So there I was, playing a course that I had played hundreds of times back in the day, but from a place that I had never attempted before. Back when I started playing there, they only had red, white and blue tees. Today, there’s purple, gold, white, blue and black. The question that is still racing through my head, even three days later, is if the course really played any harder from back there or not? I mean, I know i left a bad 6 iron out there and at least 5 putts… That would make a 74, or about what I can shoot from the whites on a good day. It just didn’t seem to matter too much, at least for my game.
I do want to put a disclaimer on the above statement – for my game. You see, for me, I typically drive the ball well, 250-300 yards and have a short wedge left into the hole. When I back up two clubs, this means I’m hitting 8 or 9 irons into the green instead. Shorter par 5’s are iron off the tee and iron into them. My game currently has two issues – 1) I don’t know my on course club distances yet and 2) I tend to go into pinseeker mode on holes where there is a safer play. The other non-game issue is the fact that I still tend to catch a shot heavy during a round and flush one down the toilet. It’s those first two that kill my scoring the most though.
Not knowing my on course distances creates havoc when I’m hitting, what should be, a scoring approach. From 100 yards, I should know my shot. Unfortunately, over the last 2 weeks, my 100 at the range has become a 115 on course. My 80 yarder on the range has become 90 on the course. It’s quite an annoying issue in general, but it kills what little chance I have of scoring well when I can’t dial in my attack shots perfectly at the range. It’s getting closer though, and after just two rounds with the new clubs, I can’t expect miracles quite yet. This does take me directly to issue number two though, pinseeking.
Pinseeking is the act of ignoring the dangers of a hole placement and going right after it.
Pinseeking is the act of ignoring the dangers of a hole placement and going right after it. For example, a pin tucked behind a bunker on the right edge of an elevated green has plenty of safe play options available to it. If the flag is in a tough spot, walking away with a par will look really good for most. But if you are 2 over and want to get back to even, you shoot straight at it and hope you nail the shot. For me, my game isn’t at the point where I should do this, but it was at that point once upon a time. It’s hard for me to switch off that reaction and take the safer, larger margin for error shot to the safer part of the green. Our playing partners don’t help in this either. One shot knocked stiff and they expect us to be at 5 feet on every hole. It’s nothing more than an ego trip, and ego’s often equal higher scores.
Back to the topic though, did playing the back tees make any difference and should you play them? Well, let me start off with saying, no, if anything, the longer distances put me in less trouble and left me better approach shots than the middle tees did. I can actually play the back tees and hit within 5 yards of my distances on all but two holes. The two par 3’s that are 6 yards a piece off from my new yardages are the only holes that don’t fit me at my local course. That is what you want to look at when considering if they are right for you. What approach clubs do you use now and what would you need to get to the holes with another 30 yards tacked on? It’s really only a club or two difference on most holes, but for someone that is hitting 3/4 wedges into every green, that two club drop can be a welcomed addition to the game. The next time you run your pre-course shot setup, look at the different tee boxes and see how often you are hitting wedges into greens. If it’s more than 65%, you probably need to move back. Just the opposite is also true, if you are hitting nothing but hybrids and long irons into holes, you probably need to move up.
For me, I’m taking another stab at the long course before heading out on vacation in July. I should have my ‘new to me’ Wilson M3 Tour driver in the bag at that point and have a bit more sleep than I did the last time I tried this. If everything goes according to plan, I should have a nice little round up posted for you Thursday the 7th. If not, well, I’ll see you with more babbling in the near future.
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