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Blackjack Don
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One philosophy has pervaded my life. It's simple really, but doesn't seem to be easy to live with: "There has to be a better way." When I came to golf eight months ago, I applied this principle, as I had to everything I've ever done. Can this be better? Not just for me, but for others. I want to enjoy golf, and I want everyone to enjoy the game, even if they disagree with me or don't need any better.

Recently I have been playing rounds of what some of us are calling Play 200. Each hole, I begin at the 200 yard mark (shorter par 3's excepted, of course). I start every hole from 200 yards from the green according to my Garmin GPS watch. Because I can't reach the green in one shot, I have to plan what club I'm going to hit, where I want to land it, from how far out I want to be to hit my second shot into the green. Yesterday, I shot 6 over for nine holes. It was fun.

By eliminating the tee shot, I also cut my nine holes down to less than an hour and a half. I played a few holes with two other guys, so that slows it down. They didn't mind, after they understood what I'm doing. I'm practicing. I spent a hour on the range practicing my full swing. I spent a half hour chipping and putting. Then I played nine holes, (after 3 o'clock it's only $10), and was home in time to fix my wife dinner when she got home from work. That's what I call a great golf day. I left the course happy about how I spent my day.

My driver is not reliable. My three wood isn't either. Even if it was, I would still keep playing from 200. Some say, "That's not golf!", but if you take the driver out of the bag, is it still golf? If you tee off with an iron every hole, the game has changed. If you "move up," to what? is it still golf? Yes. All of that is golf. So why not do something that works, that takes over half of the frustration out of the game? Why not try something that makes the game more fun, esp if you are over 100 avg.?

This might be a way to get people to stay playing golf, when they might otherwise give it up. Golf is hard. For more than half of those who try it, it's too hard. They give up. This is way outside the box, but if you think that a without a driver, the game isn't the same, either. It's all golf. Once I can hit my driver, I'll be back on the tee box. Where the fun is one stroke more.

Best wishes. Enjoy the process. Think outside the box.

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Wayne

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Or

The USGA also recommends playing forward.

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Scott

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It's not a realistic distance to play from, and makes the game far more difficult than it should. Who wants to hit a 5i or 4i on every par 4 hole? That's pretty much what you are endorsing here. What makes a lot more sense is if you started 200 yards from the tee box.

The way you are playing is if you duff 160 yards on 360 yard par 4 holes and play as if you needed to "rescue" that hole. Yes, I've done that and rescued myself with a 4i or hybrid, but it doesn't really train me for the correct game. Most of the time I'm not lucky to be near enough to the green to make an easy up and down. I usually have to flop over a bunker or something.

The proper way to train your game is to hit a drive out to 150 yards or less then hit your less than 150 yard club to try to hit greens as close to the center as possible.

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34 minutes ago, Blackjack Don said:

One philosophy has pervaded my life. It's simple really, but doesn't seem to be easy to live with: "There has to be a better way." When I came to golf eight months ago, I applied this principle, as I had to everything I've ever done. Can this be better? Not just for me, but for others. I want to enjoy golf, and I want everyone to enjoy the game, even if they disagree with me or don't need any better.

Recently I have been playing rounds of what some of us are calling Play 200. Each hole, I begin at the 200 yard mark (shorter par 3's excepted, of course). I start every hole from 200 yards from the green according to my Garmin GPS watch. Because I can't reach the green in one shot, I have to plan what club I'm going to hit, where I want to land it, from how far out I want to be to hit my second shot into the green. Yesterday, I shot 6 over for nine holes. It was fun.

By eliminating the tee shot, I also cut my nine holes down to less than an hour and a half. I played a few holes with two other guys, so that slows it down. They didn't mind, after they understood what I'm doing. I'm practicing. I spent a hour on the range practicing my full swing. I spent a half hour chipping and putting. Then I played nine holes, (after 3 o'clock it's only $10), and was home in time to fix my wife dinner when she got home from work. That's what I call a great golf day. I left the course happy about how I spent my day.

My driver is not reliable. My three wood isn't either. Even if it was, I would still keep playing from 200. Some say, "That's not golf!", but if you take the driver out of the bag, is it still golf? If you tee off with an iron every hole, the game has changed. If you "move up," to what? is it still golf? Yes. All of that is golf. So why not do something that works, that takes over half of the frustration out of the game? Why not try something that makes the game more fun, esp if you are over 100 avg.?

 

Thank you for the folks who have written in support. I know this is a place where people who push the envelope are not popular. I have run into this in many places where the status quo is well-protected. I push the boundaries. I think to myself, "How can this be better," and I work on it. This might be a way to get people to stay playing golf, when they might otherwise give it up. Golf is hard. For more than half of those who try it, it's too hard. They give up. This is way outside the box, but if you think that a without a driver, the game isn't the same, either. It's all golf. Once I can hit my driver, I'll be back on the tee box. Where the fun is one stroke more.

