When I’m playing in a competition, I’ve noticed that I’ll leak most of my shots over 3 of the 18 holes because I’ll make double bogey, rather than bogey at worst. And that’s typically down to two things – a leaky shot and a “greedy” shot.
So to work on making less doubles, I’m experimenting with a “next shot strategy” on three holes that I can often double at my home course.
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👋 I’m Jess – after cutting my handicap from 34 to 9 in a year, I’m on the search for scratch – sharing how I’m working on my game to get there. Subscribe to join me for the journey.
📺 WATCH NEXT 🍿
0:00 Intro
0:48 Par 3
2:10 Par 4 With The Oak Tree Magnet
6:50 Par 4 With The Dogleg
9:47 Outro
17 Comments
Most of the time, I use the "trees are 90% air" theory which works about 10% of the time 🙂
You really are trying to reinvent the golf strategy wheel 😀!! Seriously, spend some time looking into DECADE golf, all this stuff is well covered there. On a different topic, did I understand correctly that you have 5i and then 3h? Nothing in between? That seems like a huge gap, consider replacing 5i with 5h to reduce a bit the gap if you want to keep 3h, or replace 3h with 4h. I presume you were fitted for your driver, so maybe you already have it in the most upright position, but if you don’t, consider doing it to help with the ball leaking to the right.
Great video Jess, keep them coming
At 2.46. Why don’t you tee it up on right hand side of tee box and aim down the left away from that tree , if shot leaks good chance be left of tree then ,
My drive was going right for weeks, and then I was told by my local PGA Pro that the club head path was more open, so I set up with it closed and now I'm getting a slight fade.
Hope you weren't trying to film on the 9th this morning.also,sorry about the sneaky pin position on 11,that was me too!😁
The 3 hole pattern is EXTREMELY common. We can all check our scorecards on this. We'll find, over and over, that we have 3 weak holes per round on average. Sometimes 1 or 2. Sometimes 4 or 5, on bad days. But more often than not, it's 3. I forget who did the study on that and published it around 20 years ago, but that's when I first learned about it. So the trick is how we minimize those holes, and keep the damage down to 1 stroke, rather than posting blow up holes. It works at the bogey golf and breaking 100 scales, too, for higher handicappers. Keep those 3 trouble holes down to double bogey, maybe even saving a bogey on one of them, instead of snowmen or worse, and watch the scores drop.
Chipping out helps me stay focused knowing it was the right thing to do and move on. I find trying shots with little hope cause me to just get mad with myself when they go wrong and takes me a bit to calm down.
RE: The 2nd hole. No, you didn't stop the double this time, largely because you got a less accurate than normal result from your 138 yard 3rd shot. But most of the time, you'll hit that one better and be closer to the hole from there, so it'll work out a lot more often than not. And if you'd tried to go right of the oak tree, you'd have brought the risk of higher than double into play. Hit a branch, or end up in those fescue covered mounds, and you're staring triple in the face. So I think you taught us the lesson you wanted, even if it didn't quite go to plan. And when does it ever fully go to plan in golf anyway, right?
RE; your Next Shot strategy. Brilliant. I love it. Interestingly enough, everything old is new again in golf. Tommy Armour probably summed up your Next Shot strategy the best 70 years ago in the following sentences.
"Play the shot you've got the greatest chance of playing well." and
"Play the shot that makes the next shot easy."
Now, if I can just get myself to actually do that all the time, rather than just quoting it……….😵💫
Jess, have you checked the 'Decade Golf' system? It might be worth you checking out with how you enjoy data/information?
Whoops, sorry…I've just read through the comments and someone else has mentioned Decade Golf.
Also on the trees being 90% air…total BS 😂 the ball always touches at least one or two leaves at the very least, twigs, branches, limbs or trunk depending on the last time you went to Church 😂😂😂
I really like this idea, there are two particular par 3's that I tend to over club on, great idea Jess 👌🏼 but the question begs…. Why are you leaking those tee shots off to the right, something for another video perhaps. 😊
Excellent second putt for the par on the par 3 Jess. You would have enjoyed that one🎉
I would have to heartily endorse Sean’s quote of Tommy Armour.
As a result of that quote I now leave my driver in the bag unless the hole really allows for my fade. I tend to tee off with my 5 wood most of the time which normally goes 170-180 meters. That means I compromise about 20-30 meters but I’m in the fairway for the next shot and I’m closer to the flag after two shots than I would have been if I had to chip out. However, I am not chasing scratch – I only want to break 90 at this stage.
Always look forward to your experiences during the week! Here on the Mornington Peninsula we had a 24C day with no wind two days ago – definitely more conducive to playing good golf. ⛳️
Hi Jess, I understand your if I’m in this position strategy, but you seem to be treating the symptoms rather than the cause, why is your miss a left to right over fade? Your coach/pro needs to analyse your swing, there must be a path or face issue to address, but I love your honest videos.
I'd much rather fire into greens with irons than hybrids/woods.. Nice one Jess – strategy is everything 😊
Hi Jess I noticed on the second hole and a bit on the 3rd you teed it up on the left side which in my opinion opens up more of the right fairway towards the big oak with your fade by teeing it up on the right side of the tee box you are playing more away from it worse case you end up left side first cut if you don't fade it enough this is how I play certain holes with my draw
I was playing with my son the other day and he's just starting golf. I was telling him this exact thing. Now…. I've just got to start doing it myself 😂