1st Tee 190yd Par 3 Strategy

[11bravoveteran]

Hello! The first tee at my home course is a 180-190 tee shot with a valley in the middle.

Walking right out the car with little warm up this hole gets me. Plenty of bail out room left and right but you have to hit it solid or you’ll be 40 yds short. 
what’s your strategy for solid contact no light fat shots on the first swing of the day? Cheers

[billchao]

First swing of the day with no warmup? I’d probably try to hit a 3/4 shot of some kind so the swing is shorter and just focus on getting solid contact.

[klineka]

Do you have the opportunity to arrive earlier and warm your body up?

When there isn't a driving range I like to spend a few extra minutes on chip/pitch shots, basically I try and his as far of chip/pitch shots as space allows to get my body moving as much as I can. 

 

A few swings with a longer club like 3 wood or driver to help loosen up (or an orange whip type device) could help as well. 

But then yes to echo what Bill said, I would probably hit a 200yd shot slightly choked down/partial swing for the first one of the day.

[11bravoveteran]

There’s no driving range, I usually hit a 5 or 4 iron, mostly 4 iron since going 10 yds long is not a bad area either. I do tee it up usual low height. It’s just basically getting low point control the first few swings until I get going. I might putt or chip a few before teeing off but the chipping doesn’t really help me with that first full 4 iron..heh.
Do you take any mini swings to get your divot forward off to the side of the tee box or just swing to get loose, etc? 

I think this hole gets in my head because I played just  the back 9 Saturday and used a 3 hybrid off the par 4 tee without issue. It’s just too much club to hit off the 1st hole without bunting it.

par 3 on the first hole..whew 

[snapfade]

No range? First hole a par 3? Is it an executive course? 

[ChetlovesMer]

57 minutes ago, 11bravoveteran said:

There’s no driving range, I usually hit a 5 or 4 iron, mostly 4 iron since going 10 yds long is not a bad area either. I do tee it up usual low height. It’s just basically getting low point control the first few swings until I get going. I might putt or chip a few before teeing off but the chipping doesn’t really help me with that first full 4 iron..heh.
Do you take any mini swings to get your divot forward off to the side of the tee box or just swing to get loose, etc? 

I think this hole gets in my head because I played just  the back 9 Saturday and used a 3 hybrid off the par 4 tee without issue. It’s just too much club to hit off the 1st hole without bunting it.

par 3 on the first hole..whew 

My first suggestion is "play" that hole every time you go to the practice range.

1. Every time you go to the driving range, make that hole your first swing. Pick out a target at your driving range that is 180-190 out and hit that shot as your very first swing of your practice session. Get used to hitting that shot first. 
2. Then set aside approximately a half dozen balls and a few times per practice session, hit that shot again. Perhaps whenever you switch practice mods. Going from block training with a 6 iron to block training with a PW? ... before you do, hit that shot again. 
3. Keep hitting that shot in practice, both when loosened up and when fresh out of the car. It will get easier. 

My second suggestion is to make sure you carry a club for that shot. 

1. Get yourself on a launch monitor with your 4 iron and measure front/back dispersion as well as left/right dispersion. 
2. Try out a 4 hybrid, a 5-wood, maybe a 7-wood, maybe even driving iron. You could consider a hy-wood too. Basically find something that you are super confident in. Heck, it could be a mini-driver... No matter what the club is pick the one that gives you the highest percentage chance of hitting that shot right out of the box. 

My last suggestion is to give yourself a break on that hole. Re-evaluate what a "good" score on that hole is. If it's a bogey, maybe that's fine. 

 

[billchao]

1 hour ago, 11bravoveteran said:

Do you take any mini swings to get your divot forward off to the side of the tee box or just swing to get loose, etc?

Take a divot? With a practice swing? Never.

1 hour ago, 11bravoveteran said:

It’s just too much club to hit off the 1st hole without bunting it.

So then bunt it, what’s wrong with that?

[StuM]

2 hours ago, snapfade said:

No range? First hole a par 3? Is it an executive course? 

My league has a Par 3 as the #10 hole so every other week that is the 1st hole we play (the back 9 is par 35).  And like above, there is no driving range.  If I have time I try to hit a range before heading to the course but I am always the last group off so any warm-up has cooled down by the time I tee off.  I think it is more a mental thing but I really do hate having to hit my iron before my driver on the 1st hole of the day.    

[snapfade]

7 minutes ago, StuM said:

My league has a Par 3 as the #10 hole so every other week that is the 1st hole we play (the back 9 is par 35).  And like above, there is no driving range.  If I have time I try to hit a range before heading to the course but I am always the last group off so any warm-up has cooled down by the time I tee off.  I think it is more a mental thing but I really do hate having to hit my iron before my driver on the 1st hole of the day.    

With no driving range do you at least get a breakfast ball? 

[StuM]

5 minutes ago, snapfade said:

With no driving range do you at least get a breakfast ball? 

No breakfast ball, but I can drop in the drop area if I pull it into the woods or drop it in the creek.  Of course that is not a free drop.

[11bravoveteran]

2 hours ago, snapfade said:

No range? First hole a par 3? Is it an executive course? 

Nah, it’s a full 18 par 72

1 hour ago, ChetlovesMer said:

My first suggestion is "play" that hole every time you go to the practice range.

