I hate getting penalized after a good shot.

Over the past few weeks, when I play in these amateur tournaments. I've been getting some really unlucky breaks, and getting penalized after a nice solid shot.

For example, a short par 3 125 yards. I hit a nice solid PW, with a baby draw, didn't even feel it on the clubface. There is a red staked hazard behind the green. The ball landed pin high, and just 5 yards off the green, and it takes a wild bounce and goes into the hazard.

Last weekend, on a par 4 428 yards. I hit a perfect drive, with a nice draw. Must have been around 280 yards with roll, fairways were dry. I come up to find my ball, and find out there's a red hazard the splits the fairway. i didn't know, never played the course before. And the ball rolled into it, couldn't find it. Another lost ball, another penalty.

I hit enough bad shots, to warrant losing balls and getting penalties, but it frustrates me when I make a good swing, and bam, the ball is gone.

New course... study it on google earth the day before or something and make some notes of crazy things you should know. Also, I ask to be grouped with someone who's a regular if it's possible.

my2c

This happens to me all the time.  My buddy gets all the good kicks.  For example we were playing in a tournament he shanked one on his approach shot there was OB right and hits the tree bounces back in the fairway.  Same tournament I'm -1 through 8 we all hit our tee shots all on same line barely in the left rough.  They all find their balls and mine is no where to be found. Have to drive my happy ass back to the tee and re hit nice double and mental breakdown after lol.

That is exactly what happened to me, after these bad breaks, I get into a funk, and can't focus, and play worse.

Nobody told me this game was this hard? (I've been playing for 20 years).

I'd imagine over time that bad breaks probably even out good ones. I know I've hit some terrible shots that have hit trees and taken great bounces back on to the fair way or away from the long rough.

I think bad luck strikes us all but just feels so much worse when you hit a decent shot prior. Probably more prominent in your mind because of this.

It's like homeboy says in poker, "very few players will remember the great pots they've won but all of them will remember the ones they've lost." Or something to that effect. Haha.

being the devils advocate....if you had hit a good shot you wouldn't have incurred the penalties, yeah?

It all evens out, there will be wild tee shots that hit trees/houses that bounce right back into the fairway. There are no style points in this game.

In my opinion, if you hit a ball into a hazard (twice), then they weren't good shots. To me a good shot is the end result, not the way it looks in the air.

If you hit the green pin high, and it bounced off the green, then that was a bad shot and you should have hit one less club. If you hit a drive with draw and ended up in a hazard, maybe you should have played a fade, or hit it straight, or aimed to the left or right of the hazard.

Just my opinion.

My personal pet peeve is when the wind changes directions/intensity while you are over a shot, but what are you going to do??

1 issue with golf and golf course design is that people of all sorts of abilities are playing.  For some, missing a 125 yard par 3 by only 5 yards is a good shot, for others it is not.  If this hole did not have some penalty relatively close to the green then it would be a joke for single digit cappers.  On the other hand, a 30+ capper might feel he hit one of his/her better shots and winds up in the hazard.

It is tough not to let if faze you when you think you hit a decent/good shot and got penalized, but this is what the successful players are able to do.  Luck may not even out in the short run, but the better players just go on and hit the next shot the best they can.  I`m always impressed when the pros can play nicely and post a good score after a blow-up.  In 2000, Tiger Woods made birdie or better 36.5% of the time after making a bogey or worse- my guess is that some of those bogey+ scores came after hitting what you would consider a good shot.

Well then you should have known the hazard was there and errored on the other side of the green. From there your not taking a penalty and if you miss the green then you probably have an easier chip. If there is hazard on both sides, then error towards the front of the green.

That is the fun of playing a new course, now if you play there again will you take that same target line off the tee, probably not. There is something to knowing the course. I'm sorry to say, but this is a course that isn't penalizing you for poor play, its just you didn't have the information to play it properly. That is a you problem, not a course problem.

True, but the OP plays off of 14. Missing that green might not be a terrible shot for him, but it certainly can't be called a good shot. Part of getting better lies in increasing your own personal expectations too...... And btw, if the wind changes before you pull the trigger, you should step back and reevaluate the shot/club you're considering...... .......just do so quickly. ;-)

I can understand op's frustration.

A few days ago I hit a great approach shot, ball landed ten feet from the pin and stayed. Just a great shot.

Then my buddy hits hit, completely wild, 20 yards right of the green. Nails a tree, the ball kicks out and lands 3 feet from the cup for a birdie putt.

Those are the breaks, and as someone else said, there are no style points in golf.

I said they were "good shots" not "great shots". A great shot for me on the par 3, would have been 3' from the hole.

Where the ball landed, it should never have went into the hazard, there was like at least 15 yards of grass before the hazard. It just hit something hard, and bounced fiercely.

But ya I know, take the good with the bad. I've definatly had my share of good breaks too.

The golf gods they say... I'll need some luck this weekend in a 2 day tourney. I hope they remember me. LOL