My Life (Sub 80)

GreeBo

Loire wrote: »

I don't know about the 4 iron strategy...fine if the hole is very short with lots of trouble, but on the longer holes you will find it hard to make pars....you'll probably be hitting 2 4 irons on most holes and will likely have a very low Green in Regulation figure which means you must get up and down a lot.

Agree 100%, but this is only an issue if you dont have a shot on the hole, right?

Loire

GreeBo wrote: »

Agree 100%, but this is only an issue if you dont have a shot on the hole, right?

In a stableford comp definately, however, the OP wants to break 80 so no shots as it were on a hole.

I find if I choke down on the driver and tee it a bit lower and commit to a decent swing at it I will get a low flight that runs pretty well (as long as it lands on the fairway). In any case it will easily go farther than a 4 iron and will stay in play compared to a miss hit regular drive. 3 wood is the other option, but I find the higher ball flight can get you into difficulty in miss hits there too.

The other thing that worked for me was committing to lagging every putt outside 6-8 feet...forget about holing it and make sure you're only left with a tap in...ie pace over line every time.

The other thing that comes to mind and this is obvious is to play away from trouble. If the pin's at the backl corner with bunkers all around I'm happy to lay-up and take my chances with a chip and putt.

There's so much to this game!!

GreeBo

Loire wrote: »

In a stableford comp definately, however, the OP wants to break 80 so no shots as it were on a hole.

Breaking 80 just means that you are playing with a handicap of ~ 7 on most courses.
If you have a shot on that hole in stableford then those are naturally the hardest holes and so taking a bogey doesnt mean that you cant still break 80...

Trying to break 80 by parring every hole (when your handicap is no where near 0) is going to end in tears imho. Play to your (lowered) handicap and use the correct course management where its appropriate, i.e. the 7 lowest indices.

Otherwise you risk having an 8 and its gameover until next week.:(

In my experience the reason why most people feel they are off a handicap thats too high for their ability is because it is too high...but their course management is terrible.
My advice is always the same, play to your current handicap first, then try play to scratch!
The same rule applies here, try play to 7 first.

mikeunt

GreeBo wrote: »

Breaking 80 just means that you are playing with a handicap of ~ 7 on most courses.
If you have a shot on that hole in stableford then those are naturally the hardest holes and so taking a bogey doesnt mean that you cant still break 80...

Trying to break 80 by parring every hole (when your handicap is no where near 0) is going to end in tears imho. Play to your (lowered) handicap and use the correct course management where its appropriate, i.e. the 7 lowest indices.

Otherwise you risk having an 8 and its gameover until next week.:(

In my experience the reason why most people feel they are off a handicap thats too high for their ability is because it is too high...but their course management is terrible.
My advice is always the same, play to your current handicap first, then try play to scratch!
The same rule applies here, try play to 7 first.

no, try to par every hole
take it one hole at a time and believe you can do it
i hate the idea of settling for a bogey on any hole even before the tee shot is taken......bad advice
maybe if you have hit a poor teeshot then you can say to yourself "well a bogey would now be a good score here", but you are talking yourself into bogeys if you are settling for that before teeing off

FixdePitchmark

mikeunt wrote: »

no, try to par every hole
take it one hole at a time and believe you can do it
i hate the idea of settling for a bogey on any hole even before the tee shot is taken......bad advice
maybe if you have hit a poor teeshot then you can say to yourself "well a bogey would now be a good score here", but you are talking yourself into bogeys if you are settling for that before teeing off

Love it Mikenut, I have to say , I do play a bit like this. What do you play off. You sound a bit like Seve there.

I don't think my confidence is that high at the moment.

