Managing Disaster Holes

[kfowler]

I had an interesting round yesterday. Shot an 81 and was only +1 on the back nine. I had 2 Birds, 10 Pars, 2 Bog, 3 Doubles, and a Triple. This was a great round for me but it could have been spectacular had I better managed one of the doubles and the triple.

For instance, on one of the doubles, I pulled my drive into the left rough on a hard dog leg right Par 5. I had a bad lie in the rough on a sloped mound. I tried to play is smart and just use a 4 hybrid to lay up. I ended up topping the ball and knocking it about 30 yards closer into rough. So I hit out of trouble into more trouble. Looking back at it now, I should have just punched out with a 6i or 7i. This same similar problem occurred on the triple.

So my question is, any advice on better managing holes where start out in trouble?

[rebby]

A good read on this very topic -> http://www.amazon.com/Dave-Pelzs-Dam...9202647&sr;=8-1

Bottom line, play smart. Take calculated risks based on an honest assessment of your abilities to get out of trouble. At all costs, do not get yourself into worse trouble. That's when it starts to snowball and really go down hill fast.

[Yukari]

I had an interesting round yesterday. Shot an 81 and was only +1 on the back nine. I had 2 Birds, 10 Pars, 2 Bog, 3 Doubles, and a Triple. This was a great round for me but it could have been spectacular had I better managed one of the doubles and the triple.

That is the key right there. Don't try a low percentage shot when you are in trouble. Using 4 hybrid with a bad lie in the rough is not what I would consider to be a "smart" play. Punching out with 6i or 7i and taking your medicine is a much higher percentage shot for getting out of the trouble.

The first thing you want to do is get out of trouble not "lay up" when in trouble. Learning to take your medicine when you get into a bad situation is what differentiates potentially a bogey (or maybe even a par) hole from a double, triple or even worse hole.

[kfowler]

So getting into specifics, what are your go to clubs for getting out of trouble? For instance, I like using a 6i with a punch shot. Easy to make good contact and easier to control.

I'll have to check out Dave's book. I've read his Putting Bible.

Thanks for the reply.

[Colinb913]

In the deep rough I usually use any of my irons, but usually fall back onto my 6 or 9.

[rebby]

So getting into specifics, what are your go to clubs for getting out of trouble?

It really depends on the trouble. I'll use about any club in my bag really. I seldom use my putter or my driver to get out of trouble but that says more about the type of trouble that I get in rather than having anything to do with those clubs. For punch shots through/under trees when I'm not looking at carrying a hazard, I'll generally use anything from a 3-iron to a 7-iron. The type of rollout and exact trajectory that I'm looking for will determine the final club selection. If I'm hitting into a slope of some kind, I use the least amount of loft that the lie will allow. Conversely, if I'm looking at a hard/fast fairway and need to stop the ball quicker, I'll use as much loft as the lie and the situation (ie: overhanging trees) will allow.

The biggest thing that has helped my game from trouble situations is playing with an open mind. For example, a few weeks back I pulled my drive on a short par 5 into the trees. I was stymied and the only options that I was left with was a risky punch shot through some pine trees that, if pulled off perfectly, would have left me with about 180 yards into the green. The other option was to punch backwards into the fairway leaving me with about 230 yards to a small green surrounded by OB (left, long and right). When mulling over my choice I noticed that I had a pretty clear shot to the tee box for the next hole. In fact, all I needed to do was hit a soft little punch about 100 yards and have it stop on a nicely groomed tee box. That's the option that I ended up taking and I was left with a blind wedge from about 60 yards that I knocked stiff and made birdie. Long story short, fully examine your options. There is no reason that you have to play the course down a given fairway to get out of trouble. Open your mind to your options and you're sure to find more creative ways to get out of trouble. One of the things that Pelz suggests in his book is to play a "damage round." By this he means to go around the course and deliberately put yourself into trouble and practice the shots required to get out of trouble. Try various shots from each trouble spot and see what works and what doesn't. I've done this before and it can be a lot of fun. Expectations run pretty low in a round like this and after a while you learn what shots you're capable of and which ones you're not. That's the biggest thing, learn what you can pull off in practice because there are no do-overs come tournament time.

[CarlSpackler]

For me, it isn't so much a go to club, but a mental approach. I look for a safe target that can sometimes be away from the hole where I can reasonably have a shot into the green to save par or even bogey. Last year, I hooked my tee shot on a par 5 and was blocked out by trees to advance the ball up the fairway, but had an open shot up the next fairway. I could have tried to hit a big hook out and around the trees on the hole I was playing (it would have been impressive if I pulled it off), but could have easily overcooked it back into the pond on the left of the fairway or pushed it into the lake on the right side. My opponent thought he had me after he hit his second up the fairway by the grin on his face. I played up the 12th, took a nice 9i in and made par while he bogeyed from the front bunker.

