We've launched the new forums! Read more here

Giving up the long game

The best part of this is that you aren't afraid of the longer clubs. If you get yourself into a situation where you are afraid to hit driver you will not be afraid to back off and get the ball in play. That is something that no matter how good you are is hard to do at times.

I do also agree that you have to be careful though as longer clubs sometimes can get you in a pickle on some holes and cause higher scores overall.




KG

Just Tapping Away
 
Adam Hartzell said:
The course I played is indeed shorter. Only 5341 from the whites. The longest par 4 is 380, and the longest par 5 is 438. There is oddly enough a par 5 that plays at 307 from the whites but 463 from the blues. My 19° was good for about 205 yards on Saturday, playing Srixon LadySoft pink balls.
Click to expand...

Well, I think I would rename this thread "course management for the win" based on this course's distance and what you played.

I love to hit driver but on this course I would probably only hit it once or twice no matter how well I was swinging. 307 yard par 5? 9 iron, 9 iron on the green. If you're getting over 200 with your hybrid, absolutely no reason to pull driver on par 4s under 350 yards ever, or the short par 5s for that matter.
 
I've played few round while leaving the driver in the bag, and those were eye opening rounds to say the least. I saw a few people mention the driver and working that to the point where it lowers your scores. There is some truth to that statement, I've found that if I'm missing fairways with my driver, I'll choke down on it about an inch or so, and swing normally.
But back to the OP....honestly it's a great way to practice and work on different lengths you usually would see. A lot of us, myself included, tend to play the same course(s) a lot of the time. A lot of the ones I play out here are pretty short, so dropping back with a 2 or 3 hybrid obviously leaves longer distances into the green than normal.
Great example is the course between work and home I drive by every day. There is only 1 legit par 5 on that course, and a TON of Par 4's between 285-350 range. So playing leaving the driver in the bag, hitting to these TINY pushup greens is a GREAT way to practice!
 
Adam Hartzell said:
The course I played is indeed shorter. Only 5341 from the whites. The longest par 4 is 380, and the longest par 5 is 438. There is oddly enough a par 5 that plays at 307 from the whites but 463 from the blues. My 19° was good for about 205 yards on Saturday, playing Srixon LadySoft pink balls.
Click to expand...

To be honest, from 5341 yards this is no reason to carry a driver or ever hit driver. If your hitting a 19* hybo 205 in the cold and wet its good for 215-220 in warm and dry conditions. All not having a driver and 3-wood in the bag did was make your course management better. It forced you to basically play the course how you should play the course. Add the 3-wood back in and see how it goes managing your way the course. Giving up the long game isnt a good solution. Teaching yourself to manage your way around a golf course is a much better option and will make your entire game better.
 
I agree with Playdough. At 5300 yards there's really no need to ever pull more than 3w. You should have no problem getting to inside 150yds.

As far as giving up the long game, in theory you're not doing that at all. You're just adjusting your long game to the course length. If anything, it should give you confidence with your other irons and such so when you play longer courses and the longer clubs are required, you'll have some extra confidence knowing your mid irons and lower will bail you out.
 
Ole Gray said:
It doesn't matter what you play off the tee as long as you're having fun. Heck if a 3 iron off the tee will keep you in play and you're enjoying your round, put the driver in time out. There is nothing worse than busting ya head up against a wall over and over again hoping the driver will fix it self. Not happening so why suffer. Preaching to the choir here :banghead:
Click to expand...


I will do that every once in a while when things are not clicking with the D. Distance is good only as long as it stays in play. I agree with Bill, it is definitely more fun to be hitting the second shot from the short grass.
 
#Cookie said:
Very interesting thoughts, thanks to those that have chimed in with their experiences.

Thinking my next round may just be hybrids & irons. Very curious to see how that would impact my score.
Click to expand...
That looks very doable at Coyote Ridge with the exception of holes 4 & 5. Those are both 410+ & 5 plays uphill according to the website.
 
I play irons only every so often at the 9 hole course nearby. It's not terribly long, but gives me a chance to work on iron play alone for a bit. I think though personally I'd rather keep working on the driver, get lessons if need be (which i have in my case), and get the driver issues sorted rather than avoiding it and not pulling the big dog.
 
I've done similar experiments in the past.

