Playing to Strength

[Travtex]

Well, I'm all kinds of excited though I guess in the Grand Scheme it's a pretty small victory. Well enough to make me want to start keeping an actual handicap, anyway. :D

I was thinking that I'd been talking up my iron swing WAY too much, so once I finally got a chance to get back on a course I thought I'd give myself a put up or shut up round. Just a shortish exec course, but I focused the entire nine on giving myself an approach shot in the 100-160 range. If that meant I was taking an 8 iron off the tee on a short Par 4, then so damn well be it.

Now, I don't know what my actual index is, and I was on a Par 68 exec rated at about 64 and change, but I came into the 9th at six over. I'm usually giving up on keeping score by the 9th. (I did take one mulligan, so in my head I'm adding two to that score... but it -still- was coasting at a personal best.)

Now, of course, my brain got in the way... I skulled my approach shot and it skittered right over the green leaving me with a safari lie between two low-branching trees to a short-sided pin on a green about five feet above me and only about fifty feet away. Tried to get creative and just roll an eight iron chip right up the hill... actually WORKED, but on the second try. I chunked the first attempt and ended up with a double on the hole.

So, +8 for Nine with one mulligan. On an exec course I'm still calling that crappy golf, but I left at least four shots out there. Chunked chip, lipped short putt, excitedly skulled approach shot, etc. A couple pitches were 'Happy about a bad result' pitches. I -nailed- my target... only it was a pretty stupid target to begin with. Experience thing, there.

Anyway, just had to throw my day's round out there for the 'Play to your strength' approach -- In one round, just changing my philosophy shaved off 8 or 9 strokes over just nine holes.

[Gebus]

The fact that you figured that out is great, most golfers will go their playing lives with out discovering that. We'll take my father for example he is a 30ish handicapper, he hits a nice drive usually followed by an okay approach shot but put a sand wedge in his hands and ask him to chip and expect him to take at least three tries at it before its on the green. Even with that horrific chipping game he will still play a par 4 drive->approach (which always lands 10 yards from the green)->chip->chip->chip->putt->putt->putt. Since he refuses to practice the last round we played last year (which is in late July if you've never been to Montreal lol) I told him to drive the ball the hit an approach shot to fifty yards from the pin since I knew he was fairly good at that 3/4 PW swing. He shot an 85 the best round of his life.

Your theory of play to your strengths is not only true for weaker players, I consider my self a good player (the only reason my handicap is more than 4 or 5 is because I 4 putt from 4 feet, I know... I am working on it) I usually hit 80% of fairways and 70% of greens in a day but I myself will hit an approach shot on a par 5 to 50-75 yards from the green instead of 25-50 because from 25-50 yards I struggle to put enough spin on the ball to really put the ball in tight.