Cutting out the triples...

[Potor_36]

Apologies in advance, I have a feeling this may turn into a fairly long post about nothing much in particular

Since joining my first club at the end of last year and getting a handicap in March (bloody snow!), I've played 11 competitions. The first 2 were a pretty steep learning curve and were comfortable 0.1's, but the next 9 were all buffer zones (my handicap is 15). I'm not sure how I should feel about this - at first I was delighted that I had managed to shoot a few solid scores, but recently its become a little bit irritating to see potential cuts slip away through chasing a score or the all-too-frequent triple bogey attack I seem to suffer from.

Case in point: last weekend was our club championships, a 36 hole handicap event for me (there was also a scratch tournament) played over both days. The first day I was nervous as hell and started terribly; triple, bogey, par triple, only to somehow play the next 5 holes in 1 under gross to reach halfway at 1 under net. 2 triples at 10 and 17 and a double at 15 ruined what was otherwise a fairly solid back 9 and I ended up with net 74 (+2).

So, on Sunday I went out with a gameplan and a very conservative approach. Anywhere that my bad drive (big slice or pull) could get me into trouble I took hybrid or 3 wood off the tee, anywhere that I didn't fancy the approach due to its length or difficulty I laid up 10-15 yards short of the green and aimed for a chip and a putt. This was working very well despite some dodgey 3 woods and I found myself 195 yards away from the 12th green at 3 under net, with shots on all but 1 of the remaining holes. For some reason I abandoned the gameplan and went for the green, cue the hook OOB left and my first triple of the day. I never managed to get the shots back and finished with another net 74 to end up tied for 12th overall.

I'm willing to accept that a large part of the reason I play off of 15 is that I hit bad shots, we all do. Fair enough. But how do you know whether a risk is worth taking, and to what extent is laying up on a par 4 where you could reach the green with a 4/5 iron a valid tactic? Surely this can only get you so far? A lot of my bad holes originate from a poor tee shot that leaves me struggling to hit the green in 3 (drive into all sorts of trouble, chip out sideways/backwards then have 170+ to go), so is it a case of safety first off the tee or simply practice practice pratice with the longer shots from the fairway?

Whats more annoying than anything else is that in non-competition games I've hit 80 twice in the past 5 weeks, both times with nothing worse than the occasional double on the card, so I know there are good scores and handicap cuts there to be had if only I could lessen the damage on a few holes per round

 

[Mark_Aged_42]

Somebody please answer the man - because I have exactly the same problem. My +3s and +4s are due to one of these sequences:
1) short iron wide into the rough/bunker, poor chip/sand, woefully short lag putt, then a short missed putt
or
2)topped drive or iron shot, followed by a big sliced next shot into trouble, chip out.
For variety I sometimes like to combine 1 and 2 on the same hole.
Invariably, I then par the next hole.

 

[0]

But how do you know whether a risk is worth taking, and to what extent is laying up on a par 4 where you could reach the green with a 4/5 iron a valid tactic?

experience! practice and experience! you say you lay up on a reachable par 4, well it can't be reachable then however I know what your meaning and I'm not trying to be flippant, a 1 in 20 chance you hit a good 4 iron to the green or lay up and try and pitch 'n' putt? so what to do? Practice till you can reliably hit that 4 iron to the green or close, you'll learn by your mistakes as we all do, enjoy it and well done for striving to improve.

 

[njc1973]

I would say its best to persevere with the Driver as theres less chance of ballsing up an approach shot with a 8-9 iron than a 5 iron.

I had a similar problem & had a lesson which sotred out my driving (hopefully) & becos I'm using shorter irons on my approach shots Iim scoring a lot better & have dropped 2 shots in 2 weeks, still need to get rid of the stupid mistakes that you can't legislate for though.

 

[Curls]

It sounds like you answered your own question - you were playing fine until you abandoned the gameplan! When you were in "safe" mode you were playing within yourself, probably keeping good tempo and playing intelligently. But then you decided to be brave, go for the green. I bet your heart was racing, you certainly werent in the "safe" frame of mind and possibly caught between two minds - a recipe for disaster.

I had a playing lesson with the pro at our club, and I was surprised by his advice. I played a few holes as I normally do and he said to me, why are you playing it so safe? You should attack more, and you know something, he was right. When I let the shackles off (usually after a poor front 9, when Ive nothing to lose) and I start shooting for pins with confidence and aggression I start making scores. When I play while at the back of my mind tentatively worrying about my score at the end of the hole/round, I tend to quit, not commit fully to the shot and half-heartedly scuff it in the bunker.

I dont think the point is to go out and shoot for every pin, particularly if like me you dont have the ability to do that reasonably consistently. I think the point is to think of a gameplan for a hole/sequence of holes and stick to it. If things are going well playing it safe, play it safe. There are certain holes where you can justifiably be aggressive and get a just reward, while the punishment isnt too bad if you screw up. There are others where the margin of error is so slight that playing an iron off the tee is the right choice, because even a booming drive will only get you a 4 but could cost you an 8.