Best wishes. Enjoy the process. Think outside the box.

My wife, when she plays, usually starts from the 150 marker, except on shorter par 3s. She just tees the ball up, and has fun from that distance. She started playing this game putting for par on the greens. Then worked her way back to the 150 marker from there.

The only time she plays these days, is when we are out on a road trip and we see a "Golf Here" sign. She might play 20 rounds a year, if that,  from that marker. She shoots in the mid, to low 90s from that distance. 

We have played with other golfers at times, most of which have no problem with her type of game. Of course there has been a few times a few other golfers have turned their nose up at the ideal. We just ignore their funny attitudes. 

What ever the person paying their greens' fee wants to do is fine with me. What ever route they take while trying to get better is equally fine with me. 

Low scoring, to par,  or better golf is hard for most folks. Some folks just want to hit the ball, go find it, and hit it again. No problem therethat I can see.

I know a guy who spends 99% of his golf on the driving range. That's all he wants to do. He just likes hitting the ball with the various clubs in his bag. 

Golf can be played many different ways. 

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Just now, Lihu said:

It's not a realistic distance to play from, and makes the game far more difficult than it should. Who wants to hit a 5i or 4i on every par 4 hole? That's pretty much what you are endorsing here. What makes a lot more sense is if you started 200 yards from the tee box.

The way you are playing is if you duff 60 yards on 360 yard par 4 holes and play as if you needed to "rescue" that hole. Yes, I've done that and rescued myself with a 4i or hybrid, but it doesn't really train me for the correct game. Most of the time I'm not lucky to be near enough to the green to make an easy up and down. I usually have to flop over a bunker or something.

The proper game is hit a drive out to 150 yards then hit a 9i or PW to try to hit greens.

If he wants to play from 200 yards every hole who cares. If it makes him a better golfer and enjoy the game more good for him.

 

I wouldn't golf with someone that does this, but to each his own. 

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Kyle Paulhus

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25 minutes ago, Blackjack Don said:

Recently I have been playing rounds of what some of us are calling Play 200. Each hole, I begin at the 200 yard mark (shorter par 3's excepted, of course). I start every hole from 200 yards from the green according to my Garmin GPS watch. Because I can't reach the green in one shot, I have to plan what club I'm going to hit, where I want to land it, from how far out I want to be to hit my second shot into the green. Yesterday, I shot 6 over for nine holes. It was fun.

The key is as you stated "It was fun"

There are many ways to introduce the game at entry level.
Family Tees, Play it Forward, short courses are all great means to learn basics.

My experience and intro to golf stemmed from hitting my uncles clubs into a cow pasture as a kid.

The key back then and still is "I had Fun"

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Waste of a green fee in my opinion. A 200 yard hole isn't going to challenge anyone, even for a short hitter you would just be hitting straightforward pitch shots into the green 90% of the time.

3 minutes ago, kpaulhus said:

If he wants to play from 200 yards every hole who cares. If it makes him a better golfer and enjoy the game more good for him.

 

I wouldn't golf with someone that does this, but to each his own. 

Not going to make him a better golfer though.

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9 minutes ago, kpaulhus said:

If he wants to play from 200 yards every hole who cares. If it makes him a better golfer and enjoy the game more good for him.

This is the same person who wanted to play all holes as par 5 as well. So. . .tee shot then 4 more to get into the hole. From 200 yards, I can see this as a possibility. :-D

I'm not that accurate from 200 yards except on the driving range and I consider a 40 to 50 yard wide dispersion as "very accurate" from 200.

 

Quote

I wouldn't golf with someone that does this, but to each his own. 

Yeah, I'm trying to dis-endorse this type of behavior so the odds of getting someone who plays like this is reduced. . .

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For alot of golfers driver is the club they hit best and enjoy the most.-And many people are not going to pay for golf and skip half of the hole and the part they like the most.

Hitting a ball on a tee is easier than hitting a ball on the ground.

Seems like a dumb idea. Why not just recommend people play from the tee with something other than driver? Playing from 200 yards on every hole is boring.-Tedious. Repetitious.

I have juniors who cannot hit the ball far enough play from anywhere from 80 to 300 yards but even they would get bored playing every hole from 200 yds

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7 minutes ago, Lihu said:

Yeah, I'm trying to dis-endorse this type of behavior so the odds of getting someone who plays like this is reduced. . .

This I don't understand, if this is how he is choosing to practice right now, he is not hurting anyone.

I've done this a few times, drive out to the 150 marker and play in from there, then the 100 marker and then from 50 yards, 3 balls per hole, each ball is marked with a number so I can keep track.

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4 minutes ago, bmartin461 said:

This I don't understand, if this is how he is choosing to practice right now, he is not hurting anyone.

