What I Learned From 9 Holes With a Much Better Player

[darthweasel]

I play in a 9 hole league on Wednesday with a longtime friend who...is not good. You have to use 2 of each guys drives, and we routinely take his that barely makes the fairway on 1 over mine that is a hundred yards further up because it takes the pressure off him and he plays better...well, this week he was out with injury and a co-worker joined me. I was up front with the league director and my opponents for this week (2-man scramble, match play) that I was bringing a ringer. (Last I checked he was a +1...he varies between scratch and +2)  It became a running joke to the point that on 8 when I sunk a putt, I did a fist pump and said "contribution!" laughing and they said, "yeah that is what...1 drive and 1 putt for you?" cool guys we all had fun. 

 

Anyhow, it was illuminating to me. Hole 1 he had a natural birdie, and it was each shot that made it. His drive was maybe 10 yards longer but also 5 yards more accurate than mine. His approach gave us an 8' birdie putt, mine was on the fringe. I would have parred the hole most likely playing my own ball.  I had teed off first and went with a shorter club for a "safety" shot. After the hole, he kind of looked at me, said "you are good enough to use your driver, especially in a scramble."

Lesson: I have grown used to hitting "safe" shots instead of hitting the correct shot. That leaves longer shots to the green which, while within my capability, are harder than if I hit a confident driver off the tee. I need to play with confidence.

 

Second hole, I thought he knew where the water was but he didn't. I had...lets be generous and call it a suboptimal drive, he rinsed his. We were left with a blind shot over a tree covered hill to a green running 45 degrees, roughly 163 to the center. I thought I had hit a pretty good shot but of course we could not see the result, he goes, we get up to the green...our balls were about 6' apart, both on the green but in likely 2 putt area. And we both did leave it where a 2-putt happened. 

Lesson: actually 3-fold. First, course knowledge is very valuable. Had he taken the right line, he was likely on the green. Second, a bad shot doesn't kill the hole. After my skyball drive, we still both parred. 3rd, while not consistently, I am getting to where I can hit a shot that is within shouting distance. I think it was 4 times in the round that our balls came to rest within just a few feet of each other.

Hole 3 is downhill par 3 with water behind the green. I hit what I thought was a good shot that I was happy with, landing back edge of green. He was just past the pin and maybe 12' left of it. Both likely 2 putts, but again his was enough better to be worth a half stroke.  

Lesson: I did not want to look incompetent and sometimes struggle with my PW, so a 150 yard downhill shot, when I should take the PW, I go long. He hits the correct club. I made great contact and the club went where designed. Hit the correct club. Hit the correct club. Hit the correct club. Goes back to the lesson on hole 1, play with confidence and hit the correct club. I may still be mad at myself about this one. 

Hole 4 he again outdrove me but it was a location I can get to length wise...but because of the creek on the right, I tend to miss further left leaving me on the hillside with ball beneath my feet.  However, on this one, the outdrive was because I massively overswung trying to hit as far as he does, lost my tempo and lost a huge amount of distance. He then hit one of his very few bad shots of the day, chunking his wedge. Mine hit the green and the slope carried it off into the fringe. We did get up and down after I chipped it close. Huzzah, contribution!

Lesson:  Play my game. Play it with confidence, but play my game. I can't hit it as far as he can. I should not be taking the same club as he is, I should not try to hit his shots. I should hit mine, with confidence.

 

Hole 5 he stuck it to about 4' and had another natural par. Nothing to see here, it was just awesome watching the gorgeous hole. I guess the lesson is a tautology, good players play good. I occasionally stick it close on a par 3 and generally make the putt. He often sticks it close...

 

Hole 6, long par 5 to an elevated green. He again outdrove me by 30 yards or so, I am on right side of fairway in the rough on a hill. He is left of fairway. However, on this particular hole, that leaves a narrow shot to the green from where he was and a miss long or right is likely a lost ball, a miss left is in the forest barring a lucky bounce whereas mine had an angle that widened the green. I really wanted to take my shot, left us I think 223 uphill. But I did not want to suggest a longer shot from not the fairway. He actually suggested taking mine because of the angle. I hit my hybrid toward the left side knowing it slants right, actually got into it a bit and ended up on the fringe at the back. I was thrilled with that shot. Because he is better than me, of course he put his on the green leaving us a 20' eagle putt.  both of us came close, he a bit closer, and we birdied the hole. 

Lesson: Actually it was one that reinforced something. I was not confident in suggesting we take mine, but the angle and probable outcome of the next shot mattered. Course positioning meant my miss played well and part of that was my initial line. I know anything left of the dead center fairway leaves a tight angle and even centerish is not necessarily fun. Where I am at on my approach shot matters. I need to be more aware of that. I tend to normally start further left on this hole because of how wide the fairway is but knowing I want to come in from the right...better angles have better results. 

 

Hole 7 is another par 5. My drive was again 20 yards shorter than his, we both had really good second shots...but his was pin high, another eagle putt. Using either of ours would have been natural birdie but his was just a little better each time...fun to watch.

