The Wisdom of Lou....

[Imurg]

One of his latest stats is about how long holes would need to be for a typical 12 handicapper to score a certain number..the holes had to be 35 yards for a par 3......etc etc.
The problem I have with all these kind of stats is that , in reality, there is no such thing as a typical 12 handicapper...
An average X handicapper hits the ball Z yards.....barely anyone is average....
You can't base your game on what an average player does or doesn't.....
It can only be based on what you do and that may, or may not, differ significantly from the "average"

 

[Banchory Buddha]

He is spot on. If you leave 1 foot short from 50 feet it's a great putt.

Doesn't matter if it's 1 foot short ,1 foot past , 1 foot left or right. Having a tap in from a lag putt is a good result

Agreed. But no comment on his nonsense "It does NOT matter if it's short of the hole"

 

[Deleted member 25575]

One of his latest stats is about how long holes would need to be for a typical 12 handicapper to score a certain number..the holes had to be 35 yards for a par 3......etc etc.
The problem I have with all these kind of stats is that , in reality, there is no such thing as a typical 12 handicapper...
An average X handicapper hits the ball Z yards.....barely anyone is average....
You can't base your game on what an average player does or doesn't.....
It can only be based on what you do and that may, or may not, differ significantly from the "average"

For me when I read things like that, I take it more as a manage my expectations idea, knowing the average 12 HC needs to be 35y or less from the hole to average 3 shots to get down, helps me when I don’t get up/down from 50y as I know for my skill level that’s not uncommon so don’t beat myself up about it

 

[PJ87]

Agreed. But no comment on his nonsense "It does NOT matter if it's short of the hole"

He is right it doesn't matter. It's not nonsense at all. If it's a tap in for the next putt it's a tap in. Regardless If it's left , right , long or short

Tap in from a lag putt is outstanding

I'd rather be 1 foot short than 3 foot past.

 

[D-S]

All you need to do is putt it within 5 feet, short, long or to the side. Then you can pick it up and with ‘Most Likely Score’ you always hole the 5 footer - simples.

 

[Deleted member 25575]

Here is a hypothetical question;
If someone offered you for every single putt you have from 25ft and out would finish 1inch short of the cup, would you take it?
It would mean you never 3 putt from 25+ft but equally would never 1 putt from there either

 

[PJ87]

Here is a hypothetical question;
If someone offered you for every single putt you have from 25ft and out would finish 1inch short of the cup, would you take it?
It would mean you never 3 putt from 25+ft but equally would never 1 putt from there either

All day long.

 

[Voyager EMH]

Here is a hypothetical question;
If someone offered you for every single putt you have from 25ft and out would finish 1inch short of the cup, would you take it?
It would mean you never 3 putt from 25+ft but equally would never 1 putt from there either

No.
Golf would be meaningless for me.
I like putting. I enjoy it and take it seriously.

 

[Backache]

No.
Golf would be meaningless for me.
I like putting. I enjoy it and take it seriously.

I guess the question was meant as would you take it as a good outcome rather than enjoying the experience of finishing each hole if you ended up 20 feet from the hole. In the same way as would you take a 300 yd straight drive. Even though no one is going to suggest starting each hole 300 yds down the fairway.

 

[sjw]

If you are a 10 handicapper and hit 5 putts from 40 feet to tap in distance you will save yourself 2 shots that round compared to an average 10 handicapper.

If you have the mindset of 'I must get it there' and you have a 20% margin of error distance wise, the chances are you are knocking a couple of those putts 4-7ft past. Whereas with the same error margin but aiming to drop it in the hole pace wise, you'll have everything within 3 feet.

That's what he is saying, but he lacks nuance.

I think that's what he's trying to say in this tweet from back in October, but it has to be the most poorly-explained thing I've ever read

 

[Banchory Buddha]

I think that's what he's trying to say in this tweet from back in October, but it has to be the most poorly-explained thing I've ever read

Good grief, I'm boggled

 

[PJ87]

I think that's what he's trying to say in this tweet from back in October, but it has to be the most poorly-explained thing I've ever read

Tbh the tweet he put out this morning is very simple. It's getting people to rethink how they see their putts.

Just like his points about how many pros don't get up and down from 50 yards

How a par 3 on average is the hole pros go most above par on

He is very much about managing players expectations

 

[Backsticks]

No.
Golf would be meaningless for me.
I like putting. I enjoy it and take it seriously.

Thats answering a different question though really. The nub of the question is do you think you would putt better overall if offered the above deal.

 

[Tashyboy]

I totally understand the philosophy of “ never up never in”, but I think there’s a time and a place when it’s criminal to leave a putt short and criminal not to lag one. Every green at every course is different depending on pin position. Our green keepers love putting pins on top of slopes. If you are 30ft from the pin and look to put it a foot past you may well end up 10ft past. Lagging a putt at times is the sensible putt, if it is 12” short that’s a result.

 

[Voyager EMH]

Thats answering a different question though really. The nub of the question is do you think you would putt better overall if offered the above deal.

No.
I would not be putting better overall, because some of the time I would not be putting.
The times that I would be putting would be unchanged in terms of better/worse.

The question was clearly stated as a hypothetical one.
I would not accept the offer. I was asked if I would accept the offer.

You might not like my answer. That makes no difference.
It is my answer to the question. It is not an answer to a different question.
My answer is my answer.
It is an answer to the question that was asked.

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

If the ball reaches the hole, it's got a chance to go in. The odds of it going in vastly decrease if it doesn't reach the hole.

Recall playing a medal with a scratch member a few years ago. Scottish lad, says it as it is…gets him into hot water sometimes but he loves it. I mentioned at the end that the big difference between us on the day was that even though I putted well, he holed a good few longer putts. He looked at me with a smile then told me I hadn’t actually putted that well at all as I hardly ever got the ball up to the hole. That was me telt.

 

[Doon frae Troon]

A dead weight putt has over 4 inches of hole to fall into.
A firmly struck putt has about 2 inches.
I was a good putter and always aimed to finish within a dustbin lid with a medium/long putt

 

[Deleted member 29109]

Scott Fowcett does a very good job of explaining why hitting every putt past the hole is a bad idea.

As mentioned, the ball has effectively less hole to drop in if it’s travelling too fast.

In short. If your front to back dispersion on a putt is (for example) 5’ on a 25’ putt. If you centre the dispersion on the hole the max 2nd putt will be 2.5’. Most of us will miss very few of those.

If every 25’ putt goes past the hole, you’ll have a lot of 4’ or 5’ putts for your 2nd putt. You’ll 3 putt a lot more.

 

[pendodave]

One of his latest stats is about how long holes would need to be for a typical 12 handicapper to score a certain number..the holes had to be 35 yards for a par 3......etc etc.
The problem I have with all these kind of stats is that , in reality, there is no such thing as a typical 12 handicapper...
An average X handicapper hits the ball Z yards.....barely anyone is average....
You can't base your game on what an average player does or doesn't.....
It can only be based on what you do and that may, or may not, differ significantly from the "average"

Hmmm
I suspect that must of us are a lot more average than we like to think.
And if we really aren't (in a negative direction) it's probably worth thinking about why we're not, and what we might do about it.
As for the putting question, I'm a lot more likely to 3 putt than 1 putt from 25ft, so I'm definitely happy with a tap in lay up.

 

[chrisd]

Given that the tour pro's from 12ft make less than 50% of putts on their quality greens, I'm just happy if the odd few drop in and that I have a tap in for a 2 putt.