This is my new dilemma. Merlin has given me crap about this on quite a few occasions, but it has really gotten beyond the point of being annoying now.

My typical round lately is has me scoring well on the par 3's, hitting my driver 270 yards consistently, and then struggling immensely on those long holes that turn into short holes by a great drive. Let me elaborate.

Today, on my practice course that has four holes where I can use my driver, I had three drives that were about 280 with a fourth that was 260 into the wind. The other five holes are par 3's. I scored +1 on the five par 3's. On the other four holes? I had an approach of 50 yards, an approach of 70 yards, an approach of 110 yards, and an approach of 120 yards. I bogeyed one of those holes and doubled the rest.

So what gives here? Should I start playing my tee shots to the 150 mark to give myself a resonable shot at par? The issue is that I hit my driver longer than anyone I know, and I'm consistently in the fairway. But I can't friggin' score after hitting a great drive. This is a phenomenon that has been happening since about the middle of the year last year. Anyone have any tips on how to get over this hump? How can a guy consistently turn 50 yard par 3's into doubles? It's driving me nuts.

not trying to be rude but YOU NEED LESSONS!

not gonna feed the troll above me


@Bryan K - I don't pretend to be good, but discovered over the last couple of rounds that I have a stock 50 yard SW pitch shot. My last round, I discovered (again, by using GPS) that I also pitch my LW with the same stroke about 25 yards. I don't believe in the philosphy of laying up to 120 yards to avoid the 'awkward' distances within 100 yards. they're only awkward because people probably don't practice those distances enough. I think that you probably should just commit more time to using a GPS during a slow round and hitting different pitch shots with your wedges into the green, maybe hit some 1/2 wedges, then write the distances down on a little notebook (or notepad app on your smartphone). Why penalize yourself for having distance off the tee? just my 2 cents.

-pitch and putt course, go play some rounds there if you have one around
-play the ball back in your stance, try a low trap chip shot for those short distances, bigger margin of error shot IMO
-30/40/50/60/70 yard type shots are among the harder shots in golf, don't forget that
-trying laying up to 150, why not. Part of the fun of golf is playing strategic golf IMO

Duke of Hazards wrote:

not gonna feed the troll above me @Bryan K - I don't pretend to be good, but discovered over the last couple of rounds that I have a stock 50 yard SW pitch shot. My last round, I discovered (again, by using GPS) that I also pitch my LW with the same stroke about 25 yards. I don't believe in the philosphy of laying up to 120 yards to avoid the 'awkward' distances within 100 yards. they're only awkward because people probably don't practice those distances enough. I think that you probably should just commit more time to using a GPS during a slow round and hitting different pitch shots with your wedges into the green, maybe hit some 1/2 wedges, then write the distances down on a little notebook (or notepad app on your smartphone). Why penalize yourself for having distance off the tee? just my 2 cents.

Perhaps a good point. Earlier this year, I was all over those short wedge shots. But now, it´s not necessarily that I´m not sure how much swing I need. It´s about the fact that when those shots really count, where I can go up and down for birdie, I miss. I hit fat. I hit thin. I push. I pull. We have a really great practice facility where I´ll be playing tonight. After my round, I think I´ll hit the pitching green for an hour or so and just work on these types of shots. I think that a side effect of doing so will hopefully put me in a position where I´m not so tense when I´m so close on my approaches. Just practice, practice, practice, right?

I´d still like to get some other people´s input, though.

legitimatebeef wrote:

-pitch and putt course, go play some rounds there if you have one around -play the ball back in your stance, try a low trap chip shot for those short distances, bigger margin of error shot IMO -30/40/50/60/70 yard type shots are among the harder shots in golf, don't forget that-trying laying up to 150, why not. Part of the fun of golf is playing strategic golf IMO

You´re probably right. I spent a lot of time working on them early in the year. I thought I had them down, and for a while I did. But I guess you can´t just rest on your laurels on any aspect of this game. I´m sure that once I get this aspect down again, my driver will take a trip down south for a couple of weeks again. Of course, the reason why this is so frustrating is because it has been the one big hole in my game for so long, and I have worked on it. But I guess if I saw improvement before, even if just for a little while, it wasn´t all for naught.

Bryan, when I am on the range, 90% of all my practice is 120 and in. I pick targets out there and pitch/ chip to them. On most driving ranges there is a close mowed area 20 or so yards in front of tee area. I'll try to pitch to the edge without going over. I like those 70-80 yarders. Ball back in my stance, hood club some and go. Lots of check on the green.

I always hit my drive as far as I can no matter how short the hole is. Pretty confident in my short game.

I've been at that spot a number of times... great game off of the tee but the short game goes out the window. Practice nothing but wedges 100 and in with a few buckets for a few weeks and it will improve quickly.

I spent wedge time on the range last night. It was just so weird, though, because everything clicked from my very first shot. Maybe I just need to make it so routine that stepping up to the ball on the course is exactly like stepping up to a ball on the range?

