I'm letting this three hole stretch kill me....post simular if you have them

[Dub]

There is a 3 hole stretch on my home course that was eating me alive also:

Yup....this is where I'm heading with my approach to these holes.

[Doctorfro]

The last four holes of my home course are a challenge within the course. Par 4/3/4/5. If I come out of those holes 1 over or better I'm usually happy. 2 over or more is the norm. If I'm to have a good score I have to tear it up to through 14 so I have a cushion going into the final four stretch.

[Dub]

Played the 3 hole stretch in 5 over again today......tripled the island par 3.....lipped out a birdie put on the par 5......doubled the peninsula par 3.

[RocketSauce]

thats a beautiful course you play there. very impressive

[picrig]

Lately the last two holes on my home course have been killing me. Have ruined what would've been otherwise decent scores the last two days.

Seventeen is a 376 yard dogleg right with an OB area if you get greedy trying to hug the right side and hit a little slice. The green is interesting...very narrow in front (probably 10 yards max) w/a bunker on the left, and then the green kind of curves around the bunker (imagine an upside down, backwards L). Pin placement is normally in front, and there's no way to 1 putt from anywhere on the back left of the green, so I mentally get into this trap of telling myself I have to hit the perfect shot and get on the narrow front portion of the green. It's led to a triple/double my last two rounds.

Eighteen is a brutal par 3 to close the course, especially with a back pin placement. Plays 217 from the back tees and the green is elongated front left to back right. Two large bunkers guard the hole short and right, so if you miss, you want to miss left. When pin placement is in the back, you have to carry both bunkers (about 217 to get over them) to get on the green and then stop the ball on a dime before it rolls of the back. I finished triple/double my last two rounds there.

I'm happy if I play those holes in +1. But, instead of posting an 84 yesterday and an 82 today, I posted an 89 and an 85.

[FortAsel]

I did this in the middle of the year because of not having the desired scores on 5 holes.

1. Pick up some 10 golf balls.
2. Tee them all up on the island green tee.
3. Play them to the green.

Yes you will lose most of them, but just wait to see that if you keep practicing like this, you will get a big boost of confidence, because, eventually, you'll be hitting that green fairly often. I recomend doing this by the end of the day, thats what I did. Oh, I also asked the guys at the clubhose to do that, so that I wouldn't get suspended.

[ks8829]

I believe you have to change your mind set that you are lucky to par one of the three holes and that you will settle for boogies.

Then play the hole accordingly with lay ups and playing to your strenght, whether that is chipping or hitting a 80 yards shot into the hole for an up and down for par.

[Dub]

thats a beautiful course you play there. very impressive

Thanks....the greenskeeper and groundsmen work hard. The staff there is outstanding. I've found nothing that wasn't to my liking.

The course is "wintered-up" at the moment but the greens are still rolling true and moderately fast....can't wait until the spring green-up. Gonna head out and play in a couple of hours and wearing shorts!!!!! Gotta love this warm spell we are having.

[Dub]

Played the three hole stretch 2 over today.

It would have been much, much better but I brainlocked on the par 5.

Hit the longest drive of the threesome, a solid shot, just pulled a bit. Hit a 3 iron layup into the wind. Chunked my 6 iron. Fatted a sandwedge from a mucky lie. Three putted (first was off the green).

Made birdie on the Island hole.

Double bogeyed the par 5.

Bogeyed the peninsula par 3.

It's getting better. The island is all mental...a fact I've known. Easy tempo and light grip pressure with a full follow-through.....dedication to the shot.

[Dub]

Update:

Things are improving on the "Stretch" as I now think of it.

I played in a foursome this past Thursday and did well on the stretch.

Our foursome consisted of a 15hcp, 6hcp, 3hcp and me. I'd started off the round poorly....I showed up three mins prior to the actual tee time...much to the dismay of my playing partners. They ribbed me a bit. I was still getting shoes on and shucking off jacket, etc while stepping up to first tee box.

Played the first three holes like an idiot making poor swings. Finally settled down and got in a groove of sorts. Never again will I show up and not warm up a bit on the range....it just doesn't pan out for me if I don't.

Anyway...finally settled down on the two holes leading up to the Island par 3.
It was fairly windy and playing 175yds.

The 15hcp dunked his tee ball into the water.

The 6hcp hit a very high hybrid shot that started well right of the green and the wind moved it over the left side...just barely staying on fringe area.

The 3hcp hit his towering iron shot that tracked mainly over the flag...he hit a high cut that fought the left to right wind. He landed on the front edge and rolled into the water.

I stepped up and stayed dedicated to my club choice....4 iron. I took aim for the right side of the green and put a great swing on it...a flush strike. The ball landed just short and right of the flag and rolled back 12 ft or so on a hill. I made the putt squarely for my second birdie on the hole ever. Fairly smooth.

Busted a long tee ball on the par 5 next. Scored okay.

Hit another good ball on the next par 3...wind killed it. Didn't get up in down...took a bogie on the hole.

Finished the Stretch in 1 over.

It's all mental....mostly. Just letting the water and wind scare me and create tension in my swing.

