Tendencies for given day, when do you start paying attention?

[808hacker]

Question here.

When you go out and play - let's say right off the bat you are hitting right. So your first tee shot goes right. Then your next iron/hybrid goes right. At what point do you just compensate or do most of you try to fix the problem on the next hole?

Do any of you simply ignore the problem and just refocus on every shot (aim your normal way) and accept the outcome of each shot?

I've been noticing that I've been compensating for whatever way I might be playing in a given day. Lately it's been overcompensating and leading to a few bad holes.

Just wondering what the mind set is around here regarding this.

[SavvySwede]

If I am jumping on the first tee with no warm up I am going to continue aiming normally for the first couples of holes and see if things fix themselves once I've gotten loosened up a bit. I'll try to sneak in a few practice swings while waiting on my playing partners to hit their shots and to to find my feel for a good release.

If I can't shake my miss, which is normally an overdraw for me, I'll start aiming right and adjust accordingly as the round goes on.

[newtogolf]

I try to identify what's causing a specific tendency and fix it if I can.

For example, Saturday I was hitting the ball a little thin and realized on the 3rd hole I was standing slightly further away from the ball for some reason which was causing me to lean over more.  Once I got that worked out I was hitting the ball normally.  I know sometimes it's not that easy but I'm more concerned about the damage compensating for a tendency will do to my swing.  Maybe for lower handicap golfers that's not as much of a concern.

[jamo]

Pretty quickly. A lot of times I know why it's happening (whether because I can feel something - with the obvious caveat that feel ain't always real - or because it's something I'm working on and maybe not doing 100% correctly). It's rare that I get out to the course, start hitting the ball to the right, and have no recourse for correcting (or at least bandaging) that.

[Pretzel]

For me I know there are two causes of me hitting it right on multiple shots in a row. It usually means I'm either aiming too far right or I'm not staying down through impact and am fanning the face open as a result. Each of those things has a distinct feel to it, and I know most other shots that go way off target to the right are one-off mistakes.

[bkuehn1952]

At what point do you just compensate or do most of you try to fix the problem on the next hole?

Just wondering what the mind set is around here regarding this.

Good question.  When I start a round, my expectations are typically set by how I was hitting the ball when I last played or hit balls.  So if I warmed up at the range, I take that to the first tee.  If I did not hit balls I rely on the most recent round.  If I have not played in a while, I rely on my general tendency (straight or a very slight fade).

In your example, if I sliced the ball badly I would work on controlling that rather than aim further left.  On the other hand, if I drew the ball into the left rough when I was anticipating a straight or slight fade, I would likely not change anything for a hole or two but eventually, if nothing changed, would just accept that I was drawing the ball today and aim up the right side of the fairway.

Big misses I try to fix.  Small misses I work into my game plan on the fly for that day after 2-3 holes.

[dkolo]

This is a really good question. I tend to reevaluate toward the end of the back 9 whether or not to keep hitting driver, switch to 3 wood, or whether to be more judicious about hitting driver (so, saving it for wider holes).

Maybe a bit sooner than that, I'll adjust for how my irons are playing. If they're short, I'll start hitting them harder or clubbing up. If they're favoring a specific shot shape, I'll play for it with my aiming.

I generally try to stick to the plan early on and not overreact to one or two bad shots, but after that, I'm a big believer in playing with the game you have with you that day. Unless it was an actual honest to goodness practice round (and I've never had one), I'm trying to put up scores.

[dbuck]

It depends.

Sam Snead said, "You gotta dance with who you brung".  For an accomplished golfer, this means that during the warmup, you were having trouble deliberately moving the ball left to right, but were confidently moving the ball right to left. On this day, you bread and butter shot should be a draw. For an average golfer like me, if I had a left to right flight pattern that is consistent, during a round I would probably play that for the day and try to fix it at the range (or with lessons) .

Another factor would be the shape of the shot. If the shot is flying straight, but right of the target, then one possibility is simply alignment, and aiming more to the left is the correct fix. In other words, where you think you are lined up is not where you are really lined up, and by aiming "left", you are really just correcting your alignment.

If I am making poor contact, I might adjust my ball position, posture,  or tempo.

[Strandly]

I wait a couple holes to see if it's a persistent thing.

[808hacker]

Thanks guys!!!!!