The high-percentage shot

[Rickins]

My wife took the game up a couple of years back and I've been offering advice ever since. Actually, that ain't all bad because it makes me think about my own game, too.

One of the things that I've been stressing to her is making the smart shot or, what Jack Nicklaus has called, the "high-percentage" shot. Sound advice for tournament play, certainly, but I wonder now if it's always the way to go. In other words, might a beginner gain some confidence by tackling a low-percentage shot now and then to try to add something to his/her bag for the times when an opportunity might present itself?

Rick

[iacas]

I play nine holes prior to my 9-hole league (on the alternative nine - I believe doing otherwise would be cheating). In these kinds of rounds, I always go at every in and play risky. I figure it helps me find the edge - what kinds of shots can I pull off or not pull off that day?

You can shoot even par playing high-percentage shots the whole way around. I don't think anyone should ever try a low-percentage shot, particularly higher handicappers, unless they must (i.e. one down on the 18th hole, etc.).

First of all, as you progress and get better in skill, the former low-percentage shots become higher percentage shots. "5I cut around a tree to the back right of the green"? High handicapper won't do it, but any single digit handicapper might.

Secondly, hitting the middle of the green from 150 for a 18-handicapper is a lot larger a confidence boost than going at a pin and dunking it in the sand or water. In other words, a high handicapper is going to fail a helluva lot more than he'll succeed at low-percentage shots, and the result can't be very good.

Even a pro fails more often than not at a low-percentage shot. That's why it's "low percentage!"

[Thrash13]

I used to hit the low-percentage shot very often, and I usually got a double bogey or worse for my efforts. Every once in awhile, I would get a little lucky and pull of something great.

I agree thought that it's ok to take the low-percentage shot every once in awhile. It makes the game more fun IMO, and if beginners do pull off the great shot, they will be even more hooked.

The more I have played, the less I hit the low-percentage shot. I don't necessarily call it the high-percentage shot, however. I call it "minimizing my losses." :)

[muda]

The way I've been swinging, every shot is a low percentage shot.

[Rickins]

Thanks for the input.

There's a great deal of sense in what Erik suggests about hitting the green from 150 yards being a bigger confidence booster than potentially pulling off the low-percentage shot. The former is what even a beginner might expect of himself/herself after getting some rounds in. The latter will invariably be seen as simply luck rather than a repeatable play.

Like Cody, I confess to playing the low-percentage shot here and there, probably more often than I have any right to. And, I agree that it adds to the fun for me. Years back, my quest for low scores became such an obsession that it nearly destroyed my love for the game. I still take the game quite seriously but I no longer take myself so seriously.

muda, come to think of it, the game's been a lot more fun recently. Maybe we've got the same problem going...

Rick

[S.Irons]

I always used to play the "low percentage" shot because it was great when I would make it and it is so much fun to try those shots. When I would always play those shots I didn't really care to much about my score and I didn't even have a handicap set up. Back then the consequence of not making that shot didn't really bother me at all.

Now that I am a little more serious about golf and trying to lower my score and handicap and generally improve I am more concerned with playing smarter and using some better course management.

Consequently, playing many more "high-percentage" shots these days I am improving and my scores and handicap are dropping. In doing this I feel that I am improving as a golfer on the whole so when I do have a "low-percentage" shot that I do want to try these days it is not as low of a percentage, for the most part, as it used to be for me.

[hig4s]

The way I've been swinging, every shot is a low percentage shot.

Word!!!

[You're Away]

I also used to play the low percentage shots all the time but now I force myself to take my medicine and move on. However, I occassionally go play 9 by myself and will often play 2 balls (sometimes to compare 2 different golf balls) and I designate 1 as my "official" ball and the other is just practice. The first ball is my high percentage ball and the second is a 'go for it' ball so that way I get to practice some of the shots I may not normally play. I've gotten pretty good at the flop shot this way even though I still rarely use it in a regular round.
Just for the record, the high percentage ball almost never loses (and rarely gets lost ).

Chris

[S.Irons]

Many times when I am playing by myself I will also play two balls to compare different balls or different playing styles or course mangement strategies. It is interesting to me how similar my scores are most of the time with the two balls. Most of the time when the scores are noticeably different the lower score comes from the ball that I am playing it safe with. Go figure.