Why is it...I'm either A) good at putting, B) good teeing off or C) good with irons? ...but never all 3?

[scottcarmich]

Seriously, it's getting kind of frustrating.

I'm by no means a good player (very much a newbie)...but every time I go out to play, it seems like I struggle with teeing off, getting to the green with irons, or putting. Never play well with all 3.

Not only that, but on most holes, I barely seem to get 2 out of the 3 in any decent way.

What's worse is that there's no real pattern/rhyme-or-reason to the inconsistency. I mean, it's pretty much evenly distributed. This week, good at putting...next week...not good at all.

The ONLY thing I'm wondering about is that I never rent a cart to play 9 holes (which is what I almost always play) and walk to save $$$. Please (I beg of you!) don't tell me a major reason why I'm doing so crappy is that I'm physically messed up (due to so much walking/carrying clubs) and I [need] to get a cart (because it's throwing off my body/concentration/energy/etc.)...if that's the case...man...that REALLY sucks. I rarely see people walking though, so this may be the case. Let me know if I'm crazy for walking.

Or...do you think it's something else altogether? Is this just a bizarre trio-of-trouble all newer players deal with (horrible inconsistency?)

[vangator]

I usually play better when I'm walking. As I'm walking up to the ball, I'm visualizing my shot instead of talking to the guy next to me. When all 3 are in sync, you'll be ready for the tour.

[RayG]

Newer players? no...Playing for over 40 years and as low as a 4 at one time. Same here. If one is on, another is off and they will alternate at any time during the round. Every so often they will line up (more or less) and I will put together a decent round and card a 75 or 76. But mostly bouncing around 80-84. Scrambling is an important thing to learn- and being as inconsistent as I am on any given day, learning to manage what's working or not working is paramount. Either playing back to the fairway from an errant drive, getting up and down from a pushed or pulled approach, whatever. Too be honest, I play for fun- I think if I KNEW I would hit every fairway and hit every green and such, I would not enjoy it nearly as much. Making those recovery shots is just as satisfying as striping one (almost) so it makes it more interesting. Dont get me wrong, if I DO have "one of those on days", I enjoy those, too. Don't get yourself all worked up over anything in this game.

[Jeremie Boop]

I can have a few holes in a row where everything comes together, then I'll have holes where nothing comes together, or I'll have any combination of things work well. Sometimes I think we put pressure on ourselves at different times depending on what we happen to be doing well at the time. If I'm hitting good drives I pressure myself too much to hit a good approach and that tends to cause me to mess up. However, if I'm struggling with my drives I don't try so hard on the approach because I don't expect much and I end up hitting better approach shots. Putting, well, that tends to depend on the green speeds because I really struggle on faster greens because I'm not used to them.

[SAGolfLuvr]

Let's see.........

1. Hit the fairway every time? Tour Avg 60.69% [60% of 14 fairways = approx 8 fairways per round]

2. Hit the green in regulation every time? Tour Avg 65.14% [65% of 18 greens = approx 11 greens per round]

3. Make par every time scrambling? (don't beat me up TST, only working with 3 of the most basic ones here). Tour Avg 58.54% [58% of 7 greens {I am trying to be cute because stat #2 only leaves 7 holes to get up on down on } = 4 pars scrambling per round]

Having the skill set to achieve any of the aforementioned stats - priceless.

SO If the pro's can't do all 3 all the time, how can the rest of us who earn an income doing something else do it?

RayG and Jeremy Boop are both correct. Practice course strategy and don't get emotional about not hitting perfect shots. Be creative, practice a lot, play often, and think your way into a par, or saving par.

Case in point. I am sick of getting my butt kick by seniors who can't hit passed 230yards on their drives and make 12 pars per round and score in the 70's 90% of the time. Watch them, get your butt kicked, and learn. They hardly ever play with the $300 plus flashy driver. They play with clubs that won't give them penalty strokes for being 300 yards deep in the crap.

