98 at Hunting Hawk
Well, that happened.
Shot 98 today. I wasn’t expected to shoot great, but I was hoping to play better or the same, not worse.
It didn’t help that it took over 4.5 hours to finish the round, nor that I hadn’t played a round in almost a month (29 days), nor that I hadn’t picked up a golf club in that span.
Let’s dig into what happened.
What I focused on
There were three things that I was focusing on:
- Getting the ball in the fairway off the tee
- Visualizing ball flight instead of swing thoughts
- If you don’t feel 100% confident about the shot, stop, think, and possibly play more conservatively.
Getting the ball in the fairway off the tee
After doing a lot of research I decided I was going to experiment with not taking my driver. I also threw out my 4 and 5 irons because those are my two least favorite clubs in my bag.
No driver? Are you crazy?
Well, yes, partially. As I mentioned in Hit more fairways, a driver doesn’t do you much good if it ends up in a hazard or with a club that you don’t like to hit. When I studied Hunting Hawk’s layout I noticed that it wasn’t a particularly long course and that it makes up for lack of length with oddly placed bunkers. Thus, I decided to remove the temptation entirely and focus on good striking with two clubs that I really enjoy hitting, my hybrid and my 3 wood.
While I would lose 20-30 yards off the tee, I wasn’t aiming to shoot par - I could easily play bogey golf after a 230 yard drive instead of 250.
Visualizing ball flight
Being cooped up inside for work and family, I don’t have a ton of time to practice my golf game. It having been a month since my last round I decided that I wasn’t going to let swing thoughts plague every swing that I took. Instead of trying to cram a ton of information in my brain, I would simply imagine how the ball would fly, latch onto that image, and then execute the swing to send the ball off the club.
Confidence, conservatism
Golf is a mental game, and my mental game is weak. There are many aspects of my game that need improving which led me to make decisions like taking my long irons and driver out of my bag.
I decided that I wasn’t going to hit a golf shot that I wasn’t 100% confident in. If I needed to layup in order to execute a shot, I was going to do it. I would sacrifice distance for consistency.
Score assessment
Why did I shoot 98?
Breaking down my round by strokes to par by hole count looks like this:
| Strokes to Par | Count |
|---|---|
| 0 | 4 |
| 1 | 5 |
| 2 | 7 |
| 3 | 1 |
| 4 | 1 |
Let’s get the outliers out of the way first
- Triple bogey: hole 9, par 5.
- Hybrid off the tee went short and left
- Second shot with 7 iron hit some leaves and lost probably 20% of its distance
- Decided to go for the green from 180 yards out carrying water instead of laying up. I didn’t close the face on that third shot over water which went OB into woods on the right (cleared the water though!), had to take a penalty
- Got on the back of the green after the penalty, three putted.
- Quadruple bogey: hole 14, par 4
- Sent my first two tee shots OB with my hybrid (was worked up a little, should have calmed down before hitting)
- Third hybrid shot was perfect but I was hitting 6
- Got on the green and two putted
On top of those two horrible holes I had WAY too many double bogeys. Some interesting notes about those holes:
- I only three putted three times today, and one of those was on the triple bogey
- On those double bogeys I didn’t hit a single green in regulation
I think I had so many bogeys cause I was playing the course way longer than it should have been played. Being conservative wasn’t a bad thing, but I was laying up too much because my tee shot was putting me so far back.
There were quite a few par 4s that I was playing as a par 5, which isn’t a bad thing except my short game was horrendous. I mean, it was awful.
I predominantly use a 58 degree wedge for anything within 50 yards and around the green. I hit that wedge so thin today that I probably flew at least four greens where I was less than 20 yards to the pin. I wouldn’t hit down on the ball enough, and the club would come in too lofted so the leading edge would skull the middle of the golf ball.
Past rounds
My last few rounds:
- 98, 18 holes, +26 to par, 5-2-2020
- 46, 9 holes, +9 to par, 4-3-2020
- 96, 18 holes, +26 to par, 3-27-2020
- 95, 18 holes, +23 to par, 3-21-2020
As mentioned above, I had not swung a golf club between 5-2 and 4-3, which certainly impacted my ball striking and consistency.
What I learned
I had two big take-aways from this round:
- If I was more confident with my driver and 3 wood, I wouldn’t have to lay up as much as I did today.
- Regardless, my short-game needs a lot of practice.
Did length off the tee play a part in your bad score?
Yes, but not as much as you would think. I had three holes that I can directly attribute an extra stroke to a short drive, and three others bad play around the green. I think my short game was just as bad as my long game.
How well did you hit fairways
I missed five fairways! That isn’t bad, considering when I played 9 a month before I missed three.
What about putting?
My putting was pretty good. 40 putts over 18 holes, or 2.22 putts a hole. I did not have a single 1 putt, so I earned that 2.22 putts/hole.
What killed me is how close to the pin I was or wasn’t. My short game was so bad that I could hardly ever give myself a chance to sink a putt.
Did visualizing ball flight help? Hurt?
It felt like it helped, but the stats from the round don’t really justify that. I definitely started off the round way stronger than I usually do. My ball flight was solid, my confidence was high, and I felt loose. This is definitely something I am going to keep up.
Confidence and conservatism
Stopping, breathing, confirming to myself that I was about to take the perfect shot, all of it did seem to help in the moment. Looking at the scorecard I would argue it didn’t help much, but it did feel every time I stepped up to the ball that I was playing better. At least, I was in a better headspace.
The perfect example is the quadruple bogey on 14. I wasn’t playing well up to this point, I was a little flushed and swung before calming down. After that went OB, I did the exact same thing again (flustered, swing, OB).
At this point I was hitting 5 from the tee box and I didn’t have a ball in my pocket to play. My dad threw me a ball, and instead of throwing it down and hacking at the ball I went through my motions: I teed up the ball, stood behind it, visualized the ball flight, took a deep breath, and then calmly made the perfect strike. The ball sailed off the club head exactly where I wanted it to be in the left middle of the fairway.
I then took an extra club from the fairway (playing conservatively) so I knew I could easily reach the green, and ended up putting the ball 15 feet from the pin. A strong putt and a tap in helped me walk away with an 8 after a disastrous first two strokes.
That hole (quadruple bogey on 14) could have ruined my round, but in a way it ended up defining it. I played like garbage and yet took (almost) every shot seriously, confidently, and optimistically. I haven’t considered myself a mentally strong golf player, however today I sort of feel like I beat the course. It tried to make me quit, I decided I wouldn’t and I didn’t.
Now it’s time to drop those scores down. Probably should hit the range next before the course.