Hole 8 he just had a titanic drive, I could not compete with. This was another one where both chips gave us about a 6' putt. I called my shot on this one, "I am going to contribute" and drained it at which point the opponents (who were 2 under themselves) made their crack. It was pretty funny. 

Hole 9 we all went for it trying to drive the green that is roughly 320 out but also has a slight downhill leading to it. He missed just right going down the hill to a shortsided blind chip that is...Mickelson would enjoy it, nobody else would. This was another time I really ramped up my swing trying to match him and hit a skyball that went nowhere. We had to take mine and from 160ish out, our balls came to rest about 3' apart with his again being slightly better. 

 

We ended up 5 under for 9 which seems good...but better was the lessons I learned. If I play my game instead of trying to hit shots beyond my capability, play with confidence, consider the angles of my misses, don't get out of sorts from a bad shot I can manage the big numbers and have, for me, a good score.  I don't have his length, his wedge accuracy, the ability to hit a draw or cut as needed, so I am not going to be around par. But I can be better than I am without improving my swing, just making better choices. I have only ever broken 80 once and shot even 80 about a week ago...8 strokes better than any other round this year. The raw ability is there, I just need to play smarter. Then I can work on improving around the wedges...put the wedge to 8' instead of 8 yards more consistently, eliminate the mishits...

 

This seems like one of those things I just needed to think through and type out to lock those lessons in as I have learned many of them before but they didn't stick..but hey what do I know. There is a reason I am a mediocre golfer

[Shindig]

Thanks for sharing, I enjoyed the read.

Playing your own game is important.  Many years ago, there was a woman at my home club who would play from the blue tees, hit her drives about 230, and would shoot in the high 70s/low 80s.  It was fun being paired with her because... well, playing with good players is always fun, but I also enjoyed watching men who couldn't handle being outdriven by her try to hit the ball further, mostly unsuccessfully.  I knew I couldn't compete with her for distance (and I don't think I was ever competing against her anyway), but that really helped. 

As for the safe shot vs correct shot, I think the driver is the right club a lot more often than many think it is.  Fairways hit are overrated in most golfers' minds and distance from the tee is underrated as a contributor to scoring.  

[Vinsk]

21 minutes ago, Shindig said:

As for the safe shot vs correct shot, I think the driver is the right club a lot more often than many think it is.  Fairways hit are overrated in most golfers' minds and distance from the tee is underrated as a contributor to scoring.  

Yeah. 100% agree.

[StuM]

1 hour ago, Shindig said:

As for the safe shot vs correct shot, I think the driver is the right club a lot more often than many think it is

I think this applies to more then just the driver.  A couple years back one of the better players on my league told me to stop always playing the safe shot.  I had always believed "1 Bad shot does not need to lead to 2 bad shots" and would almost always take the easiest way out of trouble back into the fairway, even if that meant hitting the ball side-ways and not advancing at all.  Truth was, I was so afraid to risk a 2nd bad shot I was lever taking a chance.  Understand, I am not talking about "trying to hit a draw around a tree then through a needle and over a bunker type risk" but if there is a reasonable chance to advance the ball that is what I will do.  Sometimes it backfires, but not always.

[colin007]

I feel like if I could control my driver, or at least knew which direction it will start and curve, I could be 5 strokes better. I have more confidence in a Tokyo Olympics condom than I do my driver....

[iacas]

I agree with almost everything you said except that good players stick it close pretty often. They don’t. They do hit greens and have tighter dispersion, but they aren’t sticking it to 8’ very often. Or 12’. Or even 18’.

It can be easier to stick it close when you have a ton of wedges and soft greens though, too. But it’s still kinda rare.

[darthweasel]

On 6/18/2021 at 1:24 PM, iacas said:

I agree with almost everything you said except that good players stick it close pretty often. They don’t. They do hit greens and have tighter dispersion, but they aren’t sticking it to 8’ very often. Or 12’. Or even 18’.

It can be easier to stick it close when you have a ton of wedges and soft greens though, too. But it’s still kinda rare.

I had studied the numbers a lot a while ago and  do know most of us (including me) definitely think they get closer than they do more often. And there is no doubt this was a great day for Taylor. I don't think he missed a green on the second shot except once. That is not a typical day. And close is a very unspecific term I should know better than to use. All relative. Close for me is anywhere on the green, sadly and that is what I need to work on.

Same with putting...I love watching guys who routinely ship it 5' past the hole from 10' out get upset because "I should have made that. Practically a gimme"...uh, no it wasn't...statistically, it isn't a gimme for the best players in the world, that guy it is a low percentage attempt. Intellectually i know that but do sometimes forget it in the moment.

 

At the same time, I definitely need to work on my approaches. Per Strokes gained, they are my weakest area...just not accurate from there at a level that matches the rest of my game. Putting, despite declining, is the strongest at -.02, approaches at -.45. Seems like low-hanging fruit lol. I have no illusions I will stick it tour close but would be nice to find the green from 150 and in instead of my current average of 3.6/round. Seems...bad. But I like checking in to see where I need to put the 65% time. 

[Typhoon92]

Thing is TV shows the good shots, the putts being made so we all think they hit everything close and make every putt.

Go look up PGA tour proximity to the hole... you’d be surprised it’s not close like you see.