The good round of golf I have been threatening to do has finally happened. I managed 76 on Sunday at Theale which I was very happy with. Someone came in with 42 points and so beat me in the Stableford Rollup but I’m not too bothered about that! Here are the stats from the day:
Fairways : 54%
Greens in reg : 28%
Putts : 28
Stroke : 76
Stableford : 40
The funny thing is, compared to how well I have been driving and striking the ball with my irons – today I felt I was swinging pretty badly. The difference was how I approached the game mentally and my course management, plus I had the short game to back up the decisions I made.
I can’t remember whether this is something that was mentioned in the Trained Brain seminar or if it is something I’ve invented myself so I’m not going to claim it as my own! :-) When I was evaluating what shot to play, I would make a £50 bet with myself as to whether I could pull it off or not. This meant I hit the shot that I was most confident in getting the result the club could give. Here are a couple of examples:
1, The second at Theale is a 180 yard par 3 with hazards running all the way down the left and right, and now water at the back. Also just before the green, and the first part of the green is a downslope so if your ball hits there you know you are going to shoot straight through and risk going in the water at the back. I estimate that last year I probably managed to get the ball on the green in regulation twice! With the hole quite often costing me a 5 because I’ve put it into one of the hazards.
So standing on the tee I thought to myself I could hit my 5 iron this distance to the green, but would I bet £50 on myself being able to get the ball on the green. Based on what I reckon from last year that is a definite no – so I didn’t want to do that shot.
Could I hit my 7 iron 150 yards and land it just in front of the green (with a good chance of making a 3 with a chip and putt) – I’d certainly bet £50 on myself being able to do that, so that is the shot I hit and it finished exactly where I thought it would. I was an imaginary £50 up! :-) What was even better – I chipped in for a birdie!!!!!! I did the same process with the chip – would I bet £50 on a shot with my PW or 60 degree. I took the 60 degree as I had to get over a bit of rough and the corner of a bunker and it landed exactly where I envisioned it and rolled out into the hole :-)
2, I put my 6 iron over the green on the 13th and really short sided myself. I had about 10 yards to the green, and about a further 3 yards of green to the flag. I had quite a tight lie although a flop type shot was possible. The downside of taking such a big swing at the ball would be catching it thin and seeing it shoot over the green. I wasn’t willing to bet £50 I’d be able to pull off a flop shot and land the ball within 6 feet. The other shot was to play a chip/punch type shot with my 60 degree wedge. The chance of getting a good result with this type of shot was much better and so I was happy to bet myself £50 I could get within the area I wanted. I picked a landing spot for the ball, focussed on that and executed a good shot. Then rolled the 4 foot putt in for par.
I find this £50 game really helps my decision making. As was mentioned at the Trained Brain seminar people are always scared of playing the sensible shot. I don’t think there is anything wrong with laying up on a par 3, but it does take a strong mind to do it especially if your playing partners are taking longer clubs and having a strong swing at it.
I’m off to Cornwall next week for 4 days of 36 holes – can’t wait to put this process into practise then. If anybody else gives it a go or has any thoughts on the idea let me know!