[DavidFehertysBike]

When i find myself in serious trouble, im not thinking about par anymore and i go into a defensive mode. Bogey is my score. Say i hit a real stinker off the tee and end up in a hazard or in the trees. Im thinking get it out to a safe spot, get the next ball on the green and two putt. Its kind of a way of mentally lowering your expectations. So when i make this bogey plan, im not disappointed because i accomplished what i set out to do. With a par 3, its the same thing. Get my next shot anywhere on the green, two putt.

Rebby's way is another key too. Examine all of the options available. If you can safely hit out to another area of the course to give yourself an aggressive play on your next shot, then do it.

[double_j]

My general rule of thumb when playing out of tall rough or a lie bad enough to be concerned about is to hit no more than a 5 or a 6 iron. Guarantee yourself the out first, then think about how to maximize any salvageable opportunity.

I might be in the minority, but I rarely like hitting hybrids out of bad lies or tangled rough. Irons are just so much easier to really chop down on the ball and to make solid contact. It always makes me laugh when high handicappers insist on hitting 3 wood out of the gnarliest lies ever (I don't mean to imply anything about OP here, just a general statement based on some of the guys I normally play with).

[Jonnydanger81]

I was going to suggest a go-to club for the mental aspect of it. The worst thing you can do in the woods is hit another one into the woods. I usually take my 7i and punch and if it's clear enough I'll aim for a distance I know I can hit from rather than automatically just going straight for the hole. I see a lot of people get frusterated that they're in the trees in the first part so they won't take the time to look at their punch, but the last thing you want to do is be hasty and punch across the fairway into more trees or rough. Make a good solid shot out of trouble and it gets your mind in the right spot for the next shot.

[Leftygolfer]

From a truely bad lie in the rough the longest club I will hit is a 7I. From a really bad lie in a hazard (or hay) or even what I perceive as a good lie in hay I will not use anything more than a wedge. For me hitting less loft clubs out of tough lies is asking for a horrid shot.

But somehow I am still a master of the double bogey?? Where I play trees are the most penal thing and I find them a bunch. I usually play aggressive out of them and sometimes pay the price. I have pretty much confidence I can punch through small windows and sometimes I am wrong.

[kfowler]

When i find myself in serious trouble, im not thinking about par anymore and i go into a defensive mode. Bogey is my score.

I was talking to my dad earlier today and he said the exact same thing. He said as soon as you get into real trouble, you should start playing for bogey. If you end up with par, great! Seems like a pretty good approach.

[Yukari]

I was talking to my dad earlier today and he said the exact same thing. He said as soon as you get into real trouble, you should start playing for bogey. If you end up with par, great! Seems like a pretty good approach.

Isn't that pretty much what I said???

[CarlSpackler]

I was talking to my dad earlier today and he said the exact same thing. He said as soon as you get into real trouble, you should start playing for bogey. If you end up with par, great! Seems like a pretty good approach.

In my head, I don't like to think of it as playing for bogey, birdie, par or whatever for what it does to the mind. I like to play the hole from where I am to the hole no matter what has happened to that point and write down the score when the ball goes in the hole. Three bad shots and one excellent shot still makes par. When playing a few weeks ago, I hit a bad drive, punched out, stuck one close to a green light flag and putted in for par. If I had been "playing for bogey", I most likely would have put my third on the green and two putted. If the pin was tucked, I would have been more conservative with my approach. This is the way I like to think of it at least.

[pittpanther]

Not trying to be a wise guy, but back in the day weren't hybrids and woods known as "rescue" clubs? As a matter of fact "rescue" is even the brand name used by Taylormade for their hybrids. Weren't hybrids introduced as go-to clubs for hitting out of the rough? Now all you guys are saying "use a mid-iron from the rough."

So which is it - mid-iron or hybrid?

[Jonnydanger81]

Not trying to be a wise guy, but back in the day weren't hybrids and woods known as "rescue" clubs? As a matter of fact "rescue" is even the brand name used by Taylormade for their hybrids. Weren't hybrids introduced as go-to clubs for hitting out of the rough? Now all you guys are saying "use a mid-iron from the rough."

It matters what you're talking about with rough. If you're in the trees trying to get out, I wouldn't want to try using a hybrid/rescue, I want something that I can keep low and can control. 6i or 7i has a good face to hit off, keeps the ball low and has a short enough shaft without choking up like crazy to be able to control it.

[Fat Slice]

Take the highest percentage shot/angle to get back into the fairway.

[kfowler]

I was echoing what you said previously.