How much of a perfectionist are you?

[Jericho]

I recently found a great little practice area at a hole-in-the-wall range/course. It's a 60 yard field with a slightly elevated green (5 feet...hey it's Florida). I find that I get more satisfaction for center faced hits than hitting greens with less than stellar swings. If I thin one and it bounces and rolls up to the green I'm not satisfied. I'd much rather catch it perfect and have it land on the green and roll off the back.

 

Recently I was playing a round and had a terrible lie. I took an extra club and definitely didn't catch the center of the face...it ended up on the green but again I was frustrated. I only hit the green because I anticipated a bad hit and took the extra club. I'm more interested in consistent center face hits with less than perfect results than I am in ugly mishits that luckily have good results.

 

We don't do this for survival so I pose the question:

 

Is the score the most imporant thing to you at all cost? Personally I get more satisfaction from striking the ball great but not scoring.

[juststeve]

For me its ultimately about score although to score I want to hit the ball solidly. I just don't think its an either or situation. Hit the ball poorly and in the long run it shows up on the score card.

Steve

[m111]

I was exactly like that until I'd be hitting them solid and straight than telling folks who ask that I'm about to go shoot 90.

I find the 90 to be more embarrassing/frustrating than mishits that happen to be GIRs -- I'll take those every day.

[will227457]

I get very frustrated with my mishits, I had a 15 yard chip/pitch as my 3 shot on a par 5 the other day and I came up out of it and thinned it, it skipped and bounced its way to 10ft....I was very upset

yeah I par'ed the hole but I couldn't get over that miss hit.


I would rather miss the green, because thats what I deserved for a poor strike.

[TheBigGun]

I played last week and didn't hit one shot that I was happy with in the whole round. There were a few good chips and I putted well but not one full shot that was compressed/striped. I scored ok because I played for weak shots but I'd much rather have nailed them all through the greens and scored poorly.

Although this mentality sounds ridiculous I think it's because I strive for perfection, or at least to get a lot better, and I'll have plenty of rounds therefore where I'll be playing to expect to cream every iron and therefore be holding the right club!

If it were any other sport you wouldn't celebrate a fluke, in tennis you apologise if you hit the tape and it drops over and on soccer you wouldn't pull your shirt over your head and aeroplane the length of the pitch if you miss hit a free kick which bobbled in. I actually think in golf you're probably rewarded more than most sports for the bad shot and penalised for a good one!

[valkare]

Ben Hogan claimed he only hit the exact ("perfect") shot he intended three times per round...

[one putz]

This sounds like me with every sport I play. If I hit a bad shot that ends up in a good position I will be upset. Sometimes someone will say something like "why are you upset, you're on the green?" I always say its because Im more concerned with the result matching my intentions. If the shot has the trajectory, shape and distance you want but you ended up in a place you didn't want to be then you just made the wrong decision and you can learn from that. But if your shot doesn't do what you intended and you end up right next to the flag thats just luck and you cant count on luck if you want to be consistent.

[tatertot]

Golf is not a game of perfect.

[natedd]

One can, and some say should, be able to take satisfaction from the fact that you recognized the obstacles presented (the terrible lie) and adjusted your play to give the best result. You aren't talking about a perfect lie that you skulled off a tree, through a trap and on to the green.

I believe that the most beautifully struck ball is worthless if it doesn't lead to the intended result or score. I find it difficult to seperate the result/score from the action; both must be considered when judging success or failure.

[HitEmTrue]

[quote name='Jericho' timestamp='1365626392' post='6804205']
Recently I was playing a round and had a terrible lie. I took an extra club and definitely didn't catch the center of the face...it ended up on the green but again I was frustrated. I only hit the green because I anticipated a bad hit and took the extra club. I'm more interested in consistent center face hits with less than perfect results than I am in ugly mishits that luckily have good results.
[/quote]

Do you realize you are arguing against what you said in the other thread about players clubs vs. GI clubs?

IOW, if you are using a GI club, and get a good result on less than perfect contact, it sounds like you would still want to improve your technique.