If you know the course you play at sit down with your last few scorecards and see what holes youre haemorrhaging shots on. Chances are you play the same way every time, taking a 3 wood off the tee isnt much different to the driver imo. If you hook a 1 wood OOB off the tee, the 3 probably would have gone the same way. Find a distance youre comfortable shooting at the green from, and know where youre not comfortable from. Many players have difficultly from 60ish yards, its a part-shot that you can easily pull top thin fat or duff, so now if a good drive and a long iron will put you 60 yards away say sod it, play a 3 iron off the tee, 4 iron off the ground and leave yourself a nice full e.g. 130 in. Okay, sometimes you'll pull that too, but if you start the hole with a plan of safe straight iron play in mind and then you execute the first two properly the confidence in executing the last one should be up, rather than worrying about the half swing pitch you have left.

I come back to the advice of the pro though, and while he would doubtless say that on some holes you need to play it safe, on the others why not go for it? Youre only out playing a game, its supposed to be fun and you obviously have a good level of ability so have a bit of confidence in that and go for it. As long as you can see the shot, set up and commit to it fully, and have the faith in yourself that you can do it. If you dont, then your setting up to the wrong shot. Put the club back in the bag and pick the one you are confident of playing that shot with.

 

[bluetoon]

Its pretty simple really,

When standing on the tee, your thoughts are all about making a par or a potential Birdie.

However, If you find trouble off the tee, (rough, bunkers etc) then you need a different approach in order to save your score. You need to switch your mentality and focus to making no worse than a bogey. how you achieve that on each hole is different, but essentially it is about not making another mistake.

For example. Long par 4 (430 yards) and you find the rough at 220 yards, your next shot is a hybrid and there is trouble left and bunkers at front of the green. This shot should set alarm bells ringing as the chances of 6/7 are high. The approach should be how do i walk away with a 5.

So leave hybrids and long irons in the bag, and grab a 7/8/9 and put the ball into a safe place on the fairway avaoiding all trouble. Have a look where the flag is and try and leave a shot that will take bunkers out of play.

So that now leaves you a wedge to the green. Here is the important part. if you are a mid/high handicapper you need to forget where the flag is and look for the middle of the green. because if you find a bunker or miss the green you have blown it. If you try to take the flag on, then sure you might make par but chances are you will compound your mistake.

Aim for the middle of the green and 2putt, simples.
the mistake was not finding the rough, but the choice of shots afterwards.

That is why the short game is important. Work on putting and wedge play and your handicap will drop like a stone.

The better your wedges and putting get then the more times you will save that par.

Jim

 

[golfbluecustard]

Jim post more often as to a high h/c golfer this was a great post on course management - thanks.

GBC

 

[RGDave]

I would say its best to persevere with the Driver as theres less chance of ballsing up an approach shot with a 8-9 iron than a 5 iron.

Seriously.

 

[RGDave]

Top post Jim.

THIS is how I play golf.

I have friends at the club who a) hit the ball better than me b) hit the ball further than me c) hit fantastic shots from time to time that make me want to weep at my inadequacy at this stupid game.

Yet they play off 16/18/20, one off 23!

Where do they go wrong? Experience, course management and the possibility of hitting a terrible shot doesn't even figure in their game plan.

I go for some outrageous shots, but ONLY when I know there is no danger. Last time I ignored my "rule" I hooked a ball off the course and turned a possible 74 into a 77. In pairs, I play quite differently, but only when 100% sure my partner is in the hole.

 

[Mightymoose]

Its pretty simple really,

When standing on the tee, your thoughts are all about making a par or a potential Birdie.

However, If you find trouble off the tee, (rough, bunkers etc) then you need a different approach in order to save your score. You need to switch your mentality and focus to making no worse than a bogey. how you achieve that on each hole is different, but essentially it is about not making another mistake.

For example. Long par 4 (430 yards) and you find the rough at 220 yards, your next shot is a hybrid and there is trouble left and bunkers at front of the green. This shot should set alarm bells ringing as the chances of 6/7 are high. The approach should be how do i walk away with a 5.

So leave hybrids and long irons in the bag, and grab a 7/8/9 and put the ball into a safe place on the fairway avaoiding all trouble. Have a look where the flag is and try and leave a shot that will take bunkers out of play.

So that now leaves you a wedge to the green. Here is the important part. if you are a mid/high handicapper you need to forget where the flag is and look for the middle of the green. because if you find a bunker or miss the green you have blown it. If you try to take the flag on, then sure you might make par but chances are you will compound your mistake.

Aim for the middle of the green and 2putt, simples.
the mistake was not finding the rough, but the choice of shots afterwards.

