How Many Pure Shots per Round?

[cipher]

I shot an 89 the other day and feel like it was 7-9.  I'm feeling optimistic.  😉

[boogielicious]

23 hours ago, DennisMiller said:

I really object to being called a liar because I said I hit about 1/3rd of my full shots square. The fact is, I can hit a shot pure as hell and still miss a green, have a bad day with my short game and shoot a lousy score.

I think a pure shot has a different feel to it. It almost feels like the ball wasn’t even there. You hit the exact sweet spot, so there is no twisting of the head of the club that translates to your hands. The sound is different and hard to describe. For irons, it is all ball before the ground. For the woods, the ball seems to accelerate after the hit.

I can get a bunch of shots that go where I want, but only 1 or 2 that feel the way described above.

[bkuehn1952]

I indicated 4-6 as my average.  I played yesterday and I am hard pressed to recall any pure shots.  Fortunately, I also have days where I might pure almost a dozen.

[MarvChamp]

I think Nicklaus once said he might have 1 or 2 a round. He had a higher concept of "pure" I guess. Best to all this day, -Marv

[ChetlovesMer]

I think there are a number of things going on in this thread. 

1 - There seems to be a portion of the people responding who read the part in the original post about "really solidly". Some of us are only counting our "pure" shots and not our "really solid" shots. 

2 - The definition of pure seems to be causing some confusion. Some of us are defining "pure" as a shot that feels great coming off the clubface. Others have attached some almost mystical properties to the word "pure". As if the feeling of "pure" is something akin to getting a BJ from an Angel, while you eat a bacon cheeseburger, and watch your favorite team win the SuperBowl.

3 - I'm sure there's a continuum to the definition of "really solid" as well. One man's really solid is another man's shanked. 

4 - Since some of us are playing forged blades and some of us are playing cast (dare I say "shovels"?) Everyone's clubs "feel" differently. 

5 - Finally, personality comes into the equation as well. Some of us are process oriented, some of us are results oriented. For some a "Pure" or even "Really Solid" shot is not pure or even really solid without a phenomenal result. For others a phenomenal result may in fact define the shot as pure or really solid. 

I believe the one thing we can all agree upon is that the number of really solid or even pure shots struck per round can vary greatly from round to round, often in spite of, or with no relation to our score. 

By the way, I mention all of this not because I think that makes it a bad topic. But quite the contrary. Having a discussion about this kind of difficult to define thing on a forum like this makes it an interesting topic. 

[dennyjones]

19 minutes ago, ChetlovesMer said:

I think there are a number of things going on in this thread. 

1 - There seems to be a portion of the people responding who read the part in the original post about "really solidly". Some of us are only counting our "pure" shots and not our "really solid" shots. 

2 - The definition of pure seems to be causing some confusion. Some of us are defining "pure" as a shot that feels great coming off the clubface. Others have attached some almost mystical properties to the word "pure". As if the feeling of "pure" is something akin to getting a BJ from an Angel, while you eat a bacon cheeseburger, and watch your favorite team win the SuperBowl.

3 - I'm sure there's a continuum to the definition of "really solid" as well. One man's really solid is another man's shanked. 

4 - Since some of us are playing forged blades and some of us are playing cast (dare I say "shovels"?) Everyone's clubs "feel" differently. 

5 - Finally, personality comes into the equation as well. Some of us are process oriented, some of us are results oriented. For some a "Pure" or even "Really Solid" shot is not pure or even really solid without a phenomenal result. For others a phenomenal result may in fact define the shot as pure or really solid. 

I believe the one thing we can all agree upon is that the number of really solid or even pure shots struck per round can vary greatly from round to round, often in spite of, or with no relation to our score. 

By the way, I mention all of this not because I think that makes it a bad topic. But quite the contrary. Having a discussion about this kind of difficult to define thing on a forum like this makes it an interesting topic. 

I believe you've nailed it.   I've hit some very solid shots each round but not many that I would say are just pure.   I've also hit very many that weren't solid shots.. For me to say that I hit a pure shot means that the ball comes off of the club face without much feeling and the results are as well or better than I can expect.   It doesn't happen very often for me.     Don't get me wrong, I've hit many solid shots, just not too many pure shots.  

[Patch]

26 minutes ago, ChetlovesMer said:

I think there are a number of things going on in this thread. 

1 - There seems to be a portion of the people responding who read the part in the original post about "really solidly". Some of us are only counting our "pure" shots and not our "really solid" shots. 

2 - The definition of pure seems to be causing some confusion. Some of us are defining "pure" as a shot that feels great coming off the clubface. Others have attached some almost mystical properties to the word "pure". As if the feeling of "pure" is something akin to getting a BJ from an Angel, while you eat a bacon cheeseburger, and watch your favorite team win the SuperBowl.

3 - I'm sure there's a continuum to the definition of "really solid" as well. One man's really solid is another man's shanked. 

