4 thoughts on “Mental Mondays: Temper Your Expectations”
In line with today’s Mental Monday is the recent pga/usga compaign to get us playing the correct tees. I’d read an article on this over a year ago and started observing myself. Realizing I was basically playing driver, 5-wood, wedge on every par 4, moved up. Now instead of being occassionally trickling a ball on to the green in regulation, I have real opportunities. Its more fun playing the game when there’s a risk the approach shot might be long.
The article I read suggested for those of us with 200yd or less drives, the course should be 5700 yards or so if I remember correctly. I look at the length on Par 3s to make sure I don’t need career shots to get there. I check the Par 4s, to makes sure I won’t have to play too many as personal par 5s, just due to length (others I may need to do for a different reason).
A nice bit of advice to many of us, as is Dave Petersen’s advice to look at moving up a tee or two. The game is a lot more fun if you are not hitting fairway woods to every par 4. Also, one typically will hit better shots when using 9-8-7 iron from the fairway rather than 3-wood from the rough.
It’s playing within your abilities and not expecting too much. I play with 18 + handicappers that expect to make par every hole. Consequently they haven’t improved in years.
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In line with today’s Mental Monday is the recent pga/usga compaign to get us playing the correct tees. I’d read an article on this over a year ago and started observing myself. Realizing I was basically playing driver, 5-wood, wedge on every par 4, moved up. Now instead of being occassionally trickling a ball on to the green in regulation, I have real opportunities. Its more fun playing the game when there’s a risk the approach shot might be long.
The article I read suggested for those of us with 200yd or less drives, the course should be 5700 yards or so if I remember correctly. I look at the length on Par 3s to make sure I don’t need career shots to get there. I check the Par 4s, to makes sure I won’t have to play too many as personal par 5s, just due to length (others I may need to do for a different reason).
Like the mental monday pieces, thanks.
A nice bit of advice to many of us, as is Dave Petersen’s advice to look at moving up a tee or two. The game is a lot more fun if you are not hitting fairway woods to every par 4. Also, one typically will hit better shots when using 9-8-7 iron from the fairway rather than 3-wood from the rough.
Great advice,
It’s playing within your abilities and not expecting too much. I play with 18 + handicappers that expect to make par every hole. Consequently they haven’t improved in years.
Cheers
I’ve previously done a post on just playing from the correct tees, here:
https://www.golfblogger.com/index.php/golf/comments/mental_mondays_play_from_the_correct_tees/