I've done this a few times, drive out to the 150 marker and play in from there, then the 100 marker and then from 50 yards, 3 balls per hole, each ball is marked with a number so I can keep track.

That's different from driving up to the 200 yard marker on every hole. On some holes he might be only 75 yards away from you or even 60 yards off the tee box on short par 4.

Imagine playing behind someone who drives up 50 to 100 yards from the tee box then starts making his way to the green from there? Ouch. . .

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1 minute ago, Lihu said:

That's different from driving up to the 200 yard marker on every hole. On some holes he might be only 75 yards away from you or even 50 yards off the tee box on short par 4.

Imagine playing behind someone who drives up 50 to 100 yards from the tee box then starts making his way to the green from there? Ouch. . .

I would be more than fine playing behind him.  He finishes on the hole I'm on, drives past the next tee box to the 200 and hits his approach to the green, thus clearing the way for me to tee off almost immediately rather than waiting for him to tee off, slice into the woods 150 yards out, find the ball, pitch back to the fairway and then hit another shot.

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I see no problem with this. I would have no problem playing with with someone playing like this. I don't really see any way you would be slowing anyone down. 

I would take one suggestion mentioned on this thread. Try playing for different yardages. If you consistently hit the same shot on every hole, that can become very boring and repetitive, to me at least. Maybe instead of 200 yards on everyone hole, maybe try between 175 and 225 to mix up the shots. 

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Play 200 is to golf what Horse is to basketball.  And lest you think I'm being disparaging, let me  say that there's nothing wrong with that.  You came up with a golf-related game that you enjoy playing and may be making you a better golfer.  Great.  But Play 200 is not playing the game called "golf."  

55 minutes ago, Blackjack Don said:

My driver is not reliable. My three wood isn't either. Even if it was, I would still keep playing from 200.

I'm curious why you wouldn't play from the tees if your driver or 3W was reliable.  

 

1 hour ago, Blackjack Don said:

Why not try something that makes the game more fun, esp if you are over 100 avg.?

My average is over 100 and I have a lot of fun playing golf from tee to green.  

"No man goes round boasting of his vices,” he said, “except golfers." 

-- Det. Elk in The Twister by Edgar Wallace

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28 minutes ago, bmartin461 said:

I would be more than fine playing behind him.  He finishes on the hole I'm on, drives past the next tee box to the 200 and hits his approach to the green, thus clearing the way for me to tee off almost immediately rather than waiting for him to tee off, slice into the woods 150 yards out, find the ball, pitch back to the fairway and then hit another shot.

So, I was playing a slow course (Brookside 1) yesterday afternoon while waiting for my kids, and things moved along okay but suddenly came to a standstill at 13. So, I decided to jump a few holes after finishing 12 and found a single on 16 on the way out. I partnered with him and he asked me when I started and we determined that he started almost 3 hours ahead of me. His other 3 partners just left in a huff just before I joined him because it was so slow. They started at noon and it was almost 5:00pm at the start of 16. Well, I finished up 16 and drove up past 2 more groups to leave the course and found out who was slowing down play on 18. There were two duffers who basically advanced the ball about 20 yards at a time from about the 220 yard mark. In the time I was driving past them along the Rose Bowl path, I could see them hitting the ball three times between the two of them. It was like watching duffy polo ball advancement. I'd guess that they could probably tee off okay, but couldn't hit off the ground at all. They would have been better off just teeing off then walking their ball to the 100 yard marker and play from there.

Also, the two groups that were behind them were smiling to me in a very sympathetic manner as I passed them possibly thinking that I waited the entire day with them and was leaving in a "huff"? :-D

Now, I'm not saying anything about the fact that they were playing a 7000+ yard course and should have played it forward on the shorter course 2 or even the executive at Scholl canyon. I'm not going to say that they should spend more time on the range to get a reasonable swing before playing. Finally, I'm not going to say that if they played from 150 yards on every hole that things would be better.

However, I am going to say that I think this example illustrates what happens if people play in a manner that makes the game more difficult for them. I think the proposal in the OP is one of those ideas that makes for potentially 6 hour rounds.

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If you're enjoying yourself, and keeping up the pace of play, have fun.

Personally though, I couldn't imagine anything more boring than playing round where every hole is virtually the same length, with little variety...

...just because something is different doesn't mean that it's necessarily better.  Some people tend to equate the two though.

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Kinda similar....but a course I play on has tee markers on the fairway that range from 120-180 from the green for people who want to play a quick round without the driver tee shot and time associated with it. 

Anyone else play on a course that does this?

Edited by cutchemist42
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Just now, cutchemist42 said:

Kinda similar....but a course I play on has tee markers on the fairway that range from 120-180 from the green for people who want to play a quick round without the driver tee shot and time associated with it. 

Anyone else play on a course that does this?

They have "Orange" tees at the course near my house designated for kids, but possibly could be used for this purpose?

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