1. Every time you go to the driving range, make that hole your first swing. Pick out a target at your driving range that is 180-190 out and hit that shot as your very first swing of your practice session. Get used to hitting that shot first. 
2. Then set aside approximately a half dozen balls and a few times per practice session, hit that shot again. Perhaps whenever you switch practice mods. Going from block training with a 6 iron to block training with a PW? ... before you do, hit that shot again. 
3. Keep hitting that shot in practice, both when loosened up and when fresh out of the car. It will get easier. 

My second suggestion is to make sure you carry a club for that shot. 

1. Get yourself on a launch monitor with your 4 iron and measure front/back dispersion as well as left/right dispersion. 
2. Try out a 4 hybrid, a 5-wood, maybe a 7-wood, maybe even driving iron. You could consider a hy-wood too. Basically find something that you are super confident in. Heck, it could be a mini-driver... No matter what the club is pick the one that gives you the highest percentage chance of hitting that shot right out of the box. 

My last suggestion is to give yourself a break on that hole. Re-evaluate what a "good" score on that hole is. If it's a bogey, maybe that's fine. 

 

That’s a solid strategy, my up and down percentage on that hole is good, just want a birdie opportunity;-)

I played the just the back nine Saturday, teed off with a 2 iron on the 10th hole, found the fairway..go figure..shoot par for 9

1 hour ago, billchao said:

Take a divot? With a practice swing? Never.

So then bunt it, what’s wrong with that?

Just talking the first swing of the day here..bunting a hybrid is ok for a fairway finder but I tend to let the arms take over and low hook it..

6 minutes ago, snapfade said:

With no driving range do you at least get a breakfast ball? 

With friends sometimes, in league never.

[klineka]

8 minutes ago, 11bravoveteran said:

just want a birdie opportunity;-)

Don't we all!

Keep in mind that from 175-200 the average PGA Tour player only hits the green 56% of the time and their average strokes to hole out from 180yds off the tee is 3.05.

So IMO your primary goal should be to never make a 5, be content with a 4, and be very pleased when you get a GIR and/or make a 3.

[11bravoveteran]

12 minutes ago, klineka said:

Don't we all!

Keep in mind that from 175-200 the average PGA Tour player only hits the green 56% of the time and their average strokes to hole out from 180yds off the tee is 3.05.

So IMO your primary goal should be to never make a 5, be content with a 4, and be very pleased when you get a GIR and/or make a 3.

I get that and really I accept missing the green or the first push shot or over draw, it’s that first swing just a little fat iron shot because low point isn’t warmed up yet and then you know you’ve lost 30 yards automatically.

its a love/hate even when we have 9 hole scrambles you can hear the grumbles when someone draws starting  on that hole.

[billchao]

33 minutes ago, 11bravoveteran said:

Just talking the first swing of the day here..bunting a hybrid is ok for a fairway finder but I tend to let the arms take over and low hook it..

A green is just a tiny fairway 😉

I find a lot of people limit themselves by how they think a hole should be played instead of see the many ways it can be played. If there’s plenty of room to run the ball up I don’t see why you couldn’t hit a long chip and run type of shot and just get the ball there, especially if solid contact is your primary goal. The scorecard has no pictures and your friends will stop making fun of you when you keep beating them on that hole.

7 minutes ago, 11bravoveteran said:

I get that and really I accept missing the green or the first push shot or over draw, it’s that first swing just a little fat iron shot because low point isn’t warmed up yet and then you know you’ve lost 30 yards automatically.

What’s the difference between missing the green left/right or short other than your perception of the miss?

I hit a ball so fat on the 12th hole (also a par 3) on Saturday during a tournament, it didn’t even make the ladies tee. I just laughed at it. Then I hit a GW to 8’.

[ChetlovesMer]

38 minutes ago, billchao said:

I hit a ball so fat on the 12th hole (also a par 3) on Saturday during a tournament, it didn’t even make the ladies tee. I just laughed at it. Then I hit a GW to 8’.

But... Did you make the putt? 

[billchao]

1 minute ago, ChetlovesMer said:

But... Did you make the putt? 

Of course not.

[StuM]

1 hour ago, billchao said:

What’s the difference between missing the green left/right or short other than your perception of the miss?

That would depend on the hole.  The Par-3 I mentioned on my course if you are right of the green you may need to clear a bunker and then stop the ball quickly because the greens runs away  from you and if you go off the green there is a steep hill and you could easily be well off the green with a high pitch-up needed to get back on it.

[billchao]

14 minutes ago, StuM said:

That would depend on the hole.  The Par-3 I mentioned on my course if you are right of the green you may need to clear a bunker and then stop the ball quickly because the greens runs away  from you and if you go off the green there is a steep hill and you could easily be well off the green with a high pitch-up needed to get back on it.

Well obviously where you can miss highly depends on the layout of the hole in question, but based on what @11bravoveteran said he can accept a push or an overdraw but not the fat shot which suggests to me both left and right are acceptable misses, but the fat shot is not simply because of the quality of contact. My point is that's simply a matter of perception. I can think of plenty of par 3s that are going to be easier to play from 30 yards short of the green than even half that distance from the edge, pin high on either side.