I spent some time in the practice bunker as well. This is my biggest peeve. The most horrible rule in all of golf is the one that states that I´m not allowed to ground my club in the bunker. It has nothing to do with testing the consistency of the sand. It´s all about depth perception to me. So I hit about 50 balls out of the bunker, and not one of them was bad. But I guarantee that the next time I end up in a bunker and need to go up and down for par, I´ll end up with a double.

I think you should just work on on your short shots over and over an over and over again. If i was a big hitter like you i would not want to dial it back to hit it from 150 when i can hit it from 100. If you can hit the driver that good you can hit the short irons that good. It seems mental maybe. I remember you talking about this for a while now where you blast it then double from 100yrds or less. I get so frustrated when i bomb one then dont hit the green from 70 yards so i cant imagine how you feel if this is happenening on a regular basis. range short irons range lots of balls.

Bryan K wrote:

So I hit about 50 balls out of the bunker, and not one of them was bad. But I guarantee that the next time I end up in a bunker and need to go up and down for par, I´ll end up with a double.

To me that right there speaks of a big problem--self-doubt. What's the point of deciding that a shot is going to be bad before you've even set foot on the course? Especially when your rational mind seems to know you are capable of the good shot. Sounds to me like you need to work on your objectives. When you stand over a shot you need a clear mind and a simple objective, not a negative expectation. It doesn't really matter what your handicap is or what not, if you've hit a certain shot before you can hit it again. Self-doubt is rampant out there. People say some funny things. Like you might say "nice shot" and they'll hit back with "Yeah, I'm sure I'll screw up the next one though." Very typical remark IMO. Not me, I have selective memory and usually ridiculously confident over most shots, it seems to work okay. That said I suppose one cannot reasonably have a clear mind and objective without reliable technique.

This has been a productive thread for me. So thank you to everyone who has responded.

Since I began this thread, I've had three range sessions. One of them was working with strictly wedges. I didn't even bring anything else out. I hit about 50 from the bunker (all perfect) and about 50 just trying to get a feel for my distances with my lob wedge (I hit a couple fat and a couple thin, but the rest were pretty good).

My other two range sessions were working strictly with my irons. I took my Tour Striker out and hit about 50 balls with it. It didn't go very well at all, to be honest. But then I brought out my seven iron the next day, and it went better. I'd say I hit about half of them just fat enough or thin enough to mess with the shot (remember, I play blades). I wasn't feeling very confident when I stepped on the course today.

First of all, I played nine last night after my range session, and it was fairly interesting. All of my drives were just awesome, and I played pretty decently with my wedges. The downfall was my longer approaches. One of them was pushed well to the right of the green from about 120 out to an evil lie with a horrible short green to work with. Result: double. The other was even worse. My lie was so horrible after missing my approach, I had to take a shot just to get it somewhere reasonable. I was standing with my feet in the water hitting off of the hard, wet mud of a bunder that rolls slowly into the water hazard. And I failed. So I had to take another shot to get it to somewhere reasonable. I was standing in the bunker with the ball waist high. Failure again. What a mess. Result was a quad.

But today went pretty well. I mentioned that my time on the range with my irons didn't go tht well, but once I hit the course, it was absolutely awesome. On the front nine, I blew up the two hard holes because...well...I was just hitting my driver too long. I ended up with a total of five greens in regulation, and I missed four simpkly because I took too much club (the wind was a swirling mess).

My ESC adjustment was 89, which I am content with....for now.

legitimatebeef wrote:

Bryan K wrote: So I hit about 50 balls out of the bunker, and not one of them was bad. But I guarantee that the next time I end up in a bunker and need to go up and down for par, I´ll end up with a double. To me that right there speaks of a big problem--self-doubt. What's the point of deciding that a shot is going to be bad before you've even set foot on the course? Especially when your rational mind seems to know you are capable of the good shot. Sounds to me like you need to work on your objectives. When you stand over a shot you need a clear mind and a simple objective, not a negative expectation. It doesn't really matter what your handicap is or what not, if you've hit a certain shot before you can hit it again. Self-doubt is rampant out there. People say some funny things. Like you might say "nice shot" and they'll hit back with "Yeah, I'm sure I'll screw up the next one though." Very typical remark IMO. Not me, I have selective memory and usually ridiculously confident over most shots, it seems to work okay. That said I suppose one cannot reasonably have a clear mind and objective without reliable technique.

I think you have a point. It's amazing how important confidence is in this game. I was hitting out of a greenside bunker on the very first hole today, and I got it on close enough to have a shot at birdie. But I think that the key in my round today, even though I didn't sink any of my birdie putts, is that I felt like I could make just about every shot I was standing over.

I recommend this book because it isn't your golf game getting in your way its your mental game. http://www.amazon.com/Why-Golf-Happens-Good-People/dp/0595443788

my only advise would be this. For me trying to hit those short accurate shots with a lob wedge is dang near impossible. I typ. use a 52 degree wedge for anything other than a flop. then I use a 56. that lob wedge can get you into a world of trouble unless you practice it alot. I have taken the lob out of the bag. won't carry a 60 degree anymore, it got me in more trouble than it saved. JMO have fun.