How much of it is planning?

[Alex1975]

My best is my benchmark as we have played together so long and he is easy company. I give him 4 shots and I would say that's about right. This week he will be playing at one of the big championship courses ( can't remember where ) that last year destroyed him. His plan was just to go and try and make a score. We talked over the pros and cons and he said he would try it out on our Saturday knock at home.

All day long I felt that I hit the ball better than him but felt totally intimidated by the way he stuck to his conservative plan. Not only did he stick to his plan but he also exicuted it. I have seen him score better but never play with such confidence.

He beat me by many points and a couple of strokes. To be fair to myself I count five lipped out putts but really I think I got psyched out.

How much do you plan your way round the course and how much do you think it's worth?

 

[timgolfy]

I think this is the difference between playing well within your known limits (playing inside the comfort zone), and trying to improve (playing outside the comfort zone).

It's similar to driving 18 laps of a racing circuit keeping the revs under 4000, knowing that you'll not risk crashing but also knowing you'll never threaten to win the race. The alternative is to push the revs and limits in each corner knowing that a crash is likely but that with each crash you learn the limits of man and machine.

Personally, I've always done the latter (both metaphorically and literally).

 

[fundy]

you should always have a plan for a hole before you tee up, although that plan may change in certain circumstances (ie behind in a matchplay game you may become more aggressive)

i played in the medal saturday and shocked the 2 guys who i played with, on the 16th which is 305 yds I hit a 9 iron off the tee. was always my plan to leave myself a full shot in there.

likewise I hit driver only once all day, and that was off the 12th tee when i smashed it down 13 deliberately

my approach to a competitve round is far more structured than when out having a game with mates, where the tendency is just to lock and load on most holes, in medals i plot my way around the course and away from the trouble as much as possible

 

[golfbluecustard]

It's my total lack of course management that sees me shoot late 90's everytime - Driver on every hole other than the Par 3's and then birdie / par or double / triple bogey.

As i don't play as much as i like (work and children) i seem to leave my brain in the car park and just go for tin cup style glory on every hole.

Think if i played 3 times a week i would think my way round and just have the odd cavalier hole / round every now and again.

Saying that with my new 3 wood - thankyou alex1975 - that may all be about to change!

GBC

 

[RGDave]

How much do you plan your way round the course and how much do you think it's worth?

Planning is not easy on a course you don't know. I know how I'm going to approach certain holes on courses I know, but also keep plan b)s and c)s somewhere in my head.
I play once a year at a tricky Open Q venue and have a plan for the hard holes, but it's never worked.
t.b.h. my planning tends to be for the 1st hole and the really hard holes. On Thursday I played a yearly game (not the Open Q course) and had a plan for the 1st, the 8th, 14th and 15th only. 3 pars and one bogey.....that's about 4 shots better than normal because I tend to bogey the lot and throw in a double as well.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

I actually think planning becomes harder on your home course. To a certain extent you know the distances and where the danger is and become blase about picking a specific plan on each hole and sticking to it. How many of us always reach for the same iron on the tee of a par 3 or the driver on say the 4th hole because that is what we do every week. With the run we had last week in the dry spell for the first time in ages I was forced to stop and think about my tee shots and think if they could find the ditches or bunkers that I can't normally reach. Suffice to say, thinking more, including hitting into firm greens and so having to pick my irons with care meant I hit it better and scored better.

 

[CrapHacker]

I think this is the difference between playing well within your known limits (playing inside the comfort zone), and trying to improve (playing outside the comfort zone).

Personally, I've always done the latter (both metaphorically and literally).

IMHO

Anyone who always does the same thing every time is not maximising their performance at anything.

But especially in golf.

Golf is a physical, AND a mental game. Some rounds it's good to test your physical capabilities, but other times it's important to push your mental strength to the limit.

I play golf for fun 90% of the time, but there are times when the score is important. Then it's nice to know that I can still think my way round the course.