[Thrillhouse]

All things equal? Like if I'm gonna shoot 72 either way? Yeah, I'd rather hit it good, but given the choice between chopping it around and ham and egging a 72 or hitting it good, putting bad, butchering the up and down the 4 times I miss a green, and shooting 75 I'm taking the 72 every time.

Honestly there is nothing more frustrating to me than hitting it well and performing so poorly on and around the greens that I shoot a poor score. If I hit it well I want to be rewarded with a nice score.

[oldpalchamp]

Johnny Miller said it best, "It' not how well you hit your good shots, it's how well you hit your bad shots." Whether I'm playing well or not, I'm going to probably hit the same amount of really solid shots. I just want my bad shots to leave me in places where I can still score.

The story goes that Ted Williams and Sam Snead were arguing about what was more difficult. Ted said that hitting a round ball coming at you at 95mph solidly with a round bat was the hardest thing in sports. Sam looked at him and said, "In golf Ted, you have to play your foul balls."

Bottom line, there is nothing (and I mean nothing) in the world that feels like a "nutted" golf shot, but that being said, my goal is to get the ball into the hole.

[jblacoustics]

You better be a perfectionist with that tiny winy sweet spot...

[Jericho]

[quote name='HitEmTrue' timestamp='1365635824' post='6805527']
[quote name='Jericho' timestamp='1365626392' post='6804205']
Recently I was playing a round and had a terrible lie. I took an extra club and definitely didn't catch the center of the face...it ended up on the green but again I was frustrated. I only hit the green because I anticipated a bad hit and took the extra club. I'm more interested in consistent center face hits with less than perfect results than I am in ugly mishits that luckily have good results.
[/quote]

Do you realize you are arguing against what you said in the other thread about players clubs vs. GI clubs?

IOW, if you are using a GI club, and get a good result on less than perfect contact, it sounds like you would still want to improve your technique.
[/quote]

I'm not sure I follow. In this thread I am saying that a good result from a bad hit (using GI clubs) was frustrating to me. If I was happy with the GIR from a mishit using GIs then I'd be contradicting myself.

[Joey76]

yep... I will take a round where I feel im hitting great but make a higher score than a round where I have hit a feww lucky shots and made a great score.


If Im hitting it badly but still make a good score then I know it was partly luck... If Im strikingthe ball well then I know Im on the right path.


I have been hitting 80% shots recently and really happy with the contact.... I have taken my ego out of play and its become really helpful...When we are younger its all about distance distance distance.... now I prefer to hit a 6 instead of a 7 and take out the force...I still have the distance should I nee to hit one but my game has imroved trying to make a solid 80% swing

[tommy89]

Until you understand golf is about getting the ball in the hole, you'll never improve. I've been where you are. Trust me, i used to spend ages getting my swing to well above average and it is. HOWEVER 90% of my time is spent practicing 100 yards and in and putting. I haven't got trophies for great ball striking, they're for shooting a good score.

I won a 2 day comp which imo i completly hacked the ball around.

Work on great ball striking of course. Just don't stand on the first tee thinking about spine angle or AOA. Grip it, and rip it!

In the words of tin cup "perfection is unobtainable'

Your welcome

[Eag1e]

When I'm practicing I'm an intensive perfectionist. Why bother practicing if I'm not focusing on doing exactly what I need to do?

When playing I make a conscious effort to remove myself from perfectionism as far as possible. If I'm hitting it bad, I'll leave it to the range/on-course practice to work on that - if I hit it awful and end up on the green, that'll make me smile because, hey, I got away with one. Same if I duff a drive and it ends up 240 down the center - hit it awful, sure, but the only penalty is hitting a 6 iron instead of a 9 iron. (Though this is slightly more frustrating if you end up having to hit a choked down 3-wood instead of a 3 iron because you hit that duff on a long, into the wind par 4... that's happened to me) Could've been worse - count your blessings and divert your attention to trying to stick the 6 iron.

[tommy89]

This ^^^^^^^^^^^

[Hogan1975]

@ [quote name='tommy89' timestamp='1365772203' post='6818133']
Until you understand golf is about getting the ball in the hole, you'll never improve. I've been where you are. Trust me, i used to spend ages getting my swing to well above average and it is. HOWEVER 90% of my time is spent practicing 100 yards and in and putting. I haven't got trophies for great ball striking, they're for shooting a good score.

