Psychonana

Over the past few weeks I've been collecting data worldwide pertaining to play patterns. (PM me if you'd like to take the survey and I'll send you the link (If the board will allow it)) Do you know 50% of you expect risk shots to fail up to half the time! 71% of you say that you have up to 3 of these risk shots per round, which translates to potentially 1.5 guaranteed disaster holes. (and 26% of you have up to 6 high risk shots per round translating to 3 disasters!) 65% of you will take the risk shot even if you know there is less than 50/50 chance of success! Yet, 76% of you want to achieve a lower handicap and always work towards this. So why do we continue to take these risky shots when the outcome is weighed against us, AND we know it? Why is it so hard to play percentage golf? SO many questions! :)

And some good course management technique will also help immensely.

I think both arguments are very valid, it works both ways... So the formula could be: ((Skill x Risk Control) x (conditions + abilities on the day)) = Scoring ability! I think all these fundamentals work with and against each other in a very complex manner and ultimately are different for every golfer - My point is that most of us have difficulties finding the combination that works best for us. No amount of ball-striking ability or practice on the range is going to help us get these factors under control when we stand on the 1st tee. But I feel that all golfers can do things to take control and ultimately score better... and higher handicaps stand to benefit most, there is just more wiggle room in there to work with.

Yep. The whole thing is complicated more if you consider in the 2 playing categories you mention you can also have players of different skill levels. Ultimately you can have a great ball striker that practices bogey avoidance scoring the same as a weaker striker that takes more risks. The highs and lows of both risk results take them to the same place. But who can improve from this level the easiest? Arguably the weak striker that is trained to better control his risks. Genius! I love this!

Well, by saying "average golfers" I was really trying to include all levels really. Certainly all levels that are still actively working on improving their scoring abilities. (as opposed to the lower handicaps who may be more in a "controlling score" mindset.) My post is more about the focus of their efforts to improve their scoring. I see how referring to Birdies really could throw higher handicaps off, in respect to my question. If I was to reword it I would try to find a phrase that apply to all levels... perhaps "their least achieved scores"? most challenging benchmark scores? Dunno, how would you word that?

Nope, not an instructor, just your average but very keen weekend enthusiast. A year ago I was playing off 9+ and had been stuck there for what seemed like forever. Just couldn't break through regardless how much I worked on my skills. So I finally started to place my efforts on the mental game and the handicap dropped almost immediately. I found that working on cleaning out the bad shots was a lot easier than I thought in spite of the fact I'd being playing with them for 30 years! For me I was able to essentially set a set of rules in place that allowed me to dicipline my approach to play that I was never able to do before. This is nothing that I've seen being used in golf tuition - certainly not in the main stream. I feel it should be and my question is really to see what others have experienced in this respect. Wondering if there are more me's really. :) Ps; I wouldn't personally be in agreement with you in regards the "distance" and proximity to green thing - I don't think it's so important to be as close as possible to the green - for me it's more important to be at a distance where I know I'm fairly accurate on approach. E.g.: I can putt a 60m wedge any where I want with a 59 degree wedge but from 40 I'm not usually as accurate

I'm with you on the perception of how difficult those birdies can be to hole. Is it possible that you might not push yourself to get them because you feel they are so out of reach? I don't think you are alone in this. They do demand very precise play or indeed a great heap of luck. However on the other side of the spectrum, those doubles and trebles are altogether avoidable. But many of us don't look at avoiding them (Or playing out of them) in the same light as getting that elusive birdie... in spite of the fact that it is scientifically easier to do so. We have all already pared the holes we have doubled and trebled, but we haven't all birdied the holes that we've birdied before, if you hear what I'm saying. I think that it is actually easier than we think to adjust our game to get rid of doubles and worse and makes sense that this would work on all handicap levels. No? PS: I like your thinking on "Chances" or opportunities presented to you in your round. I've started to think much more like this in the past year and its paid dividends.

You see this fascinates me, Patch, you make my point in a way as I see you play to achieve net par based on your current handicap, yes? But, If we look at your own game perception above and tot up your score you are carding 9 pars 7 bogies and 2 doubles (at minimum) - that is 11over par (more or less). So my question would now be (Assuming your course is at least par 70?) - How can you hit 80 with this perception - you essentially need to play better than you expect each time or have better luck? (I may be wrong - correct the numbers for me here, I really am interested in this)

Here's something that's been on my mind a lot recently that the board may have some insight into: What is easier for the amateur golfer... To get birdies or to avoid bogies, doubles or worse? It's interesting that human nature tends to make us want to fight to get the harder achieved birdie but often care little about minimizing the fallout from a badly played hole. On average how many birdie opportunities do we have compared to scrambling holes. By a margin its more scrambling, certainly in my case. Doesn't it make sense to focus more on saving strokes rather than gaining them. So why isn't this a focus in our training? How do you practice this? Any thoughts?