Going At It V Playing Safe

[Alex1975]

Hi all,

I had a chat with Drawboy on PM a little while back on his approach to his round, the thing that struck a chord with me was that he said "the only way you or I are going to get any better at this game is to cut down on errors". I guess some would say that is obvious but that is not how I play, I try to play more good shots to make up for the errors.

Every time my hand hovers over my bag to take a club out, the devil springs up and tells me I can make the shot that I would really like to play... "Go on Al, you can make it".

So the last little while this has been in my mind but I have not been able to put it into practice as I can’t get over my ego.

On Tuesday night I put all my irons into a carry bag and went and played only with irons. I have never done it before but it was really really good fun. A 4 iron off the tee to keep some sort of length in my game then whatever was sensible thereafter. Because I could not actually make some greens it meant I did not have to try and could just play to a point where I would like to play my approach. It makes you look at the golf course in a totally different way. Where is flat? What club would I like to approach with? And so on.

For my actual approaches I played 3 or 4 balls in from the point I had chosen to play to the previous shot to (no one on the course and I was not putting out). No stats or figures but I will say that it was eye opening!

So I could go out on our 1st hole, a 500y par 5, spank a driver followed by a 3 wood that could miss left right or shot, chip on and two putt for a par or I could hit a 4 iron a 5 iron and a 9 iron and be on with the same two putts. Ok it’s an extreme example but you get my point.

I am trying hard to talk myself into playing more like this!

Do you go at it or play smarter? Let’s face it we can all miss a green in regulation and the chip on can often be trickier than a 100y full shot that you may have had.

 

[fundy]

As you have probably worked out by now, I will often take the safe option off the tee unless I can see a real upside by taking extra risks, however on approach shots I almost always look to take the shot on.

So I will often hit hybrid off our first tee for eg as there is little advantage hitting driver (albeit I left myself 110 yds in there the other day!!!) but leave me 240 back on 13 into the wind and i will have a pop with 3 wood

To a degree both your game style and also the course youre playing play a large part in these decisions, that said there are definitely some times where imo you just have to go for it

 

[One Planer]

I think a mixture of the two is probably ideal.

Knowing when to "attack" and when to play it safe, in my opinion, comes down to knowing your own games strengths and weakness', mixed with a little course management.

 

[Alex1975]

Yep, your spot on Steve but you are not a good example are you! A 21* Hybrid and an 8 iron to cover the 500 yards... I would not take a driver either buddy.


I wanted the the post to be more general but as we play together let me ask you, could it be that for me on our course playing some holes more conservatively and maybe miss out on having that green side chip would work out better for me?

 

[HomerJSimpson]

Its a funny one. Hawkeye posted on here a while back about taking a more cavalier attitude and his handicap has come down since doing so whereas I've gone the other way and playing a lot more conservatively now which seems to be reaping its own rewards even if the handicap carries on climbing.

I am trying to keep the car crash numbers off the card in medals now and managed to lay the club championship voodoo to rest and finally make my first cut in this event. Even in the 2nd round I was heading for a buffer until a nightmare in a bunker killed me on 17. In a matchplay I might be tempted to take on a shot and almost certainly would give a 50/50 shot on a go in a Saturday roll up. At the end of the day in competitions it is about weighing up the reward versus the forfeit and 9 times out of 10 I'm taking the safe option and hoping to get my rewards.

 

[USER1999]

With conservative golf, there will always be a consistent score. But is this what you want? It's boring. If every time you set foot on the golf course you shot 8 over, would you be happy? To go lower than 8 over, a few risks may be involved, but then the consistency goes.

There are 4 long par 4s at my track. If I go for them, then theoretically I can score level par. Conservative play will get me 4 bogies (unless I'm lucky and pitch close, or sink a long put).
So immediately, that's 4 shots gone off my 9 handicap through playing safe.

I played with a 19 handicapper last year, who takes 19 shots. Every time. He will never shoot 18 over. He even layed up from 150, because he got a shot there, so didn't need a par. Very tedious to play with. Also a complete .....

 

[fundy]

Im not so sure you necessarily need to be more conservative as such, but on some holes a clear plan would definitely be a good idea, there are certainly 4 or 5 holes where Im almost certain driver isnt the best option off the tee for most

 

[Alex1975]

With conservative golf, there will always be a consistent score. But is this what you want? It's boring. If every time you set foot on the golf course you shot 8 over, would you be happy? To go lower than 8 over, a few risks may be involved, but then the consistency goes.

There are 4 long par 4s at my track. If I go for them, then theoretically I can score level par. Conservative play will get me 4 bogies (unless I'm lucky and pitch close, or sink a long put).
So immediately, that's 4 shots gone off my 9 handicap through playing safe.

I played with a 19 handicapper last year, who takes 19 shots. Every time. He will never shoot 18 over. He even layed up from 150, because he got a shot there, so didn't need a par. Very tedious to play with. Also a complete .....

Ye this is the dichotomy, No I do not want to get stuck where I am but yes I would like a little consistency. Maybe the consistency brings confidence. I did find that I could attack the green/pin alot more when I had chosen the spot I wanted to attack it from, maybe that will make for more one putts.

Easy to talk about, hard for me to do with a bag fill of woods.

Someone told me, maybe on here, that an experiment was done where a load of hackers were given top caddy`s for the day and it turned out that it did not help them at all.

 

[Aztecs27]

The thoughts/worry I have when playing a "safe" shot is that if I play a "safe" shot to get myself back into play or whatever is fine, but I could just as easily duff/mess up the next shot, leaving me no better.

