Forced Carries

[Slab]

I have a problem with forced carries off the tee & the longer the carry the bigger the problem

Any carry of 100yrds or more & the hole is already winning the battle & too often I’ll top, slice, hook shank or generally do some other stupid thing to wreck the card

The problem is all in the head of course and unsurprisingly so is the cure, so what hints & tips do you use that you can share...

 

[Tommo21]

If you hit the ball fine any other time and it's all in the head then sorry I cant help. But I'm sure some smart alex will, soon.

Serious.....all you can do is try and play out this fear of failure.

 

[rosecott]

A cure that helped a friend of mine who was in that same boat when teeing off on a particular hole. After you've set up to tee off, get into your head a picture of a hole which never gives you a problem in teeing off. Keep that picture in your head (wide grassy fairway, no dangers) and carry on with your tee-off routine. Sounds a bit daft but it worked a treat for him.

 

[Imurg]

The moment you start thinking about the carry you're in trouble.
Whether it's water, rough, sand, trees, heather - whatever - ignore it.
Concentrate on the target you've set yourself and forget about the carry.
If you're able to hit a "golf shot" then just get on and do it.

That's why, in friendlies of course, saying to somone, especially Fraggerclap, "mind you don't come up short and put it in the bunker" or similar will almost always result in a poor shot. The mind concentrates on the hazard you have to carry and you'll almost certainly put it in there or hit a wayward shot and find yourself in more trouble.

Forget the hazard, concentrate on the shot and the target.

 

[Ian_S]

It's similar to when you have a chip over a bunker. Even when you're landing 5 yards on the green, the brain always wants to think "now don't go and duff it into the bunker", and inevitably your next shot is from the sand. It's a 100% mental issue. You need to find someway of focusing solely on your chosen landing area, and believing that you are going to hit a good shot so that the only thing that matters is that patch of grass 200+ yards away.

That's not to say ignore hazards around the course. In Imurg's example, of course the bunker is important, you don't want to forget about it. But you deal with that when you are selecting your shot. Worried you won't carry it? Take an extra club. Right, now that's the bunker taken care of, concentrate on the bit of green you're landing on.

 

[virtuocity]

At my local's par 5 7th, there's a huge burn around 170 yards off the tee. You can't lay up either, so it's go for broke with the driver.

First 3 times I played the hole I lost balls to it.

Since this **weirdo alert**, I get ANGRY at the hole. I tee up my ball and stare at the hazard and think to myself:

"I'm going slow on the backswing, moving my weight forward and WILL release this damn club- you're not getting another one of my precious 50p a time balls you b****** burn".

Works a treat- by humanising the hazard and making it a battle between me and it, it helps me concentrate on getting my shot right rather than worrying about losing balls.

 

[bladeplayer]

Might sound silly but ya need to get positive thoughts in your head ,as Ian said , see what ya want to do , not what you dont want to do .. par 3 over water see the green not the water ..
Obviously this wont work if the carry is 250 & you cant actualy carry it that far ..

how far can you carry your driver when hit 80% well ? thats your average carry distance then ............. outside that distance you have to look for the bail out option .. holes with more than 150 carry will "usualy" have a bail out

 

[Slab]

Appreciate the replies, I know its my head that's screwing with the swing & a course with a large number of carries can quickly turn into a real chore when its three off the tee

 

[Deleted Member 1156]

The moment you start thinking about the carry you're in trouble.
Whether it's water, rough, sand, trees, heather - whatever - ignore it.
Concentrate on the target you've set yourself and forget about the carry.
If you're able to hit a "golf shot" then just get on and do it.

That's why, in friendlies of course, saying to somone, especially Fraggerclap, "mind you don't come up short and put it in the bunker" or similar will almost always result in a poor shot. The mind concentrates on the hazard you have to carry and you'll almost certainly put it in there or hit a wayward shot and find yourself in more trouble.

Forget the hazard, concentrate on the shot and the target.

Yup, just pick a specific target and hit at it. When hitting a driver off the tee, don't think 'wide fairway' but pick a target such as a tree in the distance then make a committed swing at the ball.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

Our third hole involves a forced carry off the tee. It is probably only 180 yards although it does play into the prevailing wind. Coming so soon in the round (second drive of the day) it can be daunting if you aren't feeling switched on and I've lost my fair share usually swinging too fast and hitting horrid snap hooks.

I'm not scared of the hole and focus on the bunker right as my target and rely on making a good strike. When the wind really howls I am happy to get it over, on the fairway and worry about getting home from there. I treat it as any other drive. The more you do things differently like reaching for an old ball the more you reinforce the negative thoughts and it breeds uncertainty and tension

 

[duncan mackie]

this is where you can use practice drills to overcome these 'normal' responses -

at the range, when aiming at a particular target you bring in a negative element ie water short, bunker left, OOB right etc - then play the shot!

this way you will get more comfortable with the inevitable need to avoid things from time to time, but still function.

I do agree that not seeing hazards can be even better - but then again you can get the odd rude surprise relying on that one!

 

[Birchy]

Focus only on the target, what carry? . One of the mental golf books might help you with this. Bob rotella ones or zen golf, both very good.

 

[Qwerty]

I think all you can do is keep putting yourself in that pressure situation as often as possible, go through your pre shot routine exactly as you normally would.
Golf is full of pressure shots and situations at all levels, facing them and overcoming them is one of the many things that keeps us all hooked.

 

[Hacker Khan]

Don't look at it and pretend it's not there.

 

[malek988]

if i see something im worried about not being able to carry would be to club up and not hit it as hard as you would have with the previous, but i only do this in comp play otherwise i just go for it, works wonders for your confidence if you pull it off

 

[timchump]

There's a few forced carries at my home club.

Longest probably about 180- yards off the the tee, first few times i played it i hit it straight in the junk everytime.

Now it bareley registers on my radar, can't remember the last time i didn't carry it.

I find the best thing is to focus where you want to hit it, pick out a specific target and go for it.

Obviously you want to put the trouble out of your mind to an extent, i find this is the best way to do it.

 

[woody69]

I remember seeing a clip of a pro (can't remember who, think it was Harrington) who said amateurs focus too much on what is in front of them when it comes to hazards etc, where as a pro will focus purely on where they will be landing the ball. It's the same for a long carry or a short chip over a bunker. Forget about the carry/hazard and just focus on where you want it to land. As they say in the matrix, "there is no spoon"!!