How to eliminate blowup holes

[stealthhwk]

34 minutes ago, DrvFrShow said:

I've been playing the Hex Chrome+ and Chrome Soft, and last summer still had balls just bounce off the rock hard greens. I watched an 8 iron hit the front of the green and bounce off the back into the water hazard. Usually my shots leave a crater but not last summer. I typically hit a high spin 8 iron.

I hit a high 8 as well. Havnt lost any 8i shots but 7 is iffy, six half the time, and anything less than a six iron and im lucky if it stays on the green. Play forward set of mens tees but most of my approaches to the greens are hybrid or six iron.

[Dave2512]

I don't consider a high hole score a blow up unless I took an unnecessary risk to cause it. I understand from three years of stat tracking that some higher scores are going to happen. It's often nothing more than back luck. The higher your handicap is the more you will score poorly it's part of the deal. Even my best rounds have a lot of luck in them it's just that it's good luck.

The key after a bad hole is don't get silly trying to make up strokes after it. I'd prefer not to make doubles but stats tell me in 2015 10% of the time I did. Stats also show me I make par or better at 50% so I don't sweat it.

Know your game and limitations and play smart.

[Joe Cartpath]

Here's my approach to eliminating the big numbers.

Work hard on putting and chipping. I've always maintained that anyone can learn to chip and putt. Its the only part of the game that takes zero athletic ability....just practice, technique and confidence. I miss a lot more greens than I hit...but I make a lot of pars with a chip and a putt (or a very long 2 putt). Even if I don't make par, I often have tap in bogeys.

Know your strengths and weaknesses...and be honest with yourself. Use that information to determine your "go to" shots. I'm a lousy iron player, but pretty consistent with the fairway woods. If I'm having one of those days where I'm doing nothing with the irons but hitting fat shots and shanks, I'll start hitting fairway woods off the tee in order to have a fairway wood for a 2nd shot (I carry 3, 5 and 6 woods). Even if I miss the green from that distance, I'll usually be withing chip and putt range (see the last paragraph).

I'm normally pretty straight with those fairway woods, but can hit a fade or slice at will....but not a draw. If I'm in a spot that requires a draw to hit the green I'll aim for a spot short of the green (or even right of the green) that I know I can hit. Then try my best to make par from there - and be please with bogey. If I'm on the other side of the fairway and need to bend it to the right I'll be more aggressive since that's a high percentage shot for me.

I've had days where I'm hitting my irons so poorly, I'll resort to playing bump-and-run any place I can. Yeah, it makes me feel like a chump when I'm bumping a 7 iron from 100 yards instead of flying a wedge in there....but not a much of a chump as hacking the wedge around and making a double or triple.

[ppine]

This is am important topic for higher handicappers.  People that shoot low numbers have already figured out course and shot management enough to avoid most all of their blow up holes.

I agree that a bad drive is probably the most common start to a really bad hole. The other ones are hitting the ball out of play, water, OOB, unplayable lie, etc. Then there is a tendency for some people to try to make up for the bad start by trying something heroic. Keeping the ball in play, avoiding hazards, and going for the makable shot gives people confidence when they need it. Golf is the most mental of all the sports.  There are no team mates to blame it on or discuss with. It is all on you, so play smart and give yourself a chance.

[iacas]

38 minutes ago, ppine said:

This is am important topic for higher handicappers.  People that shoot low numbers have already figured out course and shot management enough to avoid most all of their blow up holes.

I don't think it's as often a matter of course management as it is just a few bad shots piling up on the same hole instead of being spread out.

Yes, obviously if you pump two balls OB instead of playing safely out to the left in the rough to avoid the OB, that's a course management decision (unless you WERE trying to play safely to the left and STILL sliced them OB), but more often than not, golfers blame "bad course management" too readily when it's more often just that their swings suck.

Pros have blow-up holes now and then. It's rarely that their strategy was bad, and more likely a bad swing or two, and a bad break or two.

By all means, yes, avoid heroic shots. But don't be so chicken you don't safely advance your ball as far as you can, either.

@ppine, you should check out LSW and buy a copy.