This Saturday is the first time I played in 2 months due to weather. It was still 40 degrees with a stiff wind. I decided to play the senior tees with nothing larger than my 6 iron. I moved up because the weather conditions were knocking at least 2 clubs off of every shot.

I really enjoyed my round. I feel like I would have been miserable from the men's tees with my 6 iron or driver due to rust and weather.

In normal conditions, I have been using nothing larger than my 3 hybrid to close out the golf season. I had a lot fewer penalties off the tee which is what really leads to my biggest numbers. I enjoyed my rounds a lot more because I wasn't losing balls or in trouble all day. I don't think I hit anything longer than a 7 iron into greens using this strategy.
 
As been mentioned in a few different ways here already I think it comes down to management. There are times and places (holes) the long tee shots are simply not going to be necessary to score well and may even be better off without. I think that is where the so called "eye opening experiences" come from when one talks of putting away the long game and it can be misunderstood. Its not imo a realization that we don't need the long game but is simply that we discover when and where to better use it, when its necessary, when its not, etc. But doing away with the driver/3wood or "long tee game" is not imo any answer. There are very many times and places you will need the big tee shots for a good chance to score well too.

I don't need it on a 330 yrd hole but I do want it on a 390 or 410 yrd hole. I don't want constant 200, 190 or even 180 approach shots all day long on the longer P4's because I left my big sticks in the bag. Most amateurs and hackers are not hitting greens too often from those yardages and in fact would end up in troubles a lot of the times if that's what we were left with all day.
 
Harvey Penick talks a lot about leaving the driver in the bag until you have a good consistent game going with everything else. Why? It's the least forgiving club in the bag, The lower the loft, the more directionally challenged you and I will be with it.

I played several rounds this spring without a driver while it was in on warranty. I don't think I played any worse without it. Yes, those few yards off the tee would have been nice on par 5's but it was also nice playing from the fairway all day too.

For me it's like this: If my game is not sharp, if I am doing more harm than good with the driver, I put it in the bag, put its little hat on and leave it alone. Golf is way easier from the short grass than from the trees.
 
Golferbest said:
I've done something similar. My bag setup now goes driver, 2,3,4 hybrid . If the driver goes south the next lofted club is 17 degree. I've struggled with the woods, so these hybrids have similar results finding fairways and giving me a score I can be happy with.
Click to expand...

I have the exact same setup and find the 17* is a go to if the driver isn't working. I'll even use it on par 5s I know I can't reach just so I know I'm putting it in play off the tee.
 
I once played a 5900 yard course with the longest club as a 5 iron. I'm a complete hack and could only hit that 5 iron about 150 yards, but I strung together 5 straight pars (which is still a personal best). Down the middle and consistent can absolutely work.

Having said that, I'd rather be long and a little wild than short. What people seem to miss is that the guy who hits 275 with the driver compared to the guy who hits 210 (and that's the average driver for a man) is also that much longer on the second shot. Take a 400 yard par 4. The 210 guy has to hit a 3W or 3H to try and make the green, which isn't all that forgiving. The 275 guy gets to probably hit a wedge or 9 iron into the green, which is much easier and more forgiving. I've found in golf, it's not as much about the tee shot as it is about the second shot.
 
I played our clubchampionship with only irons this year. Had a blast doing it. =)
 
Looking back at some of the comments, I've begun to realize that I never looked at course management also including distance off the tee. Location off the tee yes, but never distance.

I think I'll start leaving the driver at home every time I play a shorter track, but I'll have to reconsider the long end of my bag on the larger courses.
 
Have you every Par'd the course with a 7 iron, only? Well Roy I never thought to try!
 
Adam Hartzell said:
I do feel comfortable attacking a green with a 6i and in most cases a 5i. I've often found that as soon as I get the big stick in my hand my brain tells me "BUBBA SMASH" and I end up hitting a tee shot that will get me to wedge distance, but will no clear view of the pin. If I'm on the fairway and within 170 yards I'll attack. On a course that has par 4s averaging only 325 yards getting the ball to within 170 and on the fairway is not that hard to do if I don't hit the driver.
Click to expand...

I think you may have put your finger on the real problem right here.