Sorry , is that Mikeunt, it is a family show here.

acejeff

mikeunt wrote: »

no, try to par every hole
take it one hole at a time and believe you can do it
i hate the idea of settling for a bogey on any hole even before the tee shot is taken......bad advice
maybe if you have hit a poor teeshot then you can say to yourself "well a bogey would now be a good score here", but you are talking yourself into bogeys if you are settling for that before teeing off

Personally I play and always have with this mentality so I can see your argument. However my best friend who I've been playing golf with for the last 15 years has just had his best year ever going from 13 to 8, winning golfer of the year at the club and picking up about 12 prizes. He did this by playing the most disciplined golf imaginable! He plays within himself all the time, tries nothing spectacular or shots that he knows are outside/on the edge of his ability. I play off 5 however throughout this year he has regularly beaten my gross score when we've been playing together. That's because of his consistency. It has really shown me that course management is the key to improvement and consistently shooting a good score. I would advise fixdepitchmark that course management like this will help him break 80. For example, his favourite Corballis, which I've had the great pleasure of playing 3 times in the last month, 3rd hole 470ish yard par 4 index 1, 3 times i've played it's been into the wind so i will presume that this is the prevailing wind, I would suggest playing this as a par 5, 3 conservative shots to get the green, and be happy with a 5. I see both sides of the argument, there are times where I think you need to be aggressive, but I also think you need to be able to identify certain holes, such as 3 at corballis, where you say "right, I'm happy to take bogey 5".

denishurley

acejeff wrote: »

Personally I play and always have with this mentality so I can see your argument. However my best friend who I've been playing golf with for the last 15 years has just had his best year ever going from 13 to 8, winning golfer of the year at the club and picking up about 12 prizes. He did this by playing the most disciplined golf imaginable! He plays within himself all the time, tries nothing spectacular or shots that he knows are outside/on the edge of his ability. I play off 5 however throughout this year he has regularly beaten my gross score when we've been playing together. That's because of his consistency. It has really shown me that course management is the key to improvement and consistently shooting a good score. I would advise fixdepitchmark that course management like this will help him break 80. For example, his favourite Corballis, which I've had the great pleasure of playing 3 times in the last month, 3rd hole 470ish yard par 4 index 1, 3 times i've played it's been into the wind so i will presume that this is the prevailing wind, I would suggest playing this as a par 5, 3 conservative shots to get the green, and be happy with a 5. I see both sides of the argument, there are times where I think you need to be aggressive, but I also think you need to be able to identify certain holes, such as 3 at corballis, where you say "right, I'm happy to take bogey 5".

Would agree with this, theoretically you should always be happy with a bogey at index 1 as the only time you wouldn't have a shot there is if you were off scratch or better

FixdePitchmark

acejeff wrote: »

Personally I play and always have with this mentality so I can see your argument. However my best friend who I've been playing golf with for the last 15 years has just had his best year ever going from 13 to 8, winning golfer of the year at the club and picking up about 12 prizes. He did this by playing the most disciplined golf imaginable! He plays within himself all the time, tries nothing spectacular or shots that he knows are outside/on the edge of his ability. I play off 5 however throughout this year he has regularly beaten my gross score when we've been playing together. That's because of his consistency. It has really shown me that course management is the key to improvement and consistently shooting a good score. I would advise fixdepitchmark that course management like this will help him break 80. For example, his favourite Corballis, which I've had the great pleasure of playing 3 times in the last month, 3rd hole 470ish yard par 4 index 1, 3 times i've played it's been into the wind so i will presume that this is the prevailing wind, I would suggest playing this as a par 5, 3 conservative shots to get the green, and be happy with a 5. I see both sides of the argument, there are times where I think you need to be aggressive, but I also think you need to be able to identify certain holes, such as 3 at corballis, where you say "right, I'm happy to take bogey 5".

Fair play picking up on that - yes number 3 in Corballis is my favourite hole.

I played it about 20 times in the summer and had a par only 4 times. It is a hole you should try reach in 3. If you hit a great drive you may lose it because you can not see landing.

I have reached it with 4 iron, hybrid.

But , I think the poof of what you say for me is, when I went 4 iron off the tee I was at 83, 84. I could have made it to my goal staying at that. But want to see what is wrong with my swing.

I'm sorry to say this thread could be long haul.

foxyboxer

acejeff wrote: »

However my best friend who I've been playing golf with for the last 15 years has just had his best year ever going from 13 to 8, winning golfer of the year at the club and picking up about 12 prizes. He did this by playing the most disciplined golf imaginable! He plays within himself all the time, tries nothing spectacular or shots that he knows are outside/on the edge of his ability.

Just like Ben Hogan!

Loire

GreeBo wrote: »

Breaking 80 just means that you are playing with a handicap of ~ 7 on most courses.
If you have a shot on that hole in stableford then those are naturally the hardest holes and so taking a bogey doesnt mean that you cant still break 80...

