Lucky breaks

[rich90]

Hey guys

Played my first round of the year so far and shot 88 (Par 70).

While I'm delighted with the score and how I played generally (couldn't miss with driver, putted superbly), there were a few shots which irritated me.

The best example I can give you is on a Par 3 I've thinned a 7 iron to 4 feet. After snapping up the birdie and moving on, I couldn't help but feel it wasn't a 'genuine' birdie, like the fact I didn't mean to thin it to such a distance took the gloss off the birdie.

Should I just lighten up and appreciate any lucky breaks I can get or be embarassed that my poorest strike of the day turned out to be the best shot I played all day?

 

[AmandaJR]

I hate poor strikes too and don't feel a sense of pleasure in them as such but take the lucky break knowing there will be plenty of times I hit a corker only to brush the last tiniest bit of tree branch and see the ball catapulted into the water!

 

[Foxholer]

Take the good luck while you can.

The feckin' game bites you badly when it goes the other way.

My Ace was a slightly thinned 7-iron (thty I was looking for in the long grass over the back at first). And I've seen another that was a duff onto a road that bounced miles in the air, ran down a slope and up onto the green before disappearing into the hole!

 

[AmandaJR]

PS: I hate it when players duff it to the holeside and smile smugly as if they've hit a corker - best be the sort you are!

PPS: Last medal a player scuffed two approach shots and got the putts both times. Couldn't help myself when she beamed at her putting prowess "yep - you putted it beautifully onto the green too" - oops!

 

[joer422]

i know where your coming from about to weeks ago i hit an 8 iron terribly from 150 out and it hopped off the lip of a deep bunker and hit the pin and went in the hole. while i was happy still wasn't as nice as if i hit a good shot.
what i do hate is in match play and someone gets a lucky break and celebrate about it

 

[HawkeyeMS]

No one likes a poor shot but trust me, you will get more bad resilts from good shots than you will good results from bad ones so don't worry about it.

They don't draw pictures on scorecards.

 

[ScienceBoy]

Every birdie is a proper birdie! You might get jibes off playing partners but it is only them being jealous as fortune has not befallen them.

My uncles HIO was a thinned 6 iron that rolled up and onto a green. Would you rather hit a driver with a lovely draw but into a lake or hit it low and off the bottom but up the middle?

Many (including myself) get caught up with how the shot looked rather than its result, my way of coping is to forget the shot path and tell myself it could have got there by any means.

For example if I end up short on a long par four when going for the green by a fatted or poorly hit long iron I can take comfort that I would have got to the same place with a shorter iron. Similarly if I hit a poor drive and cannot go for the green I take comfort in the thought I would have ended up short of the green if I layed up off the tee and played safe.

Thinking like that takes the pressure off and resets your mind, you feel at ease with your game and can then go on to make par rather than feel underpressure of a "poor hole"

 

[Evesdad]

Had this a few weeks ago too, great drive leaving me a 9i to the green. Thinned it to 6 inches tap in birdie. Loved the score but not how I got it! Like others have said take the rough with the smooth, we've all hit good shots that have taken unlucky bounces etc and not got the result they deserved!

 

[Essex_Stu]

The sister-in-law shot. You're up there but you shouldnt be!. My winter league partner is a specialist in this field. Hits trees and lands on greens, has hit the clubhouse and come back onto the green and loves flying through bunkers and coming out the other side. He just laughs and takes it in his stride.

 

[Hobbit]

You'll hit plenty of good shots that take a wicked bounce or end up in a divot hole. Its just part of the game. Even if you don't like the shot, enjoy the score.

 

[pbrown7582]

Can understand where your coming from a crisply stuck 7 iron and tap in would give greater satisfaction but it's still the same 2 on the card.
At end of the day it's not how but how many that youscore that really counts

 

[DaveyG]

Definitely take it mate.

I played 9 holes today and hit lovely shots onto the green. Not one of them stayed on there and had the weirdest bounces even when they came directly down from the heavens... I took the positives and had luck in other areas...

Posted a 42 for nine holes today... Might not impress everyone but for someone yet to break 100 I am over the moon. If it werent for dropping a shot I would have had a birdie on the longest hole. Had other birdie chances too but settled for the par. With my handicap halved I was -3 under for the course.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

My teaching pro has been banging on about style over substance. We all want a decent looking swing and to hit the ball purely everytime but it doesn't work like that and its a numbers game and there are no shots added or deducted for artistic impression. Take them birdies any which way you can