Keeping it all together.

[Andy808]

2 words for you my friend...... COURSE MANAGEMENT.

Let's take the 10th as an example. OOB so let's take that out of play, aim down the safe side of the fairway. But you went OOB, OK no problem just make sure the next one is in play. Drove into the bunker! 3 wood or hybrid off the tee to make sure you are safely in play.

It sounds easy but the secret is doing it out on the course. Think carefully about every shot, before you hit the ball think where you want to hit your next shot from then focus and commit to hitting the ball to your target.

Good luck in taking it out onto the course :thup:

I did aim down the right away from the OOB but toed it badly. Worst of all I could feel it happening on my downswing but couldn't stop the swing (Never done it so didn't know if I might pull something doing so)
As in the previous post the next shot shouldn't have made it to the bunker.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

I wouldn't worry. Lying 2nd before my 2nd round today. Chugging along ok until the 5th. Lost ball. Dropped shot at the next, blobbed the easiest hole on the course and hit my drive about 150 yards along the flor at 10. Another lost ball at 15 and a dropped shot. Dropped shots at 16 and 17 and couldn't hit a decent shot all round. Had a great chance if I'd played even half decently but the swing has gone AWOL completely. Nothing you can do but keep working hard, keep playing in comps and keep trying. Better course management might help if you aremaking regular errors on the same holes but mine were just down to rank awful swings

 

[Andy808]

I wouldn't worry. Lying 2nd before my 2nd round today. Chugging along ok until the 5th. Lost ball. Dropped shot at the next, blobbed the easiest hole on the course and hit my drive about 150 yards along the flor at 10. Another lost ball at 15 and a dropped shot. Dropped shots at 16 and 17 and couldn't hit a decent shot all round. Had a great chance if I'd played even half decently but the swing has gone AWOL completely. Nothing you can do but keep working hard, keep playing in comps and keep trying. Better course management might help if you aremaking regular errors on the same holes but mine were just down to rank awful swings

God knows I know that feeling. I sat and thought about it and I actually only hit two duff shots all round. Three were offline and cost me dear but proper duffers only 2 and I recovered well from them. Probably what made it more annoying. Shame it was the Virgin Atlantic qualifier. Probably me putting added pressure of that and having a blinding front nine did it in my head.

 

[dog377]

What's your target? To win a comp or to come top 5 or like most to improve your handicap. If it is the latter then you have to enter lots of comps as you never know when the low score is going to arrive especially if you are in the 18-22 handicap bracket as you will be quite capable of shooting in the low 80's and that's how your handicap comes down.
You have to forget the big scores immediately - I've been there....level par to the 9th and then take 5 shots to get out of a bunker, red mist for the next 4 holes and then play the last 5 holes in -1. If you want to lower your handicap just play in as many comps as you can. Anyway on medal cards the big scores don't count as the full score so if you are 15 over par with two big scores then there will be an adjustment. So stay cool and forget it.
Practice your short game and putting - that's most of your shots.

Good luck!!

 

[User 105]

As I said. Sometime s**t happens. Doesn't matter how much course management you use.

I can understand playing a 'safe' shot if you constantly fall foul of the same problem, keep driving OOB on one hole etc, but sometimes we just hit bad shots, we're amateurs it's going to happen.

Go with the percentage play, one you are confident of. If you hit a bad shot and get punished, so be it. Accept the fact you chose the right option and just didn't execute it well.

After the round go through what happened and analyse your shot decisions, even ones that had good results. Did you choose the right shot option ? And don't just decide based on the outcome of that round !!

If you're making smart shot choices but you play a bad shot. That's ok. It's going to happen. Take the positive, you chose the right shot.

BUT

If you are making bad shot choices, well, you're asking for trouble before you have even hit it. Make a mental note of what you'll do next time.

 

[Andy808]

What's your target? To win a comp or to come top 5 or like most to improve your handicap. If it is the latter then you have to enter lots of comps as you never know when the low score is going to arrive especially if you are in the 18-22 handicap bracket as you will be quite capable of shooting in the low 80's and that's how your handicap comes down.
You have to forget the big scores immediately - I've been there....level par to the 9th and then take 5 shots to get out of a bunker, red mist for the next 4 holes and then play the last 5 holes in -1. If you want to lower your handicap just play in as many comps as you can. Anyway on medal cards the big scores don't count as the full score so if you are 15 over par with two big scores then there will be an adjustment. So stay cool and forget it.
Practice your short game and putting - that's most of your shots.

Good luck!!

I've won comps (2 stableford and 1 medal) so far but this one was for the Pro Am place.
My PYB 2012 personal challenge is get the handicap down to 18 or under and to win a "biggy" this year.
I am now feeling alot better about it but I'm still going to read some of Dr Bobs books and chatting to a friend (non golfing) they are going to teach me some relaxation methods that I can use while I'm playing to help with the frustration of bad shots/holes.
As they say every little helps!

 

[bobmac]

Can I ask again, what club did you use off the 18th tee?

 

[Andy808]

Driver Bob. Always do unless it's a howling tail wind. Usually goes right doesn't normally go that far left and I normally find the first shot if it is a little off line.
Went out this morning with a friend and played the back 9 twice to do a club selection evaluation and to go through what happened on Saturday. Shot 9 over first time round and 8 over second time round. Same club selection on the two holes that went wrong. The only thing we did decide is in comps if the pressure is building then take a 3 wood off the tee on 18 so it comes up short of the trees and I hit it alot straighter.
All in all the tenth was one of those things ( I even played 5 balls out of that bunker this morning 4 popped right out and the other took 2 to get out even with the same sand conditions) and we have tweeked my comp play on 18 th make it "safer".

In summery when it gots t*ts up, keep calm and carry on.

 

[rosecott]

260-280 depending on how I catch my driver and IF it's straight, best drive so far is 310. So fairly big hitter but lack control hence dropping down to a 6 iron and a wedge safely on the fairway.

2 words for you my friend...... COURSE MANAGEMENT.

Can I ask again, what club did you use off the 18th tee?

Driver Bob. Always do unless it's a howling tail wind.

I have to agree with drive4show - it's got to be down to course management. I had a look at your club website and can see it's a pretty short course at 4500 yards or so. I've obviously never played the course but, looking at the scorecard, I would have thought that using a driver would only make sense on 2 or 3 holes. It definitely looks as if "where you put the ball" is far more important than "how far you hit it".

 

[Andy808]

Short yes, easy NO!! Very tight so tee shots have to be straight, well placed traps and plenty of OOB where you don't want it. We used to have the pro short course championship there and the winner was normally at about -1 maybe -2. We have had pros walk off the course +14 and wondering where the hell it all went wrong.
My driver used to come out on 5 holes (5, 9, 14, 17 and 18) now that will be down to 3 wht 9 and 18 being done with a 3wood. 17 is only a driver off the medal tee otherwise it's a 6 iron then a 7 iron into the green. I even went with 3 wood 3wood off 17 and only came up 10 yards short into the wind this morning.
I'm sure this will evolve further in the next couple of weeks.