Yesterday’s round went as expected. I hit some very good shots; hit some mediocre shots; and hit some poor shots. The two poor shots I have in mind were set up exactly the same and I missed in the same way. I am very disappointed because these poor shots turned easy birdie chances to scrambling pars. Let me set it up for you!
The first poor shot was on a par 5 from 75 yards. I hit a great drive and a solid 3-wood to be sitting in a great position to sit up my next shot for an easy birdie chance. I pulled my 52° Gap Wedge for a smooth, controlled knock down approach shot. Well, I went deeper than I had hoped and was left with a 15 yard up and down for par.
My second poor shot….wait. Read the above paragraph. It happened exactly the same way; I mean exactly. It was on the second par 5 of the front 9.
The second shot was a hundred times more frustrating than the first. I could not believe that I flubbed the shot again. Not only was it frustrating, I was a bit in shock because it happened twice in the exact same way. I even stood of the second shot thinking what I did wrong the first time and made corrections….well, I thought I did anyway.
To be fair, I do not really mind making a poor shot from time to time. It is part of golf and although I have a 3.3 handicap index, poor shots still show up. The important part is I respond after the poor shot. In the case of the situation above, I bogeyed the first par 5 and shot par on the second. The trick is not to let frustrating shots have lasting affects on my score.
If you are wondering, on both missed shots I was standing too close to the ball. This happens sometimes when I am attempting a knock down shot. I am still working on this particular shot since I decided to use it more this year. It is all good and now I have something to work on over the long winter months.
Golfing this time of year has it challenges. But, yesterday was exceptional because the weather was perfect and my friends and I had some great conversation. How can I complain when playing golf in conditions like that!
I am a grateful golfer! See you on the links!
The Grateful Golfer 
Jim, is 75 yards a full 52 for you? Your post said, “smooth and controlled knock down.” When I try to smooth a wedge it sometimes results in a chunk because my hands get ahead of my lower body. As a result, I try to hit every wedge shot hard. Either club down to the next wedge or choke down and hit the ball hard.
Hope you have a few more weeks of good golf weather!
Brian
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Brian,
My 52 degree is 100 yards ish. I am trying something new in the past few months because when I was hitting a full swing with my wedges, I was not having much success either. I will keep trying the knock down for the rest of the season anyway, next year will be a new approach if I see no progress. I hope your game is going well!
Cheers Jim
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I missed the same shot lots today. Conditions got me. Lots of wind and thick, tall rough doomed me. lol
I kept missing greens all day today. Judging the wind is something I am usually pretty good at, but today I seemed to do the wrong thing way more than usual. And once in the rough, I was doomed. I couldn’t judge distance coming out of the rough for the life of me today. I went long, I went short.
But I had a good time. I hit a couple of drives that approached the 300 yard mark thanks to the wind. And I sailed a couple of greens with a 9 iron thanks to that same wind. I did a little better into the breeze. But a 5 iron tee shot got away from me (the wind pushed the ball up and right leaving me in a little depression just short of the green) and made me struggle to get my par. That was the only time I hit my distance coming out of the rough all day.
But through it all I was happy. This was the first day in months that sweat wasn’t part of the game. That, and the opportunity to play, was enough for me.
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Kevin
Wind can be challenging for sure. Especially if it is gusting. Great to hear the weather is turning a bit for you. It is changing for us as well….haha. Keep plying well!
Cheers Jim
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