Minimizing Mistakes

[dyepb_16]

Anybody got anything special they do? Personally I'm not a bad golfer, but im not great, and I generally have one or 2 holes that seriously screw up a round for me where i take at least a 5 or 6. Other than those couple holes I play pretty solid. Anybody else have this problem? Or have any tips if they get into serious trouble pretty early on a hole?

 

[GripEnemy]

Accept the lost stroke, throw your recovery shot to an easy landing zone, and hole out.

Take the stroke loss.

Walk away.


Don't go big/go home early on...that's for when you're down three strokes with two holes left in the tourny.

 

[rickztahone]

I must agree with Grip. I found myself in one of those holes yesterday and a fellow DG'er said "no guts, no glory, right?", I proceeded to miss both shots that I "went for". I should of just laid up and holed out....

Play smart, play safe when you have to and have fun while doing it.

 

[tu-f-o]

Accept the lost stroke, throw your recovery shot to an easy landing zone, and hole out.

Take the stroke loss.

Walk away.


Don't go big/go home early on...that's for when you're down three strokes with two holes left in the tourny.

Good advice...now buy my JLS. :clap:

This usually happens to me on longer holes. I usually have a bad drive and end up somewhere difficult. So for me, I have to learn to be conservative and less greedy on my drive to land in a smarter/easier 2nd shot spot.

 

[Brodysseus]

^Those three* nailed it on the head. Playing safe is playing smart. And playing smart leads to scoring well.

Know your game, the limit of your abilities, and your comfort zone. On the holes where you have the big numbers, there is nothing wrong with playing for a four. Take the conservative route for three on holes where going for the deuce and missing has a good chance of getting you in trouble. Lay up on putts that you aren't comfortable running at. Set yourself up in positions on the hole that allow you to utilize your strongest shots. And be conscious of holes where it is easy to land in spots where you have to turn to the weak part of your game.

Just use good course management in general and don't be afraid to take an extra stroke in places where going for it can lead to losing even more strokes. And, trust me, if you play smart there are still plenty of birdie opportunities and since you conserved strokes on dangerous holes, those birdies are even more meaningful.

 

[Darth Anovin]

In addition to the previous outstanding answers, learn to let go of your bad shots. I don't know how many times in the past I've let a bad shot mentally affect my next shot, my next hole, or even the rest of the round. Gotta shake it off!

 

[GripEnemy]

Good advice...now buy my JLS. :clap:

It's still for sale? Who'd have thought:|:\

In addition to the previous outstanding answers, learn to let go of your bad shots. I don't know how many times in the past I've let a bad shot mentally affect my next shot, my next hole, or even the rest of the round. Gotta shake it off!

+1


OP, what type of holes and what distances are you having said issues with?

: pop corn :

>cantdoanothersmiley.jpg

 

[Darth Anovin]

Hey Brodysseus, nice profile pic!

 

[Horsman]

I use to have this problem last year and this year I fixed it pretty good.

I used to throw everything on a hyzer and let the disc do all the work for me. It really didnt do me good when there were tunnel shots in front of me. I found myself trying to flex and flip my way through tight hallways.

This year I transisitioned my throws from always hyzer to a flat release. My tunnel shot game has improved greatly.

Also discing down early on helps a lot as well.

I also dont think about the early trees anymore. I just think about the shot in front of me and the line I need to hit down the fairway. More or less I am just focused down the fairway and not on the first tree.

 

[5QU166Y]

I typically have very few bogeys (and few birdies, but that's a story for another day), and I feel like I can accomplish that by only considering the current shot. I don't try to "make up strokes", because in my experience, that kind of play typically adds strokes to my score. I just try to play the smart shot every time.

 

[bnbanbury]

Something Climo said and echoed by Mcbeth: when you step up to your lie or the tee look at all the options and assign each an honest percentage chance of hitting the line. If you make this part of your process for every shot it helps to keep you from compounding mistakes and encourages you to evaluate every shot as its own individual entity.

 

[wake911]

Most mistakes have to do with confidence in the shot you are throwing. If you have 99% confidence in a specific shot, chances are you will throw a good shot. If you are at all iffy on the shot, you have increased your risk of a mistake. Practice the shots you are going to have, gain confidence in them, then when you get to the course, they will work and your mistakes will be minimized.

Now once you've made a mistake, then all the info above applies completely. Letting bad shots leave you is the key. In my tourney last weekend I failed this. I threw a good drive on a hole, but had a tough lie. Went to throw a FH roller to save an easy 3....somehow threw 5' left of my target (a post 10' in front of me..wow) and hit a downed log. Took a 4. Proceeded to go 4-5-4 on the next 3 holes which are all easy 3 holes.

I recovered after that with a nice run of holes to end my round, but just those 4 holes of (4-4-5-4) kept me out of the money for the day, and kept me from my highest rated round ever (should have had my first 1000)

It taught me a good lesson though. I really do need to let ALL bad shots go. Play a smart recovery shot, and focus on the good shots I've had to keep my confidence up. Also, after a bad shot, i need to try to focus on a confidence building shot on the next hole if possible, one I've very comfortable with, to regain composure.

 

[dyepb_16]

It's still for sale? Who'd have thought:|:\



+1


OP, what type of holes and what distances are you having said issues with?

