The Goofy Game of Golf Searching for the Answer

Another disappointing week with just average play. The rounds went like this: 82 at Lindenwood, 76 Indian Run, 78 South Park and 78 at Rolling Acre today. Nothing new to report on the mental game, only that I’m mental. I thought I would talk about the one thing that I have been doing with some success, and that is the system I devised for choosing the right club. We all know the drill that you should know how far you hit each club but how do you go about that and then how do you apply it to the course. The thing that you read most of the time is to hit about 10 or 20 shots with a particular iron and take the average. But how many times in play do you hit your “average” iron shot. So here is what I have devised and so far it has worked out pretty well. I want to know the distance that my iron goes when I hit my best shot. In other words, what I call my max distance with that club.  Here are my max distances with each club in the bag

3 wood 240     5 w00d 225   7 wood 210     5 iron  195    6 irons  180    7 iron   165

8 iron 150   9  iron  135    PW   120    GW  105    SW  90    LW 75

Now whatever my yardage is to the middle of the green even if it is just one yard beyond my max distance I drop down to the lower club.  Example if I have 151 to the middle of the green I will hit 7 iron. Now naturally if this is a big green and the pin is way in the front and to  the front is 133 then I will hit 8 iron. There will be other factors like wind, elevation and lie but rather than think whether this is one or two clubs different I try to add and subtract yardage and then select the club.  In Western Pa. there are lots of changes in elevation and this has really helped me in choosing the right club. When you try to calculate an average distance with your clubs it is always hard to judge just how bad you miss hit a shot. But when you groove a 7 iron everybody knows that feeling. That is a much more reliable distance to play off of. If choosing the right club has been a problem at times try this method and see if you don’t start getting more shots pin high. This is what I call my small victory buried under a quagmire of defeats. The year is passing fast and I am not getting any closer to the answer. It looks like it should be another big week of golf with Labor Day on the horizon. Labor and golf, Labor and golf the perfect combination.