Mental conflict

[stealthhwk]

They say in golf to play to your strengths. They say in golf, get it as close to the hole as possible. Well, which is it?! If I were to play to my strengths, I would tee off with a 4hybrid on every par four and five. Id hit it 215-230 and in the fairway 9/10 times. Id hit the 7i as much as possible as I always get it airborne and Im fairly accurate with it. If I get it out there as far as possible, thats driver or 3w. (225-265) But if I mishit either of those clubs theyre gonna be shorter than my hybrid shot and at least 40% of the time, those shots will be in the trees. So, what the heck do I do???

[iacas]

7 minutes ago, stealthhwk said:

They say in golf to play to your strengths. They say in golf, get it as close to the hole as possible. Well, which is it?! If I were to play to my strengths, I would tee off with a 4hybrid on every par four and five. Id hit it 215-230 and in the fairway 9/10 times. Id hit the 7i as much as possible as I always get it airborne and Im fairly accurate with it. If I get it out there as far as possible, thats driver or 3w. (225-265) But if I mishit either of those clubs theyre gonna be shorter than my hybrid shot and at least 40% of the time, those shots will be in the trees. So, what the heck do I do???

Buy Lowest Score Wins and pay particular attention to the third section.

[Abu3baid]

Play a round teeing off with your hybrid and see how low you will score?  If you do well, then you can keep playing with it while at the same time working on the long club until you can get it in play.

[iacas]

Nobody can really give you specific advice for your game and the courses you play.

[Patch]

You play the way that gives you the best chance at recording your lowest score. This regardless of clubs being used. 

While playing to your lowest score, and you eventually still want to use those longer clubs, you practice with those longer clubs until they help you match, or exceed those lower scores you get with the shorter clubs. 

[allenc]

 

16 minutes ago, stealthhwk said:

I would tee off with a 4hybrid on every par four and five. Id hit it 215-230 and in the fairway 9/10 times.

 

16 minutes ago, stealthhwk said:

driver or 3w. (225-265) But if I mishit either of those clubs theyre gonna be shorter than my hybrid shot and at least 40% of the time, those shots will be in the trees. So, what the heck do I do???

There is no conflict at all.  You will end up closer to the hole on average with your hybrid.  Nobody says to use the club that will get you closest only if you get lucky and hit it perfectly.

-- edit --

Of course the reason you are conflicted is that your above two statements are probably untrue.  You don't hit your hybrid perfectly 9/10 times but slice your driver into the woods 4/10.  If that were true you should use your hybrid every hole and never ever use your driver.  In reality it is probably closer (maybe 5/10 vs 6.5/10 or something).

Edited February 18, 2016 by allenc
added stuff

[SavvySwede]

14 minutes ago, stealthhwk said:

They say in golf to play to your strengths. They say in golf, get it as close to the hole as possible. Well, which is it?! If I were to play to my strengths, I would tee off with a 4hybrid on every par four and five. Id hit it 215-230 and in the fairway 9/10 times. Id hit the 7i as much as possible as I always get it airborne and Im fairly accurate with it. If I get it out there as far as possible, thats driver or 3w. (225-265) But if I mishit either of those clubs theyre gonna be shorter than my hybrid shot and at least 40% of the time, those shots will be in the trees. So, what the heck do I do???

Your numbers and stats seem a bit off. I think you're overestimating your ability with the hybrid and perhaps also underestimating your ability with the driver. A 22hc that can hit any club 215 -230 and in the fairway 90% of the time doesn't sound like a 22hc to me.

[stealthhwk]

14 minutes ago, allenc said:

 

 

There is no conflict at all.  You will end up closer to the hole on average with your hybrid.  Nobody says to use the club that will get you closest only if you get lucky and hit it perfectly.

-- edit --

Of course the reason you are conflicted is that your above two statements are probably untrue.  You don't hit your hybrid perfectly 9/10 times but slice your driver into the woods 4/10.  If that were true you should use your hybrid every hole and never ever use your driver.  In reality it is probably closer (maybe 5/10 vs 6.5/10 or something).

Track stats but not by club. Point is I almost never miss a fairway with my hybrid. Driver and three wood are real iffy.

[Lihu]

21 minutes ago, SavvySwede said:

Your numbers and stats seem a bit off. I think you're overestimating your ability with the hybrid and perhaps also underestimating your ability with the driver. A 22hc that can hit any club 215 -230 and in the fairway 90% of the time doesn't sound like a 22hc to me.