[Austin_Sachs]

My advice to avoid blow up holes comes from Bob Rotella's book Golf is Not a Game of Perfect. it is to have a conversative strategy and cocky swing. Therefore you should have planned out how you will come back from a bad swing, without creating a blow up hole. This way when things do not go the way you want them to, you have plan ready to fix it.

[craps]

On 2/6/2016 at 0:44 PM, stealthhwk said:

Hey guys and gals! I need some help reducing or preferably eliminating my blowup holes. Im currently playing some of the best golf of my life but the blowup holes are killing any chances of shooting a good number. I aim for bogey golf and usually see 3-5 pars per round with the occasional birdie. I consider bogies good holes and average 6-8 of those a round. But the doubles and triples are destroying my card. Can anybody help me with this?

 

On 2/6/2016 at 0:44 PM, stealthhwk said:

Hey guys and gals! I need some help reducing or preferably eliminating my blowup holes. Im currently playing some of the best golf of my life but the blowup holes are killing any chances of shooting a good number. I aim for bogey golf and usually see 3-5 pars per round with the occasional birdie. I consider bogies good holes and average 6-8 of those a round. But the doubles and triples are destroying my card. Can anybody help me with this?

Very easy, just gave yourself a double par score. A 6 for par 3, An 8 for par 4 and a 10 for par 5.. You will never go over 144 in a round. We are not playing on a course conditioned for tournament so why count after 2x par.

[David in FL]

20 minutes ago, craps said:

 

Very easy, just gave yourself a double par score. A 6 for par 3, An 8 for par 4 and a 10 for par 5.. You will never go over 144 in a round. We are not playing on a course conditioned for tournament so why count after 2x par.

Heck, just never "give yourself" a score higher than par.  As someone who never "scores" worse than even par, you'll never even have to really worry about improving your game at all.  

I think the OP is asking because he's interested in improving his score with better play, not with his pencil.

 

[JonMA1]

Obviously, there are different reasons why different high handicappers suffer from blow up holes, but I believe most of us can learn decent course management long before we can learn decent full swing mechanics. As others have mentioned, the book LSW really helped by showing me that playing it safe isn't always the smartest option.

That's not to say I make perfect decisions during every round, but my triples and quads are mostly the result of an inability to put together a few good shots in a row. It's very frustrating to hit an excellent tee shot only to follow it up with bad shots. That frustration often carries on to the next hole.

---

I wonder if attitude is something we high cappers need to learn to control. I just looked back at my lowest 18 hole scorecard from last year. I hadn't scored a single birdie that day. I also didn't shoot anything higher than a double. The thing that I remember the most about that round is that I hadn't received any penalty strokes until the par 4 16th when I pushed a drive into the woods. I followed that up with a good provisional, then a 5w onto the unprotected green. I then followed that double bogey with two pars on the last two holes.

I don't think it was a conscious effort on my part not to let that penalty stroke throw off the good golf I'd been playing that day, but for some reason it didn't. But it was a conscious effort not to "play it safe" in order to preserve what I knew would be a low score.

If only I had control over that...

[isukgolf]

I am king of the blow up holes ... a bunch good advice already given.  One thing I have to do is slow the F down, after a bad shot ... I tend to get faster the worse I do ... I have to make myself slow down, and be in the shot I am making, and not still pissed at the last shot ...  

[TimS65]

I think another problem with blow up holes is when golfing for fun - not in match play. For instance, I played on a short 9 hole course (330 yard par 4s) when working away from home last year. Played one round just using a 5 iron off the Tees. Sure enough my score was OK - less out of bounds and deep rough. BUT it just wasn't so much fun playing safe. I think it can be the same when you get in trouble on a hole - it may be sensible to just hit out sideways, but its more fun going for the shot between the trees...

[stealthhwk]

38 minutes ago, isukgolf said:

I am king of the blow up holes ... a bunch good advice already given.  One thing I have to do is slow the F down, after a bad shot ... I tend to get faster the worse I do ... I have to make myself slow down, and be in the shot I am making, and not still pissed at the last shot ...  

Oh boy!!! That sounds awfully familiar! Ill have to remember that.

[ppine]

Golf is not a game of how, but how many. If I get rattled, I go back to the fundamental trusted shots. I have used a putter out of plenty of sand traps with a low lip and use one from far off the green as an example.