Playing well out of your "comfort zone"

[montru]

I have a friend over from the UK, he says he's a 6 hndcp, we played yesterday and today at two of my clubs courses and he insisted on playing from the tips (70.3/126 6300yds) and (74.3/128 7100yds). I thought what the heck, OK, go for it!

I'm not very long off the tee, but make up for it with my approach shots and short game, I average 1,7 per hole per round, which I think helps.

Playing from the tips makes the courses play completely different, I usually play from the next tees up (69.2/123 & 72.3/122).

I felt completely out of my comfort zone on both days, the first course 70.3/126, I shot 45-39, with two tripple bogey's, I must admit I felt prety good about that round overall. today however, I went 48-47, not too happy, never lost a ball, but trying to go at 455yd par 4's and 200+ yd par 3's was hard work. My friend from the UK didn't do much better he went 44-40 on the first day and today he went 48-50 today.

As much as I love the game, I can honestly say that I didn't really enjoy the last two rounds, partly due to my friend trying to go for the green 240yds out and then getting pissed with himself for missing the green 20-30yds left, I tried to say to him, even the pro's ain't that good, the greens they are shooting at are twice the size of our greens!

Do you play out of your comfort zone, and if so how do you fare, compared to you usual rounds? Is there any tips that you guys can give to help playing out of your comfort zone?

[DarkPrince]

The other day I decided to play one of the ritzier courses in the area since golfnow had a tee time open for $45 instead of like 65 or 70.  I started out well, but ended up shooting a 91. I got 7's on all the par 5's, felt like I was scrambling to even save a par from time to time.  One of the things that had me out of my comfort zone is that I'm playing a nice course, with no one else i know, and there are insanely rich chicago people houses all around the course (which I flat NAILED one off the tee on a par 5...loudest *CRACK!* I've heard in a while :P). I just couldn't get out of my head. I also played a set of tees further back because the twosome I was paired up with was playing them and I didn't want to be a bother. I felt like an idiot since at my home course I was shooting in the 70's semi-consistently for the first time in my life.  My problem is that i play my home course too often, which is why I took a chance at doing something different, to see if I actually was improving, or maybe that I was just getting too used to the course.  I think we need to force ourselves out of our comfort zones from time to time, I'm going to have to do it more often if I want to get any better I Think.

[GaijinGolfer]

I love playing out of my comfort zone.  The only way you are going to get more comfortable and confident is by continuing to push yourself.

[skates]

It is definitely a different game from different tees. Next time go play from the lady tees and you will be shocked. The extra yardage can make a couple of holes much harder, a par 4 that goes from 450 to 500 is going to make a big difference but mostly its a mental thing. If you think "o man i am playing from the tips this is going to be awful" then it most likely will. Go in with some confidence and dont try it make the par 4s that are close to 500 yards in 2 if you know you cant. Lay up and hit a good wedge into the green and try and one putt for your par. If your going to try and blast a 3 wood there is going to be a lot more room for error

[DarkPrince]

Originally Posted by TitleistWI

I love playing out of my comfort zone.  The only way you are going to get more comfortable and confident is by continuing to push yourself.

That's pretty much my idea. I just found out that my membership gives me 5 other courses in the area to play, never been to any though, since you're from Madison you might know some of them:

Decatur Lake Golf Course - Broadhead, WI

Edgerton Towne Club - Edgerton, WI
Evansville Golf Course, Evansville, WI

Krueger-Haskell Golf Course - Beloit, WI
Riverside Golf Course, Janesville, WI

I just haven't had a good round at Geneva National. The Palmer Course I didn't break 100 on last year, and the 91 at the Trevino Course continued that :P I don't like making excuses, but one reason I had a ton of trouble were the greens. When I played the Palmer last year, greens were hard and fast consistently. The Trevino last week I played 4 hours after a hard fast thunderstorm came through that soaked the place. Wedges sat down, but the putting speeds were way off between holes :/

[vbb2]

I did that a few weeks back.  Played from the blues when I typically would play from the whites on a course I'd only played once before.  I can play from the blues all day when my driver is working... but if my driver is wild off of the tee the first two times I try it, I tend to lose confidence and step it back to my 3-wood off the tee for the rest of the round.  Since my "average" 3W off the tee is around 215-220yds, that makes the blues quite long for me, whereas the whites are perfect.  I like my par 4s in the 350-370 range, not the 400 range.

Needless to say, I ended up shooting a 104 instead of the mid-90s that I typically shoot.

[montru]

I didn't mind it too much, I think the first round on Friday was fairly decent with a 45-39, the second round however, the course was 7100yds with 2, 200+yd par 3's (one of the 235yds) and tight, crowned fairways. Only two of the par 4's are under 400yds.

[lefty.drew]

I think if you have to defer to 3W off the tee; it's realistic that you have longer approaches.  I would imagine 220 with a 3W from around 6500 is pretty realistic in terms of what you're look into most par 4s would be.  Everyone has different theories about tees and what to use, but when I see "out of comfort zone" I translate that to you challenging yourself, and that's a good thing.

The 7100, however, seems a bit aggressive.  I'd imagine you would be wanting to get at least 240-250 out of 3-wood for that yardage to be playable.