New Season Strategies.......

[Macster]

So here we are.....start of a new Summer season, and with a day like it is here (17*), no doubt a lot of us will be mulling over the season ahead, and new strategies to help in getting the Handicaps down.

A few weeks ago, I examined my Comp stats from Howdidido, and have pinpointed quite a few things that I 'think' will help this year......

For example:
My Birdie's & Pars percentages are better than the average Cat2 stats at my course, quite a bit better.
However, my Double Bogey stats are worse, averaging 20.68%, which equates to 2/3 per round on some occasions. 6 shots going on 3 holes is simply too bad, and I'm going to have to work on cutting them out, or certainly reducing them.

I've also pinpointed the fact that I score worse on average on the back 9 than I do on the front 9, - perhaps because it IS tougher, but also perhaps because we tend to play the front9 more - ie 12 holes on a Thursday evening tends to be 1 - 12, so maybe Ive become much more comfortable with those holes. Time to mix it up more if we can.

Have also pinpointed the Holes where, over 51 Comp Rounds, I have 'averaged' more than 1 over Par, and so need to take a great more care and make sure that if I'm in trouble, I do no worse than Bogey.

Lastly, we only have 1 Par 5, and its far from an 'easy' Par 5.
However, off 10, I should be birdie'ing it more, so need to get closer with 2nd shot, and maybe I'll have a chance.

All these things 'might' help in getting me back down to 9, or even lower if I can, but hey, thats what we all plan at the start of the year, I guess we just need to keep focused on doing it !

So what are your 'strategies' for the year to get you down ?

 

[Region3]

Same as you. Cut out the doubles and worse.

They're not so much card wreckers, but they certainly make it hard to get a cut!

I had 1 round last year with no doubles, and although I didn't think I played particularly well, I scored well. It's the secret I tell ya.

 

[USER1999]

Keep the same ball. Not literally, as it will get tatty, but losing balls is a card wrecker. And annoying. Very annoying. Especially when only hit the once.

My plan this year is to become a good ball striker. I have only ever really used the bottom edge, toe and hozel on my irons. I figure that if I can get to be a better striker, then I'll play better, and more than anything, will feel more of a golfer. Hard to feel good about that 76 when I've topped, fatted and shanked my way around the course.

Off to the practice ground in 10 minutes.

 

[Macster]

Murph: I rarely lose balls, not usually that wayward. But still the Doubles appear. need to get rid of them.
As far as 'Ball striking' goes, i'm pretty happy, I'm a club or 2 further than a lot I play with, and its usually a strong part of my game, but there is always room for improvement - granted.

 

[Robobum]

I think it's hard to form strategies for any course at our level, because we just aren't good enough to keep putting the ball where we want to (even managing our "misses")

My solution for it was to practice the part of my game that I was rubbish at so that I wasn't trying to plan my round to avoid that shot.

My mid range pitches were awful so that is what I've worked on a lot over the last month. Opening medal was a 69 so on first impressions it seems to be working although only time will tell.

 

[rickg]

Definitely cut out the doubles where possible. Pretty much every good round I can remember has had a double on it somewhere.
Shot a 1 over gross this year ....included a double!! Shot a level par front 9 the other night.....opening hole....a double.

I've finally got rid of my out to in swing over the last 2 weeks, ( bit of a Eureeka moment at the range) and I'm hitting the ball well for the first time in ages.

Get rid of the doubles and I'll get to 5 by June I reckon.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

I need to find a short game. Once I've that sorted my game plan is usually pretty good and misses are usually just pushes or pulls either side of a green but with mo scrambling ability this is where the shots are going. If I do hit a bad drive I'm usually savvy enough to get the ball back into play quick and go from there

 

[chris661]

Seems to be a recurring theme here to cut out the doubles other than that not really wanting to change that much maybe sink a few more putts played solid enough on sunday (36points with a blob) so its not too far away

 

[Imurg]

For me its cutting out 2 or 3 loose shots per round. It's those that make the up'n'down virtually impossible, more often that not resulting in a double. Making your bad hole a bogey rather than double has to be the aim. Cutting out the loose shots that lead to them is the key.

 

[Crow]

Shorten my backswing and swing at less than 100%, taking an extra club if need be.

It's trying to hit it too hard that gets me into trouble the most, and it shouldn't as I'm not short by any means.