That is why the short game is important. Work on putting and wedge play and your handicap will drop like a stone.

The better your wedges and putting get then the more times you will save that par.

Jim

Great post Jim. I wish we could recommend posts on this forum. <Added to Favourites>

 

[Potor_36]

Thanks for all the ideas and advice guys, this sort of experience and wisdom is exactly what I feel I'm lacking having only been playing for a few years.

I actually tried the 3 iron off the tee approach this evening. Once I got into some space on the course I started hitting 1 ball with my regular 'aggressive' strategy of driver on every tee thats not a par 3, whilst hitting a 2nd ball with a 3 iron off every tee. The results were very interesting and I will certainly be using a 3 or 4 iron off of a few tees from now on, but equally I found myself too far back to reasonably go for the green on a few holes.

Ironically though, after a few holes my driver suddenly caught fire and I was hitting it better than I can ever remember, so the comparison was somewhat skewed - on average I hit around 50-55% fairways, but tonight it was more like 80% and a good 20 yards further. Still, I didn't miss a fairway with the 3 iron and even the less good contacts didn't put me in any trouble that couldn't be solved by hitting a longer 2nd shot or laying up for a 'straightforward' bogey.

Think I'll hit the practice ground tomorrow and try to figure out why my driving was so good, though knowing my swing it will be back to my usual weak fadey rubbish

 

[HomerJSimpson]

I know Hawkeye mentioned in his post about his best score that he was attacking more, partly because it was off the yellows and partly because he thought too conservative an approach was actually costing shots. Clearly it worked for him.

For me it is the other way. I'm not the straightest off the tee and when I do find the short stuff tend to be a little cavalier in attacking. Similarly there are times when a 6 iron form light rough is the safe play and I opt to get more distance with a hybrid with inevitable results. I am going out in the medal on Saturday with a cautiously aggressive strategy. Hit the drive and assess from there. If I can get a longer club at it safely in the light rough then go for it but anything less than an 80% chance of solid contact is a conservative mid iron and reassess again. May not help but we'll see how it goes.

 

[Khamelion]

Myself and a friend who play together, his style is one of measured course management, mine is, shall we say a little more gung ho.

I can out drive him by a good 50, 60 or 70yds, but I regularly slice and end up with a lost ball or a horrendous lie which inevitably means bogeys, doubles, triples or worse. He, on the other hand plays a 3 iron off the tee down the middle, then a hybrid or long iron to the green, followed by a chip and one or three puts.

Two totallly different styles of playing, but the the end result is either an equal score or a score of only 2 or 3 strokes different.

Perhaps seeing as how far I can hit the ball, it would be better if I was more measured and was less gung ho, in the same breath if my friend was more aggresive and gung ho both our scores could be lower.

There's no shadow or a doubt his long game is better, well more accurate more often, but my short game is my strong point.

So as was posted above, persevere with the driver, on the driving range, hit the 3 wood and long irons on the driving range and when you're comfortable and confident 8 or 9 out of 10 balls will go straight or have the ball flight you intend, then get aggressive on the course.

But do not forget the wedges and lofted clubs, picture the nets the driving ranges provide for chipping practice as bunkers and aim to miss them The range I go to cut the grass just past the nets and give a nice line to aim for. So I practice getting the ball to miss the ball over the net but to land on the line.

In my mind the line is the fringe of the green and the net is the bunker I have to get over.

I've spent many a sunday morning this year hitting a basket of balls over those nets, to the background noise of my friend and others commenting, missed again or he's not hit the net yet, little do they know that's not my goal.

Cheers
Dave

 

[alnecosse]

i here you all but my strategy at the par 5s hit drive,walking to ball telling myself stick with game plan stick with the game plan, six iron keep it in the course,only to pull out my three wood big slice oob triple achieved. will we ever learn trouble is just every now and then you catch it and it sails towards the green oh that feeling then i know why i can never stick with my game plan
and probably why i never get any better.

 

[ScienceBoy]

Know your distances!

I think most shots go in the 120 yard in range.

Work out a distance for a full and 3/4 shots for 9, PW and any other wedges you carry.

First identify any big gaps and maybe fill with a new wedge or a half shot of another club.

WRITE THESE DOWN and carry them with you on the course, work out how far you have left with a rangefinder, DMD or yardage book. Hit the shot you need and you will generally get close.

Another bit of advice is try not attack every pin, go safe to the big part of a green or when going over bunkers (greenside or layup) dont be cute, get the ball on the green even if its 20feet past the pin!

Last bit is "take your medicine" If you have a shot on a hole and hit a bad drive try and use your shot to get you to where your drive should have landed at the very least. Same can apply to a second shot on a long par 4 if you have hit a good drive, use the shot to get the ball where it should be after two then play the rest of the hole out.