Lost My Game

[ProStuart]

Hi

I don't post here very often (last time was years ago!) but feel I need some input from you guys on my game at the moment.

I'm a 51 year old guy - go to the gym regularly and like to think I'm in pretty good shape.  I started playing golf late in life - 20 odd years ago.  Within 5 years, I was down to an 8 handicap.  Back then I saved some stats on my average rounds 2001 - 104, 2002 - 96, 2003 - 88, 2004 - 84, 2005 - 81.  Since 2005, my handicap gradually went up (having 3 kids, family life, work, etc.) so until COVID hit, my handicap was always around 10 or 11.

Scroll forward to 2022 and my average for the last 12 months has been around 92-95 strokes with my index now at 14.6.  I've been for lessons to check my fundamentals - as far as the pro is concerned, all looking pretty good.

I've always played once a week on a Sunday at my home course all these years - with the occasional society days throughout the year.  I play every week - rain or shine.

Yes, I'm older now so I've lost some distance but I'm still hitting drives 230-240 and my 7 iron is still pretty much around the 150 mark.

I've started buying all these training tools - elbow armbands, flat training balls, top of backswing angle check thingy.  I've been going to the range 1-2 times a week trying to figure out what I'm doing wrong - of course 90% of the shots at the range are crushed at target.  I've been chipping in my back garden (something I've never done!) too.

Am I expecting too much?  I had a game once but now when I go out, I don't feel confident at all - it's like I'm wondering where the next shot is going to end up all the time - whether that be with the driver or the putter.

Any suggestions as to what next?  I'm going on a golfing trip to Spain in 2 weeks with some buddies and want to have fun for a change!

Thanks for reading.

Stu

[pganapathy]

Considering you are hitting the ball well on the range it essentially comes down to two things.  Course management and the mental side of competitive golf (not necessarily tournaments but even playing with somebody else for a 5 dollar bet).  I am assuming you are facing confidence issues on the course and that is filtering down into your body making funny swings.  On the range you don't worry about the outcome of a shot

[ProStuart]

Thanks pganapathy - happy to entertain any potential suggestion as to whats going on but assuming you're right, any suggestions as to a fix?

[pganapathy]

Course management is a much easier fix.  Figure out what your natural shot shape and take that into account while planning.  Also, understand your strengths and weaknesses.  Then, read something like Lowest Score Wins or other similar material to help you plot your way around the course.

If it is more of a mental issue, regarding confidence, there is no one size fits all approach unfortunately.  You just need to figure out what would help you.  One thing I might suggest is play the next couple of rounds treating each hole as a par +1.  So it will be par 4, 5 and 6.  Then you wouldn't need to hit difficult shots (for example 180 yard carry over water as you could bail out and hit green with 100 and 80 yard shots and length wouldn't be a consideration).  This sort of thing might help you regain your confidence since you will find yourself hitting shots without stressing about the outcome

[iacas]

Do you hit at targets on the range? Change clubs every swing? Etc.?

Also, start or revive your member topic. I doubt there’s not something you can’t pick off, some low hanging fruit.

[bking]

I love the tip about playing a round considering holes as +1.

 

Something else to consider - if you're losing distance off the tee, have you considered moving in a tee to ease the pressure on a round or two? I see a lot of older golfers that stubbornly  still play from the tips even when they have lost a little distance (or controllable distance more like it)

[ProStuart]

Thanks iacas - have you been admin here for many years? I think I recall seeing your name years ago!

Yes, I do aim at different targets on the range and switching clubs - playing my course in my head is something new I've been trying.

Wasn't sure what you meant on your 2nd paragraph 🙂

2 minutes ago, bking said:

I love the tip about playing a round considering holes as +1.

 

Something else to consider - if you're losing distance off the tee, have you considered moving in a tee to ease the pressure on a round or two? I see a lot of older golfers that stubbornly  still play from the tips even when they have lost a little distance (or controllable distance more like it)

Here in the UK, most courses have just the 2 tees - yellow for "standard" play and "white" for competition play.

[bking]

1 hour ago, ProStuart said:

Wasn't sure what you meant on your 2nd paragraph 🙂

Here in the UK, most courses have just the 2 tees - yellow for "standard" play and "white" for competition play.

Well, it appears that once more American courses may trick things up more than other countries.  Courses here will usually have 2 (if not 3) sets of tees for Men.  

For example, my "home" course is 3 nine hole courses, where on a given day you'll play 2 of them. Here's what the men's tees look like for Course A:

Blue: 3201 yds

White: 3014 yds

Green (typically seniors): 2725 yds

I'll see 20+ handicappers playing from the Blues all the time, then end up struggling on approaches.

[iacas]

1 hour ago, ProStuart said:

Wasn't sure what you meant on your 2nd paragraph 

🙂

https://thesandtrap.com/forums/forum/13-member-swings/

And yes, I’ve been the admin for awhile. 😀

[billchao]

12 hours ago, pganapathy said:

One thing I might suggest is play the next couple of rounds treating each hole as a par +1.  So it will be par 4, 5 and 6.  Then you wouldn't need to hit difficult shots (for example 180 yard carry over water as you could bail out and hit green with 100 and 80 yard shots and length wouldn't be a consideration).

I’m not quite following this line of thought. Scoring isn’t chasing pars, it’s holing out in the fewest strokes. A round of 18 5s is still a 90, whether you want to call it four pars for the round or ten “pars” and four “birdies.”

[bking]

On 10/13/2022 at 7:57 PM, billchao said:

I’m not quite following this line of thought. Scoring isn’t chasing pars, it’s holing out in the fewest strokes. A round of 18 5s is still a 90, whether you want to call it four pars for the round or ten “pars” and four “birdies.”

