Re: Snowman's blog entry, round 10

For starters:

Don't use 3 woods off the fairway.
Slow down the swing
Maintain width in the swing
Don't look up early and stay centred over the ball
Eye firmly on the ball until it has long gone

Re: Snowman's blog entry, round 10

Cheers for your input Brian, most appreciated.

I typically tee off with my 5w, I tee it up really low and also hit it well off the fairway, along with my 7w it is usually my most consistent club. I never use a 3w off the fairway though.

These are great points. When things go awry I usually try and focus on a slowing down with a good turn away from the ball and swing through to the finish. Now that you mention maintaining width, looking where the ball is/was until it is gone I have to admit that in the middle of my swing crisis I forgot about all off this. I am kicking myself now as a simple thing as staying centred and watching the divot (as I like to call it) would have probably sorted out my inconsistent striking.

When things go badly I have in the past got back to some sort of decent swing with simple things like you mentioned above, but today for what ever reason I was swinging with fear. Fear that I would hit fat/slice etc, I just couldn't switch off.

I am going to cool off for a few days and then hit the range with your checklist. Thank you again.

I will still hit my 5w off the fairway though, if you don't mind

Re: Snowman's blog entry, round 10

My mistake, sorry! I took 5 wood for 3 wood.

Re: Snowman's blog entry, round 10

Been there, done that, got the tee shirt , as a fellow high cap player I won't give you any swing advice other than to echo Brian's "slow down" comments but having been exactly where you were last round I could offer some general thoughts that might be helpful - mostly stolen from here.

First off, the potential for that "10" where everything goes wrong is ever present until we get better; the trick is to keep those holes to treble or even a double if possible. Secondly it helps to remember that our main objective at the moment is to play bogey golf not to break 80, we get a shot a hole so lets use it.

Take your first hole yesterday.

A super tee shot and a good feeling as you walk down the fairway; now from there some combination of shots between 2 easy seven irons and 3 wedges should see you on the green putting for par having avoided the trouble. Fair enough your fairway wood is a go to club and i assume you were happy that it would either lay up or clear the water (not sure where it is from your description) so it was reasonable to play it to set up a par or even birdie chance.

After the first fat though it might have been better to ask "after that mistake" what 3 shots will take me to the pin (275 yards?) avoiding trouble and setting up a two putt double or possibly better.

Boring boring boring advice I know BUT as per my last blog I blew the chance of dropping my PB into the low eighties by ignoring it and going for the "best shot I was capable of" rather than the "best shot I was sure of and left me with another".

As for using the 5w; Being short off the tee, I like hitting my 20 degree rescue from all sorts of places - it's my advance the ball down the fairway a good distance club - but I'm learning two things.

(1) Sometimes I hit it too far; leaving me a subtle wedge which is OK when the short game is working but occasionally I show all the touch and finesse of a blacksmith - it can be better to lay up 100 - 120 yards away and have a full wedge in.

(2) Sometimes my beloved rescue club just deserts me (tops, fats, pulls and pushes) - on the days that I accept this and just bunt the ball along with an 8 or a 7 I can still be on or just over 90; the days I persist with it are the days that see the 3 figure score return.

Good Luck

Robin

Re: Snowman's blog entry, round 10

Thank you Robin for the excellent advice/support. You are totally correct. After my good tee shot I started to get ideas above my station and the 5w was an unnecessary play. The water was all along the left side of the fairway. In hindsight I should have grabbed my 24* hybrid and advanced the ball 160ish up the fairway and to safety. That would have given me 140 to the pin, a 7i would then have put me below the pin with a uphill putt for birdie. I have been working hard on playing smart golf but have the occasional costly lapse. I wish i could go back and play shot #2 again and see if the round turned out different, whether it was all to do with my shattered confidence or was the 1st shot a fluke and I was destined to have a bad day.

I got stuck in a trap that I have fallen into many times. "Righto, 300 to the green, just hit a great 5w shot, might as well whack it with the 5w again and have a PW into the green". FAT!

Followed by, "Oh-oh that wasn't pretty, don't panic, I can get it back with an easy hybrid". SPLASH!

The hybrid shot was one of the worst I have ever hit, how I managed to contort myself into a shape possible of hacking the ball into the water hazard from where I was is a question our best scientists will be puzzled with for decades. Anyhow, I made some bonehead decisions right off the bat and paid for it, I am not sure how much this hole effected my confidence and subsequent holes, or whether I would have found the water with a safe iron shot with my second shot, what I do know is that my swing was a total mess yesterday, I just couldn't get into the zone where I see my target in my minds eye and trust my swing to get it there, I was terrified over the ball.

There were positives to my round:

- I chipped really well from some rather tricky spots.

- On 14 of the holes I putted really well, most of my 2 putts were tap ins after the 1st putt was a 20-30 footer. Other times I held my nerve from 6-10 feet to hole out. I did have 3 four putts but that was just because my approach shots put me in the worst part of the green way above the hole where a softly hit putt would run right off the front of the green.

- My attitude was excellent. I kept plugging away and didn't lose my temper or moan about bad luck etc. I was rewarded late in the round with a really nice up and down for par.

I shudder to think what my score would have been had I not putted/chipped well.