I am better at playing a bit more conservative these days though. Not boring conservative, but enough to not be an utter knob and think I can make every single Seve shot following getting myself into some ridiculous predicaments.

 

[Aztecs27]

With conservative golf, there will always be a consistent score. But is this what you want? It's boring. If every time you set foot on the golf course you shot 8 over, would you be happy? To go lower than 8 over, a few risks may be involved, but then the consistency goes.

There are 4 long par 4s at my track. If I go for them, then theoretically I can score level par. Conservative play will get me 4 bogies (unless I'm lucky and pitch close, or sink a long put).
So immediately, that's 4 shots gone off my 9 handicap through playing safe.

I played with a 19 handicapper last year, who takes 19 shots. Every time. He will never shoot 18 over. He even layed up from 150, because he got a shot there, so didn't need a par. Very tedious to play with. Also a complete .....

This sums it up nicely and I'd feel the same way. Laying up from 150 yards? WTF?

 

[Alex1975]

The thoughts/worry I have when playing a "safe" shot is that if I play a "safe" shot to get myself back into play or whatever is fine, but I could just as easily duff/mess up the next shot, leaving me no better.

!!!!!!!!!

 

[Aztecs27]

The thoughts/worry I have when playing a "safe" shot is that if I play a "safe" shot to get myself back into play or whatever is fine, but I could just as easily duff/mess up the next shot, leaving me no better.

!!!!!!!!!

Haha. Perils of a high handicapper! The point is, the safe shot isn't always safe. There are mitigating factors (probably the wrong phrase, but I've always wanted to use it! ).

I'd rather have fun taking on some challenging shots than not enjoy myself striving to shoot to my handicap by playing safe all the time. Probably why I don't drop shots off my handicap very quickly! But I'd get more thrill from pulling off a difficult shot and ending up 20 or 30 yards from the green or just off the side, than chipping out backwards/sideways and then missing the green to the right with my next shot! Obviously the percentages say the difficult shot isn't going to work as often, but you've got to give it a go, right?

 

[Alex1975]

Fundy duffed a tee shot on Saturday, it is the first time I have ever seen him do it so I am sure he wont mind me saying. It was on our SI1 hole and he left himself something like 250+ over water before the landing zone, wind into. I could see that although we were in a comp he wanted it. There was no need to try for it, he is very capable of knocking one up close to the water and putting it on the green for a 1 putt par, but he clearly wanted it.

It was an awesome shot out of the light rough, if I had to guess I would say that it carried 249 yards before falling in the water. I think it was fun to play the shot, Steve did not seem at all bothered that it did not get there and it was total fun to watch... I guess sometimes you have to go and sometimes you have to play safe. I think for me just being a little smarter will help.

 

[fundy]

Was definitely a low percentage play for sure, but definitely fell into the category of fancying it lol. I also knew I needed to find a shot or 2 to try and win the comp and seemed a spot where one great shot may get me some knock on benefit too, theres also the reverse where if I layed up It wouldve niggled at me for a hole or two.

 

[Alex1975]

Was definitely a low percentage play for sure, but definitely fell into the category of fancying it lol. I also knew I needed to find a shot or 2 to try and win the comp and seemed a spot where one great shot may get me some knock on benefit too, theres also the reverse where if I layed up It wouldve niggled at me for a hole or two.

If I gave you another ball you would have made it I reckon.

 

[USER1999]

Tin cup.

 

[brendy]

Aztec is right, we are handicap golfers because we do not know what will happen the next time we hit a ball. Saying you will play safe is one thing, that is assuming that the next shot goes exactly where you want.
Golf isn't a single decision made before you go out.

Golf is about you navigating your way round a course in the least amount of shots to your ability. Every shot should be thought about, wind, lie, target size, any oob etc. By having a quick think about those as you go to pick a club, if you recognise your limits then you will make the right choice the majority of times. Sometimes the widest landing area is at driver distance so a long iron is lower percentage shot.

Now, there are times when we all decide that the card is screwed so the low percentage shots come out, this is where self control will show and can be a measure of how much you control your game or how much it controls you.

 

[Ken_A]

Can I also add the additional factor of your own attitude and mentality.

If I am a poor position and pull off a high risk shot to bag a 3 pointer then I will feel good and the golf may improve.

However, if I am in a poor position and hit the low percentage shot and get 1 point then I fully understand what happened. Laugh about it and play on, but I know some that this will play with their game for 2-3 holes.

However, I know a few people that will never go for the low pecentage shot and are happy enough with slipping down the leader board, I simply can not play this game - no satisfaction. But I do know there is simply no point on my wailing driver at every hole - so dont think I am foolish all the time.

I also know that I will try a few 'point scorers' that are high risk high returns - landing just over bunkers and going at pins etc - If I did not hit these shots I would simply be p155ed off with my golf and not really enjoy the round.

It depends on how you feel about hitting a duffer or landing oob or in a bunker - if it puts you off for a few holes it's a poor choice, if you can laugh it off then why not attack and defend?

 

[griffgolf]

Alex,

In your next comp try just taking the irons and putter in the bag and see what effects it has on your score in competition conditions and most importantly see if you enjoy the round

 

[Alex1975]

Alex,

In your next comp try just taking the irons and putter in the bag and see what effects it has on your score in competition conditions and most importantly see if you enjoy the round

I am aware that its not as black and white as this, I took just irons as I was on my own and really felt time hitting alot of iron shots. Its always going to be a balance I am just playing with the idea that my balance may be incorrect.