Saving Par.

[kid2]

Evening all,
I hope the weekend has gone to plan for most...I know you boys across the pond have a long one so ye are only part of the way through it....
Sorry for the long winded post i stuck this in now as i wasnt sure how long it was going to be

Anyhoooo to my point....
Been struggling a little this year what with some swing changes that Bob gave me and just poor play in general and a dose of the shiney syndrome but iv settled now on my set and seem to be playing better...

I think that maybe its too little too late....
Iv only begun to realise how important it is to save par on holes over the past few months....

A question iv often ask myself is "Do high handicappers place too high a goal for themselves"
Iv went from 16 back to 18 (17.5 exact) but to tell the truth im not really disappointed too much...Its taken most of the year to creep back up but i know 1 good round could have me back to 16 in a heartbeat...

Do we put too much pressure on our short game?
Off our handicaps is it wrong to expect to hit every GIR....
And ever FIR...Is this what puts too much pressure on our game.
Also when and at what handicap do you start to hit more greens in regulation..
Is it something that comes with experience or should we go out with the mentality that we are only going to hit "X" amount?

Im aware the short game is where its won and lost and getting back to a point that Bob made in a reply to a post earlier in the week i dont think that any change in golf club be it SGI GI or Players iron will make us hit more greens...

My theory is that its down to pure skill and a little Lady Luck...
I shot inside my buffer yesterday and today with 34 poits on both days but yesterday i hit 6 GIR's and today i hit 6 as well but some suspect putting let me down and the odd wayward shot off the tee....

Im starting to get more confident now in aiming at where i want the ball to finish rather than before when i was more worried about where it started....
Its taking a little while but its coming round...

 

[HawkeyeMS]

Off any h'cap it's wrong to expect to hit every GIR & FIR. I usually hit between 6 and 10 (13 bring my best ever) with FIR being between 4 and 10. That being said, the ones I miss in each category are rarely more than a few yards.

Stats are only stats and the only important one is how many you take to get the ball in the hole. Missing a fairway or green doesn't mean you can't make par, it just means you need different skills to do it

 

[kid2]

Stats are only stats and the only important one is how many you take to get the ball in the hole. Missing a fairway or green doesn't mean you can't make par, it just means you need different skills to do it

Do you think that the above makes some of us better at the game Hawkeye...
I often find the rough but it doesnt bother me as long as its not knee deep


I seem to be acquiring a few good habits of getting out of strange lie's...
But at times its at a cost of Bogie or DB.

 

[HawkeyeMS]

Stats are only stats and the only important one is how many you take to get the ball in the hole. Missing a fairway or green doesn't mean you can't make par, it just means you need different skills to do it

Do you think that the above makes some of us better at the game Hawkeye...
I often find the rough but it doesnt bother me as long as its not knee deep


I seem to be acquiring a few good habits of getting out of strange lie's...
But at times its at a cost of Bogie or DB.

I think the wider range of shots you've got the better player you'll be. I also think that you have to learn to not fear certain shots. If you have confidence in your ability to hit certain shots you'll play with less fear and more freely and will get better results

 

[RGDave]

I liked your post, though I'm not sure what you're asking/saying.

I've been terrible for ages now with my long game. I'm still getting it round though.

I'd love to get back to somewhere around 9 GIR, but it's a way off t.b.h.

i.m.o. I think we all expect way to much generally. Go and play, do you best and see what happens. If I hit 9 greens and have 36 putts, I'm not down about it....whereas some folk can't seem to accept a game without a single chip n putt par save.

I played to 7 on holiday (one of the games) and only hit 4 greens? Never done that before. Just one of those things, got up and down from the fringe on half the holes (more or less). Madness.

It rarely all comes together at once. When it does, we think we really ought to play off 6 or something (or scratch if off 6 already! )

 

[kid2]

I wasnt really asking a question Dave...More of a rhetorical post i suppose
Just a little insight into my season so far and was just wondering what people felt about the importance of missing and hitting greens and whether or not equipment or ability dictated the outcome.

 

[RGDave]

I'd like to say that using SGI clubs has improved my GIR, but that's probably a bit of a stretch. The holes I play the best are the short par 4s and the par 5s. It's likely I'm hitting a wedge (not Callaway) so it's hard to tell.

I'm definitely a sort of "bad-average-on-par-3s" player. I do get away with some crap shots from time to time though, especially in the 5-8 iron distance.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

Funny thing expectation. I wanted to get down to single figures but my form dipped the short game became a mental stumbling block and my handicap went up and up. It finally hit 14 a fortnight ago (13.5) for the first time in a couple of years but I said to the wife and a few of the guys at the club now it had hit the 14 mark I'd win something. Next time out I shoot 39 points (only scoring on 15 holes too) and won the monthly medal to get cut back to 13 (12.6)

The thing was I hadn't had any expectations about getting a cut anytime soon until I hit 14 when I KNEW I'd win. Does that mean my natural level is 14 or 13 and that is where I should place my expectations or do I think there is still a decent golfer in there and continue to try and get back to 11 and then lower. I didn't have any expectations about GIR, FIR, putts etc on any handicap figure although I do look at my stats to see where the faults lie

I shot a level par 70 in the medal first round yesterday with a raging hangover and to be honest that included a triple, two doubles on 16 and 17 and a host of duffed chips so I could have been sitting pretty (and off a lower mark). The hangover meant I went out without any expectation and I got it around without too many major issues

 

[jammydodger]

I think most of it is to do with talent not the clubs you use. I got down low because the things I was doing got better and the better I got the more confidance I had in the things I was doing. If that makes sense.

I knew i'd be in trouble some where through the round but wasnt the slightest bit bothered by it because I knew i'd make up for it later or i'd get off to such a good start that I had plenty in the bank.

I would give myself about 9 or so good birdie opportunities a round and make a few of them. Loads of what i'd call easy up and downs where you're just off the green with a good lie and hence make plenty of pars , but a couple of wayward shots would hopefully only cost a bogie and were very manageable.

It sounds easy but when your confidence is high it is easy as many of the low guys on here will understand.

 

[Neil20]

I play most par fours for bogey as I find that trying to hit greens results in me overswinging and generally creating a mess for myself.

I don't take four from 20 yards out on the fairway very often, and I do take two quite often.

Compare that to the results from greenside bunkers, bad lies at the side of the green - not to mention the occasional disaster from overswinging and the fact that even if I hit the green it's probably 30 feet out anyway and for me it's a no brainer.

Figure that if I bogey almost every hole and chuck in a few pars at the par fives then I'm playing to a 14 handicap anyway. Not quite there yet, but that's the theory and I don't feel under pressure playing to that.

For me, a par four is two shots to the green, two putts and a mystery shot.

My first post - bogeying a long par four (link).