Golf forum

 As i 26 handicap, i am hitting around 4/5 GIR and currently when i play i am tring to make birdies and pars as there are only 3 holes on my home corse i can't reach in regulation .

My question is, should i just try to shoot my h/c on each hole or go for birdies/pars?

Your scores will be much better if you try to first shoot your handicap because that is YOUR par.

Playing the heroic shot will work only so ofter while the others will end up in the woods or the water.

The best round I've played this year I finally took my own advice and laid up to a good third shot location and then parred the hole as a result. Every other time I play this hole (16 at Trent Park), I tried to hit the second shot over the trees after a good drive and each time failed.

Most of the 8's I get on my card are the result of hitting a shot trying to get to the green and ending up short and in the bunkers, or worse I chunk it by trying to hit to hard, etc.

One of these days, maybe I'll try to shoot my handicap as well and see if my advice makes any sense.   

The majority of higher handicappers, when they find themselves in trouble, always attempt the impossible by striving for maximum distance.

On my own course there are very few holes I can reach in regulation figures, because I don't hit the ball very far these days, but has one par five which has three ditches running across the fairway adding to the difficulty. I cannot carry the second ditch after a 200 yd drive and I would need to carry it to give myself a chance of carrying the third ditch.

The way I play it, is a drive, an 8 iron, a nine iron and a wedge, this puts me on for four and with the stroke I receive always gives me 2 points in the stableford.

my average drive is around 225 and i hit about 50% of fairways. My home course (houghwood, north west) is very hilly so some fairways are extremely difficult to find.

How does this compare to you guys and what do you think i should aim for in this area?

I just try to concentrate on each shot - and let the score manage itself.

It's difficult and I struggle to do it (hence my handicap!) but the less distraction the better in my opinion. Golf's so much a mental battle, that the simpler I can make it the better, and that means just hitting the next shot well - whether it's for a birdie or a twelve!

I agree with John P.  if you hit a bad shot accept it and don't go for glory with the next one.         I think most higher handicappers would drop a lot of strokes off handicap, if 1 bad shot a hole was all they did. it's when you hit 2 or 3 trying to make up for it then it goes wrong. 

Before you play get a scorecard and work your way round it realistically and then set your target scores . You may think a par is fair on some and a double on really hard wholes is ok.  if you then give yourself say 18 strokes and play the realistic card you can often save yourself a lot of shots.

Best advise I ever got (may have been here) was - take your medicine.

 You get it wrong, bite the bullet and instead of trying to make up the extra ground the a super hero shot, knock it out, give your self a good lie and get back on track!

This helps avoid the 7s & 8s with more 5s & 6s