I was going to mention the same thing, but figured it was just a "guesstimate". Most people overestimate how far they hit. Guessing he actually hits it 20-30 yards less.

 

20 minutes ago, stealthhwk said:

Track stats but not by club. Point is I almost never miss a fairway with my hybrid. Driver and three wood are real iffy.

Guessing that you don't actually average 223 yards with your hybrid especially since you almost never miss a fairway. However, even 180-200 in the fairway is still pretty good. Stick with that club for a while.

[DaveP043]

30 minutes ago, stealthhwk said:

They say in golf to play to your strengths. They say in golf, get it as close to the hole as possible. Well, which is it?

Well, I don't think that "they" mean to disregard accuracy.  A long drive that's out of play has no value, compared to a shorter shot that IS in play.  I'd suggest that you get good instruction and practice and learn to hit your driver and/or 3-wood as accurately and consistently as you hit your 4H.  While you're working on that, you should hit whatever club gets you the lowest scores.  Of course, in your shoes I'd still be hitting my driver, and chipping out of the woods regularly, but I don't recommend that course of action if you care about your score.

[stealthhwk]

12 minutes ago, Lihu said:

I was going to mention the same thing, but figured it was just a "guesstimate". Most people overestimate how far they hit. Guessing he actually hits it 20-30 yards less.

 

Guessing that you don't actually average 223 yards with your hybrid if you almost never miss a fairway. However, even 180-200 in the fairway is still pretty good. Stick with that club for a while.

My yardages are from gps measurements. I hit all my irons slightly longer than average. I hit my woods all less than average with the exception of the perfect strike. My high handicap is due to inconsistency with every other club. Even at my handicap, there are three clubs I hit exceptionally well consistantly. In order of performance from highest to lowest is 4h, gap wedge, 7i. A full swing with those and Im money. A full swing with a driver, 3 wood, or any other iron is inconsistent at best. I also duff a few chips and drop one or two shots in the water every round. And Ive been three putting twice a round for a few weeks now as well.

[Lihu]

8 minutes ago, stealthhwk said:

My yardages are from gps measurements. I hit all my irons slightly longer than average. I hit my woods all less than average with the exception of the perfect strike. My high handicap is due to inconsistency with every other club. Even at my handicap, there are three clubs I hit exceptionally well consistantly. In order of performance from highest to lowest is 4h, gap wedge, 7i. A full swing with those and Im money. A full swing with a driver, 3 wood, or any other iron is inconsistent at best. I also duff a few chips and drop one or two shots in the water every round. And Ive been three putting twice a round for a few weeks now as well.

Certainly that can happen as well, but at one time I thought that I hit my hybrid 225 yards and that was based upon GPS and yardage marker distances.

I hit my hybrid a lot farther and higher now than I did back then and still only hit a median 207 yards with that club. If I were to use that club instead of driver, I would guess that my average score would go up 6-7 strokes.

[SavvySwede]

7 minutes ago, stealthhwk said:

My yardages are from gps measurements. I hit all my irons slightly longer than average. I hit my woods all less than average with the exception of the perfect strike. My high handicap is due to inconsistency with every other club. Even at my handicap, there are three clubs I hit exceptionally well consistantly. In order of performance from highest to lowest is 4h, gap wedge, 7i. A full swing with those and Im money. A full swing with a driver, 3 wood, or any other iron is inconsistent at best. I also duff a few chips and drop one or two shots in the water every round. And Ive been three putting twice a round for a few weeks now as well.

Next time you play take only those three clubs and a putter and see what happens. You'll either shoot a personal best or come to realize they're not as special as you think. 

[stealthhwk]

19 minutes ago, SavvySwede said:

Next time you play take only those three clubs and a putter and see what happens. You'll either shoot a personal best or come to realize they're not as special as you think. 

LOL!! My regular golf buddy suggested that to me last time we played. He said "if u only played golf with those three clubs Id bet you would break 90 every time." I took this under advisement briefly, but if I cant take enough off the 7 iron reliably enough for some of the shorter shots I might face. However, my next round I think Im gonna play with those three clubs as much as humanly possible and just see what happens. 

Edited February 18, 2016 by stealthhwk
Added a bit

[Lihu]

28 minutes ago, stealthhwk said:

LOL!! My regular golf buddy suggested that to me last time we played. He said "if u only played golf with those three clubs Id bet you would break 90 every time." I took this under advisement briefly, but if I cant take enough off the 7 iron reliably enough for some of the shorter shots I might face. However, my next round I think Im gonna play with those three clubs as much as humanly possible and just see what happens. 

