My first thought when I read that is pull the 3H and just try and get on green, ignore the pin. If I'm reading it correctly the pin placement near the bunker was the challenge here.
quote:Going for the green was not the answer, not at all. To get close, I would have had to carry a bunker, land the ball softly (on greens that were rolling very fast) and stop it which was not going to happen. To carry the bunker I would have had to hit a perfect 3H and it would have most likely rolled off the back of the green. I could have hit it left of the pin away from the bunker, and still rolled it on the green (instead of carrying all the way to the green), but then I'd have a 30-40 foot putt. I am HORRIBLE with putts over 20 feet..just horrible. Inside 15 feet, I can usually get it close,but when it gets longer my feel just sucksI'm either 10-feet short or I roll it 15 feet past. Not to mention hitting my 3H into a very narrow window in both cases. Remember the course management part everyone talked about early on. I learned a long time ago to play with in yourself. Don't try to make impossible shots that has a 1 in 20 chance of success or at least limit them as much as possible. Carrying a bunker with my 3H and stopping it on a hard/rolling green was a very low percentage shot for me. So was hitting it perfectly along the left side and rolling it on the green.
Let's look at how this conversation started from Agracer. From your readings/logic, Agracer should have gone for it with 3H. Instead he scaled it back with a 5 iron only to get in trouble...then proceeded to miss the partial wedge shot. If he'd hit a poor shot with 3H, he would have been in a deeper trouble, My simple question was...for this scenario, would have have been better off laying back to 100? Obviously the counter point is he could have gotten in trouble with Wedge Wedge 100 yard shots..but probability says less likely than 5 iron or 3H.
quote:
Sure, I'm not great from that distance but I'm still way bette than from 100.
I would bet $1000 you can't get over 50% from 100 yards within 30 feet from varying locations.
quote:THIS!
Didn't read most of the replies but the answer to op question is practice, lessons, then more practice. Then more lessons. Then more practice.
quote:I think this is great advice.
I am going to sound like a broken record because I say this all the time on here.
If you want to get better you need to play for money and play with people who are better than you. Golf really is a game in which you may be the best ball striker, the best putter, and the best guy off the tee. But the guy who hits it all over the golf course and finds a way to shoot even can still beat you.
Over the last 5 years of my life (32 now) I went from a 2-4 handicap to playing between a plus 1 and a plus 2. I don't practice anymore than I ever did. I just got tired of losing money. Mentally I had to learn how to score. I watch guys like Proud and the group I play with beat the pants off of me and weren't near the player I was (or thought I was) because they could score from anywhere. Par has to make you ANGRY on short holes. Eagles have to be what you expect on reachable par 5s. You have to know that you can shoot 72 and be mad when you do because you know you left shots on the golf course.
quote:This seems like odd advice without knowing anything about someones game.
Also, instead of carrying a 3 iron or other long iron, replace that with a 52* gap wedge if you haven't already.
quote:Blindly yes, you are correct, but for someone trying to find their game its far easier to find value in a club with a short iron as opposed to the long iron....there's really not much difference between a 3 iron and a 4 iron for a beginner golfer but there could be a massive difference between a pitching wedge (usually 48*) and a sand wedge (usually 56*).
quote:This seems like odd advice without knowing anything about someones game.
Also, instead of carrying a 3 iron or other long iron, replace that with a 52* gap wedge if you haven't already.
I use my 3 iron all the time. Finding tight fairways, par 3s, hitting out from the woods, etc.
In a round I use it much more than a 52.
quote:I can't find this practice routine- can you post a link?
7 hp here and have been as low as a 5. I went from a 15 to a 5 in one year by simply practicing with a purpose. I took "the perfect practice routine" that was posted on here a couple of years ago and I practiced it religiously. I'm not sure if it was so much that particular routine that helped me or if I just finally went to the range with a set goal and practiced to reach it.
I got to the point where I could shoot +7 or 8 without breaking out my driver. Which wasn't all that great because I stopped pravticing with my driver as much as my shirt irons and putter. Because of this I really plateaued at a 5. I don't have near the time these days to complete that routine on a regular basis but I do still try to get a condensed version of it in once a week.