Silly mistakes or lack of concentration?

[pokerjoke]

Hi all,
Today on our fourth i had a shot of 140 to the middle,i took out my 9 iron as the wind was behind and it was slightly downhill.On its way perfect strike straight at the flag,and straight over the flag 10 yrds too far.How i hear you ask,well i took the measurment to the middle,but unfortunately the flag was on the front.Now i took into consideration the wind and the slope but didnt even look where the flag was,or did i,but it didnt register.Is this a silly mistake or is it lack of concentration.Does this happen to you and do you lack concentration.And if you did any tips on how you overcame this problem.

 

[Owen_Thomas_14]

I do it now and then and sometimes forget about the wind . Lack of concentration i put it down to .

 

[Alex1975]

Did you mean you were 10 yards off the back or just 10 yards from the pin?

 

[ScienceBoy]

I do not know my yards well so at EB I was always the wrong end of the green. Thankfully my long putting was on fire on the back 9, rolling it close on 2 or 3 occasions for short par putts.
For me those were all judgement errors, I thought through each one carefully but had the wrong club in the end

 

[HomerJSimpson]

Our club has coloured flags (red = front, yellow = middle and white = back) and so the work is sort of done for you. I take a look at my SC and add in the wind and go from there. It might be you caught a gust, hit it pure or just one of those things.

 

[pokerjoke]

What im saying is i hit the exact shot and distance i had planned,but cant remember thinking or saying to myself the flags at the front of the green not the middle and taking that into consideration.That to me is total lack of concentration.

 

[MashieNiblick]

Some years ago our pro explained to me how I could check the position of most of the flags as I played round by looking across from adjacent holes. Trouble is when I'm playing I always forget to do it. We have a few greens that are very long where if the flag is at the back you might need 1 or 2 extra clubs. Mostly though from more than 100-120 yards I'm just looking to hit the middle of the green

 

[Oddsocks]

Sounds like the wind has just held it a bit Longer than you thought. Out if interest was your hole tree lined? It's easy to miss judge the wind on a tree lined/protected hole. Our 8th is a sod for it. 158 yards downhill but it's tree lined and as soon ad the ball gets above the tree line it dies sine funky stuff

 

[patricks148]

The wind can be difficult to judge from behinde somethimes.
I'm reasonable in the wind, well you have to be playing up here. but i sometimes struggle when i'm playing down wind.
I was playing at Brora a few months ago and flew pretty much all the greens on the back 9, on one hole i hit my gap wedge 160-170 yards trouble was the green was only 140 away.
i wouldn't give it a sec thought.

 

[Up_Point_1]

I was never very good any working out whether flags were front, middle or back. Like you'd i'd just go off the 150 yard discs and work it out from there. At our place some of the greens are quite long front to back and you could have anything up to 2-3 clubs difference depending on flag position. Factor in the wind and it becomes a bit of a lottery.

To be honest I've found life an awful lot easier since getting a rangefinder. As the yardages it provides are exactly to the flag it's much simpler to work out whether flags are front, middle or back.

UP1.

 

[USER1999]

It's a lack of concentration, but we all do it. If it isn't looking where the pin is, it's poor alignemnt, or some thing else. My personnal favourite at the moment is addressing the ball, feeling very wrong and uncomfortable, and then hitting it anyway, thinking it'll probably work out ok. It doesn't. I should step away, and start again.

 

[pokerjoke]

Im in the market for a gps at the moment.
Im not sure if all posts have got the point though.
I could see the flag,im just not sure it even registered at all where it was positioned.I hit the exact shot i planned but due to lack of concentration noticing the flag position,i dont know if this happened at all.Hope this is making sense.What i was also asking is,does this happen to anybody else,and how do you concentrate for 3 hours.

 

[USER1999]

It is impossible to concentrate for 3 hours. And you don't need to.

What you do need to do is concentrate for about 1 minute, 80 odd times. This is possible.

 

[richart]

.What i was also asking is,does this happen to anybody else,and how do you concentrate for 3 hours.

I don't concentrate for 3 hours, just the 30 seconds or so before and after i have hit the shot. Then i turn the golf brain off, and relax. In that short time you are a lot less likely to make a silly mistake, as you are concentrating 100%. Must admit my game has a lot of faults,but lack of concentration at the right moment is not normally one of them.

I read a good book by Johnny Miller where he uses a traffic light system for attacking pins. Red pins are no go's and he would play away from them. ie close to a hazard, or front of a raised green, where ten foot short, could lead to the ball rolling back down a severe slope. Yellow pins were perhaps at the back of the green, with trouble behind, so he would play for the middle of the green and leave himself 15/20 putt. Green pins were in the middle and he would fire straight at the pin, knowing if he missed by 20 foot he still had a birdie putt. Basically if he did miss the green he wanted to give himself a chance of getting down in two, i.e not short siding himself.

Our course has a lot of trouble behind the greens, so tend to aim generally for the middle. Front pins are not good either as we have raised greens, and very easy to run back down. Slightly off topic but i thought i would pass on to anyone having problems plotting their way round the course.

 

[pokerjoke]

I like that traffic light concept,i will try that.Having said that it would be nice to be that accurate

 

[Robobum]

Don't worry too much PJ, even on the best of days it can still happen.

I have even pulled the wrong club out by accident. After striking it pure and see it come up 10 yards short. Look at the sole to see an 8 instead of a 7.

I blamed the caddy, unfortunately he was the same dick that hit the shot!!!

 

[viscount17]

Im in the market for a gps at the moment.
Im not sure if all posts have got the point though.
I could see the flag,im just not sure it even registered at all where it was positioned.I hit the exact shot i planned but due to lack of concentration noticing the flag position,i dont know if this happened at all.Hope this is making sense.What i was also asking is,does this happen to anybody else,and how do you concentrate for 3 hours.

then perhaps it's not a gps you need but a rangefinder. I have a gps; it will tell me the distance to front, middle and back but not where the pin is. perhaps I need a rangefinder as well as a gps (which is bound to make some people very happy ).

 

[Mike_j_golf]

Hi,
I have to get a exact yardage in my head before every shot it might not always be correct but it helps you commit to shots so my pre shot routine would be find the 200/150/100 marker get the distance to my ball look for the flag add that on then decide on the wind so i'm 150 to the front plus 20 to the flag at the back plus or minus for the wind if you get this into your routine it would cut out hitting the wrong club.
Mike

 

[Wheyayeman]

Don't worry too much PJ, even on the best of days it can still happen.

I have even pulled the wrong club out by accident. After striking it pure and see it come up 10 yards short. Look at the sole to see an 8 instead of a 7.

I blamed the caddy, unfortunately he was the same dick that hit the shot!!!

HA HA did the same thing but the other way last year.My approach to the first green was comfortable PW and I caught it sweetly, it was straight at the pin and I was expecting good things but rather disappointingly it landed 20yrds past the green, I don't think I hit my 8 iron as well again all day

 

[MKDave]

My personnal favourite at the moment is addressing the ball, feeling very wrong and uncomfortable, and then hitting it anyway, thinking it'll probably work out ok. It doesn't. I should step away, and start again.

I don't do this anywhere near as much as I used to, I think I must address the ball better but I know what you mean. Why the hell can't we walk away!! I see the pro's on TV doing it more than you'd expect.

Maybe that's the difference between me and them!! That and the 30 shots