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Are You a Smart Golfer?

blugold said:
Glory favors the bold.

No I am not a smart golfer.

I'm done playing to a number. I'm enjoying the game a lot more just by hitting driver more often and trying to thread more needles.
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... I think there are times a smart golfer can be bold. But there are more times that prudence is the best play. We have a hole called the gauntlet with water right and left and both very much in play off the tee. The fairway runs at a diagonal so a draw is the best shot shape but too much and it can also find water as does a fade unless you start either over the water and let it drift back. So driver can easily be wet but a hybrid or long iron is a much safer play and even a decent shot finds land. That said, a driver gives you a chance at eagle if you hit it well. Depending on how confident I am in my driver on that day and the wind velocity and direction, I am more inclined to risk water and hit driver.

... Now the water comes around from the left side and guards the front of the green so even a good drive is no guarantee a second shot can be on the green. Again, depending on wind, the lie and how confident I am on that day I may go for it from 175 - 215 or I may lay up to a 90-100yd wedge. So this kind of hole gives you an opportunity to either be bold and go for eagle with 2 great shots, or play for birdie with 3 good shots and a wedge. A smart golfer knows when to chose which play is best but most I see just go for it and crazy high numbers are more the rule than the exception.
 
To paraphrase the English philosopher Eric Morcambe, I'm playing all the smart shots, but not necessarily in the smart order.
 
I have a rule not to hit driver on any par 4 shorter than 390 yards as a well struck 3 wood will leave me with wedge in. I broke that rule last Thursday in our 6 man city league team play and drove it through the dogleg into a hazard and made triple bogey and shot 75. A par on that hole would have given me one of the 3 low scores out of 84 players. It will be a long time before I break that rule again, at least during a competitive round!
 
Sure, when I'm not standing over the ball.

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I have started to play much smarter recently and as a result I don’t have to work nearly as hard AND my scores are coming down.
 
Not as smart as I often think I am.
 
I CAN be smart.

At my ability level, my goal is bogey golf, so I am not trying to reach in two, I am trying to reach in three. I try to play smart, and if I have 200 in, I will hit two 100 yard shots, instead of trying to reach out for a 170 and leaving myself a short wedge of some sort. My danger zone is when I am 170-180 out, because I CAN reach that, but it's probably a 50/50 shot, and ego gets in the way.

I try to go by the mantra "putt when you can, chip when you can't putt, pitch when you can't chip", but sometimes my ego get the better of me and I try to chip because it isn't very "manly" (stupid, I know) to use the Texas Wedge.
 
This is such a great question to ponder. There are times when playing smart is the right thing to do and other times when I want to just have fun and hit driver everywhere, try to aim at every flag, or try to cover every par 5 in two regardless of my positioning on the hole. The day, how I feel and the circumstances determine whether I decide to be a "smart golfer".
 
The problem with me is that I often know what the smart shot is, but just can’t commit to it. There is nothing smart about pulling out the 5 iron instead of driver if you don’t commit to the shot. Nothing worse than pulling out a 5 iron to avoid the fairway bunker 235 yards away and hook it OB because your gut tells you to hit driver.

There are definitely rounds I play smarter than others, but I would never consider myself a smart golfer.


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I truly believe course management is one of my biggest strengths. I spent a couple full days this offseason developing a sound strategy for the courses I play with strong influences from Mark Broadie’s stats and Scott Fawcett’s DECADE system. I also want to emphasize that conservative is not necessarily smart.
 
sometimes I'm smart, other times I'm a stupid mother #@$^$#! Honestly don't even recognize myself sometimes. Other times, I play smart and methodical.
 
For me it depends on how the round is going. If I am playing well, I tend to be a bit more conservative. If I am playing poorly I usually just figure why not? Its already bad might as well see if I can do this or not.
 
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