Format: Stableford
Venue: [Home course]
Score: 29pts
Handicap mark: 3.7
Themes in reply: Taking responsibility; shots that have names
Hi Colin
Here are details of my round on Sunday.
Weather was good with a slight breeze and the course was firm and dry. It was a Stableford and I played with RS and TW.
1st – 5 iron to the fairway, good wedge to about 6 feet and 2 putts for a par 4 and 2 points.
Dear John,
It was kind of you to ring. Thank you.
Brilliant round description!
1st – What a start! For lots of obvious reasons, we have talked about the first hole a lot in our correspondence, and I am going to concentrate on it again because I think there is a potentially interesting combination of factors.
This time you have played it in text book style: tee shot on to the fairway, approach to 6’, and 2 putts for a 4.
First shot – An interesting choice of club off the tee hit on to the fairway to wedge distance. This must have been a good 5-iron and a fully vindicated decision to go with it.
Second shot – This must have been a perfectly hit wedge to end up 6’ from the hole.
So, the first two shots of the round are wholly successful. This can only have happened if your “timing” was near perfect. You would have been acutely aware of this given that you are “looking” for the rhythm all the time; plus you would have been a little relieved that the excesses of the previous day were not having the effect you were expecting. My guess is that, given your competitive nature, after these first two shots you would have been looking to start the round with a birdie.
You missed the birdie opportunity and that would have been disappointing. A putt missed from 6’ is likely to have been mis-timed. Six foot is close enough to say that a perfectly timed putt would have gone in. You would have been aware of the mis-timing, doubts about your putting will have surfaced again, disappointment in missing the chance would have been flowing freely, and you would have reconciled yourself to the par with thoughts such as: “it’s only the first hole”; “it’s nice to start off with a par”; “two of the shots were great” etc. And then you mis-time the drive off the next tee!
The drive is likely to be a result of the disappointment of the missed birdie, not because you are sulking about it but because you will naturally spend mental time and energy reconciling yourself to the disappointment of missing an opportunity and you will be fighting the resurgent worries about your putting. This subtle clouding of your thought processes early in the round will be enough to deprive you of the clarity of purpose you require to take on a demanding tee shot down the second.
So what happened between the good wedge and the missed putt? I’m confident that if you had found the rhythm of that wedge for the putt then it would have gone in and your drive off the second would have been long and straight.
2nd – Poor drive so far right it was on the 16th fairway! Good 6 wood to the side of the green and 2 putts for a 4 net 3 and 3 points.
3rd – Good 3 wood over the hill slightly right. The ball was on a downhill lie in the semi rough. It came out low and much further to the left and bounded up the hill against the fence to the left of the green. The ball had gone through the fence and it was out of bounds – 0 points.
4th – Hit a 3 iron left of the green and a poor chip which ran down the green. Hit the first putt too hard and left a tricky 5 foot putt down the hill and across the slope. Just missed it so a 5 and 0 points.
5th – We are still on the temp green here so it’s much shorter. Hit a good drive long and straight. Hit a wedge to keep the ball below the hole when putting. However, it was a bit shorter than I wanted, just in front of the green. Hit the first putt up the slope too hard and instead of the ball coming back down the slope behind the hole it stayed there. Just tapped the next put but it rolled about 5’ passed and I missed that one so a 6 and 1 point.
6th – Hit a very good 3 wood to the fairway but slightly pulled my second, putted up to about 4’ and missed for a 5 net 4 and 2 points
7th – Good wedge to about 8’ and 2 putts for 2 points.
8th – Quite a good drive just left of the fairway. A good 6 wood into the greenside bunker which was GUR (ground under repair) so I dropped it at the nearest point of relief which happened to be on the green. 2 putts for a birdie 4 and 3 points.
9th – Good long drive to within 50yds of the temporary green. Difficult chip over a slope which just ran through the green. 2 putts for a 4 and 2 points.
15 points going out. RS also had 15 and TW played well and had 18 points
10th – Really good drive to within 60 yards of the green. Caught my approach slightly heavy and it came up short of the green. I was trying to hit a knock down or ¾ wedge. 3 putted for a 5 and 1 point.
11th – 4 iron slightly left which kicked off the bank and ended up against the back lip of the bunker. Left with a virtually impossible bunker shot (standing outside the bunker) I did well to get it out to the top of the bank and the fringe of the green. Holed the curly putt from off the green for a par 3 and 2 points.
12th – Hit a good drive and a v good 3 wood to within 60 yards of the green. Again the approach was slightly heavy (it happens quite a bit there perhaps because the fairway is still fairly new) but on the front of the green. However, 3 putts for a 6 net 5 and 2 points.
