Would You Rather Be Lucky Or Good?

[Buckeyebowman]

I'll take good any day. I figure that if I'm good enough I can make my own luck, but there is a flip side to that coin.

In my early 20's I was pretty much a scratch golfer. Played from the tips and shot around par, even shot 2 or 3 under as a regular occurrence. But, I NEVER had a hole in one! Had tons of kick in birdies, but never holed out!

I've played golf for 50 years and you'd think "luck" would take care of this! Apparently it doesn't!

[Club Rat]

On ‎3‎/‎3‎/‎2017 at 2:15 PM, 1badbadger said:

When it comes to golf, would you rather be lucky or good? 

This question would have been a good poll.

I've always said "if it wasn't for bad luck, I wouldn't have any luck at all.
But, there are times when I was lucky, rather than being good.

However, good often eliminates any bad luck... 

Funny game, some days one can be lucky and good....

 

 

[MarvChamp]

I take what is probably, maybe definitely an odd view. I would choose "skill" rather than "luck" because I don't believe in "luck". Instead I see golf as the most spiritual of all games that can teach even the most skilled player much in that regard if he pays attention to the unseen order of things.

For how many times have I hit what appears the perfect shot to the perfect target but it takes an impossible 1:1000 bounce into trouble? Was that luck? Or I hit what appears the worst shot that hits a tree and comes to rest in perfect position? Was that luck?

Certainly neither result involved skill. Yet I am more willing accept the latter as something I somehow deserve but not the former. 

Don't get me wrong...I want skill and will work for it. But on the course, I sometimes act as if I am more deserving and should be able to control the uncontrollable, instead of accepting circumstances as they are right here, right now.  I would like, somehow, to learn to see whatever little skill I have as a gift, just like the moments on the course when it doesn't break my way.  Because golf is more than a physical skill. Thanks for letting me ramble.

-Marv

 

[tristanhilton85]

Like most here, I'd say I'd rather be good than lucky. Luck tends to even itself out.

[Daddycool_83]

Ive often pondered this as it seems every wayward shot ive hit of late has been found at foots of trees or other ridiculous lies,and then even when I get some sort of shot I hit a flush and it grabs the smallest of leaves and drops straight down..two weeks ago I hit telegraph wires some 140 yards away off a tee (granted it spanned across the fairway but at a few cms thick it was still a feat) and dropped straight down..you couldnt make it up,however...ide still prefer to have some sort of natural talent than get by on luck alone.

[nowon]

Rather be good than lucky, which is the predominant thought here.

having said that, the only time being lucky is better than being good is winning Powerball.  I'll take lucky in that any day.

[Lihu]

On 3/3/2017 at 3:10 PM, 1badbadger said:

Watch this video and tell me there is no such thing as luck...

"Better to be lucky than good." So, I'm told after my shots. . .

[NCGolfer]

"Chance favors the prepared."  - Louis Pasteur

In other words, you are more likely to be lucky if you are also good (prepared).  I'll take good all day.

[Grinde6]

Good for sure.  I don't want my game to rely on lucky bounces to shoot low scores, I would rather be good and hit fairways and greens.  As others have stated, lucky bounces tend to even themselves out with unlucky ones. 

[Zekez]

On 3/4/2017 at 9:06 AM, mistermuhl said:

Luck is merely opportunity meeting preparation. Sure you may get a kick off the tree. But either way, you have to be skillful to get into any position. If you escape out of some brutal situation it was luck. It was simply you being as prepared as possible. If you get the best kick of you life into a fairway or onto a green, you simply made a good shot in the right place. I don't like the way people always jump to blind luck. Everyone deserves more credit than they get but that is definitely the nature of the game. 

I have always found this statement to be pure garbage.

In my playoffs last year on hole #7 my opponent (who is a 14 hdcp for 9 holes) is about 15 yards behind a huge leafy tree. Oak, elm, whatever.  He decides to hit his shot right through the tree.  Sure enough it went through without touching a single leaf.  So tell me how he prepared for that shot?

[mistermuhl]

2 hours ago, Zekez said:

I have always found this statement to be pure garbage.

In my playoffs last year on hole #7 my opponent (who is a 14 hdcp for 9 holes) is about 15 yards behind a huge leafy tree. Oak, elm, whatever.  He decides to hit his shot right through the tree.  Sure enough it went through without touching a single leaf.  So tell me how he prepared for that shot?

The statement is in no way garbage. Golf is the sport with the most room for interpretation. When I make an unbelievable shot, why would I want to give credit to anyone or anything other than me? I did it. I made the perfect contact required for the result that was produced. You are zapping your confidence by chalking things up to luck. I don't care if I hit the cart path and it bounced off an acorn onto the green. I'm taking credit for that shot. Doing anything but is basically saying "I wasn't good enough to make the shot but some higher karma/power stepped in". If you want to think that, go ahead. I'd rather play with a confident attitude than an unsure attitude. 

