The "Stop Conning Yourself" Thread

[Duff McGee]

I am not saying golf is easy...  Never said that.  And yes it may be the hardest to master. I just said we think golf is hard because we expect more out of ourselves than we do with other sports.   We expect to compete at a higher level than we do at most rec league sports.

Yeah and this part I agree with. The other stuff was what tempted me to post.

[iacas]

Something about golf makes us think we can all be top level players instead of just enjoying the game at our own skill level.

I am not saying golf is easy...  Never said that.  And yes it may be the hardest to master.

That's not really the topic of this thread.

And golf is hard. Other sports seem easier because we play them against other humans. Golf is not really played against humans.

But again, off topic. Let's stick to the topic at hand.

[Lefty-Golfer]

I stopped conning myself that my HC would get better by playing more...I have indexed between 7.5 and 9.5 for 4 yrs regardless of how much golf I play. The only way it goes to a 6 or 5 is by focused practice time....which is highly doubtful!!

[Suchmo]

Great thread. Case in point, I stated earlier in the thread that I carry a 7 iron 140 yards. Some honest, accurate measurement later (not just counting shots in favourable conditions) and I reckon I carry it 125 if I want to be accurate. I even con myself in a thread about not conning yourself.

[JonMA1]

Great thread. Case in point, I stated earlier in the thread that I carry a 7 iron 140 yards. Some honest, accurate measurement later (not just counting shots in favourable conditions) and I reckon I carry it 125 if I want to be accurate. I even con myself in a thread about not conning yourself.

You bring up a great point. We don't always hit our stock distances when hitting from a poor lie - at least I rarely do. So when asked "how far do you hit your clubs", I would take that to mean which club would I pull at what distance (with a decent lie) if I had $1,000,000 on the line.

To come up with a distance for each club that doesn't include poor lies, punch shots, elevated green, elevated tee box, and the crazy bad shots that end up long or short, isn't a con in my opinion. It's just a base from which to make adjustments when those other things occur.

[Valleygolfer]

Speaking of conning... it does not just stop with men on this part. I played with a woman this weekend that was regularly looking for her drive, 40-50 yards past the point she actually hit it.

I thought I was a bad judge of distance....

[Jeremie Boop]

Speaking of conning... it does not just stop with men on this part. I played with a woman this weekend that was regularly looking for her drive, 40-50 yards past the point she actually hit it.

I thought I was a bad judge of distance....

I used to look for my drives further than they really were. Now I find myself looking for my drives shorter than they are sometimes. Most of the time, though, I'm much better about guessing the distance and find them more often.

[rkim291968]

Speaking of conning... it does not just stop with men on this part. I played with a woman this weekend that was regularly looking for her drive, 40-50 yards past the point she actually hit it.

I thought I was a bad judge of distance....

She's an exception, I think.   My experience is that men typically look for their balls further up from where they should be.   Women does it the other way around.

I am surprised there are not too many confessions of "I manage my handicap to play better at tournaments" variety from those who sandbag.

[Lihu]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Valleygolfer

Speaking of conning... it does not just stop with men on this part. I played with a woman this weekend that was regularly looking for her drive, 40-50 yards past the point she actually hit it.

I thought I was a bad judge of distance....

She's an exception, I think.   My experience is that men typically look for their balls further up from where they should be.   Women does it the other way around.

I am surprised there are not too many confessions of "I manage my handicap to play better at tournaments" variety from those who sandbag.

They're not conning themselves, they're conning other people. . .

[InTheRough]

I'm conning myself about my overall abilities  I keep thinking that I have the ability to drop into a single digit handicap and just need to put it all together--my Game golf stats beg to differ. I fall short in every category compared to players in the 5-10 handicap range in the stat comparison page.   It sucks staring the truth in the face every time I log in.

My favorite con though is the "I can make that shot" con--  No...I can't.

[Valleygolfer]

She's an exception, I think.   My experience is that men typically look for their balls further up from where they should be.   Women does it the other way around.

That was why I posted it. It was interesting that she consistently was 20-50 yards off her ball. Usually a guy behavior, but it was a new course for her so she probably didn't know the distances visually and historically.

[pumaAttack]

That was why I posted it. It was interesting that she consistently was 20-50 yards off her ball. Usually a guy behavior, but it was a new course for her so she probably didn't know the distances visually and historically.

Not really sure that is a gender only stereotype...

[mcanadiens]

I find myself doing that from time to time. For one, my depth perception is absolutely horrible. For two, the difference between tee shots can be rather extreme for a hacker of my ability. In fairness I sometimes hit it further than I think I did as well.

[LagShaft]

Excellent thread!! The Rec League analogy really hit home with me. I suppose I'm conning myself into thinking that I have time to make huge improvements in every aspect of my game at this point in my life. I suppose if I had to set a reachable goal it would be to play confidently and contribute consistently in scramble tournements. In which case chipping and putting would probably be the easiest to fit into my schedule. I'll continue to work on swing mechanics but make my short game a priority atleast for the time being.

[iacas]

Excellent thread!! The Rec League analogy really hit home with me. I suppose I'm conning myself into thinking that I have time to make huge improvements in every aspect of my game at this point in my life. I suppose if I had to set a reachable goal it would be to play confidently and contribute consistently in scramble tournements. In which case chipping and putting would probably be the easiest to fit into my schedule. I'll continue to work on swing mechanics but make my short game a priority atleast for the time being.

See this thread: . Though you will see good gains initially from spending more time on your short game, you should eventually spend what little time you have on the proper things.

[LagShaft]

Good read iacas and thanks for the advise. I definitely agree that I will have to focus on my Driver and mid to long irons at some point and I don't plan on forsaking them completely. I'll just be using the time that I can spend on them to sculpt my swing for Accuracy and not distance at this point while focusing more on my short game. This wouldn't be the first time I've overdone my practice time only to have other things stack up around me, gotten frustrated and walked away form the game for an extended period of time. I'm just trying to approach things with a better plan this time to insure that doesn't happen again. I'll look forward to your input if I can ever find time to start a swing thread.

[adam3553]

Im what many would consider to be a "range rat". Being single with no kids affords me the opportunity to hit the range daily during the season and I also play 3 times a week. Problem is Im not getting better. At all!! Reading Iacas thread on getting a priority piece has changed my game. Only in the last 3 weeks have I started to see a change in my swing which was confirmed by video. I conned myself for the last 2 seasons thinking I was bettering my swing but all I was doing was aimlessly beating balls and falling for each magic swing thought that would last a week or day or even an hour! Ive found a good instructor who is involved with the 5SK. With his help and the great information on this site I think Im headed in the right direction. Its been 3 weeks since I went to the range just to beat balls without working on a specific piece and Im never looking back.

[JP golf]

How do I con myself?  I think I know more than I do.  I don't know a lot of technicalities, I've built my swing on a few small fundamentals and feel.  I try to think logically and understand why I do what I do... but then I saw my swing on video...   I clearly don't swing like I thought I did and certainly don't do what it feels like I'm doing...  So, I admit I don't know what I thought I knew about my own swing.  I feel better already!!!

  Cheers!