I think good racing drivers ( to continue the analogy ) know they have to be competitive to win any particular race, and have to be willing to push themselves close to the edge when they have that chance. But to win the F1 title you have to make sure you finish high up in the points in those weeks that you can't win the race. Going hell for leather, and spinning out, or pushing the car to it's limits and ruining the tyres so you end up out of the points is a good way to become an also run at the business end of the season.

Brawn is good. Brains is better. A mix of both is best.

 

[Imurg]

All your Pre-match planning can go flying out of the window if you can't play to your plan.
Let's take Alex's 1st - a par 5 of 500(?) yards.
Good drive with a 3 wood followed by a 4 iron(say) followed by a wedge and 2 putts for an opening par - as long as the 3 wood goes where it's supposed to as well as the 4 iron and assuming you don't do a Murph and shank the ass off the wedge. Oh and you've got to put the ball in the right place on the green as it has a whopping great tier running through it..
So having a plan is good but you have to be flexible enough to change mid-round or even mid-hole if things don't work out.

 

[timgolfy]

IMHO

Anyone who always does the same thing every time is not maximising their performance at anything.

But especially in golf.

Golf is a physical, AND a mental game. Some rounds it's good to test your physical capabilities, but other times it's important to push your mental strength to the limit.

I play golf for fun 90% of the time, but there are times when the score is important. Then it's nice to know that I can still think my way round the course.

I think good racing drivers ( to continue the analogy ) know they have to be competitive to win any particular race, and have to be willing to push themselves close to the edge when they have that chance. But to win the F1 title you have to make sure you finish high up in the points in those weeks that you can't win the race. Going hell for leather, and spinning out, or pushing the car to it's limits and ruining the tyres so you end up out of the points is a good way to become an also run at the business end of the season.

Brawn is good. Brains is better. A mix of both is best.

I think this is an excellent analogy, CrapHacker. To win a race you need a mixture of "raw speed" and "management". So far most of my own golf has concentrated on the "raw speed" aspect.

 

[CrapHacker]

So far most of my own golf has concentrated on the "raw speed" aspect.

ATM my game concentrates on "WTF do you call that??"

But when I did manage to get down to a handicap of 13 ( all those many, many years ago ) it was pretty much 100% on "management" with very little skill involved.

I knew my limitations, and pretty much maxed out what I could do with them.

I thoroughly enjoyed the game, and could play with anyone without embarassing myself.

Those were the days.

 

[barrybridges]

All your Pre-match planning can go flying out of the window if you can't play to your plan.
Let's take Alex's 1st - a par 5 of 500(?) yards.
Good drive with a 3 wood followed by a 4 iron(say) followed by a wedge and 2 putts for an opening par - as long as the 3 wood goes where it's supposed to as well as the 4 iron and assuming you don't do a Murph and shank the ass off the wedge. Oh and you've got to put the ball in the right place on the green as it has a whopping great tier running through it..
So having a plan is good but you have to be flexible enough to change mid-round or even mid-hole if things don't work out.

Totally agree, but I think the key difference between a good round and a bad round - or should that really be a good PLAYER and a bad player - is that if something does go wrong then the good player has confidence in his/her abilities to get the plan back on track.

Whenever I play a round I tend to look at the course guide in advance and think about how an 'ideal' hole might look. E.g. in an ideal world I'll use a 3wd, following by 9i, then 2 putt (for example). If I manage to uphold the perfect hole I'll mark it on my card.

Most of the time though, it'll all go pear-shaped at some point.

In the past I would try and take the heroics to get things back on track, normally making the situation worse in the process. Now I'm more considered about things and recently have found confidence that even if things go wrong, I can still get up/down without too much damage.

So, yes, planning is essential, but regardless of planning the next biggest thing is a good natural scrambling ability for when the plan falls apart. Or, in other words, you should plan for when the plan falls apart (which it always will).