep making doubles.. if its not a leaky drive it’s a hooked iron shot into the trees or a thinned wedge out the back or a 3 putt .

im off 13 and my good shots are good but I just keep messing up, sometimes its bad luck everyone gets that but I just don’t seem to be able to bring all the facets of my game together for one round.

I keep scoring around 90 give or take a few and keep getting 4-5 pars, 5-6 bogeys but always 7-8 doubles or worse. I know that I just need to swap out the doubles for pars and bogeys and I’d shoot low 80’s

But I keep screwing up!!! I really love golf but bloody hell its hard