My goal is relatively simple, to get a one shot cut from 13 to 12 and Cat 2, but I failed to do exactly this last year!

 

[HawkeyeMS]

My short game is my achilles heal and has been for some time, if I can sort that single figures are definately achievable.

I will be spending more time on the course this year than I have in years past so I'm hoping that combined with my usual practice will see an improvement in that stat and my scores.

 

[Losttheplot]

My thought processes have been wrong over the last 12 months or so. On the holes I get a shot on I've been too happy to lay up (even on the long par 4's) and try to wedge close for a par and usually come off with a tap in bogey for nett par.
It's the thought that I get a shot so use it to guarantee a nett par.

The problem I have when I do this is I ask myself where am I going to make up shots to bring my handicap down if I lay up up on holes I get a shot on??

To answer my question it means I have to birdie holes that I dont get shots on and it's not very often I walk off with 5 birdies on my card....

It means I have to take advantage of getting myself in good positions off the tee and take on the harder holes. If I hit the ball well I should stand a good chance of making par nett birdie and hopefully gain shots that I previously would have lost.

One key factor is from my 4 iron up to my driver I don't have anything apart from a 3 wood which I refuse to use as I can't hit it so that in turn makes me lay up.

Hopefully after this AG GM fitting tomorrow I shall fill the gap and be able to attack the longer holes and pick up shots.

 

[Oddsocks]

I've got a couple week points:

long irons need tweeking but thats down to swing plane
Putting is a work in progress.

Other than that we're cooking on gas, biggest thing that hes helped me this year is taking my punishment. My aim was 12 by august, but a good start to the year has seen a cut from 15.2 to 13.4. only another couple to go and its cat2

 

[Region3]

My thought processes have been wrong over the last 12 months or so. On the holes I get a shot on I've been too happy to lay up (even on the long par 4's) and try to wedge close for a par and usually come off with a tap in bogey for nett par.
It's the thought that I get a shot so use it to guarantee a nett par.

The problem I have when I do this is I ask myself where am I going to make up shots to bring my handicap down if I lay up up on holes I get a shot on??

I've always thought this.

I have 2 points.

1. If you were a 1hc, would you 'use your shot' on SI1? What about 2hc? 3hc? Where do you draw the line?

2. 'Using your shot' is all about playing the percentages to avoid a horror hole, which is in theory what you should be doing anyway, shot hole or not.

My theory is unless there's a good reason not to, play the shot that would would give you the best average score if you played it that way 100 times.

 

[Losttheplot]

My thought processes have been wrong over the last 12 months or so. On the holes I get a shot on I've been too happy to lay up (even on the long par 4's) and try to wedge close for a par and usually come off with a tap in bogey for nett par.
It's the thought that I get a shot so use it to guarantee a nett par.

The problem I have when I do this is I ask myself where am I going to make up shots to bring my handicap down if I lay up up on holes I get a shot on??

I've always thought this.

I have 2 points.

1. If you were a 1hc, would you 'use your shot' on SI1? What about 2hc? 3hc? Where do you draw the line?

2. 'Using your shot' is all about playing the percentages to avoid a horror hole, which is in theory what you should be doing anyway, shot hole or not.

My theory is unless there's a good reason not to, play the shot that would would give you the best average score if you played it that way 100 times.

It's the holes where you're in the fairway 200y away from the hole. You can either play the distance and go for the green or hit a 4 iron short of the green, little pitch on and hope you nail the putt for a par.
If I go for the green more, then with my short game I should be able to get up and down and a tap in 5 at worst if I miss the green. If I hit the green then hopefully it's birdie or par at worst and then that's with the extra shot.

My thought is that all I'm doing is never taking the par 4's on if they're long and only going to birdie it with a chip in from off the green by laying up. I do understand it's good course management to reduce the horror hole by playing it safe but it just puts too much pressure on me to get up and down from short of the green and also to try and make up shots on holes I don't receive shots on.
The safe option does make it bogey at worst but it doesn't give any chances of birdie unless you chip in as your not on thegreen in two on a par 4.

 

[HawkeyeMS]

My thought processes have been wrong over the last 12 months or so. On the holes I get a shot on I've been too happy to lay up (even on the long par 4's) and try to wedge close for a par and usually come off with a tap in bogey for nett par.
It's the thought that I get a shot so use it to guarantee a nett par.

