TripleBogieTim
Long lost sheep
- Joined
- Oct 22, 2010
- Messages
- 22,240
- Reaction score
- 47
- Location
- Houston, Texas, United States
- Handicap
- my swing
For those that didn't see it in the "what did you shoot today" thread, I went HAM yesterday and when the dust settled and the scores were added up I had shot a career low 1 over par 73 at my home course!
Now for somebody that had only broken 80 twice in my life, both times shooting 79, this was a complete suprise and more than likely a total fluke, but I do have some thoughts about how this was possible.
1st off, I putted out of this world, dropping several long "bombs" including a 45 footer that if the hole hadn't gotten in the way would have been 10 feet past the hole....to shoot a round like this you gotta get lucky with the flatstick!
But the main thing that I attribute to this anomaly was the fact that on the second hole it was obvious that my back was hurting me, so in order to not kill myself, I made the consious effort to "club up" and swing easier on every shot. If I was 160 out instead of hitting a hard 7, I smoothed a 6...heck on the #1 handicap hole on the course I hit a 190 yard 5W to the center of the green. The result was I didnt hit a single "thin" or "fat" iron shot all day!?! Every single shot was straight online and on the back nine I hit every green in regulation!!
The other thing was, with the exeception of the first hole, I didn't hit 3W for my second shot on any par 5.....yep that's right....instead of knocking the crap out of a 3W and trying to get as close to the green as possible, I played from green backwards....hitting layups to get me in the 90-80 yard range so I could hit wedges into the green.....yes I actually "layed up to a number"!! Who would have thunk that stuff actually worked!! I usually am the kind to bang my 3W as far as I can towards the hole, but usually end up in bunkers or OOB or in the H2O at least once or twice a round because of it.....not yesterday.
Like I said, I am sure this was just a run of incredible luck, I mean we all know guys that have had rounds where they played "WAY OVER THEIR HEADS", and I am sure that this will turn out to be one of those, but that doesn't mean you and I can't both take some valuable lessons away from my good fortune.
1. Play within yourself....just because you CAN hit a 170 yard 7 iron doesn't mean you need to, especially when you can control a 170 yard 6 iron or even a 5 iron for that matter. All of us are way too guilty of playing every shot to our MAX yardages not our comfortable yardages and that's what causes pulls, thins and fatties.
2. If you cant get to a hole with a comfortable shot, then lay up to a number....we all struggle with this one....260 yards out on a par 5 and try to hit a "once in a lifetime" 3W..even though our drive only went 250, when we should be taking a 6 iron and smooth swinging it and leaving ourselves 80-100 yards for a nice comfortable wedge into the green. I have struggled with this my whole golfing career..and I am sure that there will be days when I will again, because our nature wants us to go for the hero shot...and that brings me to my final point.
3. No Hero shots! When you make a mistake, dont compound it by trying to pull off the miracle "Tiger or Phil" shot, take your medicine and put the ball back into play. A bogey is far better than double or triple or a dreaded "other" I did this twice yesterday and I think it was because I was playing match play with my buddies that are better than me that it even came up....normally I would have tried the "hero shot" and probably made double or worse, which can "snowball" to the next several holes. Because I was playing match play, every hole was important to me so I pitched out....I made bogey a couple of times, but once thanks to a perfect wedge shot and a long putt I even managed to save par...so play the smart shot, you can thank me later.
So, there you have it.....do I think I will go out and shoot a low 70 again....doubtful, at least not anytime soon, but I now know it's in me somewhere. I am sure I will go back to shooting 80's and 90's, but I learned alot from it and by putting my thoughts into words, I hope you can too!
Now for somebody that had only broken 80 twice in my life, both times shooting 79, this was a complete suprise and more than likely a total fluke, but I do have some thoughts about how this was possible.
1st off, I putted out of this world, dropping several long "bombs" including a 45 footer that if the hole hadn't gotten in the way would have been 10 feet past the hole....to shoot a round like this you gotta get lucky with the flatstick!
But the main thing that I attribute to this anomaly was the fact that on the second hole it was obvious that my back was hurting me, so in order to not kill myself, I made the consious effort to "club up" and swing easier on every shot. If I was 160 out instead of hitting a hard 7, I smoothed a 6...heck on the #1 handicap hole on the course I hit a 190 yard 5W to the center of the green. The result was I didnt hit a single "thin" or "fat" iron shot all day!?! Every single shot was straight online and on the back nine I hit every green in regulation!!
The other thing was, with the exeception of the first hole, I didn't hit 3W for my second shot on any par 5.....yep that's right....instead of knocking the crap out of a 3W and trying to get as close to the green as possible, I played from green backwards....hitting layups to get me in the 90-80 yard range so I could hit wedges into the green.....yes I actually "layed up to a number"!! Who would have thunk that stuff actually worked!! I usually am the kind to bang my 3W as far as I can towards the hole, but usually end up in bunkers or OOB or in the H2O at least once or twice a round because of it.....not yesterday.
Like I said, I am sure this was just a run of incredible luck, I mean we all know guys that have had rounds where they played "WAY OVER THEIR HEADS", and I am sure that this will turn out to be one of those, but that doesn't mean you and I can't both take some valuable lessons away from my good fortune.
1. Play within yourself....just because you CAN hit a 170 yard 7 iron doesn't mean you need to, especially when you can control a 170 yard 6 iron or even a 5 iron for that matter. All of us are way too guilty of playing every shot to our MAX yardages not our comfortable yardages and that's what causes pulls, thins and fatties.
2. If you cant get to a hole with a comfortable shot, then lay up to a number....we all struggle with this one....260 yards out on a par 5 and try to hit a "once in a lifetime" 3W..even though our drive only went 250, when we should be taking a 6 iron and smooth swinging it and leaving ourselves 80-100 yards for a nice comfortable wedge into the green. I have struggled with this my whole golfing career..and I am sure that there will be days when I will again, because our nature wants us to go for the hero shot...and that brings me to my final point.
3. No Hero shots! When you make a mistake, dont compound it by trying to pull off the miracle "Tiger or Phil" shot, take your medicine and put the ball back into play. A bogey is far better than double or triple or a dreaded "other" I did this twice yesterday and I think it was because I was playing match play with my buddies that are better than me that it even came up....normally I would have tried the "hero shot" and probably made double or worse, which can "snowball" to the next several holes. Because I was playing match play, every hole was important to me so I pitched out....I made bogey a couple of times, but once thanks to a perfect wedge shot and a long putt I even managed to save par...so play the smart shot, you can thank me later.
So, there you have it.....do I think I will go out and shoot a low 70 again....doubtful, at least not anytime soon, but I now know it's in me somewhere. I am sure I will go back to shooting 80's and 90's, but I learned alot from it and by putting my thoughts into words, I hope you can too!
