course mgmt within your own ability. Hero, or Humble? Did you learn it and when?

[wadesworld]

I am so glad I "managed" this hole because not too long ago I would have went for that 4 or 5 iron and more often then not ended up in the water and swamp that I had to cross over which would have left me only a few yards closer from where I was, another storke down, and still faced with basically the same shot. And then being a little bit closer (probably another club legnth) i would have probably tried it again and who knows how many strokes later it could have cost me. The small green layout and its surroundings are just not forgivable enough on this one.

I think those of us who are not routinely scoring below 85 often are delusional about the chances of our 4 or 5-iron landing on the green. Unless there's almost no trouble at all, we're probably assuring ourselves of a lower score at least 70% of the time by keeping the 5-iron in the bag and hitting that 8-iron.

 

[rollin]

I think those of us who are not routinely scoring below 85 often are delusional about the chances of our 4 or 5-iron landing on the green. Unless there's almost no trouble at all, we're probably assuring ourselves of a lower score at least 70% of the time by keeping the 5-iron in the bag and hitting that 8-iron.

Yes my thoughts also. And as i've mentioned in this thread, just like when you say "unless there is alomost no trouble" are the times (and they do pop up enough) when i think we can take just enough of those shots to practice getting better at them without all too much risk.

 

[TheHeez]

rollin, that is a great example.

A buddy of mine and I always go back and forth on this subject. He leans towards the aggressive side and I play the safe route. On the 10th hole of our local course, the second shot presents a real challenge, you generally have between 210-240 uphill, over a creek, very narrow, bunkers on both sides and OB on both sides of the green. The alternative is play short of the creek 110-140 and have 100 in. My buddy(a 2 Hcp) always goes after it and I nearly always (save the odd epic drive) lay up. We compared our scoring averages and mine are lower. Granted I've never eagled it, but I have birdied it more than I've double bogeyed. My theory is that 18 pars makes for a dang fine score.

 

[rollin]

rollin, that is a great example.

A buddy of mine and I always go back and forth on this subject. He leans towards the aggressive side and I play the safe route. On the 10th hole of our local course, the second shot presents a real challenge, you generally have between 210-240 uphill, over a creek, very narrow, bunkers on both sides and OB on both sides of the green. The alternative is play short of the creek 110-140 and have 100 in. My buddy(a 2 Hcp) always goes after it and I nearly always (save the odd epic drive) lay up. We compared our scoring averages and mine are lower. Granted I've never eagled it, but I have birdied it more than I've double bogeyed. My theory is that 18 pars makes for a dang fine score.

Similarly I played as a single this past sunday. One of our foursome was a guy (did not know him) who can hit fairly well. Doesnt hit any better than me but lets just say does it bit more consistantly than I do and with not as many extreme blow-up holes. With my blow-up holes right now it is whats keeping me just out of reach from mid or high 80's. So with that in mind and this guy being more consistant (without as many blow-ups)should be scoring low 80's and maybe possibly flirting a 79.

However he did not simply because he refused to manage too many holes in a way that would surely lower his score. There were a handful of situations when he took shots where i'd be thinking to myself, "why is he taking that shot?" "there is no real reason for it". And sure enough he screwed them up a few too many times. Resulted in raising his score substancially.

I just thought to myself here is a perfect example of what this thread is about. Here is a golfer who can be pretty darn good (relatively speaking) if only he would just realize how to manage, play to his stregnths, take whats given, and stay a bit humble. IMO He would really shoot a decent consistant game but like sooo many of us, even after playing for years still has not learned how to help himself.

Its almost like i'd like to tell him in a friendly way and say "Hey, wake up! your killing yourself with these shots". I would mean this as a compliment because he certainly has potential to score so much better. I am certain he would be much happier if he realized how to help himself and then he'd find out how much better he really is then what he actually scores currently.

 

[golfinFF]

I played yesterday and played a mix of both humble and heroic golf. I'd say I made 60-70% of my hero shots and made about the same % of my humble shots although the mistakes on the humble shots were not penalizing like the hero shot misses.

My last 45 holes of golf I have tried diligently to play more humble golf and it has led to lower scores and more enjoyable rounds of golf for me! I will say that using my rangefinder that I hunt with has helped me out tremendously on knowing exactly where to lay up and what club to use.

 

[buckbug]

I'm in a jam and see a small opening between a few trees,I say to myself"What would Phil do?" Then I take a step back and realize," I'm not Phil!"......punch out
no brainer!