Question for fellow High Handicappers

Anyone else find it hard to play the course and plot your way around it rather than go gung ho with Drivers off the tee and always going for the money shot that only has a maybe a 50% chance of coming off?

I always go with Driver off the tee and always try reach that Par 4 in two or Par 5 in 2 or 3.
I know in my heart sometimes I would be better off going with a Hybrid or Iron off the tee and giving myself a better chance of landing it on the fairway or laying up instead of going for the green,I am positive I would get lower scores by doing this some of the time.

Its just I get this run of adrenalin most of the time and always want to unleash the driver etc! but it doesn't always come off and can lead to extra shots chipping out from the trees or another fairway.

Just wondered what way you overcome this urge to always "go for it" I am assuming lower handicappers are able to resist this urge most of the time and thats some of the reason they shoot lower scores.

Must be our egos...........

Happens to me all the time, if it isn't a competition I'll risk a 5 wood at the pin.

Last time I was out I definitely did that... and put up a 50 playing 9. I think we get too emotionally involved, often I'll start by playing conservative but if I get one or two doubles, I just lose it, and say "screw it" and hit Driver all the time. All my great rounds I've only used Driver 4-6 times.

When I'm under control, I know that I score better when I only use the Driver in certain situations. I get into the strategy of the game, and try to plan the entire hole while I'm on the tee. I like using all the clubs in my bag too, and trying different types of shots with them. So that keeps the Driver out of my hands... most of the time

there is no real danger at my course and i either hit it straight or next fairway type stuff so im ok taking out the driver everytime im a short hitter sop struggle to reach par 4s in 2

I'm starting to learn to play a bit smarter. What did it for me was hitting a beautiful 270 yard driver on a 300 yard par 4, leaving myself a delicate 30 yard pitch that I messed up badly. I managed to save par (a VERY good score for me) on that hole, but it highlighted the pointlessness of going at it with driver when a shorter club off the tee would put me at a more ideal distance for my approach shot. On holes where length isn't an issue--there's several 300-odd yard holes at the course I often play--I now aim to get myself an approach shot in the 110-130 yard range, which for me is a full swing PW or 9i. Shorter than that is asking for trouble until I develop a lot more touch in my short game.

I never use my driver. Well, almost never. I've made a promise to myself that I won't use a driver until I can hit it solid with every other club in my bag.

There's the Scramble me and the Solo me.

During scrambles, I'm the one on the 320 yd. par 4 who drops the 5-iron tee shot about 140 yds. from the pin, in the fairway. Then, after my teammates bomb it OB right or lake left with their drivers, we all go to my ball and get a par or a birdie.

I've started doing that more on my own, but not enough.

One rule: Stay out of the 30-yd. to 100-yd. zone. Short of the zone, I can often get up and down with a chip and run, or a pop-and-stop wedge. Outside that, I can hit a full wedge of some sort, and not have to dial up a 9/16 PW and risk chunking it.

I think a pretty good game, but I still get back-to-back triple bogies somewhere in the round when my swing temporarily falls apart. Hopefully the repeating swing shows up more often this season.

I'm really not that much better with a hybrid than I am with my driver. And I'm not saying I'm great with my driver, either.

My problem isn't aggressiveness. It's being able to settle down. I hit some great shots at the driving range, but they don't translate very often to the course. I think that is just my lack of experience, and it's something I expect to improve on this season.

I use the clown shoe every time I can, sometimes on par 3s. It has the largest face, is easiest to hit and is the most fun. I went to the range yesterday for the second time this spring and fell even more in love with the big silly. I also determined that for me tempo is king, hell I am not going to hit the sweet spot anyway so i might as well let my swing tempo flow.

I just use what ever off the tee leaves me a 100-110 yards from the pin. which is a full pitching wedge. Good example is I had a friend go for the green on a short 270 yard par 4. He greened it and 3 putted for par. I hit 5 iron pitching wedge 2 putt par.

I go for it, everytime!!!

I love playing golf, and really love watching the ball fly. I play with several good golfers who play for the best score, try to beat each other, but I enjoy going for it. Par 4 or 5 is an automatic driver for me.

The rush the op discussed is one of the true joys of the game.

I love that feeling!!!

I went from posting alot of double and triple bogies to alot of pars and bogies by learning to play smarter. Even when I hit driver, I don't swing out of my shoes anymore.

I played yesterday and I was thinking about it when I was on a fairly short par 5. It was COLD yesterday in Jersey... so that dropped my driver distance between 10 and 20 yards... and it was a club to two club difference on OTHER shots for me. The hole where I started thinking about it was a 479 yard dogleg left par 5. It was about 250 to cut the corner over some bunkers... but I didn't think I could get there, so I played out to the center of the fairway. Hit my best drive of the day... 245 yards... dead center. This left me a little over 220 to the front of the green. As I stood over my ball waiting for my shot... I contemplated going for it... or laying it up to about 100 yards. In the end... I went for it with my 3 wood. I pushed it a little and it hung out to the right, and I THOUGHT I may have put it OB... but it ended up being okay. I was left with a shot of about 40 yards. The pitch shot came up a little to the right of my target... and I chipped on and two putted for a bogey. I believe if I had put the ball to the 100 yard marker and then hit my pitching wedge... I'd have probably been better off because my angle to the green wasn't good with the 40 yard pitch shot.

I ran into that quite a bit yesterday. During my round... I hit 8 of 14 fairways. Of those... I used driver on 11 and hit the fairway on 5. I used 3 wood on the other 3 and hit all of them. The holes I used my 3 wood:

320 yard par 4. Result = Par (3 Wood - Fairway... Pitching Wedge... 2 Putts)
359 yard par 4. Result = Bogey (3 Wood - Fairway... 5 Iron - Left Rough... Pitching Wedge... 2 Putts)
352 yard par 4. Result = Par (3 Wood - Fairway... 7 Iron - Fat into Rough... Sand Wedge... 1 Putt from 9 Feet)

The 11 holes I used my driver were all of the par 5's, and 7 of the par 4's that measured:

437 yards - 374 yards - 360 yards - 430 yards - 401 yards - 389 yards - 415 yards

Triple - Triple - Bogey - Double - Par - Six Over (Don't ask) - Double

Almost all of those were the result of poor tee shots. I feel like, in the end, my decision making left at least 10 strokes on the course... and my putting left another 5 strokes. My 99 could have been MUCH better. As it was the first round of my season... I'll take it as a lesson and attempt to play smarter. Where I'm playing in two weeks... the course has only ONE par 4 that is longer than 400 yards... and depending on which tees we are playing... there could be as many as 9 of 10 par 4's that play at 375 or less. If we play THOSE tees... I'll be playing a LOT of 3 woods from the tee boxes.

CY