keeping score down?

[michaeldays]

So my school played a scrimmage against another school in my town, which i have a lot of friends at so I wasn't nervous at all. It is an easy course but in terrible shape. I was even through four holes and took a nine on a par 5. My drive was near OB but i punched out, hit a bad 3 wood shot, then another bad shot which landed in a bunker and gave me a crappy lie. Then from there on out i only parred one other hole and got a double bogy and a triple. Do you have any tips on how to keep my score down and minimize my error?

[saevel25]

Honestly, it is probably your swing. If you are hitting drives near OB, and hitting multiple bad shots during a round, then that is not just random occurrences. Given a bad lie in the sand can happen. But all other shots are pretty much you.

I would post your swing in the "My Swing" part of the forum and allow some smart people to help you out.

[michaeldays]

Its not my swing. I hit 7/8 fairways. I don't really hit my 3 wood too well but other than that it was pretty good. My bunker shot had a bad lie and when i hit it over the green i had another bad lie (the course we play at sucks)

[Jakester23]

Well on that particular hole it seems to me you were trying for the hero shot. If you think about the situation now you got away with the tee shot. So my guess is you weren't in all that great of a position to hit a 3 wood for your second shot. What you have to do in bad situations like that is to take you medicine and make sure you end up with a par. Look over your course management especially when you get into a little trouble. Sometimes you have to play for bogeys. If you get overly aggressive when your already in trouble that how you card triples.

[shortstop20]

Well on that particular hole it seems to me you were trying for the hero shot. If you think about the situation now you got away with the tee shot. So my guess is you weren't in all that great of a position to hit a 3 wood for your second shot. What you have to do in bad situations like that is to take you medicine and make sure you end up with a par. Look over your course management especially when you get into a little trouble. Sometimes you have to play for bogeys. If you get overly aggressive when your already in trouble that how you card triples.

I understood his post as though he punched out on his 2nd shot with an iron(presumably) and then hit his 3rd shot with a 3 wood. I guess all I can say is practice hitting your 3 wood or hit a different club next time. As was said, playing for bogey might have been a better idea. Also, think about where you were aiming on the drive. Were you aiming for the center of the fairway with OB right and your miss is right? If so, that's a mistake. In that situation you should be aiming at the left edge of the fairway or even in the rough. There's no shame in intentionally aiming for rough to make sure you avoid OB, I've done it. Yeah, sometimes you make a bogey, but guess what, you rarely make double or worse.

[dave s]

Accurately assess a bad situation then take the best course of action.  Keep in mind, there's nothing you can do about the shot that just happened, you can only focus on the next. Sounds like you got derailed by the bad score on the par-5 and let that situation affect the rest of the round.

Also, when something really bad happens on a hole, it's best to think about limiting further damage and about how you can come away with the best score possible based on the situation at hand.

Here's an example of what used to happen to me on a par-5s.  Good drive in the middle of the fairway.  Pull out the 3-wood for 'spray and pray' shot.  So many times a bad swing with the 3-wood would cost me 2 shots on the hole.  Now, I understand that getting into wedge range is my best scoring opportunity.  Hit the NEXT shot so you're playing to the strength of your game.  A little bit of forethought about what you're doing should eliminate those 'unforced errors' that cause the blowup scores.

Good luck with the rest of your season.

dave