The two situations I fear

[Unforgiven93]

There are two situations on the golf course that I fear, and I want some tips on how to eliminate them.  I just played my first three rounds of the year after not playing for about 4 months, and my game was decent for the most part, but I always have a recurring weakness.  Both situations are caused by the same problem.

The first situation is hitting a tee shot into a tight fairway when there is a strong headwind, the second is the same type of shot, but with a left-to-right crosswind.  I have a really tough time not ballooning these shots out the right.  It gets in my head and I almost always hit a fade, no matter how hard I try not to.  In my last round, it was really windy out (~20mph). I was finally starting to hit sweet shots, I shot a one under 34 on the front (which I was pumped about this early in the season ) but it all fell apart on the back.  There was a tight par 5, water left and OB right, with a stiff cross wind.  I put two in the OB, and in a desperate attempt to not put it OB again, I pulled out my 2-hybrid and hooked it left into the water.  Luckily, my second shot was about a foot in bounds (I think it bounced off the roof of a house :) ) so I ended up only taking a 7 on the hole, but I couldn't keep it together mentally after that and shot a 44 on the back.   Both my other rounds were ruined by this same problem, only a little bit earlier in the round, so the whole score was bad.

I could tell similar stories to this all day long.  I have had this problem for a couple years now, for some reason whenever there is a headwind or a left to right cross wind I balloon the ball to the right.  Whenever I try to keep the ball low, I end up putting tons of backspin on the ball, which looks cool, but makes me hit my drives really short.  (If only it was about looking cool, eh?)

I'm looking for simple tips or things to try at the range that I can practice that will give me the shot that I need in my bag - a slight draw.  Everything I do now to draw the ball seems inconsistent and uncontrollable. Once I can get out and start practicing again my first goal will be to eliminate this shot.

Thanks

[sofingaw]

I don't have any advice for you on these shots, as I am 'turrible!' as Sir Charles would say. But I do very much like the underlying theme of this thread, as I read it:

What is/are your most feared situation(s) on the course?

My worst two would definitely be:

1) A 2nd (or 3rd!) shot out of the rough from greater than 180 yds back

2) Putting a ball that is sitting in one cut of grass, but leaning up against the next cut of grass, i.e. the fringe, the first cut of rough, etc. ALWAYS seem to catch the putter in the longer grass and ruin the putt!

Good luck with trying to get that draw consistent!

[sofingaw]

I would have started a new thread, and probably should, in the interest of not hijacking.. But I wanted to give you credit for giving me the idea. Mods, let me know and I'll start a new one.

Cheers!

[LuciusWooding]

To the OP, you're a +1 handicap so you're certainly better than me. That said, I suggest that you completely ignore the fairway in a strong crosswind. Your best plan IMO is to either try to hit it to the best patch of light rough with a good angle into the green, or ignore the degree of curve you need to fight the wind and just try and start the ball down the left on a path that will end OK with the wind. Don't try and hit a certain amount of draw, especially not swinging harder to make it happen, as a poorly struck shot will be worse than a solid fade. Just focus on your starting line if you're aiming at a fairway and don't try and get back yardage. Remember a pull into the crosswind is perfect, a bit off the right edge if it fades a lot; a push is screwed unless you aimed way left, and it would take a lot of hook spin to beat a 2 club wind.

In a headwind, swing a bit easier and make perfect contact, since well struck shots will usually fly OK in the wind. Hitting down extra and delofting can be OK but you have to take a little off the swing or else you'll hit it with extra spin. Maybe a choked up 3w is a good club to practice this sort of shot with, as a 220 carry with some roll can be easily gotten into a bit of wind.

You probably know most of this, just need to be reminded. My guess is you were hitting it well and tried to overplay it. Control is the most important thing in the wind.

Originally Posted by sofingaw

My worst two would definitely be:

1) A 2nd (or 3rd!) shot out of the rough from greater than 180 yds back

2) Putting a ball that is sitting in one cut of grass, but leaning up against the next cut of grass, i.e. the fringe, the first cut of rough, etc. ALWAYS seem to catch the putter in the longer grass and ruin the putt!

1: Yeah it sucks. Not a whole lot I can recommend besides hitting it closer or not in the rough... It's all about your lie and the courses you play. Some rough will take off a bunch of yards, other lies will give you a big flyer. Sometimes you can just play whatever club you commit to and accept being 20 yards away long or short. I would pick a bunker, either long or short of the green, and hit into it. I know one of them is easy to hit out of. If you're long or short of either, you have a shot of being on the green and a shot of having a pitch over a bunker. If I absolutely can't guarantee my miss will be safe, I'll lay up.

Try your best to hit down a good line though, and don't expect much curve unless you get it cleanly. Don't hit over water.

2: This sucks too. If it's a short one, I thump the LW under the ball a bit and pop it up. If it's long, over 20 feet, I'll hit a 7i or something and get rollout. The fringe will never put me off, but the rough, if it's longer than the equator of the ball, needs some adjustments.

Mine are:

1: Pain in the ass yardages, like 120, 160, 185, 220, and 100. I know what I need to do to hit the ball these distances, but I hate having to  go on faith that the yardage will be right and have enough stopping power, carry, etc.

2: Really tricky/fast greens. I can putt great if I know the slope, but I'm inexperienced in reading them.

Not so much fear for me, exactly, as annoyance. But the challenge is interesting for me.

[dhanson]

Originally Posted by Unforgiven93

There are two situations on the golf course that I fear, and I want some tips on how to eliminate them.  I just played my first three rounds of the year after not playing for about 4 months, and my game was decent for the most part, but I always have a recurring weakness.  Both situations are caused by the same problem.