I won a 2 day comp which imo i completly hacked the ball around.

Work on great ball striking of course. Just don't stand on the first tee thinking about spine angle or AOA. Grip it, and rip it!

In the words of tin cup "perfection is unobtainable'

Your welcome
[/quote]

@ tommy..tgm is a big culprit of over thinking at times.. I been down that road.. Great system..but can't score a darn thinking this way

Good post

[UberDave223]

[quote name='Eag1e' timestamp='1365772213' post='6818135']
When I'm practicing I'm an intensive perfectionist. Why bother practicing if I'm not focusing on doing exactly what I need to do?

When playing I make a conscious effort to remove myself from perfectionism as far as possible. If I'm hitting it bad, I'll leave it to the range/on-course practice to work on that - if I hit it awful and end up on the green, that'll make me smile because, hey, I got away with one. Same if I duff a drive and it ends up 240 down the center - hit it awful, sure, but the only penalty is hitting a 6 iron instead of a 9 iron. (Though this is slightly more frustrating if you end up having to hit a choked down 3-wood instead of a 3 iron because you hit that duff on a long, into the wind par 4... that's happened to me) Could've been worse - count your blessings and divert your attention to trying to stick the 6 iron.
[/quote]

^ This this this! Those of you being too perfectionist on the course, how well are you shooting? Are you single digit handicaps? I would posit that you will shoot better scores if you take the view of perfectionism while practicing, but then just PLAY golf on the course, and your objective should be a shot at a time and SCORING LOW. Especially if you play competition, would you rather WIN, or "feel good"?

[Hogan1975]

@ über dave

Some of the best I played with in local events had some of the weirdest swings..but man could they score. They would clean 99% percent of our wallets on here

[TheCityGame]

Love [b]Eag1e[/b]'s post.

You get enough bad breaks on good shots. Don't beat yourself up about getting good breaks on bad shots.

Bob Rotella wrote a book called "Golf is Not A Game of Perfect" which [b]tatertot[/b] referenced upthread. It's not as good as his putting book, but it's good.

[tembolo1284]

on a scale from 1-10...i'm an 11.

BUT....you also have to be realistic in golf. And if a guy like Hogan said he only hit one perfect shot a round...for me it's 1 perfect shot a month.

[Hogan1975]

[quote name='tembolo1284' timestamp='1365778528' post='6819179']
on a scale from 1-10...i'm an 11.

BUT....you also have to be realistic in golf. And if a guy like Hogan said he only hit one perfect shot a round...for me it's 1 perfect shot a month.
[/quote]



I like that.. Good post

[mikes919]

If I skull every shot and break 80 doing it, I'll be practicing skulls at the range the next day.

[PingG10guy]

[quote name='tembolo1284' timestamp='1365778528' post='6819179']
on a scale from 1-10...i'm an 11.

BUT....you also have to be realistic in golf. And if a guy like Hogan said he only hit one perfect shot a round...for me it's 1 perfect shot a month.
[/quote]

Realistic. Perfect word for it.

[UberDave223]

[quote name='Chris Peterich' timestamp='1365775683' post='6818683']
@ über dave

Some of the best I played with in local events had some of the weirdest swings..but man could they score. They would clean 99% percent of our wallets on here
[/quote]

Hah so true! I played a round with a gentleman at my home course - he limped, had super old clubs, was wheezing (I literally thought he was going to die on the second hole and I would have to call an ambulance) the whole time, and had the oddest swing I have seen in a while (really short, kind of a furyk loop, and really jerky motion). We played a penny a hole and although I won 2 cents (literally, he made sure to give me 2 pennies at the end), I had to have one of my best 9 holes to beat him (I shot 1 over par) even that much and it was just ridiculous watching him from 150 and in. If he missed the green, up and down for par, if he hit the green, 1 or 2 putts. Every time. Was ridiculous. Glad I didn't play him for actual money because I can guarantee with more actual pressure on the line he would have cleaned me out!