Anyway, I am babbling here, thanks again for the advice, pointers. I always tell myself to think every shot through, but I am often so elated to be out golfing that I neglect some of the course management strategies that I should be applying.

Re: Snowman's blog entry, round 10

Costly lapses! You and me both; you realise of course that I don't always take my own "course management" or "mental approach" advice in particular that bit which says "don't worry its only one hole" so if you are like me I'd put a lot down to shattered confidence.

Yup, know that feeling too, I try to hold on to those positives and turn them round to imagine what it would be like when my swing is working too. At the very least it means I can dream a good round.

A pleasure, I get so much help and encouragement on here that its nice to be able to return the favour once in a while.

Re: Snowman's blog entry, round 10

To contribute to the high handicapper's solidarity thread;

I played my parents' 9 hole course in France this morning. 1st two holes to plan - bogey, bogey;

Then-

Par 3 3rd. T shot OOB, three off the tee, 3rd shot into the water, 4th penalty, 5th into the water BEHIND the green, 6th penalty, 7th chip on, 8th monster putt that really was a little late...

Hey ho, thought I - it's only one hole...

On the 4th Par 5 I played into the same water hazard 3 times for a baffling 14.

Hey ho, thought I - there's always the back nine.

On the same hole 2nd time round I took 13

Well, what do you do? They were borrowed clubs, it was a hard course, I don't usually do that, la la la.

Bottom line was, my course management stank like a wet dog on a hot day.

I carded 110, and you know what? The only thing I care about is it's an object lesson for me next time? You know what I mean?

And Brian - most of my trouble came from me not having my beloved hybrids, so I took it upon myself to try and hit 3Ws off the deck, and, inexplicably, when I discovered I couldn't, I kept on trying.

Travelling back tomorrow, so no golf then, but back on my home course, wih my clubs on Weds. There still remains the problem of my faulty brain, of course...

Re: Snowman's blog entry, round 10

Ah well I hope you had a good break apart from the golf

Hmmm, what can I say except to quote from my earlier post

"(2) Sometimes my beloved rescue club just deserts me (tops, fats, pulls and pushes) - on the days that I accept this and just bunt the ball along with an 8 or a 7 I can still be on or just over 90; the days I persist with it are the days that see the 3 figure score return."

I'd really like to understand what it is that makes us all expect that repetition without change will somehow produce an improvement

Re: Snowman's blog entry, round 10

I think that my main problem is that I don't get to play many times a year. There is snow on the ground here for 5 months of the year and with my 18 month old daughter and wife to keep happy, I can only golf 10-15 times a year.

I feel like I have to make every round count, I think I am putting myself under enormous pressure to break 90.

I feel if I was able to play twice a week, I would improve a lot quicker, get more roumds under my belt while I am playing well and be able to be more adept at course management (from playing the same courses over and over again). Sometimes there is as much as 3 weeks in between rounds and that can lead to a lot of rustiness.

How many rounds do you guys typically play per yer?

Re: Snowman's blog entry, round 10

hi snowman
anyone restricted to that few rounds a year is going to struggle for consistency!
i have played around 40 times since april 1st and been to the range numerous times and thats started to show in my scores.

Re: Snowman's blog entry, round 10

Have to agree with Slats, 10- 15 rounds a year will limit your improvement. You probably need to squeeze out some range time too.

Until 3, 4 years ago I'd have played twice a year, three times at max; unsurprisingly I never improved

Then I had a couple of years of fair weather golfing 1-2 times a month in summer which more or less coincided with joining here, but still no real improvement.

Last autumn / (mild) winter/ spring though I had a spell of playing most weeks sometimes more than once - it was that spell that took me from 100+++ to <90> with a low of 86.

Not as regular or frequent now but have (mostly ) stabilised scores.

Luckily the golf centre I use has a grass practice area and I generally manage a bucket at least once a week which helps; it also has a "family pitch & putt course" where, at quiet times, they turn a blind eye if regulars use it as a short game practice area which helps even more.

Re: Snowman's blog entry, round 10

I try and keep my practice and playing to a 2:1 ratio. So far I have gone to the range 10 times, gone to practice chipping and putting 10 times and played 10 rounds.

Maybe I should not expect too much and just play for the enjoyment of playing golf and try and just make as good as shot as I can each time I step up to my ball. Perhaps with lower expectations and pressure, I will be able to card more low 90s rounds and maybe even break into the 80s.

Re: Snowman's blog entry, round 10

Great news Snowman....worst round of the year is almost always followed by one of your better rounds of the year. I think it's usually do to more concentration.

Sometimes a great opening shot can really hurt your round. You get in the thought of this is going to be an easy day. Some of my best rounds have come from poor opening drives and bogey or double on the first hole. In fact a lot of the lowest rounds in golf history start with a bogey.

So the next time out, just go through your routine. Shoot for the middle of the greens and concentrate. A bad opening hole shouldn't derail your day.

Re: Snowman's blog entry, round 10

Being able to play so few times you need to take pressure off yourself and be realistic on what can be achieved, above all you should take pleasure in your progress.

My advice would be practice as much as possible during the winter and when playing play to your handicap, not to par, consider a par 5 where you have a stroke as your par 6, a par four where you have two as a par 6 etc.