Relax, detach
Make the little white ball go towards the target
Easy game
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Definitely had an easier, less frustrating round…
My swing is coming back, even if I’m not 100% happy with where it is…
Should have had a hot dog at the turn, as I ran out of energy on the last 4 holes.
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Just a follow up on this, and the holes I’m backing off:
Hole 1. Hybrid is the right play. Driver just brings too much uncertainty, especially on the first hole. 150 in and a big green SHOULD be an easy second shot (I bladed it over the back but still made par)
Hole 5. Made birdie from 140 yards. This is a simple choice.
Hole 9. 3 wood is the play here.
Hole 14. Interestingly, I missed it right and took the cart path over the creek… Good times! Having 180 uphill isn’t awesome, but I’ve taken too many penalty strokes on this hole this year.
Hole 16. Put Hybrid to 140. Missed green, but that was mostly a target selection issue.
I’m still torn on the 2 par 5s… I didn’t do well on either today, but it wasn’t due to driver on the first one, and a duck hook is still going OB on the second one… I might have a less aggressive line and a 3 wood on 15 until my driver is fully online again… my standard miss with it doesn’t bring OB into play… a huge block left is going to be a problem regardless of the club!
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Okay, you hit driver off tee and are 179 yd from green. What is distance to the dogleg in front of the green, and distance from there to green?
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The turn is about 100 yards out… my basic thought is a good drive gets me a look at hitting the green in 2 and a missed long iron puts me in position to make an easy par.
I have to hit a really bad drive to go out of bounds. I did it today. A three wood would have also been out… that’s more on eliminating big misses as much as possible vs planning against them.
There isn’t really a good angle to attack the green from up close… around the dogleg isn’t bad, but my 80-100 yard shots aren’t a strength right now.
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Thanks for context. Your plan makes perfect sense. Good luck 
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Our 9th hole is a straightforward short (295yd) par-4 , tree lined on both sides. The last year or so I’ve gone 4i-5i off tee to set up some sort of full wedge into green. Stress-free pars always appeal to me.
I’ve tried driver. When I veer tree-side, bogey is best to hope for. A rare flushed drive in fairway leaves me a partial wedge, which is always sketchy for me.
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Yeah, leaving myself a full iron in has become more appealing… I should still have plenty of mid range wedge shots throughout the day, so as my skill with those improves it might make sense to chase more of them…
It’s interesting, looking at the numbers… a scratch golfer averages three shots from 90 yards per Lou stagner… I’m not scratch!
I’m going to stay relatively aggressive on the two par 5 I can hit driver in… and focus on a second shot that leaves me in the fairway for my approach on the other two.
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As always Lou is spot on. Here are mine for 112 rounds. Always interesting to me to look at these.
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Every time I take a lesson the pro reminds me not to have unrealistic expectations and be so hard on myself. It’s the one thing that never seems to sink in lol.
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What stats are you keeping?
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Yep. If you get a chance to rip drives on p-5’s and still have a decent chance with shot #2, have at it!
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I’m doing the tiger five for decade and wear a s62 watch… I need to do a better job of reviewing my stats and I want to get better at measuring the distance of my putts… I’m contemplating buying a laser tape measured, but don’t want to spend the $300 on the one Lou stagner recommended.
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That’s my thought… my driver has been a weak spot recently and I have a two way miss that’s bringing a ton of trouble into play… if I can get back to regularly hitting a fade without a huge block left, it will make sense to be aggressive on the two fives… a miss right on either won’t take GiR off the table…
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You will start punching in penalty strokes and strokes gained putting which is helpful
My biggest hurdle to scoring is penalty strokes off the tee… decade has shown me that my ball striking is what it is and the variance in my score is basically driving and putting
For me the bottom line is have to keep the driver in play to take the next step and get below 5 handi
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Yeah, once I get driver back under control I’ve got a functional strategy to avoid most penalty shots on my course… but it’s pretty open with very limited water.
I’m probably gonna get vilified for this statement/question…When are you gonna go on tour, and did you lose your living leaving a putt 6ft short? We all want to play well. We all want to score. But we all should be PLAYING this game to have fun. If you walk like I do, to get some exercise. I’m still in search of distance and it’s coming back slowly, 2 weeks ago, I had a decent round at the home course, I scorched 4 balls over 260…I found the secret…LOL! I played last week a different course with my guys and a visitor. I actually let him play with my spare set and a pair of my old shoes…he shot a very nice 78…me…who discovered the secret…I couldnt keep a tee ball on the planet, let alone the rough. But hey, this week is a different week, i get to play another round, This week the game is going to be…??? remains to be played. Guys…we ain’t that good…we’re never gonna be THAT GOOD…I read an article about an athlete that asked a pro if they could takes lessons and develop a game for the tour. The teacher said I could probably get you down to a better than scratch player with a ton of hard work…TOUR? You aint that good not a shot in hell. Your pro has it exactly right. Just realize this, having the ability to strike a 1.86 inch ball with a 4 inch face on the end of a 45 inch stick at a speed of close to a 100mph…guys, it’s a minor miracle! Not alot of people can do that. I hit alot of balls and I cant get consistency, so have fun tracking your game…I mean that, it’s a hobby, it’s supposed to be fun, it’s better than yardwork enjoy the breakthrough round, but dont get to pissed when the oil leaks either…have fun!
My only real complaint is the lack on breaks. The enter key is important to communicate ideas clearly.
Trust me, I’m having fun. Playing 18 with my parents today… my dad plays clubs built 3 inches long, his plan is to borrow a set today. That alone will be amusing.
Honestly, the whole “you are making it harder on yourself “ idea is to make golf more fun by eliminating dumb mistakes… it’s part of this whole thing. Looking for balls, taking penalty strokes… leaving myself 6 foot second putts… that stuff isn’t fun.
Good luck eliminating the dumb mistakes. Remember …GOLF spelled backwards is FLOG. It’s a self deprecating, impossible game that can only be played…I think it was invented to show creepy rich people you just ain’t that good! There’s perfect games in baseball, perfect QB ratings, the magic 300. In our sport, on a par 70, you’re not gonna shoot an 18 or a 52…Too many opportunities to keep FLOGGING yourself. Golfing is the best place to hear and to learn the 7 words you can’t say on mainstream TV. Have fun today with the fam, laugh, break some bread, it’s the best game in the world forces you to spend 4-5:hours with people we love. That’s the best part
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I don’t like to make it hard on myself, but I do as well…really hard. I’m starting to get better about committing to the shot and accepting the result. Too much worrying about going OB and trying to steer it around just wasn’t cutting it. When the big miss happens it’s usually because I wasn’t comfortable with the shot and didn’t commit to it.
I think it makes a lot of sense to have a plan for each hole. You may have to adjust if you find it’s not working, but it’s easier to commit when you have a plan. And then you need to the practice so you can execute more often and have more confidence.
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