Trying to break 80 by parring every hole (when your handicap is no where near 0) is going to end in tears imho. Play to your (lowered) handicap and use the correct course management where its appropriate, i.e. the 7 lowest indices.

Otherwise you risk having an 8 and its gameover until next week.:(

In my experience the reason why most people feel they are off a handicap thats too high for their ability is because it is too high...but their course management is terrible.
My advice is always the same, play to your current handicap first, then try play to scratch!
The same rule applies here, try play to 7 first.

I know where you are coming from, and I've tried this strategy, but the problem is it puts a lot of pressure on on the holes where you don't have a shot...if you don't make a par on any of these then you have to par some tougher holes, which may be towards the end of the round and this adds to the risk.

Generally what works for me is to do my best to par the par 5s....hit a decent driver and then something like a rescue wood or a 5 iron that leaves a wedge/SW. That's 2 or 3 pars already. The easier holes should be parred too but if not it's not the end of the world....just keep playing away from trouble and hope the flat stick is warm. To the other poster re consistency..this is the key. I'm not nearly as consistent now as I was when I broke 80 last year and I was playing with someone recently who was and it was a joy to see (some people find this boring but I think it's cool and it's the kind of golf you can play (and need to play) when you're older.

GreeBo

Loire wrote: »

I know where you are coming from, and I've tried this strategy, but the problem is it puts a lot of pressure on on the holes where you don't have a shot...if you don't make a par on any of these then you have to par some tougher holes, which may be towards the end of the round and this adds to the risk.

Generally what works for me is to do my best to par the par 5s....hit a decent driver and then something like a rescue wood or a 5 iron that leaves a wedge/SW. That's 2 or 3 pars already. The easier holes should be parred too but if not it's not the end of the world....just keep playing away from trouble and hope the flat stick is warm. To the other poster re consistency..this is the key. I'm not nearly as consistent now as I was when I broke 80 last year and I was playing with someone recently who was and it was a joy to see (some people find this boring but I think it's cool and it's the kind of golf you can play (and need to play) when you're older.

Remember that there is nothing stopping you from still getting a par on these holes if your shortgame is up to it. If its not then making 18 pars is not where you should be focusing your efforts. I can count on the fingers on one head the number of times Ive played with a scratch golfer who had 18 pars..it just doesnt really happen, even for the pros.

GreeBo

mikeunt wrote: »

no, try to par every hole
take it one hole at a time and believe you can do it
i hate the idea of settling for a bogey on any hole even before the tee shot is taken......bad advice
maybe if you have hit a poor teeshot then you can say to yourself "well a bogey would now be a good score here", but you are talking yourself into bogeys if you are settling for that before teeing off

You are not settling for a bogey, you can still get a par by having one putt, but you are doing your best to avoid having an 8. Its cost-benefit analysis. The damage of the 8 far outweighs the benefit of having a 4 (versus a solid 5)

If you wait until you have hit a poor tee-shot on the hardest hole you are already in trouble and a 6 is more likely, as you now need to play a recovery shot and then are still left with a tough second shot to the hardest hole on the course.

Unless you are a scratch golfer then "talking yourself into bogeys" before you start off is sound course management. You are supposed to have bogeys!

If you are playing a match and your have a shot you dont still bust your ass trying to par the hole, you play for a nice safe bogey and pretty much ensure you at worst halve the hole. Going for everything ends up with you losing a hole to a bogey when you had a shot. Thats just stupid, ego driven golf.

Having a shot on the hole in strokes is the exact same mentality, you are playing the course in a match.

IMHO people let their ego's decide their on course strategy to the detriment of their score.

Loire

GreeBo wrote: »

Remember that there is nothing stopping you from still getting a par on these holes if your shortgame is up to it. If its not then making 18 pars is not where you should be focusing your efforts. I can count on the fingers on one head the number of times Ive played with a scratch golfer who had 18 pars..it just doesnt really happen, even for the pros.

Absolutely...I think we're saying the same thing. Just because you have a shot on the whole doesn't mean that you should aim for a bogey off the tee...settle for a bogey OK but not aim for one.