4 - Since some of us are playing forged blades and some of us are playing cast (dare I say "shovels"?) Everyone's clubs "feel" differently. 

5 - Finally, personality comes into the equation as well. Some of us are process oriented, some of us are results oriented. For some a "Pure" or even "Really Solid" shot is not pure or even really solid without a phenomenal result. For others a phenomenal result may in fact define the shot as pure or really solid. 

I believe the one thing we can all agree upon is that the number of really solid or even pure shots struck per round can vary greatly from round to round, often in spite of, or with no relation to our score. 

By the way, I mention all of this not because I think that makes it a bad topic. But quite the contrary. Having a discussion about this kind of difficult to define thing on a forum like this makes it an interesting topic. 

10 different people will read the same something, (definition included) but not all those 10 different people will understand what they read as it was intended as @iacas intended it to be read. 

My pure shot is definately someone else's "not" so pure shot, and vice versa. This is to be expected when taking a poll from different individuals. 

 

 

[Double Mocha Man]

39 minutes ago, ChetlovesMer said:

Others have attached some almost mystical properties to the word "pure". As if the feeling of "pure" is something akin to getting a BJ from an Angel, while you eat a bacon cheeseburger, and watch your favorite team win the SuperBowl.

 

Chet... where can I get in touch with this Angel you speak of?  Make that shrimp scampi instead of the burger.  And I'll go for the Seahawks beating the Patriots.  Thank you.

[rehmwa]

IMO this seems to be another one where we might vary person to person by definition.  Pure to me isn't just hitting on line and perfect.  Pure has alway meant also contact to me.  If I execute a shot as intended, it means I'm not likely also making pure contact, because my stock shot isn't pure so I plan for my 'good' contact, not my 'pure' contact.  Else I'd constantly be leaving it short even when the shot is really good.

a couple every round, maybe.  Good days for sure.  other days, not so much.  But more and more every year as I get better.

Unfortunately, these shots (FEEL SO PERFECT, the sound is right, the flight is perfect, it's right where I'm pointing it) also fly nearly a club length longer for me - while feeling like even less effort.  But it's hard to be upset when you miss a shot because you 'hit it too good'

but those do go distinctly farther than my typical contact which I'm generally pretty happy with.....and even these shots are getting more pur-ish over the years and that's the gain I want, I guess.

 

edit:  And I only really can feel it with my irons - hard to say about the driver or 3w or hybrids - they always feel pretty good - so I can't assess.

 

 

Edited September 25, 2019 by rehmwa

[NM Golf]

Really and truly, I have found that sometimes when I really "pure" a shot it will be a little long. My distances are determined from how I normally hit a golf shot. I don't normally pure a shot so sometimes when I do it may be a bit long.

[lastings]

I said 7-9 which seems accurate.   I absolutely flush 5-6 drivers per round (around max distance), right down the pipe.   then usually I'll get a couple 7 or 8 irons just right.   

[Shindig]

On 9/22/2019 at 5:43 AM, boogielicious said:

I think a pure shot has a different feel to it. It almost feels like the ball wasn’t even there. You hit the exact sweet spot, so there is no twisting of the head of the club that translates to your hands. The sound is different and hard to describe. For irons, it is all ball before the ground. For the woods, the ball seems to accelerate after the hit.

I can get a bunch of shots that go where I want, but only 1 or 2 that feel the way described above.

Yep, I love it when that happens -- with my driver, about once every 2-3 rounds.  If I were playing with cotton in my ears, I might have thought I missed the ball.

I voted about 1-3, most rounds probably one.  Sometimes I get another one, and on occasion I understand why the pros on TV sometimes tell the ball to sit down as soon as it's off the clubface:  I am guessing those are the ones that are unusually good, even for them, so it's going to go further than they usually hit with that club. 

[Craigers]

ChetlovesMer summed up this thread very nicely. I can recall one flush approach shot from my last round that was right on target.

I'm really fortunate if I hit 1-2 flush shots per round. 

[Release]

When I have my better days, maybe close to half of the full swings felt good and the golf ball went where it supposed to with the expected trajectory.  I had played with golfers whom did this day in and day out at much better rate.  I don't know if they feel their game were up to their own standard but sure looked fine for me.

During the off days , maybe 10%-15% or so did what was expected.  Busy stopping the bleeding throughout the 18, sometimes can still salvage a decent game for a weekend golfer.

[saevel25]

Tiger mentions that he would hit one perfect shot per tournament. If he hit two perfect shots then he would win by a big margin. 

Now, perfect shot is not the same as a pure shot. I thought it was interesting to hear Tiger view on that expectation. Maybe it even wasn't an expectation, but just an observation. 

[DrvFrShow]

What is a "pure" shot. I mean it's defined. But I think it's relative to ones ability. The standard set by a tour pro will be a lot higher than the standard set by someone who is just out playing a casual round. So I'm not going to answer the poll. I will say I make over 13 good shots per round. If I didn't I should sell my clubs and take up something else to pass my time.