13th – Good 3 wood followed by a 7 iron to the front of the green. 3 putts later and 1 point.
14th – Good 8 iron to the green and 2 putts for 2 points.
15th – V good 3 wood to the fairway but came off the 5 iron to leave it short and in the right rough. Chipped up to the green a bit long and 2 putts for a 5 net 4 and 2 points.
16th – Not a good 3 wood but followed it with a better one just short and right of the green. Difficult chip with the pin cut just behind it. Chipped a bit long and 2 putts for a 5 and 1 point.
17th – Very good long straight drive. Was looking to hit a 4 iron with a bit of draw but hit it left. Luckily it had a favourable bounce and ended up on the green – 2 putts for a birdie 4 and 3 points.
18th – Poor drive into the right hand side fairway bunker. Managed to get an 8 iron at it but it just failed to get over the waste ground. Hacked out and then chipped on but missed a difficult downhill putt for a 6 and 0 points.
So 14 points coming back, making a total of 29 which was very poor given the favourable conditions. My driving and 3 woods off the tee were mainly good but my irons, chipping and putting were not up to the usual standard. I make it 37 putts which is about 10 too many. I did have a bit of a session on the Sat at a wedding so I’m going to put it down to that!
Just for the record, RS was poor and finished with 26 points and TW had 20 points coming back and won the comp with 38 in total.
Tomorrow (Thursday) I am playing in a Seniors get together at Radyr; and on Sat/Sun there is a 36 hole medal so I’ll let you know how it goes. Perhaps we can get together the following weekend (15th)?
Regards,
John
2nd – Fantastic recovery with the 6-wood.
3rd – The second shot is of interest from a “course management” point of view. You hit a nice 3-wood off the tee and then found that the ball was lying poorly: downhill in semi-rough. Your shot went out of bounds. It is worth thinking about your choice of club and shot for the next time you find yourself in a similar situation. It may be that the choice was ok but the execution was poor; but it is worth re-considering.
4th – The “tricky 5’ putt down the hill and across the slope” is interesting because you “just missed it”. Those shots are extremely difficult and require perfect “timing” to even get close.
5th – A good drive following the good putt on the last green and then some crappiness on a temporary green.
6th to 9th – Generally good play for 9pts for 4 holes.
You scored 15 points with 2 blobs (3rd and 4th). You missed 4 putts from inside 8’ (1st, 5th, 6th and 7th). If you had one less blob and made 50% of the putts you would have scored 19pts.
10th – I quote: “Caught my approach slightly heavy and it came up short of the green. I was trying to hit a knock-down wedge or ¾ wedge.” Please forgive me but just what is a “knock-down wedge”? I won’t go over again the danger to your subconscious processes of consciously choosing your shots from your back catalogue of “named” shots (I think the last one was a: “low-ish 7-iron” into the 18th green) that you have stored from listening to too many know-alls and reading too many magazines. There is no such thing as a “knock-down wedge” or any other kind of wedge. You had 60yds to the pin; there were a set of conditions to be aware of. You “feel” the 60yds; you don’t give it a bloody name! Based on your visualisation of the shot you choose the club and play the shot. THEN you can call it something, if you absolutely have to! The 3 putts were a virtual inevitability.
11th – Fantastic. You are brilliant at recovering from poor holes.
12th – This hole started with two belting shots and finished with 4 poor ones. The run of poor ones started with a poor pitch, for which you make an excuse. (Sorry, but there really is no reason on God’s earth why a new fairway would have any effect. Mo Norman could chip off concrete!). My concern is that your last pitch (at the 10th) was poor and it was described by you as a “knock-down wedge”. Then, at your next attempt at a pitch you hit another poor shot and this was after just having hit two very good ones. The sequence of events suggests that instead of simply playing the pitch with the rhythm of the preceding shots, you were looking to play a certain type of pitch. In doing so, not only do you play a poorer shot than you would wish (for the reasons mentioned above) but you also disturb the passing of the rhythm from one shot to the next. Your putting is then put under more pressure because the rhythm you need is NOT the last one you used, if you see what I mean.
13th – I don’t know how far you were away from the hole but 3 putts can usually be put down as a failure.
14th – Excellent.
15th – Good
16th – Good
17th – Very good.
18th – Shame!
So, 14pts with a blob on the 18th (which is very unusual for you). Two poor pitches and 3 x 3-putts tell its own story. As I have told you a million times already there is absolutely nothing wrong with your chipping and putting; you just have to be more careful to be free of all your pre-conceived ideas and to really commit to the idea that your superb natural rhythm and timing will get the ball to do exactly what you want it to do. Other than that you actually played well, striking the ball straight and long and making lots of good decisions.
Regards,
Colin
