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Fredericksburg, VA., Honolulu, HI.
Joined: 5/03/2008
Posts: 43
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Posted: May/28/2008 12:14 PM PST
Does hitting the ball bad mean bad scores? Not necessarily. Something you’ve probably noticed with better players is that they always seem to find a way to post a decent score. It’s not because they always hit the ball well, it’s because they’ve learned to not only manage the course, but their game too.
Last time I played I couldn’t make solid contact with any iron in the bag. My driving game was just ok, and my short game was about average. But, I made 2 birdies on the front, 4 on the back, and still shot 70 hitting the ball like crap. Let me share what I do when I hit the ball poorly and how I manage to still post a respectable score.
First of all, find the fairway at all costs!!! If that means hitting a long iron or fairway wood off the tee then so be it. You can hit the ball poorly and still shoot a number, but hitting the ball off the course isn’t something anyone can work with.
Also, play the shot you have whether you like it or not. Lee Trevino once said “You gotta dance with who you brung”. And if it’s a slice then play it, same with a hook.
On the day in question, I hit a slice all day (I normally draw the ball), and the harder I swung, the more it sliced. So I carved a ¾ swing drive up the left side with an ugly slice all day. It wasn’t pretty, but it was on the golf course.
I played with a father and his adult son that day that both hit huge slices off the golf course for the first 7 holes. Finally I asked the father how many shots out of 10 he usually hit to the right. He said 8. I then asked him where he aimed, and he said down the middle. When I asked why not aim left, his answer was “sometimes I hit it straight!” I then pointed out that if he hit 8 out of 10 shots right and he aimed left he’d only hit 2 out of 10 off the golf course instead of 8 out of 10. He looked at me like I was some kind of genius! Then they both started aiming left and actually finding the golf course. Not only that, because they were no longer afraid of slicing it off the golf course, they freed up and started making better swings and those huge slices turned into fades. After a few more holes they were able to simply aim up the left side and the straight shots they occasionally hit just ended up on the left side.
Now for the main problem I was having. We all go out some days and just can’t seem to get anything going. For me it was my irons. Toe, heel, fat, thin, you name it, I hit it. If you think about it though, the most common result of these types of mis-hits is a shorter than normal shot. My answer was to simply take an extra club, sometimes two, and hit it crappy. And I did… I mis-hit shots on the greens all day, got lucky, and made a few putts. I did hit a few pure but because I was hitting an extra club or two, I was swinging easy and those few I hit well weren’t a big disaster. In most cases, there’s a lot more trouble short of the greens than long anyway.
The last advice I can offer is to never give up. After all, golf isn’t any cheaper or faster when you play badly, so make the most of every shot. If you play like you’re still in the game on every shot you’ll get much better results. Mental lapses will easily cost you a lot more strokes than poor ball striking.
Hopefully some of you can use this advice to post better scores no matter how you’re hitting it that day.
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Joined: 12/05/2007
Posts: 484
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Posted: May/29/2008 8:05 AM PST
Anyone who shoots a 70 on a "bad day" is clearly not striking the ball all that bad!
I do agree with you though, i was playing pretty decent for me yesterday and my friend was all over the place but he always ended up with a chip and i'll be damned if he didn't chip it and 1 putt 7 or 8 times and he ended up beating me 86-92 because i imploded on 2 par 3's and posted 7's on them. I was hitting greens 1 stroke before him on the other holes but I never converted a 1 putt always 2 putted so i couldn't gain any ground. The 2 blowup holes I had ended up being his margin of victory.
I probably would have been okay if I had gone with the fade that I was hitting all day but the day before I had been hooking the ball and I was afraid to aim left only to then hit a hook OB.
C'est la vie!
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West Lothian
Joined: 11/08/2007
Posts: 119
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Posted: May/29/2008 2:15 PM PST
I have often found the opposite in the past.
Striking the ball as sweet as a nut but couldn't post a score for love or money!
That was a mental thing and hopefully past. Now my bad rounds are 85 instead of 95.
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Fredericksburg, VA., Honolulu, HI.
Joined: 5/03/2008
Posts: 43
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Posted: May/29/2008 5:02 PM PST
Don't get me wrong, I'm very happy with 70, best round so far this year. I just hit it more like 80 but the adjustments worked well.
And John, you hit it on the head. I've had great ball striking days and just couldn't seem to get it in the hole too.
I guess the point I was trying to make was we never know what the golf Gods have in store for us. Many of us are defeated by poor ball striking within the first few bad shots when there may be a great score waiting if we learn to be flexible and adjust.
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san clemente
Joined: 1/14/2008
Posts: 257
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Posted: Jun/01/2008 8:31 PM PST
How often have you guys missed a drive hit a long club up by the green chipped it close scraped your way round the first few holes
then stared striping the tee ball aiming for flags and got on the bogey train and rode it all day. I find my best days are not when
slamming drives and irons its when I putt and chip well that I start stinging pars and the odd birdie together.
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Italy
Joined: 8/16/2007
Posts: 6
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Posted: Jun/02/2008 3:00 AM PST
a great post, Hoselrocket, and some wisdom to take with me on the course. it should all be obvious to anybody, but it's so easy to fall into the trap of trying to correct overcompensating,add mistakes to mistakes and definitely kill your play for the day. Also, for a high Hcp player like me, a day on the course with some serious shot problem IS the NORMAL situation and it will be my mantra during a usual round.
Let me pick your mind: when you go for a training round on the course and you want to practice the shots you fail the most, how do you keep the focus on the right expectations without getting frustrated and ruin all the other shots?
It's such a fascinating game!
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Joined: 12/05/2007
Posts: 484
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Posted: Jun/02/2008 7:43 AM PST
Quote: Originally posted by Giorgio Let me pick your mind: when you go for a training round on the course and you want to practice the shots you fail the most, how do you keep the focus on the right expectations without getting frustrated and ruin all the other shots? It's such a fascinating game!
I try to remind myself of my honest skill level. I tell myself, I've only been playing for 9 months and not to try to be tiger already. I also try to avoid over practicing advanced concepts like cutting and drawing the ball. Lets face it, it's nice to be able to do that when you need it but as Vijay Singh once said "You can't hit the ball straight, what do you want to know how to curve it for?"
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Italy
Joined: 8/16/2007
Posts: 6
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Posted: Jun/04/2008 1:45 AM PST
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