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Do you stick to your game plan??

Scarnici

Scarnici

#TeamParadise
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Before my league round this week I was thinking about the first hole. It's a 345 yard par 4. Hit it left and it's OB. Hit it right and you can have some tree trouble.

My game plan was to hit 5 wood and go from there. Well I was in the 5th group out and I watch every single person hit driver off of 1. Before I knew Im up and yep you got it Im hitting driver.

I played the hole fine. It didn't hurt me at all. I had a clear cut game plan and just failed to stick to it. When you make a game plan before your round how well do you do sticking too it?


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Pretty well. It takes confidence. But it's worth it.
 
I don't map out plans to play. I take what the course and my swing gives me.
 
I try to stick to my game plan for each hole. 2 weeks in for leagues already and i can say that many many times already i have been up at the box with my 3 wood when everyone else has used a driver. and even though i hit shorter, I have been scoring better than many of them since i have been able to keep my ball in play and not O.B. just my 2 cents on it. I say stick to your plan.
 
The other day I played a very difficult course. It has bunkers which come into play on every tee shot, and if you get wild there's waist-high native grass.

The night before I broke out the yardage book and planned every tee shot, except the par 3's as they would depend on wind and pin position. I made sure I kept trouble out-of-play. I stuck to my plan except one hole that I planned for 3-wood but we were hitting into a stiff wind, so I hit driver instead. My plan worked perfectly except for one bad swing that barely reached the fairway. Many of my fellow competitors who had not played the course before and pulled driver when I was pulling 4-hybrid got themselves in tons of trouble.

I ended up taking 2nd in my flight.

Naturally I don't go to that extreme every time I play golf and I think Freddie's suggestion of taking into account what your swing has that day is a good one. But I think if you're playing a new course or a particularly difficult course, some pre-round planning may keep you from making poor decisions.
 
Tadashi70 said:
I don't map out plans to play. I take what the course and my swing gives me.
Click to expand...

I agree 100%. I definitely take what my swing gives me. This course has no range so I pretty much just think about my first swing of the day.


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When I was playing low round golf i studied the course and tried to place every tee shot so I would have the best approach to the green and away from hazards, now if I'm not striking it well I play conservative, if I'm striping it I go for sticks and take risks.

The only game plan I have is to play my best and enjoy it.
 
I don't.. It is something I am trying to work on, but I am like you.. I will sometimes grab less than driver, but see the rest of my group pull driver and then I end up pulling it as well.
 
I figured out sometime around age 30 that playing more conservative leads to better scores. I have a rule never to hit driver off the tee if a par 4 is less than 390 yards and only break that rule maybe once per year, usually because the hole is wide open or playing into a stiff wind.
 
I will if I'm playing by myself, but I typically get into the social side of the game when playing with others and the whole game plan goes right out the window.
 
I try to have a plan and stick with it. I pay little to no attention to what others are hitting club wise. It means nothing to me.
 
I try to stick to it and make adjustments where needed.
 
The one golf chan am tour I played I had a plan that I stuck to and ended up in a playoff despite 6 three putts. I then three putted the po hole to lose.
 
For me it depends if I'm playing for practice or playing for money or in a tournament. In practice I will usually just do what I want and try to take more risks off the tee. When I'm playing for something I stick to the game plan I have put before me. Only time I might deviate from it is if it's near the end and I have to be more aggressive.
 
I used to study the course the night before and write down what club to hit off the tee. Yeah I'm not that good and realized I need to go with the clubs I felt confident with on the range that day.
 
Scarnici said:
I agree 100%. I definitely take what my swing gives me. This course has no range so I pretty much just think about my first swing of the day.


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Click to expand...
Understand that you played the hole fume even though you had a different plan. I'm sure that was in your head as yoy stood over the ball. This cripple some people and aid in their bad play. This can set the tone for the entire round. it could have just as easily been a disasters. This is why I take each shot as it comes and leave the shot behind.
 
I try, but as Mike Tyson says, everybody's got a plan until they get punched in the face.
 
Sometimes I do and others not so much....hehe

About 3 years ago I decided that going for par 5's in 2 just wasnt working for me, I was taking perfect drives and then wasting them after trying to hit the ball too hard to reach greens in 2 that were barely in my range if I hit a perfect shot.......so I started playing all par 5's backwards in my head from the 100 yard marker back....what 2 shots did I need to hit to put myself in the fairway 100 yards out. I really stuck with that approach for a long time and it served me very well, but occasionally I will really catch a drive or the hole will be dead down wind and even though I know I shouldn't, I pull my 3W and try to play the hero shot.

Every once in a while it works, but more often than not I end up scrambling just to save par or even bogey.

I had 202 to a par 5 last week playing by myself.....so I hit 2 balls.....one I hit to 100 yards and aimed for the left of the fairway to open up the green, the other I hit 5W.

I pulled the 5W left into heavy rough, pitched over the green, chipped back on and 2 putted for bogey.

I hit the wedge to 8 feet and made a tap in par when I just lipped out the birdie.

I need to stick to my plan more often.
 
I don't plan my round but when I'm on the tee box and see the hole I try to use a little course management and decide how I want to play the hole.
 
Interesting topic and I learned something from reading this and reflecting on last nights round. Started the round with no thought other than to play. Went par, par, bogey, birdie, par. Was even after 5 holes and then "developed a plan" to finish at even par. Of course, that's when the wheels fell off and I went bogey, double bogey, bogey. The final 2 holes (we played ten holes) were much better with pars, when I decided to hit it and find it and hit it again. I guess I was taking what my swing gave me on those first 5 and the last 2.

I think I might tend to over plan when I think too much.

JM
 
I've tried so many times to tell myself "fairways and greens", thinking to use club selection and shape to maximize my chances of hitting the fairway from the tee, then hitting to the center of every green. Invariably though, I try and attack every single pin. I just can't help it...
 
I used to plan out my round the night before but found over time that it wasn't really helping me any. Now I try put my plan together on the tee box as part of my preshot routine for each hole. I think too many factors come in to play especially if it's a competition. Things like weather, current score, how well I'm hitting my driver all play a roll in my decision.

What I can count on for every hole is:

  • I typically won't hit driver on anything under about 380.
  • I try not to go for the green on par 5's unless absolutely feel it's necessary. Especially in competition.
  • Always forget about the bad shots before you get to your next shot.
  • I'm not a pro and bad shots are going to happen.
 
i tend to play a number of the same courses and thus have a general gameplan in my head but nothing written down. So i usually know what club i will hit as i approach each tee box.

i am playing a course tomorrow i have played countless times but was thinking of taking notes tonight and planning each hole with the intent of sticking to whats in the notes.

For those who plan out their round in advance do you plan tee shot and approach/layup? or just the tee shot and then based on the results then adjust your approach or layup from there?
 
Generally I follow it pretty well. Sometimes I bonehead it up and get too aggressive though. When I take my medicine and make the proper moves it usually works out ok.
 
tahoebum said:
I figured out sometime around age 30 that playing more conservative leads to better scores. I have a rule never to hit driver off the tee if a par 4 is less than 390 yards and only break that rule maybe once per year, usually because the hole is wide open or playing into a stiff wind.
Click to expand...

I more or less follow this line of thinking. I have usually just have a threshold of when a driver is needed or not.
 
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