To play off 12 all you need IMO is to be able to lay up just short of the green for most par 4s (especially the long ones) and have a good short game (chipping being more important IMO than putting) and making sure you are on the green in 3 for the par 5s (ie making par). Breaking 80 on the other hand...I've only done it twice with the above strategy but on eeach time my short game was 100% (for me) so it's something I couldn't do week in week out. I would appreciate any feedback from sub-10 handicappers here....any particular strategies?

mikeunt

GreeBo wrote: »

IMHO people let their ego's decide their on course strategy to the detriment of their score.

just because some people have a different strategy to you doesnt mean their ego is the problem

very condescending

golfnut1

Loire wrote: »

GreeBo wrote: »

Remember that there is nothing stopping you from still getting a par on these holes if your shortgame is up to it. If its not then making 18 pars is not where you should be focusing your efforts. I can count on the fingers on one head the number of times Ive played with a scratch golfer who had 18 pars..it just doesnt really happen, even for the pros.

Absolutely...I think we're saying the same thing. Just because you have a shot on the whole doesn't mean that you should aim for a bogey off the tee...settle for a bogey OK but not aim for one.

To play off 12 all you need IMO is to be able to lay up just short of the green for most par 4s (especially the long ones) and have a good short game (chipping being more important IMO than putting) and making sure you are on the green in 3 for the par 5s (ie making par). Breaking 80 on the other hand...I've only done it twice with the above strategy but on eeach time my short game was 100% (for me) so it's something I couldn't do week in week out. I would appreciate any feedback from sub-10 handicappers here....any particular strategies?

Best thread I've read in a long time.
Re playing for bogey/par. I would always play for par but if the tee shot doesn't. Leave you inside your comfort zone then its damage control time. Walk off happy with bogey.
Tips. Outside 150 middle of the green. 150 to 100 halfway between pin and fat side of the green. Inside 100 dead aim.
Also if you can shape your shots choose the right shape. If its a left pin aim middle/right with a draw and vise versa. Lastly know what distance you hit each club especially your scoring clubs and that means distance with half, 3/4 and full for a fade and a draw. Any one club should have 6 comfortable yardages.

Webbs

mikeunt wrote: »

just because some people have a different strategy to you doesnt mean their ego is the problem

very condescending

I agree with Greebo and its not condescending just something that nearly all golfers including the pros do.
If we played the course in a cold calculating manner using our handicaps to their full then we would minimise high scores and give ourselves the best chance of scoring well.
However, its sport and the heart, ego whatever you want to call it often rules the head. Show me a golfer who hasnt gone for the 'miracle' ego driven recovery shot and you'll be showing me a liar.

acejeff

GreeBo wrote: »

IMHO people let their ego's decide their on course strategy to the detriment of their score.

Not sure whether it's necessarily ego, I think one's on course strategy is a product of certain variables: the way you were taught the game, which pros you looked to emulate when learning, your personal characteristics i.e. methodical and thought out or more charismatic, emotional excitable whatever you want to call it and finally what do you personally find more satisfying – methodically working your way around the course or the excitement of pulling off spectacular shots with the inevitable highs and lows that brings.

acejeff

I made the point earlier about assessing certain holes, knowing where bogey is a good score and setting out on the hole with that task in mind. This is one part of good course management, knowing when to take a pinch of salt, avoid the disaster and happily accept a bogey. However I also think you need to be able to recognise when the time is right to be take a slightly more aggressive approach, downwind par 5s for example. Don’t necessarily look to play each hole to it’s par on the card, rather what would be a good score here today. Again using Corballis, par 5 12th, 3 times I’ve played it’s been downwind, mindset on the tee was to play it as a par 4, birdied it on the 3 occasions as it was easily reachable with a 7/8 iron after good drives. 3rd hole there par 4 as I’ve mentioned, for me a 5 there (I’ve played it 5,6,5) is more difficult than it is on the par 5 12th. Message- don’t automatically look to play to the par of the hole on the card, assess the difficulty of the hole on any given day taking into account conditions and know what a good score is, whether that be “happy with a bogey” or “I should be looking to birdie this one today”

GreeBo

Loire wrote: »

Absolutely...I think we're saying the same thing. Just because you have a shot on the whole doesn't mean that you should aim for a bogey off the tee...settle for a bogey OK but not aim for one.