[kingofcars08]

Windsor Golf Club
http://www.hookedongolf.com/windsor/
Holes 7,8,9. I usually go into between even and +3. First 6 holes are very scoreable.

The Long par 3 is into the wind most of the time, and up hill. Usually plays about 230-240. With the bunkers and severly sloping green and hills, Par is very hard to achieve. I have hit the green and three jacked with a back pin, and I have been in bunker and made 5.

The par 4 is very short, but the only place to hit driver is to cut the lake. Bunkers are easily driveable, and the wind blows left to right, so it is a very hard tee shot. If you hit 3,5 wood or hybrid, you leave yourself with 120-170 with a green that is trapped by sand in the back, and water in the front, with only 10 yards in depth.

The par 5 is not that difficult, but for some reason plays tough for me, with lots of trouble left off the tee, then trouble right off the second and third shots, the creek in the middle hasnt been my friend lately either.

[Dub]

That is a beautiful course....excellent website for your home course.

The par 3 uphill into the wind playing from the tips.....ouch....looks like big number country.

The par 5 wrapping around the water looks tough, too.

[Chief Broom]

Thought I'd resurrect this old thread...

Dub's island par 3 is a patently unfair hole. I can say this unequivocally because I played it with him yesterday and after losing my 3 ball max I played out the hole by tending the pin for him! Actually I was quite impressed with Dub's home tract (Gordon Lakes Golf Club in Augusta, Ga.). Besides that one gimicky hole (a pretty accurate recreation of #17 at sawgrass) the rest of the course is challenging but fair.

I really don't mind an island or isolated green, but it's the yardage on this one that pushes the envelope of fairness (IMHO). A bogey golfer really isn't capable of pulling off a mid to long iron approach with such tight tolerances (at least not consistantly). Another local course has it's own island green par 3 too, but at 128yds from the white tees the same sized target is much more accessable with a wedge in hand.

[Dub]

It was a lot of fun playing with you Chief Broom....and your assesment of the hole is spot on.


It's gotta be a mental thing, too. I just haven't unlocked it yet.

I may just start hitting SW to the drop zone and SW from there...two putts and get a bogey and run away quickly!!!!!

Gotta admit...playing that island hole will certainly inspire one to bust a big drive on the next hole....a lot of frustrations have been taken out on that next tee.

It's almost enough to make a man want to cuss.

[Chilli Dipper]

The fifth, sixth, and seventh holes at Lanier Golf Club in Cumming, GA.

Hole #5: 378 yards, par 4. An elevated tee shot to a very narrow fairway. Two fairway bunkers protect a slight dogleg left; anything past them drops off dead into the woods. Trees line the right side of the fairway, but at least one can recover from there. The second shot requires more club than it looks, and anything that misses the green is likely to find one of the three greenside bunkers, or at least force a carry over them. I have all sorts of problems with the drive on this hole; saving par is all but impossible from off the fairway.

Hole #6: 339 yards, par 4. Dogleg right around a pond that begins just at the lower reaches of the landing area on the drive. Even if a tee shot that tempts the hazard stays dry, the second shot from that angle has a large tree sitting directly in front of the green. This hole is 4-wood/wedge for me, but no matter how far left I set up off the tee, I seem to draw the ball back to the right side, where the tree blocks my ideal line.

Hole #7: 342 yards, par 4. The tee shot on this dogleg left plays downhill into a landing area as tight as the fifth. Out of bounds lurks on the inside of the dogleg for anyone who fails to negotiate the pines protecting the corner; a bunker awaits any drive that runs through. A gaping bunker sits in front of the smallest green on the course, which favors a left-to-right approach shot. My problem on this hole is positioning my tee shot; I usually play a 3-iron off the tee, but if I play the ball too far to the left, I have to keep my second shot low under the limbs of the pines.

[Prairie Golfer]

At my home course, it is 1,2,3 AND 16,17,18 that are my problem holes.

[kris]

I don't really have problem holes per se but I ALWAYS seem to let 2 or 3 random holes (could be different every time) get me and blow my score way up. It's like I lose concentration a little bit make a couple bad shots and I'm screwed. It is very annoying and it happens every round. I just have to eliminate those holes and I'd be shooting mid 80s. agghh

[Dub]

3 hole stretch got me again yesterday.

44 on the front...not great...but then again not too bad.

Started off the back nicely...thinking I'd hammer down and card a respectable score.

2 over on the back nines first five holes and then I get to the island hole....playing 170yds with a right to left wind that was gusting nicely...fear crept into my mind and hit a bad tee shot...poor pass at the ball...took bogey on the hole.

Next hole par 5...as usual I step up to the box and want to kill it after coming off the island green. Kill it I did....big ole sweeping hook that soared out over the lake and splashed. Wound up with a double on the hole.

Next hole par3 peninsula...playing 180...same right to left wind....hit a solid 5 iron that got up high......and then moved hard left after reaching it's appex...splash. Another double on the hole.


It's stupid....letting one tee shot mess up my thought process which definately disrupts my ability to execute. This hole is a beast....but I'm letting the effects bleed over into the next holes.

Gotta control my anger and think my way around better.

What could have been a round in the low 80's wound up being a dead even 90.....arghhhhhh.