BTW Tour Avg drive-287 yds. Driver is used 14 times per round (potentially). Putter is used 36 times per round (potentially). Get fitted for a putter and gain strokes. How many penalties has your putter cost you for lost balls? AGAIN Seniors use a driver that keeps them in the fairway. Just sayin......

[RayG]

Let's see......... 1. Hit the fairway every time? Tour Avg 60.69% [60% of 14 fairways = approx 8 fairways per round] 2. Hit the green in regulation every time? Tour Avg 65.14% [65% of 18 greens = approx 11 greens per round] 3. Make par every time scrambling? (don't beat me up TST, only working with 3 of the most basic ones here). Tour Avg 58.54% [58% of 7 greens {I am trying to be cute because stat #2 only leaves 7 holes to get up on down on } = 4 pars scrambling per round] Having the skill set to achieve any of the aforementioned stats - priceless. SO If the pro's can't do all 3 all the time, how can the rest of us who earn an income doing something else do it? RayG and Jeremy Boop are both correct. Practice course strategy and don't get emotional about not hitting perfect shots. Be creative, practice a lot, play often, and think your way into a par, or saving par. Case in point. I am sick of getting my butt kick by seniors who can't hit passed 230yards on their drives and make 12 pars per round and score in the 70's 90% of the time. Watch them, get your butt kicked, and learn. They hardly ever play with the $300 plus flashy driver. They play with clubs that won't give them penalty strokes for being 300 yards deep in the crap. BTW Tour Avg drive-287 yds. Driver is used 14 times per round (potentially). Putter is used 36 times per round (potentially). Get fitted for a putter and gain strokes. How many penalties has your putter cost you for lost balls? AGAIN Seniors use a driver that keeps them in the fairway. Just sayin......

Using tour stats for fairways hit can be a bit deceiving when comparing to us lugs out there. Yes, they missed a fairway, but their misses aren't USUALLY 50-100 yards offline. If they are in the first cut, that's a miss. We have a Fairways hit, GIR, and putts side thing but we COUNT the first cut as being a fairway. "Close enough" we figure since we aren't playing for millions, and it's the same for all of us- what's the difference. And as it's said- don't get all worked up over it. As you improve, all those recovery shots will be in your mind and you will have more confidence when you DO need to hit them again. I learned to be a pretty good bunker player because when I started I always seemed to be just a bit short or wide and wound up in them more often than not. As I progressed in ability, I hit the greens. If I miss now, I don't get all worked up over being in there. I get in, remember my past experience and make the shot. Sure, I clunk one on the odd day, but I normally get out and get away with the par or bogey... mostly.

[dkolo]

Seriously, it's getting kind of frustrating.

I'm by no means a good player (very much a newbie)...but every time I go out to play, it seems like I struggle with teeing off, getting to the green with irons, or putting. Never play well with all 3.

Not only that, but on most holes, I barely seem to get 2 out of the 3 in any decent way.

What's worse is that there's no real pattern/rhyme-or-reason to the inconsistency. I mean, it's pretty much evenly distributed. This week, good at putting...next week...not good at all.

The ONLY thing I'm wondering about is that I never rent a cart to play 9 holes (which is what I almost always play) and walk to save $$$. Please (I beg of you!) don't tell me a major reason why I'm doing so crappy is that I'm physically messed up (due to so much walking/carrying clubs) and I [need] to get a cart (because it's throwing off my body/concentration/energy/etc.)...if that's the case...man...that REALLY sucks. I rarely see people walking though, so this may be the case. Let me know if I'm crazy for walking.

Or...do you think it's something else altogether? Is this just a bizarre trio-of-trouble all newer players deal with (horrible inconsistency?)

I think a lot of it is small sample sizes. You're probably not as good as you think you are in your good areas and not as bad as you think you are in your bad areas. When you're on the range, alternate between a driver, a 5 iron, an 8 iron, and a wedge in that sequence 10 times and see how good or bad your totality of shots is for each club. You can add a putter to that mix, but I imagine your practice area set up isn't conducive to that. And don't ignore those "oh, I set up wrong" or "oh, I know what I did wrong" shots because you can't do that on the course. Those are the ones you're seeing on the course and ignoring on the range.