The difference for me is that I think sometimes you should settle for the bogey on the tee. Otherwise it can be too late to settle for that 5 and a 6 or worse is staring you in the face.

Loire wrote: »

To play off 12 all you need IMO is to be able to lay up just short of the green for most par 4s (especially the long ones) and have a good short game (chipping being more important IMO than putting) and making sure you are on the green in 3 for the par 5s (ie making par). Breaking 80 on the other hand...I've only done it twice with the above strategy but on eeach time my short game was 100% (for me) so it's something I couldn't do week in week out. I would appreciate any feedback from sub-10 handicappers here....any particular strategies?

I think that strategy is pretty good, but I would add that when you are planning to lay up short of a green, dont bother hitting your driver off the tee. It doesnt server any purpose. If you are not going for the green (same applies for par 5's) dont hit a harder club to get an extra 20yrds closer, hit a solid 7 iron and then a full pw instead of a 4 iron and then a 50yrd LW.

My advice, play a few rounds where you try to have a nett par on every hole. (obviously you can score better but it should be because you hole a chip or a putt or something, not because you go for it and it pays off )

After 3 rounds of this try to determine why you are not playing to your handicap. Its usually going to be that the holes you dont have shots on you are not parring. Typically this is a shortgame issue, so this is where you need to spend your practice time.
If you improve this you increase the chances or parring the no-shot holes and also the holes you do have shots on...bingo you just played to a lower handicap.

Course management is a logical thing imho, plan your round for each hole. It may not work out on every hole but then dont try to make up for it on the next one.

golfnut1

acejeff wrote: »

I made the point earlier about assessing certain holes, knowing where bogey is a good score and setting out on the hole with that task in mind. This is one part of good course management, knowing when to take a pinch of salt, avoid the disaster and happily accept a bogey. However I also think you need to be able to recognise when the time is right to be take a slightly more aggressive approach, downwind par 5s for example. Don’t necessarily look to play each hole to it’s par on the card, rather what would be a good score here today. Again using Corballis, par 5 12th, 3 times I’ve played it’s been downwind, mindset on the tee was to play it as a par 4, birdied it on the 3 occasions as it was easily reachable with a 7/8 iron after good drives. 3rd hole there par 4 as I’ve mentioned, for me a 5 there (I’ve played it 5,6,5) is more difficult than it is on the par 5 12th. Message- don’t automatically look to play to the par of the hole on the card, assess the difficulty of the hole on any given day taking into account conditions and know what a good score is, whether that be “happy with a bogey” or “I should be looking to birdie this one today”

Fair point. For me I find I make more birdies when I'm playing for pars. I just let the birdies come when they come. I used to play to birde every hole and strategy didn't go too well. All about experience I suppose. Like I said before once your in your comfort zone no harm in going for par 5 in two.

GreeBo

golfnut1 wrote: »

Like I said before once your in your comfort zone no harm in going for par 5 in two.

This is the important bit for me.
If you are comfortable (not just mentally, but your game/ability is up to it and your past scores can back this up!) going for par 5 in two when you have a shot on the hole then fire away, but if the hole is so "easy" that the penalty for going for it and missing is low AND you have a shot on it I reckon the indices are incorrect!

Its not meant to be condescending mike, just how I think the game should be played (and also a lot of golf psychologists)
Plan your round and avoid panic and rush of blood related disasters.

golfnut1

It always goes back to the 7 out of 10 rule doesn't it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OsbS9eH9ZgQ&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Loire

GreeBo wrote: »

The difference for me is that I think sometimes you should settle for the bogey on the tee. Otherwise it can be too late to settle for that 5 and a 6 or worse is staring you in the face.

I agree with this 100%, in fact I always settle for a bogey after playing a hole, however I never play for a bogey off the tee (except for our index 1 which I couldn't reach in 2 if I was allowed to hit my second off a tee!!). What I try and do is to work out for each hole the best way to get the lowest score with a bogey as the worst outcome (this for me is why I'm a fairly conservative player). How I play will vary on the trouble off the tee / around the green, conditions and how I'm feeling. That's what I love most about golf...it's a chess game with yourself where you very rarely win!

