Re: Change in plans ?

hi
look back at posts by artford he has a lot about what your thinking off doing and it does work, try it and let us know how you get on.
bill

Re: Change in plans ?

Thanks for your reply, Bill. See that it worked for other people, which convinces me that I should give it a try later this week. Although the others seem to be mid-low handicappers, I think it should benefit me as well. I will post my result later. Thanks.

Re: Change in plans ?

hi the thread is " how to play in the low 80s" lots of input there , i have used a 5,7,9 and putter when on holiday and i have hit some good scores with just the 4 clubs, i keep them in the car as there old, but i do feel relaxed when playing and never try and kill the ball, it is fun after all.
bill

Re: Change in plans ?

hi swingball
im one of the "others" that tried the 4 club method i would be classed as a mid to high handicapper and it transformed my game. even though i now carry a full set of clubs it taught me a lot about course management and shot selection.
give it a few goes you will be pleasantly surprised

Re: Change in plans ?

I was thinking to primarily use the shorter irons on the course, at least for now, because longer irons are harder for me to use from the fairway. I nowadays try too often shots that are not realistic for my ability, resulting in stray shots and high scores. With 7i + 2 x 9i, I should be able to get to a par 4 green in three. And then it is up to the putting skills, which are not consistent yet though .... Good to read from posts that it seems to work, at least to gain confidence in the game and hopefully it will benefit not only the course management skills, but also the ball striking from the fairway, which could at some point in time be used for longer irons as well (??) .

Lately I am seem to be improving with the 3w from the tee, 200m-220m. However after a good drive the second shot seems even more difficult, the green is often too far away, and 2 times a 9i is overshooting the green. The confidence level in the wedges is not such that I can rely on that instead of the 9i when approaching the green. Having said that I realize I should focus more on practising my wedge game... but time is limited, alas.

I will give it a try and see what it does to the score. Next weekend I have a lesson and it is probably a good idea to ask the pro what his opinion is on this, that's why you pay the man, right ?

Thanks for the replies, much appreciated.

Re: Change in plans ?

hi try a 6 iron too the more you use it the more confedent you'll get with it just think of it like a longer 7. a good club to work with on the range if a 5 iron, after you can hit with it you can shap shots with it so easy, not as much backspin as short irons and it dont give as much side spin as long irons its a good middle club to work with
bill

Re: Change in plans ?

hi
one other other thing when swinging, only swing at 80/90% never 100% flat out, you dont lose much in distance but you gain so much more control.
bill

Re: Change in plans ?

I did a short try out on the course tonight. It is getting darker earlier nowadays, so not much time left after work. Did a couple of holes and the last hole is a good example of what I did.

First of all when I reread the discussion above, together with the fact that I sometimes hit the ball (and the ground) fat so that distance suffers badly, I noticed that I probably do reverse pivoting. I did some searching in the fora and found that this could be prevented by slightly pushing off with the right foot to start the downswing. Ofcourse there are other things that you can do, but I tried some of them before and it did not work for me at that time. So that's one change I made.

Secondly when playing the par 5 450m long hole, I teed off with 7i, followed by 8i and 9i. I hit the balls very good, good contact and a straight flight with a nice arch. After the 3rd shot I was at the 50m marker. Using my wedge I approached the green with a par chance. Missed the par, but a very easy bogey was the final result. Which is a good result for hcp 36.

So these things combined gave a good result. Now ofcourse the question whether the anti-reverse pivot is enough to score well, but seeing how good I hit the balls with the shorter irons, I think I need to continue with this approach for now.

That's one of the good things of the forum, when you start discussing you start to think even more and there is a chance that you find some solutions also ! Ofcourse it needs to be proven during multiple whole rounds, but very encouraging so far.

Thanks.

Re: Change in plans ?

hi swingball
one thing i think it does playing mid to high iron off the tee is it make you think more about the shots after the drive, like if its a par 4 420 and you hit say a 5 iron 160 and another 5 iron with wedge to the green and two putts. or you could your second with a 8 iron and then another 8 iron and your not really have to hit hard just steady, and play to the handicap,take the free shot into the count before you start the hole, if its a par 4 and you get a shot then say its a par 5 think of it like that and it plays so much easer, its the same if you play of only 6 then think of the holes you get a shot, there the harder holes and talk the shot into your mind before yo play think of it as an easy par 5 and not a par 4 that you get a shot at.
bill

Re: Change in plans ?

I have been struggling with course & club management. One idea I came across, which I have been working towards, is instead of getting your approach shot as close as possible to the green settle for a distance that you are accurate and comfortable with. For example, if you are very good from 100 yards – aim for that as your approach shot – even if the shot before that has to be shorter.

On the course that I want to do well with I keep notes regarding which holes are most problematic for me, and where I go wrong, the slope and the way the greens play etc. I thought, I cannot keep trying the same approach and expect a different outcome.

By leaving my driver in my bag on some of the tighter holes, and taking my medicine when I find myself in a bad position – i.e., chipping the ball out instead of attempting some miracle shot that threads the trees I was able to drop my score by over 10 strokes – which unfortunately, still left me with a mighty handicap!

Also, I no longer carry my 3 or 4 iron – I use my 5 iron and I am working on my 5 iron/hybrid. (the hybrid seems a little short thought, you hit the ball with more of a sweeping swing rather than down on it – it is a work in progress.)

Also, I bought a lot of wedges and I am deciding which ones to keep I probably have about 8 of them now – and I will max the number of those that I will use on the course – with three or 4 (my 50 degree will substitute for my pw) If you can be really accurate on your short game you can save a lot of strokes.

Finally, since I am not loosing tones of balls any more I am going to settle on a particular ball instead of all those used balls. I find if a ball costs a little bit of money you are more careful on how you hit, as opposed to loosing the .50 cents on a recycled ball.

Best of luck and I will of curious on your thoughts and progress.


James

Re: Change in plans ?

hi james
seems you have a good methodical approach to the game
my game improved when i started working backwards from the green
my dependable shot is a full sw from 80yds
using aftfords method of only carrying your reliable clubs helped a lot with club selection and course management also.
keep up the good work

Re: Change in plans ?

Hi Jamesh, it was indeed my intention to leave 100m for a full 9i. However I hit the ball further than I expected So now I need to figure out the exact distances for the clubs and calculate back to see which clubs to use for the first couple of shots. I will be playing a round with my dad this Friday, and I probably are going to use the new approach, although hitting > 200 has its charmes as well...but I know what it currently does to the score . Thanks for your remarks.