[SAGolfLuvr]

Seriously, it's getting kind of frustrating.

I'm by no means a good player (very much a newbie)...but every time I go out to play, it seems like I struggle with teeing off, getting to the green with irons, or putting. Never play well with all 3.

Not only that, but on most holes, I barely seem to get 2 out of the 3 in any decent way.

What's worse is that there's no real pattern/rhyme-or-reason to the inconsistency. I mean, it's pretty much evenly distributed. This week, good at putting...next week...not good at all.

Dear ScottCarmich, to clarify the intent of my post based on RayG's response, I wanted to show that EVEN THE PROS aren't perfect at all phases of the game, but I knew I had to show the true numbers currently on tour to make that point. I TRULY BELIEVE that golf is a game of misses.

http://www.sunriver.com/golf-tips-a-game-of-accurate-misses/

Good Luck

[The Recreational Golfer]

Welcome to golf.

[dave s]

Welcome to golf.

Amen. And well stated.

Had a great ball striking round last weekend.  Never made a putt over 2 feet in 18 holes.  84 on the card.  Make a few of those birdie opportunities and who knows!

Yes.  Welcome to golf as we know it.

dave

[mmoan2]

Your inconsistency probably isn't as extreme as it seems. You may think you putted like garbage one day, but it only seems that bad because you were "so close" on those 3 10 footers that lipped out, etc. Track your stats as you play and you'll come to realize over time that you're not driving like a champ but putting like a chump or vice-versa. It only seems that way.

And as it was stated above, Welcome To Golf! If we could do all three consistently, we'd likely be out prepping for a PGA tournament right now.

[GolfLug]

Seriously, it's getting kind of frustrating.

I'm by no means a good player (very much a newbie)...but every time I go out to play, it seems like I struggle with teeing off, getting to the green with irons, or putting. Never play well with all 3.

Not only that, but on most holes, I barely seem to get 2 out of the 3 in any decent way.

What's worse is that there's no real pattern/rhyme-or-reason to the inconsistency. I mean, it's pretty much evenly distributed. This week, good at putting...next week...not good at all.

The ONLY thing I'm wondering about is that I never rent a cart to play 9 holes (which is what I almost always play) and walk to save $$$. Please (I beg of you!) don't tell me a major reason why I'm doing so crappy is that I'm physically messed up (due to so much walking/carrying clubs) and I [need] to get a cart (because it's throwing off my body/concentration/energy/etc.)...if that's the case...man...that REALLY sucks. I rarely see people walking though, so this may be the case. Let me know if I'm crazy for walking.

Or...do you think it's something else altogether? Is this just a bizarre trio-of-trouble all newer players deal with (horrible inconsistency?)

If you are a rank newbie (6 months or less) then that's not as bad as you think. I remember I would shoot upwards of 140 for the first year straight. Nothing made sense. The only 'goals' I decided to have:

1) was how many balls I lost (aim was not to loose more than 10 balls, and progressive loose less). I used absolute cheapest balls I could find for that reason alone.

2) hit at least 3 good (meaning straight) shots through 18 holes. I progressed from then onwards.

You don't necessarily need to set your bar that low but you have to build up. Walking or riding has absolutely nothing to do with it unless you are terribly out of shape. Work with a pro if you can manage. It will cut out a serious amount of trial and error.

Stay with it. Embrace frustration and endure.

[edhalsim]

you may have expectations (self image) on how well you can play. That self image can sabotage you during a round so that your final score ends up in your comfort zone. You may play a few holes really well then all of a sudden out of nowhere you hit a drive ob or three putt a green. It doesn't make any logical sense. My issue is I never make any putts so I think of myself down deep as a bad putter and despite practice I either hit a good putt with the wrong speed or right speed but wrong line etc. it's not my putting that's bad it's my self image. I would suggest try visualizing yourself playing well and see if your game doesn't respond after a while. Just my $.02