Technically yes, but IMO there's a difference between all 5's and how you scored against par on individual holes. A 6 on a par 5 doesn't bother me NEAR as much as a 6 on a par 3 would. It's about playing to expectations hole by hole that is a key part of how I think I'm doing.

[billchao]

On 10/15/2022 at 7:17 PM, bking said:

Technically yes, but IMO there's a difference between all 5's and how you scored against par on individual holes. A 6 on a par 5 doesn't bother me NEAR as much as a 6 on a par 3 would. It's about playing to expectations hole by hole that is a key part of how I think I'm doing.

Are you going to feel any better about that 6 on a par 3 if you call it a par 4?

My point is, if a player is going for high risk shots because they’re chasing score relative to par instead of trying to get the best score they can from whatever position they’ve put themselves into, their approach seems flawed. I fail to see how arbitrarily adding a stroke to par would change my approach to any hole.

[bking]

13 hours ago, billchao said:

Are you going to feel any better about that 6 on a par 3 if you call it a par 4?

My point is, if a player is going for high risk shots because they’re chasing score relative to par instead of trying to get the best score they can from whatever position they’ve put themselves into, their approach seems flawed. I fail to see how arbitrarily adding a stroke to par would change my approach to any hole.

Yeah, I hadn't really considered it in terms of course management and risk avoidance, strictly in terms of how scoring "felt" in hindsight.

[pganapathy]

On 10/13/2022 at 8:57 PM, billchao said:

I’m not quite following this line of thought. Scoring isn’t chasing pars, it’s holing out in the fewest strokes. A round of 18 5s is still a 90, whether you want to call it four pars for the round or ten “pars” and four “birdies.”

Let me put it like this.  If you scored a 5 on a 100 yard and a 600 yard hole, would you consider them the same.  No doubt everybody would be happier scoring that on the 600 yard hole and would consider it bad for the 100 yard hole.  That is why par is an important baseline to consider

[iacas]

4 hours ago, pganapathy said:

Let me put it like this.  If you scored a 5 on a 100 yard and a 600 yard hole, would you consider them the same.  No doubt everybody would be happier scoring that on the 600 yard hole and would consider it bad for the 100 yard hole.  That is why par is an important baseline to consider

His point isn't that you treat every hole as a par four or whatever, but that you simply try to make the lowest score from here you are on each hole.

In other words, if you're 100 yards out, you're looking at three from there. If it's your third on a par five, do not be content to say it's actually a par 6. And if it's your third on a par-three and you're still 100 yards out… you've likely already blown your "par + 1" possibility, so again… who cares?

Constraining yourself to anything like par or "par + 1" is just that: constraining. Simply try to make the best score from every spot that you can (weighing the odds, that is).

[GolfLug]

2 hours ago, pganapathy said:

Let me put it like this.  If you scored a 5 on a 100 yard and a 600 yard hole, would you consider them the same.  No doubt everybody would be happier scoring that on the 600 yard hole and would consider it bad for the 100 yard hole.  That is why par is an important baseline to consider

Yes, lowering expectations to suit capability is fine. Point understood. 

I think @billchaois saying, score relative to par is just semantics in this context. Needed for handicapping but not game planning or execution in general.  

[ChetlovesMer]

On 10/13/2022 at 4:19 AM, ProStuart said:

Thanks pganapathy - happy to entertain any potential suggestion as to whats going on but assuming you're right, any suggestions as to a fix?

I agree with@billchao's point about relative to par. ... Kinda reminds me of the guy in college who would set his alarm clock 10 minutes fast. He was still always late for everything, but this way when he woke up he'd do a little math first and then be just as late as he would have been if he didn't do math first. 

Getting back on track. If I were you and I AM pretty similar to you. Same age, similar handicap, also started golf a little later than many. 

The first thing I'd do is track some stats. If you are playing once a week, you should be able to pretty quickly gain enough "strokes gained" information to find out what's hurting your score the most. Find out where you are losing strokes and work on that part of you game first. If you are hitting approach shots well on the range, but on the course you are losing strokes to a 20 handicapper, you may need to rethink how you practice. 

If you are practicing 1 or 2 times per week and not getting any better... or getting worse. Then I'd suggest you are either not practicing the right things or not practicing the right way. 

So here's my suggestion:

1. Gather data
2. Figure out what piece of your game needs the most improvement.
3. If all of your game is equally good or equally bad, then try to improve the area with the most separation value. 
4. Put together a plan to improve that area of your game
5. Gather more data.
6. Rinse and repeat.

[billchao]

10 hours ago, pganapathy said:

Let me put it like this.  If you scored a 5 on a 100 yard and a 600 yard hole, would you consider them the same.  No doubt everybody would be happier scoring that on the 600 yard hole and would consider it bad for the 100 yard hole.  That is why par is an important baseline to consider

That's not really the same as what you wrote above:

On 10/13/2022 at 7:08 AM, pganapathy said:

One thing I might suggest is play the next couple of rounds treating each hole as a par +1.  So it will be par 4, 5 and 6.  Then you wouldn't need to hit difficult shots (for example 180 yard carry over water as you could bail out and hit green with 100 and 80 yard shots and length wouldn't be a consideration).  This sort of thing might help you regain your confidence since you will find yourself hitting shots without stressing about the outcome

So if you score 5 from 100 yards and call it a "par 4" instead of a par 3, how is that instilling additional confidence? You still scored 5 from 100 yards.

Your original reasoning is that increasing the par number reduces the temptation of going for the hero shot to save par, because you allow yourself an additional stroke to make "par" and I still maintain that's the wrong way of approaching scoring. You're not chasing par (or "par"), you're trying to write the smallest number possible on your card.