GreeBo wrote: »

I think that strategy is pretty good, but I would add that when you are planning to lay up short of a green, dont bother hitting your driver off the tee. It doesnt server any purpose. If you are not going for the green (same applies for par 5's) dont hit a harder club to get an extra 20yrds closer, hit a solid 7 iron and then a full pw instead of a 4 iron and then a 50yrd LW.

Again I agree 100% with this. I'd prefer a full pw/sw than a 30 yarder any day!

GreeBo wrote: »

My advice, play a few rounds where you try to have a nett par on every hole. (obviously you can score better but it should be because you hole a chip or a putt or something, not because you go for it and it pays off )
After 3 rounds of this try to determine why you are not playing to your handicap. Its usually going to be that the holes you dont have shots on you are not parring. Typically this is a shortgame issue, so this is where you need to spend your practice time.
If you improve this you increase the chances or parring the no-shot holes and also the holes you do have shots on...bingo you just played to a lower handicap.
Course management is a logical thing imho, plan your round for each hole. It may not work out on every hole but then dont try to make up for it on the next one.

Thanks for this and I'll certainly take a look. The main issue I've been having has been with my irons...taking them back too flat and hooking the bejaysus out of them (trying to hit them too hard). Went to the driving range twice last week with only a 7 iron and a 5 iron and went back to a lesson I had from Hazel in The Spawell years ago (thanks Hazel where ever you are now!). I was dropping my head down and collapsing my knees. Glad to report I had a good round at the weekend....38 points with 8 GIRs. My putting is usually pretty good but I had 2 3 putts this weekend but I think that's down to hitting more greens meaning my first putts were longer than if I had missed the green and chipped on.


The only other thing I'd add for the OP is that having said all of that, if you are playing steady and only say reaching 82 or 83 then if breaking 80 is your priority (rather than getting your handicap down to say 10 or 11) then prehaps you need to be more aggressive? As I said, if shooting an 80 is the same as shooting an 87 for you (ie you still didn't break 80) then should you take on more shots...especially over the back 9?

Loire

golfnut1 wrote: »

Best thread I've read in a long time.
Re playing for bogey/par. I would always play for par but if the tee shot doesn't. Leave you inside your comfort zone then its damage control time. Walk off happy with bogey.
Tips. Outside 150 middle of the green. 150 to 100 halfway between pin and fat side of the green. Inside 100 dead aim.
Also if you can shape your shots choose the right shape. If its a left pin aim middle/right with a draw and vise versa. Lastly know what distance you hit each club especially your scoring clubs and that means distance with half, 3/4 and full for a fade and a draw. Any one club should have 6 comfortable yardages.

This is the difference between a 12 handicapper and a single digit golfer IMO. Outside 150 I'll only get on the green the odd time. Between 100 and 150 I'll aim for the middle and inside 100 I'll aim at the halfway between the pin and fat side of the green.

As I said earlier I had for me a very good round at the weekend but I was playing with 2 single figure golfers who played averagely (for them). When I hit the green they usually did too but were much closer than I was. More practice....

Thanks though...any other tips keep 'em coming

(Apologies OP if this is hijacking your thread but the tips should hopefully help you break 80 also).

Loire.

GreeBo

Loire wrote: »

As I said, if shooting an 80 is the same as shooting an 87 for you (ie you still didn't break 80)

Good question. FdP, which are you trying to do, break 80 once or consistently?
IMO your approach to the game is different depending on the answer to that question!

FixdePitchmark

GreeBo wrote: »

Good question. FdP, which are you trying to do, break 80 once or consistently?
IMO your approach to the game is different depending on the answer to that question!

Short term goal , Break 80 at least once. By the 1st October.
Long term goal , Break 80 50 % of the time. (12 to 18 mths)

I would be happy to just break it once by the 1st of October. That would be the end of the thread here. I would hope to do it by the British Open if things go well, and will not break it at all by the 1st October if things go bad.

I'm a bit picky what course I would like to do it on. But not at that stage now. It will have to be a "Real Course".

