Posted by Dexter Francois
| Posted in
Golf Courses,
Mike Southern,
My Rounds
| Posted on Wednesday, May 4, 2011
So in my last post I talked about playing at Sanctuary Golf Course at WestWorld. That was more of a course review. Today we're going to talk about what happened during the round as far as my game is concerned. Mike Southern and I are trying to figure out why I am not hitting more greens in regulation. Currently, I am hitting only 13.24 percent of my greens in regulation. As I've said before, this a puts a tremendous amount of pressure on my short game because I am usually chipping to try and get up and down.
I started off the round pretty well, hitting 4 of 9 greens, shooting a 5 over 40 for the front nine. I only hit two more greens in regulation for the rest of the round finishing at 6 of 18 or 33 percent for the round. A huge improvement for me but still way below pro standards. As Mike pointed out on his blog...
"...the average of all the GIRs of all the Tour players is 64.30%. (When I write a post and mention the average player's GIR, this is the number I'm talking about.) This means that, on average, players hit less than 12 greens in a round. Justin Rose is the best right now with a 73.61% average, which is just over 13 per round. Only 53 players hit 66.67% or better, which is right on 12 per round."
My putting was really good for this round. After reading this article that Mike posted in response to my five, 3-putt performance at Dove Valley Ranch, I had a different mindset as I stood over my putts. We will take a look at my putting issues during another post, but these are some good tips if you are struggling on the greens.
Let's look at the round hole by hole, with emphasis on my approach shots in to the green to see if we can discover a pattern. From there, maybe Mike and I can devise a plan of attack.
Hole #1-My approach shot on #1 was out of the rough, left of the fairway, with an uphill lie. I left this shot short of the green. I had a good lie but it was a little uphill. My shot took off at a high trajectory and got caught up in the wind. I made a decent chip shot that left me with about a nine foot put. I drained it. Par to start the round.
Hole #2-I left my approach shot short and right of the green. I felt like I didn't finish this shot. I made another up and down for a par number two. Another great putt form about eight feet.
Hole #3-The way a par four should be played. I hit the fairway. Was on the green in two. Made a nice lag putt and tap in for par. If only it were always this easy.
Hole #4-The first par 5 on the course. I doubled it. A poor tee shot out of bounds, set me up for disaster. The good thing is that I two putted from a long distance to avoid a triple.
Hole #5-Doubled this hole as well due to a missed green and a 3-putt. This was the first hole that my pace was off.
Hole #6 and #7-Back to back pars. Greens in regulation with a 2-putt.
Hole #8-A par 3 played perfectly. Green in regulation with a 2-putt from 50 feet away for par.
Hole #9-I was short with my approach shot. I topped it badly and then made a bad pitch shot onto the green and 2-putted from there. Bogey.
Front 9 - 40
Hole #10-I pulled my approach shot well left of the green. I felt really off balance on this shot and fell to my left after the follow through. I had a tough chip shot which left me with a tough 2-putt to finish with a bogey.
Hole #11-Great hole. Everything in regulation.
Hole #12-I left my shot short and right of the green on this par 3. 2-putted after a not so good chip shot.
Hole #13-Missed the fairway off tee but got back onto the fairway for my approach shot to this par 5. I missed the shot right of the hole, pin high. Maybe an alignment issue.
Hole #14-A poor tee shot Led to a tough shot to the green. I chunked the next shot and then made a decent pitch shot onto the green. I then 3-putted to finish with a 7.
Hole #15-This was a great hole because I hit my tee shot into the desert and was able to pitch it out. I hit my next shot onto the green and 1-putted to save par.
Hole #16-Now from the sublime to the ridiculous. I hit my ball out of bounds off the tee. I dropped and then I hit it out of bounds again. Both of these shots were pull hooks. My misses, up to this point, had been to the right, so it was a little baffling when I hit these shots back to back. I finished the hole with an 8. A quadruple bogey on the par 4.
Hole #17-Another poor tee shot to the right on the final par 3 left me with no chance of getting up and down. Finished with a double.
Hole #18-I played the par 5 final hole really well. Great shot off the tee. Layup to about 110 yards. Next shot on the green. 2-putt for a par. After the last few holes, it was good to finish on a positive note.
Back 9 - 48
Summary - Looking back on the round, most of my misses were short and to the right. If my wedge game and putter are on, like they were on the front nine, then it is not much of a problem. It does, however, make for a nerve racking round. When I was making my putts, it was all good. Once they stopped dropping, it began to wear on my mental toughness. Hearing the ball fall into the cup, is in a way, therapeutic for your golf psyche.
The other issue I had during the round was with my energy level. I began to get really tired right around the 13th hole. I'm sure this had an effect on my level of play as well because I couldn't finish my shots due to fatigue. I told Patrick that I needed to get on a golf specific workout. He said he would hook me up with his "hot yoga" instructor. When he was consistent with the sessions, he said that it made a huge difference in his game. I'll look into it.
Next time, we'll take a look at my round from Orange Tree Golf Resort. I followed in the same pattern of missing most my shots short and right. None of these misses are slices. They are more of a push. And on each of them, I feel like I'm not finishing the shot. I have to get the feeling of getting over to my left side.
Now that most of the country is just about in full swing for the golf season, feel free to share stories about your rounds. You can leave a comment here or we can chat over at our Facebook Page. Until then, have a great round and always hit your target.
Photo found here.
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| Posted: 5/1/2011 Share on Facebook | |||
| Sanctuary Golf Course At WestWorld (Sanctuary) | Tees: Blue, Slope: 131, Rating: 68.8 | ||
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Ok, first things first. It's been a while since you posted any swing footage, so I don't know exactly what it looks like anymore. How about posting some full swing footage for me? I'd like to see 2 clubs, driver and 8-iron. And I'd like a face-on and down-the-line of each.
The reason is that you may be doing something different with a longer club that isn't a problem with the shorter one. For example, you shouldn't have had so many OB shots.
Second, have you been working on that drill to stop you from rotating your forearms when you start the backswing? You seem to be pushing your shots now. On the one hand, this shows that your takeaway has improved -- you couldn't even have this problem with your old takeaway! But twisting your forearms on the takeaway can cause you to lean backward a bit on the downswing, which makes you swing more in-to-out and push shots.
We'll work on your short game soon. But let's get you to the green first; that'll take a lot of pressure off your game.
I will do so within the next few days. I went back to the drill and worked on it last night. Today, I went out and shot an 82. And that was with four 3-putts:-(
My misses were still to the right and short, but less frequent after doing the drill again.
Oh...and I hit every single fairway!!! My playing partners asked me how come I didn't hit driver on the par 5's. I told them I didn't need to. I'm not long enough to go for it in two, so it's better to keep it in the fairway off the tee to give myself the best chance at par. It worked so well that I birdied one of the par 5's. First time ever.
Good thinking! The biggest ally you have in getting your score down is your mind. Scoring is as much about strategy as about skill. You can shoot high scores with a pretty swing and low scores with an ugly one.
But let's see if we can't get you to shoot low scores with a pretty swing, eh? ;-)