The Best of August thru October
Know Your Yardages, Cooler Weather, Decisions vs. Outcomes, Playing from the Front Tees, My Mental Game Improvement, 7 Bad Shots, Golf Sidekick 15 to 5 Handicap
Today’s post is another monthly best-of summary to resurface some things you might have missed in June and July. Click on the link for the full post. Enjoy!
Know Your Yardages
My approach shots have been coming up short way too often for my liking, so I decided to hit the range and double-check my carry yardages.*
*I use a PRGR device, which I highly recommend. It’s fairly affordable (around $220 compared to $1,000+ for most launch monitors). It’s super easy to use and compact.It turns out that my hunch was right—my irons weren’t carrying as far as they used to. My 7-iron was showing in the low 160’s whereas I generally play it closer to the low 170’s.
Well, this is a problem. I’m almost 10 yards off my expected carry distance.
I need to either adjust my yardages downward or figure out why they are lower. I'll share more about what I did later.
<CLICK THE LINK FOR THE FULL POST>
Cooler Weather
Link: The 2nd Cut Newsletter: Edition #65
For many of us, shorter days and cooler temperatures are approaching. Most of us know that colder temperatures mean less distance, and warmer temperatures mean more distance. But I never really knew HOW much distance.
Below, Andrew Rice has a great graphic showing the math behind temperature and distances.
So, 75 degrees is the baseline.
There is a two-carry yard difference for every 10 degrees above or below 75.
For you winter golfers. Forty-five degrees could mean 6 yards less carry. The more you know…
Decisions vs Outcomes
“The correctness of a decision can’t be judged from the outcome.”
- Howard Marks
Howard Marks is a successful distressed debt investor known for his “memos” detailing risk management. These memos are widely read in the financial world because Marks combines rigorous analysis with simple and practical wisdom, a rare combination.
Marks's quote above is another wise piece of practical wisdom that applies to most things, especially poker (and golf).
Let’s say you are playing blackjack and showing 19. Well, most of us would stand on 19. But your one buddy decides to hit. You cringe. But the dealer deals a 2, and he hits.
BLACKJACK!
Everyone congratulates the winner and says nice hit!
As we all know, it wasn’t a wise decision, but the result clouded everyone’s judgment.
This is known as resulting.
Resulting is the tendency to judge a decision based on its outcome rather than its quality.
<CLICK THE LINK FOR THE FULL POST>
Playing from the Front Tees
Link: The 2nd Cut Newsletter: Edition #58
On Monday, we played the front tees for my men’s league. Shout out, Mitch!
I knew Bryson Dechambeau was a big proponent of hitting from the front tees, but I had never actually tried it.
Well, I think I’m a believer. It was FUN, it gave a fresh perspective on holes I’ve played countless times, and it emphasized different parts of my game. Especially partial wedges from 25-75 yards.
In a Golf Digest piece by Luke Kerr-Dineen Bryson said this about playing the front tees:
"When I was a junior, when I was 15, 16, [my junior coach] Mike Schy would tell me to go play the front tees and learn how to score, so I'd be driving it in these tight areas and getting up-and-down, and my wedge game got really good because of it as well as my putting because it was stressful."
After doing it myself, it makes sense.
Because it’s easier to keep the ball in play (and, in turn, get it on the green in regulation), putting becomes more stressful and important for going low.
“It's probably the best thing you can do when trying to learn how to score. You go up to the red tees and try and shoot sub-60 rounds, for a good aspiring junior golfer that's trying to be a professional golfer.”
Like many of you, I’m not about to pay full price and go up to the front tees while my playing partners are back at the regular tees.
But if you get the chance, I’d highly recommend trying it. Maybe play a twilight 9 or convince a few buddies to play forward on a weekday.
It was also another reminder that most of us would enjoy golf more if we played up a tee (or two).
My Mental Game Improvement
Link: My Mental Game Improvement
I’ve improved my mental game quite a bit over the last few years. I tended to be overly negative after a “bad shot.” (I’m still a bit too critical at times)
For example, if I thinned my first approach shot of the day, I would think, “Oh F*@%, here we go.” Frustration was already building, which led me to think, “Don’t thin it again, ya jack@$$.”
All bets were off for the day if the next shot went wrong.
I let the results dictate my thoughts, which then affected my mood. The cycle would spiral up or down depending on how I played that day.
To make matters worse, post-round, I focused almost exclusively on the negatives and would say something like, “I suck at approach shots.” In reality, it was never quite that bad.
Three Things Helped Me Improve Mentally:
1) Lowered My Expectations
It’s just golf. This isn’t life or death. If I shoot a 92, who cares? I’ll play again soon. It is what it is. Does showing up to the course wanting to shoot your all-time best help you?
The odds are literally against you, but more importantly, you are adding to the pressure of performance and anxiety.*
Paradoxically, caring less has helped my scores.
<CLICK THE LINK FOR THE FULL POST>
7 Bad Shots
I really like this quote. Give yourself some slack.
If you’re a 15 handicap, give yourself 15 strokes before you get too pissed. Or maybe your goal is to become a 12, give yourself 12 bad shots.
If it’s good enough for Hagen, it’s good enough for the rest of us.
Golf Sidekick 15 to 5 Handicap
Link: The 2nd Cut Newsletter: Edition #58
I’m not sure how many of you are familiar with Golf Sidekick, but I remember watching his videos often when I first got back into golf, and they helped me see the game differently.
He’s not really like any other YouTube golfer I’ve come across. Sure, he looks a bit goofy and isn’t a pro, but his videos do an excellent job of articulating what good amateur golf looks like (and what it doesn’t look like).
Most of the videos are a full 18 of Sidekick playing a round. He goes through his thought process, aiming, club selection, and course management decisions with post-shot analysis. It's a very good example of good golf.
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Have a great weekend!
Every year the holes get longer. I have played my course (Vasari) since 2005. I used to play the blue tees 10 years ago. Now I play the whites tees. Next year will probably be playing the blended green/whites. It's called age and reality. Guess what, it happens. We need to accept it. There is no cure.