The first situation is hitting a tee shot into a tight fairway when there is a strong headwind, the second is the same type of shot, but with a left-to-right crosswind.  I have a really tough time not ballooning these shots out the right.  It gets in my head and I almost always hit a fade, no matter how hard I try not to.  In my last round, it was really windy out (~20mph). I was finally starting to hit sweet shots, I shot a one under 34 on the front (which I was pumped about this early in the season ) but it all fell apart on the back.  There was a tight par 5, water left and OB right, with a stiff cross wind.  I put two in the OB, and in a desperate attempt to not put it OB again, I pulled out my 2-hybrid and hooked it left into the water.  Luckily, my second shot was about a foot in bounds (I think it bounced off the roof of a house :) ) so I ended up only taking a 7 on the hole, but I couldn't keep it together mentally after that and shot a 44 on the back.   Both my other rounds were ruined by this same problem, only a little bit earlier in the round, so the whole score was bad.

I could tell similar stories to this all day long.  I have had this problem for a couple years now, for some reason whenever there is a headwind or a left to right cross wind I balloon the ball to the right.  Whenever I try to keep the ball low, I end up putting tons of backspin on the ball, which looks cool, but makes me hit my drives really short.  (If only it was about looking cool, eh?)

I'm looking for simple tips or things to try at the range that I can practice that will give me the shot that I need in my bag - a slight draw.  Everything I do now to draw the ball seems inconsistent and uncontrollable. Once I can get out and start practicing again my first goal will be to eliminate this shot.

Thanks

depending on the length of the course, maybe clubbing down to a 3 iron and hitting a lower shot would help. i sounds like you're playing a narrow, tree lined course (otherwise you'd just aim way left). if the ball is ballooning on you, keep it under the trees with the 3 iron, and try to move on with a par.

[TourSpoon]

Is your natural shape a draw? If it isn't I wouldn't advise you using it to hold a left to right wind. When you are talking tight fairway, your first priority wind or not is to be in the fairway. The par 5 you are talking about seems daunting, so you probably need to pick a club that you can reliably hit and play the wind instead of fighting it.

For the in to wind shot, it is so hard to fight the urge to give it a little extra because you already know that it's going to be a long hole. Hitting the wind shot means losing distance but gaining distance on a ball that balloons. This is more of a trust issue, but have the mindset that par is really a birdie in these kind of conditions. If you hit a good drive and you hit a decent approach you are still likely to be off the green because of the conditions and you are relying on your ability to get up and down.  Knowing that playing into a 20 mph headwind is going to result on leaning on your short game, the pressure to hit a perfect shot at the last second to have a shorter iron in decreases. Now you just need to tell your body.

That's my take.

[Unforgiven93]

@sofingaw - That's a cool idea, and I don't mind at all if you hijack my thread or want to make a new one. :P

@LuciusWooding - First, just because I'm a +1 (by my most recent official tournament scores that's what I am right now, but I haven't played in 4 months, so I'm not playing at that level currently) doesn't really mean I know what I'm doing on the course all the time.  I always like to get advice.

I didn't even think about taking some off just to hit it down the middle... that would probably not only solve the fade problem, but it would also take off most of the distance-robbing backspin that I get sometimes when I swing full.  Something to practice for sure.

@dhanson - That is absolutely what I should have done in this case specifically.  It was a par 5 that was around 500yds, so I easily could've gotten there with 3 irons.  I think the reason I didn't even think to do this was because I was playing so well and I wanted to try to get to the green in 2.  But, obviously, that is not always the right choice.  Just fixing this one hole would've changed my entire round.

@TourSpoon - My natural shape was a draw about 3 years ago, for some reason it switched on me to a fade recently.  But the scores have consistently gone down, so it hasn't bothered me (except on these shots).  It sounds like you agree with dhanson, that I should just club down and accept a par in these conditions.  But I have the same problem with my longer irons sometimes.  If I'm 180+ into the wind, I have to aim left.  I don't know if it's a mental thing causing me to fade the ball or what, under normal conditions I do not fade my irons.  I do have much better control of my irons into the wind though, so it still would have been the right play.

[TourSpoon]

Originally Posted by Unforgiven93

@TourSpoon - My natural shape was a draw about 3 years ago, for some reason it switched on me to a fade recently.  But the scores have consistently gone down, so it hasn't bothered me (except on these shots).  It sounds like you agree with dhanson, that I should just club down and accept a par in these conditions.  But I have the same problem with my longer irons sometimes.  If I'm 180+ into the wind, I have to aim left.  I don't know if it's a mental thing causing me to fade the ball or what, under normal conditions I do not fade my irons.  I do have much better control of my irons into the wind though, so it still would have been the right play.

Well Sam Snead said, "Sometimes you have to dance with the one that brung you", until you figure it out. I think on the 500 yard par 5, three shots get you on the dance floor with a look at birdie. What three shots you choose is up to you, but into a 20 mph headwind, I would take a par every time. Now downwind, it is no question a birdie hole.

[dak4n6]

One of my home courses almost always is buffeted by strong winds, esp during the winter, so I have been getting edumacated on playing the wind for the last 1.5 yrs. I have found that driver spin gets killed by wind. Into, or LtR wind is best dealt with a straight ball with as little spin as you can generate. For me, I try to accomplish that with a very easy level swing down the line. When I can successfully do this, I am always amazed at how far the ball goes in spite of hitting it very easy.