Preventing the "blow up" hole?

[vmsea]

I played as a single today, it was raining, but it was relaxing to shoot 9 holes after a hectic week.

It got me thinking - what is the best way to prevent a 'blow up' hole..

I'm a bogey golfer.. shoot around 90.. but I know i have the game to break 90 consistently..

It rained heavily and I had zero warm up.. score card went something like..
bogey, bogey, bogey, par, birdie, par, par, EIGHT (par 4), par

If i could have avoided that 8, it could have been a really good 9, for a bogey golfer..
any tips?

[alomar123]

I played as a single today, it was raining, but it was relaxing to shoot 9 holes after a hectic week.

You avoid that 8 and your in the single digits easily. Whenever it happens to me it was probably because I missed the fairway.

[vmsea]

tee off to the left.. ugly

second chip it back on the fair way

green is over water..
third - went for the green, with option to lay up to the left but didn't.... bad luck? carried it but hit a rock and spun back and into the water..
fourth - penalty
fifth - drop area - chip on
3 putt

i could have eliminated the 3 putt.. i know, but i basically lost it by then.
didn't hit the 3rd shot pure, but i was pretty certain i carried the water.. ugh... :(

[Stretch]

I guess course management is a big part of it. With a water hazard in play around the green, that's a hole where you'd probably be happy with a bogey most days, right? Iron off the tee, lay up, easy wedge over the drink, try to two putt.

[Zeph]

Course management perhaps a little, but mostly it is an erratic swing that sometimes result in a wide shot. Getting a better swing is how you fix it, and also keeping the same focus on every shot. A high handicap can't trust the swing as much, so if focus is lost, it can get messy.

[The Recreational Golfer]

In my experience, my painful experience, blow-up holes are caused by poor decisions more than bad shots. We take too much risk or we don't play smart when in trouble. (That's the royal "we" I'm using here.) The funny thing about those triples ands quads is that when they're over, and you look back on them, they weren't something you had to work all that hard to get.

[sean_miller]

My most common blow up holes are tee shot related. A flubbed tee shot followed by a failed hero recovery attempt. A ball OB or in the woods (or even back to back OB shots - oy). This season double bogey has been my worst score, and I've done that fewer times too.

How? First, I've been looking at the entire scorecard for birdie ops and also for par 3s and 4s that should be played as bogey holes. It takes the big number out of play and with a good putt, maybe a par is in the equation. Second, if a mistake is made off the tee, I dont compound it by biting off more than can be chewed - take those lumps and get the ball back in play wherever the best position is for the third shot.

EDIT: I must have selective memory - I triple bogeyed the first hole of the season. Flubbed tee shot, hero recovery to the wrong fairway, approach into a hazard and finishing off with tidy three-putt.

[DaSportsGuy]

If you hit your tee shot into trouble, just kick it out and try to recover and make bogey. Get that stroke back on the next hole. Double bogeys or worse are usually caused by penalty strokes or trying to go for the hero shot.

[zeg]

I think I had the mother of all blow-up holes yesterday. Nailed a picture-perfect drive down a hill, about 280 yards, hitting the end of the fairway with about 50 left to the green (1). A 3/4 60° should put it on, but I hit fat and came up 10-15 yards short (2). Ok, no problem, I can chip that close. Unfortunately, my chip squirted right off into a high-lipped bunker, in a moderate lie (3). The blast came up about 6 inches too low and rolled to the base of a very steep 3-4 foot rise to get on (4). No chance to blast over that, so I choose the easiest direction out to a safe area and .... pick it clean with the sand wedge, launching it what would have been 60 yards off if it hadn't hit a tree (5). Rake the trap, trudge over, and realize there's no way to get back in less than 2 because of trees in the way and a big mound guarding the back of the green against a low runner. Get it to the bottom of the mound with one chip (6) and up over the green with another (7). Chip on (8) with a so-so chip and 2-putt (9, 10).

Nine. NINE. NNIINNEE to get down from 50 yards. That's my wtf for the month, maybe year. I take solace that it'd be one of those cautionary tales they'd play on TV over and over if I were in the pros...

[martytilma]

My most common blow up holes are tee shot related. A flubbed tee shot followed by a failed hero recovery attempt.

I would agree with that totally!! In my experience, I don't think you can totally avoid a blowup hole. Even pro's have them. With some course management, you can only hope to contain them!!

[Dad-2-3]

My most common blow up holes are tee shot related. A flubbed tee shot followed by a failed hero recovery attempt. A ball OB or in the woods (or even back to back OB shots - oy). This season double bogey has been my worst score, and I've done that fewer times too.

This was and sometimes still is my problem. I didn't (and sometimes still don't) have the skill for the "hero" shot, although I would try it every time. Hell, I didn't have the swing to hit a fairway off a tee (50% of the time I still don't) let alone a low slice around trees back into the fairway or onto a green from a dicey lie. I quickly figured out that I could just chip out and take my medicine and make a much better number than if I tried the "hero" shot. My big numbers still come from tee shots OB or unplayable lies, but it's getting better every day.

[pittpanther]

Nine. NINE. NNIINNEE to get down from 50 yards. That's my wtf for the month, maybe year. I take solace that it'd be one of those cautionary tales they'd play on TV over and over if I were in the pros...

LOL! Because of you, we're going to have 50 posters all saying "High handicappers need to work on their short games!"

[Colinb913]

Whenever I have a BU hole, I just take my time on the next hole and forget all about it. Look at the score at the end, and see if I made it up.

[westcyderydin]

play smart and bear down around the green on a hole that you had to lay up on. i get too many double bogeys cuz i happen to three putt or hit bad chips on the same hole that i hit my tee shot in the woods.

[Boyder]

I agree about my "blow-Ups' typically starting with a bad tee shot followed by a botched recovery attempt, etc, etc ...
The most frustrating ones however are where the tee shot is great, but then I botch the approach and then the chip/pitch and then 3 putt or worse.
I tend to let this situation get in my head. It is getting better - I am learning not to let my mistakes compound and take my medicine when it is called for.

[zeg]

LOL! Because of you, we're going to have 50 posters all saying "High handicappers need to work on their short games!"

Yeah, hope not. My short game is, that story to the contrary, pretty good. It's extremely rare that I turn a near-GIR into anything worse than double bogey, and lately it's been a bogey more often than not. I lose most of my shots to wayward tee shots or approaches or chunked full shots, and I tend to hold steady or slightly win from within about 100 yards. That's part of why yesterday's blow up felt so painful...