Just take out your woods.

[stealthhwk]

28 minutes ago, Lihu said:

Just take out your woods.

Will do. Guess its probably the only way to know for sure

[SavvySwede]

48 minutes ago, stealthhwk said:

Will do. Guess its probably the only way to know for sure

There is also GAME GOLF. It'd take a few rounds to get significant data but that would be the most accurate way to go.

[Pretzel]

4 hours ago, stealthhwk said:

They say in golf to play to your strengths. They say in golf, get it as close to the hole as possible. Well, which is it?! If I were to play to my strengths, I would tee off with a 4hybrid on every par four and five. Id hit it 215-230 and in the fairway 9/10 times. Id hit the 7i as much as possible as I always get it airborne and Im fairly accurate with it. If I get it out there as far as possible, thats driver or 3w. (225-265) But if I mishit either of those clubs theyre gonna be shorter than my hybrid shot and at least 40% of the time, those shots will be in the trees. So, what the heck do I do???

What you should do is find out your real strengths. Getting the ball closer to the hole is part of the strength of your driver when compared to a 4 hybrid, which is something you are not taking into account there. I would also say that, unless you play a VERY tight course, the ball will not end up in the trees 40% of the time. It will likely miss the fairway 40% of the time, but the tour average for fairways hit with their diver is only about 60% anyways.

Let me repeat that: PGA Tour players miss the fairway 40% of the time, as you mentioned, and you still don't see them teeing off with a 4 hybrid to try and be more accurate (I would also bet money that you wouldn't hit the fairway 90% of the time with your 4h anyways since that's greater accuracy than most tour players, but that's besides the point).

If your 4-hybrid travels 215-230 yards I can tell you right now that's plenty long to play off a single digit handicap if you play the appropriate length tees. I am nearing scratch and my 4-iron is my 220 yard club. I would wager a guess that either your distance is overestimated or there is something else in your golf game that is costing you a very large number of strokes, because it takes a very fundamentally sound swing to hit a 4-hybrid that far and accurate (or it could be overestimation).

Unless your course is unreasonably tight I would imagine the 40% in the trees is an overestimation. Have you kept hard data to produce this statistic, or is it a guess? If you hit your 4-hybrid 230 yards, how far do you hit your driver? How long is the course that you generally play (and what tees do you play from)?

There are many questions and unknowns about your golf game that would need to be answered before you can truly assess your strengths and weaknesses and match them up to a strategy for your specific course. 

As far as general advice goes, I would recommend working with your driver to straighten it out some, even if it means it goes a bit shorter. If your 40% in the trees statistic isn't an overestimation I would call that a glaring weakness of your golf game that should be addressed to help you shoot lower scores. You also should keep in mind that being 20 yards closer to the hole and in the rough is far more valuable than being 20 yards further from the hole and in the fairway. Don't worry too much about hitting it into the rough so long as you aren't so far off the beaten path that you can't hit it towards the green. The best players on the planet know to value that large change in distance over a fairway/rough lie, and they play under much less forgiving conditions at most of their tour stops. 

You also say that if you mishit a driver or a 3-wood it will go shorter than your hybrid, and that's likely a misconception you have because you're comparing a good hybrid shot to a bad 3-wood or driver shot. You need to compare how a bad 3-wood or driver shot would fly compared to an equally bad 4-hybrid shot, and I think you'll find that the 3-wood and driver will still average more distance than the 4-hybrid. You also potentially answered your own question: You said that if you hit your driver or 3-wood poorly, it would go shorter than your 4 hybrid. Assuming this logic to be true, in addition to the 40% in the trees statistic (which would likely constitute mishits or bad shots), it might stand to reason that your 4-hybrid in this scenario would get you as close to the hole as possible.

Golf is a game of percentages and probabilities, because you never know what exactly will happen. You need to find out your personal percentages and probabilities before you can create a strategy around them to improve your scores. Going off of guesswork will never be as reliable just because it's so vulnerable to perception. Your perception of your abilities will change negatively after a round where you hit the driver terribly, and it will conversely change to an overestimation of your abilities if you hit your driver great in a round immediately prior. Having long-term data to fall back on prevents you from planning your golf game around this ever-present issue of changing perception, and will benefit you over the long term. How you collect the data (and even if you collect data) is up to you, but it definitely makes a difference when you are able to analytically determine your strengths, your weaknesses, and come up with a statistically sound strategy for playing a specific course to the best of your abilities.