Golf - More Luck than Judgement?

Sam

Sam

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Prompted by the telly last weekend when quite a few shots to the green were 'rated' OK by the commentators when finishing say 6 or 7 yards from the pin on 170 yard par 3s. It got me thinking!!

Boring trigonometry follows:

An angle of 1 degree subtends approximately 5 feet at 100 yards distance.

If you have access to your school protractor, just have a look at how small 5 degrees actually is - I reckon I could be that amount out at address (at rest) without noticing it let alone when the club head is approaching 100 mph!

5 degrees - that's 8 yards either side of the pin for an approach shot of 100 yards using an iron which should be the most accurate of those in the bag.

Add in wind of both types and it shows (for me) why the game is so bloody hard!
 
Great Question/Statement?

Without wanting to throwing a load of advanced statistics to join up with your trig - I would say that at ameture level luck plays a big part. What we are all trying to is increse the likelyhood of getting to ball in the hole.

As we improve and get more consitisant the reliance of "luck" is decreased. Pro's still relie on a degree of luck but compared to us mortals it is tiny - The better and more consistant we get the less we relie on luck.

my opinion anyway!
 
5 degrees - that's 8 yards either side of the pin for an approach shot of 100 yards using an iron which should be the most accurate of those in the bag.

Add in wind of both types and it shows (for me) why the game is so bloody hard!
Click to expand...

You have 5 degrees left of the pin and 5 degrees right - that's 10 degrees to play with... how much do you need? :D :D
 
Great Question/Statement?

Without wanting to throwing a load of advanced statistics to join up with your trig - I would say that at ameture level luck plays a big part. What we are all trying to is increse the likelyhood of getting to ball in the hole.

As we improve and get more consitisant the reliance of "luck" is decreased. Pro's still relie on a degree of luck but compared to us mortals it is tiny - The better and more consistant we get the less we relie on luck.

my opinion anyway!
Click to expand...

I believe it was Gary Player who said "the more I practice, the luckier I get"!
 
I'm not too fussed by the angles and degrees of separation. I know when I've hit it as I wanted and if that means I miss the pin 10 foot in any direction I'm still happy with the execution and will focus on the putt instead. Sometimes we all get lucky and hit one badly that ends up stone dead but thats the essence of the game, battling yourself, the elements and the course
 
Not sure if a agree with the statement about ametuers needing more luck than pros.

Yes us hackers need luck, and a lot of it. But most of our shots are down to luck anyway. We (well a lot of us!) aren't consistent enough to rely on luck. If you get my drift.

Pros on the other hand are incredibly consistent and need that bit of 'luck' with the bounce of the ball to get the ball that close to the hole. Or even hole it! And when that bit of luck can mean the difference between making the cut or making £2mill or £500k. Then 'luck' has to be with them.

These guys play to get the ball in the hole on almost every shot. We often just play to keep the ball in play! The pros margin of error is tiny when compared to us.

I might be completely wrong. But I thought that I'd put a different case forward!

I'm just lucky if I hit the ball half decently!
 
5 degrees - that's 8 yards either side of the pin for an approach shot of 100 yards using an iron which should be the most accurate of those in the bag.
Click to expand...

You need to go back and look at your figures.

5 degrees, 8 yards....don't think so....more like off the green.

Ever heard of the "rule of seven (7)"

Other than being critical, I get your general drift though. Of course golf has a lot of luck. But the more you play and better you get, the less inaccurate you become, therefore confirming that the body is capable of controlling all sorts of things to a very fine degree.

End of lecture.
 
Prompted by the telly last weekend when quite a few shots to the green were 'rated' OK by the commentators when finishing say 6 or 7 yards from the pin on 170 yard par 3s. It got me thinking!!

Boring trigonometry follows:

An angle of 1 degree subtends approximately 5 feet at 100 yards distance.

If you have access to your school protractor, just have a look at how small 5 degrees actually is - I reckon I could be that amount out at address (at rest) without noticing it let alone when the club head is approaching 100 mph!

5 degrees - that's 8 yards either side of the pin for an approach shot of 100 yards using an iron which should be the most accurate of those in the bag.

Add in wind of both types and it shows (for me) why the game is so bloody hard!
Click to expand...

If it was easy, we'd all be on tour. ;)
Seriously though, when you think about all the skills needed to be a good golfer, its then you get an incling how good the top players are.
:eek:
 
Bob....I'm surprised you let this slide.

If you or I, or anyone (!) actually hit a 100 yard shot with a dead straight path and left the face open 5 degrees, can you imagine the result.

Thank goodness for fades/draws :cool:

"When I was good, I hit the ball 4 degrees from the inside and 2 degrees open, now I hit it 4 degrees from the outside and 2 degrees open" :D
 
I think a lot of golfers dont realise how lucky they are, and I think a lot of very good golfers realise all too well how unlucky they are. ;)

I am always happy to hit the green almost anywhere and stay on it with an approach shot, yet I see so many miffed golfers getting really frustrated when they dont put the ball within 10 feet of the hole :D.

I often have a titter on the course when I hear golfers telling you its exactly as they planned it(after the shot that is), whereas I myself consider a great drive to be on the fairway anywhere, or even in the first cut ;).

A small error at the striking end can be a big one at the landing end. :rolleyes:
 
I remember back to the RA meet a few months ago. Playing one hole we passed a couple of juniors who were chipping up to the green. One played a really good shot that finished within 4 feet (from 15 yards away) and he was cussing about his poor luck! Most of us would kill for a short game like that.
I use a 10% rule. If I'm 200 yards from the pin and I get within 20 yards then I'm happy. If I then get within 2 yards I'm happy again. Anything better than that is a bonus. The other day I was about 80 yards away so I would have been happy being about 20 feet from the pin with the approach. Stuck it to 18 inches. So that's a bonus. if it had been 24 feet away I would still have been reasonably happy.
As I get better the %age may come down to 7.5 or even 5 but I will try to be realistic as to expectations.
 
I think folk have been reading the wrong meaning into original post. I've taken it to be an appreciation of how good you have to be to get it close - and which shows just how good the best guys are.

Using Sams figures, to get within 3 yards from 170yds out you have to start off the ball within 1 degree of the correct line (and hit it the right length). His point was, how many of us would even notice whether we were five degrees out, let alone just one? I for one barely notice if I'm aiming down the wrong fairway :o
 
Guys,

I think this comes down to what your expections are on any given shot and reality what you would be happy with on the out come of the shot if that makes any sense.

RB
 
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