Got all in my own head...aka wings fell off

[Jack Lee]

I played 9 holes Friday morning with a twosome that I was added onto at the course. I learned a valuable lesson from one of the coolest shots I have ever hit and the result of it.

I have been working with a pro to try to develop as a golfer. I am really finding benefit from this and it is causing me many laughs as I mess up my game with improvements. (Kind of hard to score if you are allowing for a much worse swing than you have currently, but that is a whole 'nother topic.) One thing I am still struggling with working into my new game is my driver. I just don't have the comfort level that I used to (with my bad swing).

I was teeing off that round with my 3 wood and 3 hybrid on most holes, as appropriate, until we got to a dogleg left par 5 with a nice, wide fairway. The corner of the dogleg was better than 300 yards out, so I knew I couldn't possibly drive through it and the fairway was wide enough that if I pushed or pulled the drive (my two most common driver problems at the moment as I readjust my swing) I was still likely to be in short grass. So I turned to my playing partners and said "What the hey, let's see what I can do with the big stick."
I pick my target, set up, and let her rip.
HOLY CRAP what a drive!
I pulled it just a touch, but still a nice, gentle draw that came to rest at the left edge of the fairway. One of the guys I was with looked at me and said "Quite a bit, apparently." as he shook his head.

I get to the ball and check the distance on my skycaddie. 271!!! I was stunned to say the least. I have been averaging about 225 with the driver lately as I try to readjust to my new swing.

So, I check the range to the green and the trusty gps says something like 220. I don't have anything approaching a clean line to the green, but I know that 220 is in my range. I was standing there, trying to decide what to play and I just couldn't get my swollen ego to stop saying "You can make 220 easy. Then you have your first ever shot at eagle." Now, I had a side hill lie from my left to my right. I was shy of the corner of the dogleg and didn't even have a hole in the trees that I could kid myself that I could shoot through. I should have played a lay up as far into the corner of the dogleg as I could safely reach to have the easy, straight approach shot to the green and played out for par. But, noooooooooo. My elephant ego started running the show.

"You can bend it." says the ego "you've done it before." (on that very hole on one memorable occasion)

"I should lay it up" says my butterfly golf swing.

"But it will be an eagle try." says the elephant "just one more swing as sexy as that drive and you are there."

So, all full of visions of turning that amazing (best ever by a long shot) drive into my first ever eagle, I went for it. I pull out the three wood, set myself for a hard left turning shot, and belted the flying snot out of that ball.

.....so did anybody here forget that side hill lie I referenced earlier? I surely did when I was thinking out that shot. If I hadn't been set up to bend that shot, I most likely would have sliced it into next week. There was a pretty good slope there.
As it was, I watched with a sickened fascination as my perfectly struck 3 wood went something like 230 yards.......straight as an arrow and so deep into the woods that I was laughing at myself before it even fell into the trees.

With a bit of help from that penalty stroke and my current inability to judge my distances on my clubs, I turned a almost sure bogey or par into a 10.
My elephant ego wrote the check and when it came time for that butterfly golf swing to cash it, the wings just dropped right off.

I have to say that I understand now why I read in my favorite golf magazine at least one tip giver a month saying something like "know your limits and play within yourself if you want to score". Now, if only I can find it in myself to actually listen to that advice.

Oh, well. I guess some of us hard heads just can't listen.

Y'all take care!
Jack Lee

[richard]

Funny story, Jack. It happens to all of us though. We always want to strive for that Eagle but in the end should have probably settled for par. I figure it's always better to keep to the fairways and play the simple shot. A lot less stress at the end of the day.

[DocWu1948]

I hope I remember tales/advice like this when I go out in 6 hours to play, but I never do. :)

[Koth]

I think you made the right move by going for it. If you had laid it up, you might have been asking yourself "what if..." after the round was over. I give props for going for it.

If you're not in a tournament or playing for money who cares if you end up with a 10? At least you made the attempt at an eagle when it was there.

[golfaddiction]

I always get screwed with side hill lies. I never seem to play the ball far enough to account for the hook/slice of the side hill lie. Seems like you've got that same issue, rather than an issue of whether or not to lay up

As long as you are committed to a shot and believe you can hit it, go for it. If you have doubts, then switch to something you know you can hit well.

[VolunteerGolfer]

Thats why Bobby Jones said "Competitive golf is played mainly on a five-and-a-half-inch course, the space between your ears." We all do it. I played nine last Friday. I was two over through six. I had only used driver on the par 5s and either 4 iron or 5 iron on the par 4s. So I get to the 7th hole a 189 par 3. Thats a 5 iron for me. Great, I been hitting it well all day. So I tee it up, and what do i do? Shank into the weeds on the right about 30 yards out. I cant find the ball and start thinking "great at least double, there goes my score". I procede to play the next three holes at triple, double, double. I cant believe I let that one shot get it to my head, but I did.

[kris]

haha it happens to all of us