humblepeasant

Yikes, I know I've got issues if my story/problem is so extreme/severe that some people are having a hard time even believing it! To be fair, I think there's been something of a misread of my post...I said "a lot of the time" I struggle being calm and relaxed, I didn't say "a lot of the time" I barely break 100...I said "at my worst, I can have days" I barely break 100 (same course and tees). And I scored even par just one time, and it was an outlier...before that, the best I had done was upper 70's (which I have done on many occasions). I had a super day that day (just over a week ago now), which I attributed to being able to actually achieve "calm and relaxed," and I'm not even exactly sure how, which lead to my post. Normally I shoot 80's, occasionally 70's, occasionally 90's (more 90's than 80's if I'm on a bad streak). True story though, my best score of all time (72) and my worst score of the year both happened in the past 2 months...and that high score was...wait for it...108. Both scores were extreme outliers, but still! If people have a hard time believing that range, that just tells me what a serious (presumably mental?) problem I have. ANYWAYS, that's all I want to say about that. I'm not going to respond to any rebuttals about the plausibility of my scores...if you need to, adjust the scores in your mind to what you think is plausible, then re-read it and see if anything comes to mind that might help me! 😄 I appreciate the input I've gotten. I don't know if any bells have really gone off just yet, but I'm planning to basically make this topic my full focus in golf for the remainder of the season. I'll re-read the posts in this thread carefully, and I'll try to remember to chime back in to share if an idea really produces results that stand the test of time. One thing I'm planning is seeing if more on-course playing lessons might help. I've had about 25 lessons over the past 2.5 years, and only one has been on-course (and it was forever ago). I think the only way this problem could even possibly be addressed with a lesson might be during a playing lesson. Thanks!

For me to be playing my best, I need a feeling of *calm and relaxed*...particularly with my upper body at the top of the backswing and beginning the downswing...leaving my upper body lazy while I initiate the swing with a weight shift and power the swing with my core, whipping the club through impact. When I’m able to accomplish this, I can do pretty well...I recently scored even par for the first time! HOWEVER, a lot of the time, I have a hard time accomplishing the “calm and relaxed.” At my worst, I can have days I barely break 100! I’ll feel tense/stiff and yank the club down with my arms out of sequence. Sometimes it’s like I just can’t help it (even if my practice swing is good)! The tension even trickles down to chipping/putting. I know I’ll probably never 100% eliminate a problem like this, but I’d be ecstatic if I could make 50% improvement! It spite of improving my technique over the past couple years playing golf, I feel like I’ve made virtually no progress in this area. Any suggestions? Drills? Sympathy? 😆 Thanks!!

Found it, thanks!! Local rule for out of bounds, lost ball If a player hits a ball out of bounds or loses a ball, the general rules still require the player to return to the spot of the previous stroke and take a one-stroke penalty - a standard stroke-and-distance scenario. For example, if a player sends a tee ball past the white stakes and out of bounds, he must play another ball from the tee, which becomes the third shot after the penalty. It's the same scenario for a lost ball. But the ruling bodies have added the option of a local rule that provides time-saving relief in such a scenario. Instead of the player returning to the spot of the previous shot in the event of a lost ball or a ball out of bounds, the player can take a drop in the nearest spot of the fairway (within two club-lengths of the edge of the fairway), no nearer the hole than where the ball crossed the OB line, with a two-stroke penalty. The same local rule applies to a lost ball, with the player able to drop in the fairway across from where the previous ball is estimated to have come to rest. This is only a local rule, and the course's rules committee must deem its use. This rule is not intended for high-level competitions, where the standard stroke-and-distance penalties will be in play. Consider it a gift to typical amateurs that will speed up play but not force somebody to march 200 yards or more back to a teeing area after learning that a ball is out of bounds. Keep in mind, it's a two-stroke penalty under the local rule. If a player sends a tee shot out of bounds and proceeds under this local rule, they will play their fourth shot after dropping near the edge of the fairway (many amateurs casually throw down a ball and say they are playing their third from the new location, ignoring rules about stroke and distance). This is equitable to a player taking a stroke-and-distance penalty, then finding the fairway with the third shot from the tee. The next shot from the fairway would be the fourth.

Do you drop it about where you thought it might have gone, or back in the fairway, etc.?

While I do have a driver, my bag currently goes straight from driver to hybrid (no fairway woods). While I can hit my 3 wood a good bit further than a hybrid, I'm just so much more comfortable with the hybrid that it's not worth the 'potential' distance to risk hitting a bad miss (not to mention there are really only 1-2 holes at my home course where'd I'd consider a fairway wood anyway). I should probably put some regular time in at the range with my woods to address this "problem"...maybe someday 🤷‍♂️

Hi all! I believe if you lose your ball and didn't hit a provisional, to play by the rules you'd need to go back and hit another one from where you hit it (and incur a penalty stroke). However, during a regular casual round on the course, that's not always practical. I was just curious how you guys and the people you play with usually handle that situation as far as a score or friendly competition. I always hit a provisional when I think it could be hard to find, but once in a while I can't find a ball that I would have sworn would be easy to spot!