I obviously don't know you or your swing, but here's three suggestions for the driver: First, consider adjusting your swing just a little. I found that taking a little shorter backswing really let me focus better on the swing plane and straightened out my driver's tendency to hit curve balls (other clubs too :). Obviously, what that means exactly depends on your flexibility. Second, make sure your driver really fits you. A well fitted driver (not just "how's that feel?" from a big box sales clerk) helped my game a LOT. This does not go hand in hand with experiments with changing your swing! And finally, go find a pro you feel good about and start taking Driver lessons. Some folks seem real averse to either spending the money or being seen taking a lesson, but don't blink an eye at Tiger out on the range with Sean Foley who's been flown in to some tournament somewhere. Lessons cost as much or more than a round, but they're an worthwhile investment if you are having trouble, especially with an important shot.

Finally, my dad carried a single digit handicap to the grave back when woods were made of wood and he almost never bagged more than a three wood. So the above is not to suggest that leaving the Big Dog home on its chain is a bad idea really. But he would have gone insane if he could have gotten his hands on some of the technology we've got to play with these days.
 
PirateJim said:
I think you may have put your finger on the real problem right here.

I obviously don't know you or your swing, but here's three suggestions for the driver: First, consider adjusting your swing just a little. I found that taking a little shorter backswing really let me focus better on the swing plane and straightened out my driver's tendency to hit curve balls (other clubs too :). Obviously, what that means exactly depends on your flexibility. Second, make sure your driver really fits you. A well fitted driver (not just "how's that feel?" from a big box sales clerk) helped my game a LOT. This does not go hand in hand with experiments with changing your swing! And finally, go find a pro you feel good about and start taking Driver lessons. Some folks seem real averse to either spending the money or being seen taking a lesson, but don't blink an eye at Tiger out on the range with Sean Foley who's been flown in to some tournament somewhere. Lessons cost as much or more than a round, but they're an worthwhile investment if you are having trouble, especially with an important shot.

Finally, my dad carried a single digit handicap to the grave back when woods were made of wood and he almost never bagged more than a three wood. So the above is not to suggest that leaving the Big Dog home on its chain is a bad idea really. But he would have gone insane if he could have gotten his hands on some of the technology we've got to play with these days.
Click to expand...

Thankfully, I'm able to take one lesson a month. My local PGA pro only charges $40 for a 1 hour session so I just play one less round to squeeze a lesson in. My driver issues are 100% in my head. Out on the range I can hit my driver pretty consistently, but once I'm on that tee box, look out.

I'm also lucky in that every club that is currently in my bag was purchased through the use of a Trackman fitting session. My hybrids were purchased based solely on feel off a mat, but I've yet to find another hybrid that can give me better launch monitor numbers. I still need to save a few more pennies before going back in January or February for an updated driver and fairway wood fitting though.
 
Smallville said:
Unless there are forced carries on some holes that you just can't reach, do it from your regular tees. See what happens from there! (Use your hybrids too!)
Click to expand...

I need to try this at least once next year! I recall a Golf Digest article where the author was only allowed to use the lowest-lofted club off the tee that he could keep in the fairway 100 percent of the time. I think he ended up using a 7 iron, and shot a personal best.

Even if I don't do this all the time, I think it would be a good exercise in shotmaking & a lesson in scoring.
 
I've played many rounds of golf while leaving the driver and fairways in the bag. Honestly it has been a while though.

I did this as a way to provide me with more mid to long iron approach shots and prepare me for certain courses or events that were coming up in the near future.

As far as giving up on hitting the driver or fairway clubs I haven't seriously ever done that but I have definitely learned that hitting the fairway more often is very valueable to lowering my score and providing me with more birdie opportunities.

I would suggest that we should leave our drivers in the bag and consider choosing shorter driver shafts, maybe choking down on the driver, shortening the backswing, or doing other things that allows us to hit the driver, maybe sacrificing 10 yards or so and keeping the ball in the fairway. But, don't give up the long game. There are times that distance and the risk associated with it is worth taking and accepting.
 
Ive recently thought of doing this after some rough rounds this year. However today once I settled down I was blasting my driver, which has been an issue for me this year. I think I psych myself out to much sometimes. I didnt hit as many FIR as I would have liked but all of my misses were 10 yards either way which was trivial for me today. Hopefully I will continue making progress with it this year as it used to be my favorite club to hit.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top