Figuring this game out...... I'm on to you golf !

[enis750]

alright, somewhat of a rant but hear me out

I am playing mens night at a course I have only played like 3 times

It has 3 sets of nines on a very links style course - and the wind is ALWAYS blowing in friggen Saskatchewan

it has some of the city's best golfers participating in it each week and major sponsors like Taylormade...so its quite competitive

we had our a$$es handed to us the past 2 Tuesdays by guys i know i can beat...the problem.... my course mgmnt sucks

There are a lot of holes that are tempting - like a 280yd par 4, a 420yd par 5 etc...

lots of dogleg par 4's that "seem" reachable....but i just cant get there and am ending up in trouble off the tee

big greens w multiple tears and sucker pin placements every night

so...... i have this sh*t licked now

im going to start playing smarter and a little more conservative

like hitting a HY or long iron off the tee and leaving myself full shots in, instead of 30-65yd shots in

I also read some great advice .....

getting yourself in play off the tee and YOUR SECOND SHOT INTO THE GREEN is how to score

and its so true

I am pretty consistent w my 8i-60*, and do practice this a lot

BUT when i practice i pretend i am playing a course i know - never hitting 2 of the same clubs in a row

i will usually start w a few wedges to warm up, then straight to the 3HY, 4i, 5i from different lies and a tee

then 3w from the tee

I will hit only about 4 balls w each club, then i "play" 18 holes w the rest of the balls

I get enough practice w the short irons playing 18 on the range, so i like to get some good long iron practice in

which is going to help a lot on longer courses

i am going to dominate in the next couple weeks, i can feel it

golf..... screw you.... i have you figured out  ;)

[motteler621]

yea in your mind figure out from the last couple rounds how they beat you each hole. Compare your shot to theirs

[BrushCaddy]

It's hard to stay away from the "go for it" attitude but when you do, you're score gets lower.  You've got some good advice there, good luck!

[enis750]

match play always eff's w my head

i play based on how the other guys(s) are playing which usuallly ends up w me playing more aggressive than i normally do

I think if i stick to my game and play as if i was in stroke play, the scores will be a lot lower and i will win more matches

i mean i know its the start of the year and im a bit rusty, but a mid 80's round simply wont cut it in the 1st flight

my game has some work (which will come w some more practice time) but as i get to know the course a bit better and better course mgmnt, its gonna be fun winning again...

i have made some outstanding shots that even had me saying out loud "holy sh*t.......good shot!" hahahha!!!!!

all in time........

its actually really good tournament prep too....... i get that feeling of pressure playing these nights, so its like a mini tournament each week...which i need

[phillyk]

That course sounds a lot like my home course only not as many doglegs, with a average par 4 at 320-ish providing many drivable holes.  I'm usually an aggressive player whenever I play, so I'd say if you are confident with the driver or 3-wood and you believe you can drive the green or within 20 yards of it, go for it!!  Albeit, if there's plenty of trouble around the green, maybe not, but if you can get within 20 yards of the green on most par 4's, you have good chances of getting a birdie. It's weird and opposite from most people I believe, but it's when I start playing conservative that I start playing worse.

[TourSpoon]

We have a couple of par 4s on my course that I call 2nd shot holes because being on the green is not good enough. You have to be under the hole or on the correct tier and to do that reliably you need to hit a shot that you can stop and get the distance correct. I finally figured out a short hole on our course where you need to carry a bunker with little green to work with. Playing from 100 yards versus 50 makes the difference in getting it close.

[Shindig]

Originally Posted by enis750

im going to start playing smarter and a little more conservative

like hitting a HY or long iron off the tee and leaving myself full shots in, instead of 30-65yd shots in

Any particular reason you aren't practicing these shots?  I understand avoiding them until you know you have them, but my 50 yard shot is just as predictable as my 100 yard shot, and you're a far better player than I.  You don't have to adopt everything Pelz (I sure didn't), but getting the half and quarter wedge distances down should close that 30-65 yard gap for you PDQ.

[enis750]

Originally Posted by Shindig

Any particular reason you aren't practicing these shots?  I understand avoiding them until you know you have them, but my 50 yard shot is just as predictable as my 100 yard shot, and you're a far better player than I.  You don't have to adopt everything Pelz (I sure didn't), but getting the half and quarter wedge distances down should close that 30-65 yard gap for you PDQ.

oh i do practice them........ just some of the greens are tough to get to certain pin locations and these little shots are tougher than a longer iron in

not always, just certain holes

i practice my short game 75% of the time (this includes 120 and in to putting)

just going to spend a little more time on the long irons, especially from the tee

some of the par 3's are 190 + and there is 6 of them (one par 4 is converted to a 3 now, as the tee box is under construction)

[TourSpoon]

Originally Posted by Shindig

Any particular reason you aren't practicing these shots?  I understand avoiding them until you know you have them, but my 50 yard shot is just as predictable as my 100 yard shot, and you're a far better player than I.  You don't have to adopt everything Pelz (I sure didn't), but getting the half and quarter wedge distances down should close that 30-65 yard gap for you PDQ.

I still maintain that on certain holes a full wedge is the better play.  The hole I was talking about requires a bunker carry to access the shallow mid and top tiers. To carry the bunker and be under the hole the percentage play is the high full wedge with stopping power versus a 50 yard flop.  Conversely there is a par 5 hole that the green is slanted Back to front with no trouble in front where the 50 yard skipper is a great play. The point is you need to know how to play the hole in order to score using the percentages to access the flags the way the architect has set up as the challenges.

Enis, you are going to the next level with this kind of thinking. Keep us updated on the results.

[enis750]

quick update.......

another windy ass day on the links

played my game and still struggled

i have the course figured out now....pretty much

early season rust NEEDS A REALITY CHECK THO....uggggg.....

time...need some time on the greens

heading out as we speak to a nice lil par 3 track that has yardages from 86 to 210.....gonna play a few balls and work on ball striking and putting in general

[sean_miller]

Originally Posted by enis750

quick update.......

another windy ass day on the links

played my game and still struggled

i have the course figured out now....pretty much

early season rust NEEDS A REALITY CHECK THO....uggggg.....

time...need some time on the greens

heading out as we speak to a nice lil par 3 track that has yardages from 86 to 210.....gonna play a few balls and work on ball striking and putting in general

Dude!!

Yeah the wind was awful yesterday. The best thing I can say about my first match in league play is that nobody in their right mind could accuse me of being a sandbagger!!

[enis750]

Originally Posted by sean_miller

Dude!!

Yeah the wind was awful yesterday. The best thing I can say about my first match in league play is that nobody in their right mind could accuse me of being a sandbagger!!

hahaha!

i just got back from a quick 2 hour 18 on our local par 3

LOVE LOVE LOVE this course

its anywhere from 85 to 215 yards or so - and when the wind is blowin (like today) it can be tricky

I played 2-4 balls and was VERY please w the results

got the ol Odyssey 9 in the bag and figured that i need to aim it slightly on the toe a bit to make it work....BOOM...putts started to drop today

gonna head out here more often

9 holes is like $4 more than a LG bucket of balls - and i can do 9 holes in an hour...playing 4 balls

well worth the $$ in my mind

feelin good after today's session