I just started wearing a glove at the beginning of this year. I have a tendency to squeeze the club too tight, and the added feeling of tackiness from wearing a glove has helped me with that...I just naturally squeeze the club less tightly if it feels tackier I also got new grips at the same time, so probably a combo effect. When I swing the club without a glove now, I really miss it. Probably just what you're used to.

Shoot, sorry I meant to post this in "Golf Talk." Not sure how to move it or delete it at this point.

I'm usually someone who walks straight to the first tee, but I've recently been reconsidering that. The first shot always feels a little uncertain...just hitting a handful of balls beforehand might be nice. Also, sometimes I just have off-days chipping/putting on the course, so it might be nice to try and work out any kinks before heading out (just 5-10 minutes maybe). Just curious what others on here do. The people I usually play with tend not to practice at all before a round.

Oy.

I know, but you were...I was responding to your comment about my text you had just quoted. I know that how the club-head hits the ball determines the ball flight (and that higher skill results in better and more consistent contact). That's not inconsistent with what I'm saying about the randomness of results. That "randomness" is not at all what I'm talking about when I talk about the randomness of the results. I obviously fail to communicate. I'd be interested to hear someone else, in their own words, explain to me the point I'm trying to make (even/especially if they disagree with it), because I don't think people are getting it (much less actually disagreeing with it). Most of the "counter-arguments" I'm in full agreement with and are not actually counter to my theory. I've honestly already put too much time into this thread, so unless I have a eureka moment of a new way to put it, I'm tapping out. I would recommend the books "Fooled By Randomness" by Nassim Nicholas Taleb and "Free Will" by Sam Harris. I think that my recent post here from this morning is still the best way I know how to try to convey what I'm trying to say:

The particular idea you quoted, I didn't think anyone disagrees with...? If a player pars a hole 80% of the time, we could say that they have an 80% chance of paring the hole. I didn't think that was controversial. In theory a robot could have perfect control...including in a physical coin toss. But we don't. And because we don't, that's where the randomness of our results creeps in. This is starting to remind me of discussions of free will. I would contend that free will, at least the way most people tend to think of it, is an illusion. Would you guys agree or disagree with that claim? I know I'm starting to drift a bit off topic from golf, and I'm content to agree to disagree. I'm aware that I fail to convince even a single person here, and it's certainly a red flag to me when it's "everyone else" who is wrong. Accordingly, I've really thought twice and thrice about what I've claimed, tried to have an open mind to criticism, but so far I still stand by it. 🤷‍♂️

We can know someone's long term statistics. If on a particular hole, someone scores a 4 50% of the time, 5 30%, 3 10%, and 6 10%, we don't have to be blind to that and we can of course calculate someone's "chances" of scoring this or that on a given hole. I don't think we're in disagreement here. Even given all that, I think the individual result, within those given parameters, is random. For example, a coin toss: 50/50 chance heads/tails. However, if you flip it enough, you'll no doubt flip heads 10x in a row. *When* that happens to occur is what is random. It's only in the long term can we be confident that we'll get a 50/50 result of heads/tails (or in the case of some trick coin, maybe the odds are 60/40 heads/tails, etc.). Someone might argue that golf is different, because we have more control over what happens than a coin toss. I would argue that, within the proper parameters (an adjustment for skill level), we don't! If we did, with an adjustment for course conditions, wouldn't we pretty much score the same thing every time? But we don't have that kind of control, we have good days and bad days, no matter what we do. We practice and improve in order to improve the parameters, lower our handicap, etc. And having parameters doesn't mean it's not random. Without some parameters, statistical analysis can't be done. Maybe that's the source of some of the disagreement/miscommunication...I'm not contending that your result is completely random with no parameters...that there are lottery balls bouncing around and there are an equal number of "1" balls, "2" balls, "3" balls, etc., and that your score is no different than picking a ball like that. I'm getting the impression now that that might be what some people thought my contention was, and of course that's obviously not true! I'll also add: due to our hindsight bias, past scores will always look less random than they were. No doubt!!! 😄

Off to bed soon, but the interesting thing here is that of all the rebuttals that have been given, I really don’t disagree with anything that’s been said (other than that I’m wrong with my assertion haha). What I would say is that the points made in the rebuttals are ALSO true, but they don’t run counter to what I was trying to say. If I think of a different way I could put it tomorrow, I’ll chime back in. I might just be crazy! I will admit, the way I worded the title was intentionally provocative...I could have simply said that it’s important to have proper expectations that there are simply going to be good days and bad days, no matter what you do, and therefore don’t get too high on the good days or too low on the bad days...realistic expectations are key to enjoyment. I think people are hung up on that word “random.” 🤔 Good night!

A random data set has parameters (for example, a minimum and maximum to define a range). It's using an understanding of the math/statistics in order to improve one's mental state while on the course.