[DaveP043]

19 minutes ago, mistermuhl said:

The statement is in no way garbage. Golf is the sport with the most room for interpretation. When I make an unbelievable shot, why would I want to give credit to anyone or anything other than me? I did it. I made the perfect contact required for the result that was produced. You are zapping your confidence by chalking things up to luck. I don't care if I hit the cart path and it bounced off an acorn onto the green. I'm taking credit for that shot. Doing anything but is basically saying "I wasn't good enough to make the shot but some higher karma/power stepped in". If you want to think that, go ahead. I'd rather play with a confident attitude than an unsure attitude. 

This is an interesting viewpoint.  To be consistent, you have to accept that the beautiful shot you hit, exactly on line, so accurate that it actually hit the flagstick in the air and bounced back into the hazard, you have to accept that the penalty stroke you get is a direct result of your golfing prowess.  I'd rather accept the reality that sometimes luck, good or bad, really does play a factor.

[mistermuhl]

7 minutes ago, DaveP043 said:

This is an interesting viewpoint.  To be consistent, you have to accept that the beautiful shot you hit, exactly on line, so accurate that it actually hit the flagstick in the air and bounced back into the hazard, you have to accept that the penalty stroke you get is a direct result of your golfing prowess.  I'd rather accept the reality that sometimes luck, good or bad, really does play a factor.

Yes. I'm a big believer in responsibility. For better or worse. What happens to you is simply what happens. That good shot you describe, isn't actually a good shot. The process is good, sure. But the result sucks. Just like in my example, the process sucks, but the result is good. Ultimately, you focus on the process to maximize the frequency of the results. But just like with everything in life, results reign supreme. It's the harsh reality. 

 

I actually feel that this topic sort of epitomizes what is wrong with modern society. When it's going bad people con themselves and say it's bad luck. When it's going good they they suck up the credit and develop entitlement. Rather than understanding that if they don't want to go through spells of "bad luck", all they have to do is bust their asses more. 

Edited March 15, 2017 by mistermuhl

[DaveP043]

10 minutes ago, mistermuhl said:

Yes. I'm a big believer in responsibility. For better or worse. What happens to you is simply what happens. That good shot you describe, isn't actually a good shot. The process is good, sure. But the result sucks. Just like in my example, the process sucks, but the result is good. Ultimately, you focus on the process to maximize the frequency of the results. But just like with everything in life, results reign supreme. It's the harsh reality. 

Fair enough.  I guess I define the success of my process based on whether I hit a shot the way I intended to.  In effect, my judgement of myself ends once the ball leaves the clubface.  Obviously, the trajectory, curvature, distance, are all indicators.  Sometimes a well-struck shot doesn't get good results, and sometimes poorly struck shots get great results, that's just life.  I can accept the role of luck, good luck and bad, in golf.  

[1badbadger]

10 minutes ago, DaveP043 said:

Fair enough.  I guess I define the success of my process based on whether I hit a shot the way I intended to.  In effect, my judgement of myself ends once the ball leaves the clubface.  Obviously, the trajectory, curvature, distance, are all indicators.  Sometimes a well-struck shot doesn't get good results, and sometimes poorly struck shots get great results, that's just life.  I can accept the role of luck, good luck and bad, in golf.  

Now we're getting somewhere...this is the type of discussion I had hoped this thread would generate.

Dave, out of curiosity, would you rather hit the well struck shot that has a poor result or the poorly struck shot with a great result? (I have a feeling I might be in the minority on this one)

[DaveP043]

1 hour ago, 1badbadger said:

Dave, out of curiosity, would you rather hit the well struck shot that has a poor result or the poorly struck shot with a great result? (I have a feeling I might be in the minority on this one)

I think for me its a macro/micro thing.  On this particular shot, whichever one I'm hitting right now, the micro level, I want the outcome to be the best possible.  I'll happily accept luck.  On a slightly longer view, and I've said this before in this site, I want to shoot the lowest score possible today.  In the long run, the macro level, I want to hit as many shots well as I possibly can.  I know for certain that hitting better shots consistently will get me the lower scores that I want.

[iacas]

21 minutes ago, DaveP043 said:

I think for me its a macro/micro thing.  On this particular shot, whichever one I'm hitting right now, the micro level, I want the outcome to be the best possible.  I'll happily accept luck.  On a slightly longer view, and I've said this before in this site, I want to shoot the lowest score possible today.  In the long run, the macro level, I want to hit as many shots well as I possibly can.  I know for certain that hitting better shots consistently will get me the lower scores that I want.

Yeah, I'm not even like that. I'll take the better "shot" over the better "result" almost all the time. The only time that differs is when I'm playing a match with more serious stakes. Which is almost never.

[DaveP043]

2 minutes ago, iacas said:

Yeah, I'm not even like that. I'll take the better "shot" over the better "result" almost all the time. The only time that differs is when I'm playing a match with more serious stakes. Which is almost never.

I'm almost always playing for some small stakes, that probably colors my preference.  Or maybe its my age, maybe I need immediate gratification, don't know how many more shots I'll have.