Course Management - Need advice!

Been having some problems with my game, hope someone can help me out.

I've always been pretty comfortable playing of the blue tees, but in recent months i've been playing off the whites to accompany my flight mates. On top of this, the courses where i've been playing are all rather short (usually around 350y par 4s).

So the problem i have now is that with my average drive from the tee box, i'm usually left with less than 100y to the pin. The weakest part of my game is the 30-100y pitch since i don't have any club i can use with a full swing. The shortest club i can do a full swing with is my 52* wedge for about 110y, and even then i'm not very confident with it. I really dislike having to do half swing pitches, coz i will miss the green 50% of the time and even if i do get it on, it's nowhere near the pin. Because of this, my scores have been steadily increasing even though my driving and iron play has been quite consistent.

I've read articles saying that unless you expect your 2nd shot to require more than a 7i, that leaving the driver in the bag is a better option. At the same time, i feel that i should always use the driver if possible, for those occasions where i screw up and it's not on target, at least the green is still reachable with a slightly longer iron. Additionally, my 3W is not as consistent as my driver, partly due to the amount of time spent practising with it.

Question now is, am i better off teeing off with a 3W or should i just practise my pitching more?

Advice or comments are greatly appreciated!

Bro, I would practice pitching if I were you. I know what you mean with dreading shots less than 100 yrds, used to feel the same. Then I went to a pro that taught me a method that is easy to remember/repeat (more body release, less hands/wrist release, weight on left foot thruout, ball back for low shots, ball fwd for higher shots). I use one swing and 4 wedges (incl PW) instead of varying my back swing length or speed with one wedge. Now I cant say I'm good at it but at least I don't shy away from those shots anymore. Good Luck!

solarpop wrote:

Question now is, am i better off teeing off with a 3W or should i just practise my pitching more?

If I were you, I'd practice BOTH of them: teeing off with my 3 wood AND my short game inside 100 yards. It doesn't hurt your game, if anything it'll make you even more of a solid golfer... Just my 2-cents.

1. Buy more wedges.

2. Ask your fellow PP colleagues to man up and play from the blue with u

3. Tee off with your hybrid or 3/4/5 iron and leave urself >100yd 2nd shot.

4. Most impt, practice those shots. They are my bread and butter regardless them being 90yds, 80yds, 70yds.

try teeing off with a 5 wood or 2 -3 Hybrid if u hv problems with 3 wood. 5 wood with higher loft will be more forgiving if your problem with ur 3 wood is due to clubface not square.

I always prefer a full swing for my approach shot bcos its easier n the risk using driver is so high esp in holes with OB n hazards.

in the long term, u still need to be comfortable with your sub-100 yards shot.

i hv not seen your sub-100 yards swing to be able to comment your likely fault.

I always use a clock method to control short pitches. 10 oclock with 56 deg wedge will be 45-50m.

suggest u can just book 1-2 x 1 hour seesion to let the
PRO help you to improve your short game. just focus on your short game.

its good that your weak area is only in 1 part of the game.

i hv seen a lot of golfers hv weakness in every dept of their game!

I would recommend learning a solid pitching technique. From 100 metres in the game is most important.

For me, its start with the mind and attitude.

If I learn to like the shots or distance which I used to dislike, then I will get better. (WAH!!!!! so profound...I nearly fell off my chair...hahahaha)

Picked up fm a golf mind guru by the name of Dr.Nutella (or something) who said something similar

I agree with practicing with solid pitching. This one will definitely help you lower your scores even when you get back to blue tee....

Thanks for all the replies.. much appreciated.

Looks like the common answer is the one i've been dreading. The only problem is i don't get to practise as much as i used to, and any time i get on the range i usually focus on maintaining my irons and driver. Hopefully when i start working on the pitching the rest doesn't suffer hahaha

Hi Solarpop,

I use to have the same problem Hated any shots below 100yds. Was forced by my khakis to pratice and practice. now 1/4 decent but much better than when I first started 1 yr ago.

No choice. have to practice.

your driver is over 250 yards!!!!! so long is not always good?

this is when a 60 wedge is useful. Full shot and watch the ball back spin.

I offer course management lesson @ the price of paying my green fee @ any course

PinkPanther wrote:

I offer course management lesson @ the price of paying my green fee @ any course

wanna play next fri morning, sembawang?

pinky: haha........... wait long!

solarpop: either u calculate the distance and then divide it by ur best shortest swing 'available'... den using a driver. If lets say the distance is 350 and ur driver is >250. ur iron give u min a 100yard. den maybe u shd consider not using driver? since it will give u more than 250, leaving u with 100yd or lesser.....

If 3wood is not hitting as ur desired, why not switch to iron instead? if a 3i can give u maybe 200... den u left another 150 yd w a bigger no. iron?

this is one way.....

or ....

the other way is still practising it.......... like what they say, long distance need not be good. it depend on how u play the game and how u direct the ball =)

eiji wrote:

PinkPanther wrote:

I offer course management lesson @ the price of paying my green fee @ any course

wanna play next fri morning, sembawang?

I do not like to play @ sembawang!

cristel wrote:

pinky: haha........... wait long!

=)

Many pple have found it to be very useful hor!

PinkPanther wrote:

eiji wrote:

PinkPanther wrote:

I offer course management lesson @ the price of paying my green fee @ any course

wanna play next fri morning, sembawang?

I do not like to play @ sembawang!

pink panther choosy ... -.-'' i tot u say any course!!!!

cos u end up teaching them how to tackle girls ma...!

cristel wrote:

cos u end up teaching them how to tackle girls ma...!

I always tackle the golf course first.

but they pick up ur girl tackling only! must be lar!!! terrible lar u...

see ur dp tells alot.... *tsk tsk*

Solarpop,

In my humble opinion, whichever course you play, whatever tees you play from, most important ting would be to assess the layout carefully.

1. Know your distance well with each club you have in the bag
2. Work your way from green to tee box instead of tee box to green meaning if its a 350m hole for Par 4, if your comfortable distance is 120m, then from the tee box after assessing the situation, use a club that will get you around 230m from tee box. Some strong hitter requires only no more than a hybrid, some will go with Driver. It depends.
3. WHen assessing your landing zones, avoid hazards, bunkers all the troubles and find the widest landing area possible.
4. take out your ego in order for you to do 1,2,3...

play MBGC with their new GPS system. Really helps to know how far the bunkers/water/stream/cart path are. Also can plan how far to lay up.

solarpop,

i think u just need to work on those 50-100yds pitch so that your all around game will be more sound....

if u think u hit the driver better, use the driver even if u are left with those 50-100yds approach....u just have to learn to adapt to those distances, u will become a more complete golfer

take example, your driver will fly past the bunker but not your 3w, should u use 5w then but left with abt 120yds when u can approach from, say 70yds with the driver

when i play SICC, i use the driver and find myself with those 50-70yds distance, cos 3w will find the hazards, so i went range to work on those distances....

now i dun dread those 50-100yds, i feel i have become a better player, cos there is no black hole in my distances anymore....

when u put in more practise time, u will see that those half wedges swing is more accurate than a full wedge swing....jmho

the end story... is to develop ur own strategy to tackle and direct the balls~

Actually, i already have 4 wedges: vokey 52, 56, 60 and the PW that comes with my iron set. Recently took the 60 out of the bag coz for some reason it doesn't work very well here. I realized on full shots (as compared to 3/4 swing) with the wedges, the ball just goes really high but same distance.

What am i doing wrong? Or am i not supposed to use a full swing on wedges in the first place?