The problem I have when I do this is I ask myself where am I going to make up shots to bring my handicap down if I lay up up on holes I get a shot on??

I've always thought this.

I have 2 points.

1. If you were a 1hc, would you 'use your shot' on SI1? What about 2hc? 3hc? Where do you draw the line?

2. 'Using your shot' is all about playing the percentages to avoid a horror hole, which is in theory what you should be doing anyway, shot hole or not.

My theory is unless there's a good reason not to, play the shot that would would give you the best average score if you played it that way 100 times.

If you have it in your head that your shots are there to be used then you will inevitably use them.

 

[Region3]

It's the holes where you're in the fairway 200y away from the hole. You can either play the distance and go for the green or hit a 4 iron short of the green, little pitch on and hope you nail the putt for a par.
If I go for the green more, then with my short game I should be able to get up and down and a tap in 5 at worst if I miss the green. If I hit the green then hopefully it's birdie or par at worst and then that's with the extra shot.

My thought is that all I'm doing is never taking the par 4's on if they're long and only going to birdie it with a chip in from off the green by laying up. I do understand it's good course management to reduce the horror hole by playing it safe but it just puts too much pressure on me to get up and down from short of the green and also to try and make up shots on holes I don't receive shots on.
The safe option does make it bogey at worst but it doesn't give any chances of birdie unless you chip in as your not on thegreen in two on a par 4.

The percentage shot doesn't necessarily mean the safe shot.

I'll try to give an example.

2 similar par 4's that leave you 200 to the green after your drive.
Hole A has bunkers front and left guarding the green, no deep clag anywhere.
If you laid up 10 times, assuming no duff shots, let's say you'd get up and down for par 4 times, and bogey the other 6, so average 4.6
If you went for it 10 times, maybe 1 in 10 it would go horribly wrong and you'd make double. Maybe hit the green 4 times and make birdie once, with 3 pars. Miss the green the other 5 and get up and down twice. So that's 1 birdie, 5 pars, 3 bogeys and a double, for an average of 4.4 so you're better off in the long run going for it.

The other hole has OOB behind the green and water in front, so you might do the same exercise with that and come up with 4.8, in which case the best shot would be to lay up.

Sorry if that's teaching my grandmother to suck eggs

 

[Lawrence22]

The next thing on my agenda is to try and figure out my yardages with partial shots with my 7 iron to wedges. I'm going to try and do a few sessions at the range measuring from different end points of my back swing, and mark down the yardages for future reference. I have been pretty awful at these "feel" shots and am quite capable of coming up 20 yds short or going through just as much.

 

[brendy]

Lawrence, I try to stick to one particular kind of shot as much as possible. For example, I tend to fancy pitching (sw or 50 deg) the majority of time where most people would chip and run with say an 8 iron. My mentality is that it is easier to learn and be proficient at one type of shot than mediocre at them all as I get sod all time to practice.
My aim this year is to continue using irons off the tee as often as possible and to improve my pitching.
Dont get me wrong, I still use the bump and run but most of our course has run offs and other hazards in front and around most greens. When I play away I vary it a little more but definately tailor my game to my home course at the moment.

 

[G_Mulligan]

The percentage shot doesn't necessarily mean the safe shot.

I'll try to give an example.

2 similar par 4's that leave you 200 to the green after your drive.
Hole A has bunkers front and left guarding the green, no deep clag anywhere.
If you laid up 10 times, assuming no duff shots, let's say you'd get up and down for par 4 times, and bogey the other 6, so average 4.6
If you went for it 10 times, maybe 1 in 10 it would go horribly wrong and you'd make double. Maybe hit the green 4 times and make birdie once, with 3 pars. Miss the green the other 5 and get up and down twice. So that's 1 birdie, 5 pars, 3 bogeys and a double, for an average of 4.4 so you're better off in the long run going for it.

The other hole has OOB behind the green and water in front, so you might do the same exercise with that and come up with 4.8, in which case the best shot would be to lay up.

Sorry if that's teaching my grandmother to suck eggs

Very interesting. This is the exact thought process I go through when playing poker but I have not yet applied it to golf. I should start charting these kind of things and run the percentages like I do with the cards.