Card Wrecker Holes

[lamebums]

Ah yes, the blow up hole. I'm getting better at managing these. For me, the key is recognizing the holes that are starting out as blow up holes. Once you say to yourself, "this is the possible blow up", try to set a realistic goal for the remainder of the hole that results in a subpar result, but not something that will destroy the round. If you're trying to break 90, which is about where I'm at, a triple bogey is the result to avoid. If a hole starts out bad within the first 2-3 shots, just try to do whatever it takes to make double and no better.

What about consecutive shots out of bounds? It's what can add 10 strokes to my score.

[Guest]

In my experience - Which isn't much to brag about, the better you get at this game the better you will reconise a train wreck as it is happening. It is far better to get yourself in play then trying to make a miracle recovery shot. That is normally when the train derails. It is far better to take one stroke for stupidity then 3+ for being an idiot! But then again what the hell I know? I go for it and have something to talk about after the round. Or in most cases, get haggled about.

[cyclistgolfer]

so I played 9 holes yesterday, and set my goals for every one of them. Did not put preasure on myself I just kept track of where I am in the particular hole and whenever I find myself in a sticky situation tried to play a bogey or worse double bogey hole.

My goal for the 9 was a 45 to make it a bogey game scored a 46 but I was really happy to not score any tripple. If I could keep this level of concentration I could break 90 more often this year (which is my goal this year).

Thanks for everybody's input..

[ILLZ]

What about consecutive shots out of bounds? It's what can add 10 strokes to my score.

Well, if you're hitting 5 from the tee box then the hole is already F'ed, there's no putting a band-aid on that one. I guess my strategy is more for the holes that start out with a tee shot in play.

[irfan]

i try to avoid them... but today on a par 5..i hit a tee shot the trees, punch out to 170 yards jsut short of a creek.. for a 6 iron approach over a lake.. theres water short and short shots will roll down into the water off the side of the green.. so i even take an extra club.. and shank 3 shots right into the water. that felt terrific.

[lamebums]

i try to avoid them... but today on a par 5..i hit a tee shot the trees, punch out to 170 yards jsut short of a creek.. for a 6 iron approach over a lake.. theres water short and short shots will roll down into the water off the side of the green.. so i even take an extra club.. and shank 3 shots right into the water. that felt terrific.

Seems like what I did today. Third hole, 350 yard par 4, a lake about 280 out, right in front of the green. Well, I completely killed my drive down the middle, and when I went looking for it, I couldn't find it, so I assumed it went in the water. Took a drop, and then chilli dipped my 60 degree wedge into the drink again. Third shot, I caught extremely thin, on my way to a 10.

Back 9... an excursion to a pot bunker on #14 lead to a 12 and six shots out of the sand. Ended the day with a 95, on what was otherwise a perfect round. Throw out the blowup holes, replace them with bogeys, and I would have had a 83.

[irfan]

ya its like i just cant avoid a blow up hole ... if i make a mistake and take a safe way out and accept a lost stroke.. i'll shank the safe shot. shanks today cost me around 10 strokes i think, possibly more.

[hammer84]

I had the problem of going into melt down mode. Once it started I would spiral for several holes, usually to the turn.

can now ( most of the time ) keep that to a one hole event. Most train wrecks start as a small problem, then get worse.

Here is my past week's train wreck. ( Par 5 ) Good drive, pull second shot into left rough. I'm only 160 out, so I try to muscle a shot out of the thick stuff and it is basically goes 30 yards and stays in the crap. Hit my approach wide. Hit a flyer over the green out of the nasty rough, chip on and two putt. Nice triple.

Hind site should have chiped back into the fairway and hit my approach from there. Could have been ~120 out and on in 4 instead of 6.

Most of my train wrecks are 70% mental/bad choice of shots 30% ability/ I try to hit a shot I don't have a very good chance of making.

Getting the mental and physical side in sync can be a task in its self.

[lamebums]

Penalty strokes are far and away my killer. Water balls, lost balls, and OB balls. Usually, they come in consecutive packs of 2 or 3, and I walk away with a 12. Today, a pot bunker caused me grief, but that's only the second time I've been in there this year, so, that's not normally an issue.

I never take an unplayable, no matter how bad the lie is, because I hate taking a penalty stroke that much. I even played a ball from the back of a pickup truck once, to avoid taking a stroke.

[irfan]

when you play from an awful lie... do you usually end up better after two strokes then you would have after one from a drop? or do you hack away a couple times in the bad lie?

[J.P.]

That's a great question IFAN! We must use the rules to our advantage. I don't mean cheating, but if you are, say, behind a small shrub, 120 yards out, take the unplayable stroke, drop it, and put all your effort and resolve into getting up and down from 120. If you hit from the shrub, you may still be in there, or in some worse spot. This can really add strokes. That said, I have hit my ball out of a bush before - the result? Hit it into OB. Think about this sort of decision carefully.

[lamebums]

Just off hand, what does the rules of golf consider a pickup truck, if your ball lands in the bed of it?

I had this question about a month ago, and after an age, my buddies remained adamant that I must play the ball as it lies, or take a stroke. My original conclusion - that the ball was on top of a loose impediment - did not help my case. Although I wondered whether that conflicted with building a stance, I was forced to play the ball as it lies, standing in the bed of a pickup. I skulled it, but then got up and down to save bogey thereafter, and halve the hole.

(In hindsight, I looked it up - truck is really an immovable obstruction since I couldn't readily get maintenance to move the truck, so I should've taken relief.)

[HCCLARKE]

I think that what most new golfers do is try and "baby" the club in the example that you gave above. When you do this, you tend to slice the ball. Find one or two clubs that you are the most comfortable with and hit these. For me it is an 8 iron or my 19 degree hybrid. Try it.