In next month (end Feb) want to get back to sub 85 after the few changes I've made.

mikeunt

FixdePitchmark wrote: »

I would hope to do it by the British Open if things go well

Did you get a wildcard pick or what?
Do you reckon that if you can break 80 by then you will be ready to take on a British Open challenge
i love people with ambition like this
fair play to you sir

FixdePitchmark

mikeunt wrote: »

Did you get a wildcard pick or what?
Do you reckon that if you can break 80 by then you will be ready to take on a British Open challenge
i love people with ambition like this
fair play to you sir

I've a couple of years on Clarke (Mike) and can drink like him.

foxyboxer

Played a casual round last summer and was drifting along nicely.
Short game was in good order and was +1 gross standing on the 10th tee. A par 5. Happy Days!

Hit a solid tee shot and planned to hit a 7 iron lay up. Like you do. Did a Dustin Johnson on it, blocking it right and OB. Completely lost the rhythm (and TEMPER!!!) and instead of taking a measured look at things and doing no worse than a bogey, I duly bogeyed ALL the remaining holes for a +10 total.

So moral of the story is, don't let one bad shot in a round throw you off either!

FixdePitchmark

Who would have dreamt that Corballis number 3 would become the datum of my golf quest. Corballis in the end, won’t be a course that I can use to break 80. It is not a full golf course and has two many par 3s. But a great practice round and it makes you keep the ball in play.

Loved the golf philosophy debate, how to play lower indexed holes. Don’t want to add fuel to the fire, but from my own perspective , I’ve found that when playing well, I had a considerable advantage on lower indexed holes, as on some courses they tend to relate to length , I hit the ball long (when straight). A bit of a paradox there.

I decided after work on Friday to head to Corballis to practice, there was only 2 hours of light when I got there, so between shots I did a little run (a very slow little run). I got to play 12 holes. I was playing a few practice putts with the odd extra practice shot.

It is a bit crazy to jump out of a car and hit a 9 iron cold, with only a slight stretch. But it went to 15ft, it is amazing how the density of air changes with the season and takes a club off the flight, in the summer that ball would be on the 2nd fairway. Two puts and a par, with the great “Mikenut” mantra on my mind “Par Every Hole”, I was laughing to myself.

2nd hole hit a 9 iron to the hill, a little short, bad strike, (make mental note 8 Iron next time). This left a 7 iron in, this is a much bigger club than I have ever hit here, bang 10 feet. It is amazing how the cold weather and still sea seem so stunning , more stunning when you hit a 7 iron like that. The green was stunning and the additional rain has made them a bit more receptive and less bouncy, the ball was only 3 feet from the pitch mark. It made me look in a congratulatory way at the conditions of the greens, after the vandalism they had suffered. Fantastic achievement, they were a little slow, but in recovery condition, hurt, but healing.

Standing on the 3rd I went for a driver and hit a great one. A slight fade, I was actually getting nervous, if you get past the first 3 level par there, you are flying. I was a 5 Iron out, slight pull into green side bunker, out well, but a two put, bogey 5.

Over the last few weeks I noticed that birdies had gone from my round, I think I’ll need 2 or 3 birdies a round to break 80. For this reason I’ve change my putting grip just to shake it up. It is nice I’m even looking at putting now was stuck with driver problem for over 2 months now, driver not solved, but a route to an answer is there now.

On hole 4, I hit a 52 deg to 9 ft, and at last got back on the birdie track. A few of the par 3s in Corballis are very small, but I needed to get the monkey off the back.

On my downswing I’m working from the inside and this is new, it seems to work, great strike and new ball flight, tends to pull when wrong. But when right nice feeling, ball going higher than before, this is counterintuitive, don’t know why. But great to have made the change myself. No lesson yet, have held off.

Standing on 5 I was level, long time since I was level or under on a golf course, I decided to hit a 4 iron, a 3 wood or a driver is a high risk shot here. I don’t know if it was the head , but the 4 iron was pulled. Into high rough, lucky to find it , then miss hit and ended 7. I was 4 over for the remaining 7 holes , ending at the 12th 6 over.

All in all this was a great day, it was a good days work. The sun was gone and darkness descended over the links, only me remaining, I hit a few putts and chips on the 13th green under a crescent moonlight. It is a stunning view, a kite was flying on the beach and the sea was still. I had many flashbacks from my childhood and the summer evenings at that very spot. I never imagined I’d be standing there at the end of January twenty years on. The same dreams the same goal.