: pop corn :

>cantdoanothersmiley.jpg

There's really no specific hole type or distance that give me trouble. The weakest part of my game is on the short "easy" holes that should be automatic deuces and won't get any of them when there are usually about 3 or 4 per course. I still generally shoot fine because I can make up the strokes on the harder holes that a lot of people 4 or 5 because I can 3 them. But on any given random hole I'll have an errant drive that puts me in a difficult spot where It's hard to get out in any direction. That then usually gets in my head for that hole because I feel I need to try and make up for that mistake. I often look for the safe way out but tend to try and make up for that mistake on an easy shot and screw myself.

 

[Script]

To expand though, you can't always "play safe". If I played an entire safe round I would have some of my worst rounds. I really equate minimizing mistakes to analyzing your ability to execute the shot in front of you. Also, know what your consequences will be if you miss.

Let's say you're in the woods and have a shot that is a 5% chance of executing. The ability yo get up and in if you miss the shot is 95%. I take that risk every time.

Let's say you're in the woods and have a shot that is a 40% chance of executing. The ability yo get up and in if you miss the shot is 20%. I'm pitching out and swallowing the stroke instead of making double or worse.

Know your game and be confident in each decision you make on the course.

 

[GLong]

what 'kind' of mistakes are you referring? i think that most mistakes can be eliminated by staying focused in the moment. and that is helped by playing one shot at a time, forgetting about the good and bad shots from earlier in the round, and not thinking about what is ahead of you. and save your focus in between throws. think about anything but golf.

 

[dyepb_16]

It always starts with an errant drive that finds thick woods usually then I feel like I'm play catch up for the rest of the hole

 

[DiscJunkie]

To echo previous posts, every shot is a percentage shot.
Only "go for it" if it still leaves you a chance for Up and Down.
Always avoid early trees and early trouble.

Next, sometimes playing for Par will net a lower average score than getting the occasional Birdie.
If you play every hole for a Birdie and feel you have to Birdie every hole, then you are more likely to get more Bogeys as well.
Sometimes you have to play to your level. Just because every one else parked the 400' hole, or cut that tight line, doesn't mean that it is a good idea for you.

Last, staying out of trouble is a better decision that figuring out how to get of trouble!!!!!!

 

[Cradical]

Must be a Saint Paul thing, I do that all the time. Turn a look at two into a tricky 5 save. In terms of staying out of trouble, I find that it's nearly impossible to do so. The question is how do you go about getting out of trouble. Playing catch up the rest of the hole is not going to help you as it just puts more pressure on that shot which usually leads to throwing another bad shot.

 

[JC17393]

It always starts with an errant drive that finds thick woods usually then I feel like I'm play catch up for the rest of the hole

There in lies your problem. The notion that you must "catch up" is what gets you into more trouble. It leads to going for the direct route even if it's tight and thick and very difficult to hit. It leads to aggressively running putts that have a low percentage chance of going in, resulting in long(er) comebackers.

It's a difficult urge to overcome, the thought of absolutely having to get the birdie or save par from an impossible situation. But being able to recognize the urge and to suppress or ignore it when the percentages are against you is a key thing to overall improvement as a golfer.

I think, in general, birdies can't be forced. They just come as the result of good play. You play the highest percentage shot you can on each throw and take what it gives you (and what is high percentage can greatly differ from one player to the next). You don't increase your frequency of birdies by being more aggressive, you increase it by improving your skills so that there are more high percentage options at your disposal.

 

[HyzerUniBomber]

In backcountry skiing there's a scale for avalanche danger that's called the Avalanche Terrain Exposure Scale that looks something like this:
Simple, Challenging, Complex Hazards

Simple: you can easily and completely avoid hazards.
Challenging: you are more exposed to hazards and there are less routes for you to choose from but you're dealing with just one hazard.
Complex: Dealing with multiple hazards and very likely there's no route that doesn't expose you to at least one hazard.

Now you incorporate your shot skill to the equation and here's where honesty in your game comes into play - if your forehand sucks like mine does, it's not going to magically NOT SUCK.

Solid or Not? Can you make this shot 80% of the time? If you can, consider it solid. Everybody will make mistakes, but you can't go playing layup shots on 20' putts because you won't make it every single time. Now if throwing a backhand anhyzers 300' around a tree and over a water hazard isn't going to work 8 out of 10 times, then take that into consideration because you are in challenging or complex terrain. Perhaps you can layup a flat backhand 275' and save yourself OB strokes, lost discs and frustration. If you're in simple terrain and you're feeling like the 300' anyhzer isn't 80% solid, but the risk is very low - you can go for it. After all, pushing yourself is how you improve.

There's a huge human element to situations where you watch 3 or 4 guys throw a line you are not sure about and you're in the teebox. Ultimately though, you're not playing their game. You're playing your game and you want to stay IN your game.

So what to do when you have a challenging or complex terrain - and there's not a shot you're comfortable with to par the hole? Risk vs. Reward: What's the risk of throwing a 50/50 shot? If you're taking an OB stroke, then ask yourself if you can get further with 2 short throws than you can with one long shot that goes OB? Can you throw 150' and then throw your 2nd shot another 200' gaining you 350' versus a shot that goes OB after 200-250'? You play that shot safe and gain distance and you have higher confidence.

What if it's a 50/50 shot, but there's no OB and a tree that you might hit? Well if the tree's 200' out - hitting it only really poses the risk of getting stuck in the tree - why not give it a shot? Laying up to get around the tree doesn't really gain you too much and you may be able to drive double that distance. Obviously this is a hypothetical and trees can be a huge risk if you're on the wrong side of them, but I think you get my point.

So, is the terrain Simple, Challenging or Complex? Am I solid on this shot or not? In Challenging and Complex terrain stick with solid shots.