brianf40us

I have been playing now for 2 years and i believe i am progressing quickly and striking the ball very well (i have like 3 or 4 bad shots where i will hit it fat or top it each round but is much better than what i was doing a year ago)

My question is when i have my ball in the fairway or in the ruff i will pick it up sometimes and get a good lie, i do this becasue i believe that i should get more confidence and by trying to hit a ball that i cant hit is just stupid. So should i feel bad about this or should i do this until i can hit every shot crisp and clean.

Golfbum

lefecious

What you're doing is basically cheating. The reason I don't cheat is because even though it will hurt my score now, I will be able to get an accurate picture of my improvement as I progress.

If you continue to move the ball to an easier lie, then your score will be artificially made lower. In the future you may get better and stop cheating, and your score will be the same or even worse.

Foster4

In a tournament yes its cheating, Playing for fun no ..To me its just an enjoyment thing and your trying to enjoy golf. I don't improve my lie unless it just like hard pan with rocks all around or w/e or something that should be marked as unplayable lie but isn't cuz the course is just lazy to do so b/c its not a tournament day i will move it ..But by moving the ball your cheating yourself. I know you want to see that good score on your card but when or if you ever play in a real tournament and see your score go up 5-10 shots you will be dissappointed and your basically just Cheating yourself when you do this..Its really good practice to hit from every lie no matter how bad it is.

brianf40us

ok thanks guys i totally understand what everyone is saying and will start playing every lie, but one question if you are in deep grass and need to play a 3 or 4 iron is it possible to play those irons or should you take a more lofted club like a 6 or 7 to get out of the bad lie, and also when i do play a lie that is deep i usually wind up hitting it fat or slicing it is this because i am not turning my wrists over enough (the slicing problem) and the reason i cannot turn my wrists is because the grass is grabbing my club. hope you guys know what i mean. thanks guys.

Foster4

how deep we talking...most courses the avg player plays isn't that deep or demanding..So must public courses you could get away with the 3 and 4 iron out of rough.. ON a course where they want the rough to be in play will make it thicker and longer so a 3 and 4 iron won't be in play ...So yes on a tuff course with thick and long rough you'll have to take less club and from there its about trying to run it up or position yourself to best save par.

300Yards

Agreed! ^^ If you get yourself into a bad enogh position, sometimes getting in on the green is an impossibility.(Or close to it..) So what I usually do, is try to hit like a half stinger, and try to run it up the fairway as far as I can. I say half stinger, cause a full one will hurt your wrists from the rough.. To avoid those rough grass club hangups, be sure to fully rotate your right arm over your left, and hold that position as long as you can.

gfl

I've a question here.
If my ball lie between the water edge and the fairway at the left side, and I can’t stand on the water to hit it. Can I drop the ball on the fairway? any penalty ?

Foster4

yes ...can take an unplayable at the cost of 1 stroke and move the ball 2 club links as long as its not in the hazard

tkessel

I think you and I are nearly in the same boat, so here is my opinion.

I've been playing for about a year, after a 40 year lay-off. And, I was terrible when I stopped, 40 years ago, too.

Anyhow, I agree with most that you need to learn to play from the difficult lies you get into. Sometimes I've found that by improving my distance on my shots, I just hit further into trouble!
But I do enjoy the "challenge" of getting out of trouble, or hitting out of a really difficult lie.

But I also agree with you that you need to get more confidence. If the ball is really unplayable, it is better to take a drop and one shot penalty than to try to hit it and make a bad shot.

Here is my variation on "cheating." I am golfing for fun, but the scoring does matter to me, too.

When I started, a year ago, I would score about 115-120, and take 10-15 Mulligans to do it. Now, I score between 100 and 110, and take 3-6 Mulligans to do that. In other words, if I take a Mulligan, I note it on my score card. As I work on my game, I don't want to just lower the score, but lower the Mulligans I take until I don't take them anymore.

Sometimes, I've just got to take that Mulligan. For example, if I miss an easy 45 yard pitch shot, and top it 10 yards, or send it off 30 yards to the right (usually behind three trees ), it makes sense to me to take a Mulligan and note it on my scorecard. What I want to do is, RIGHT THEN (as opposed to two days later at the range), make myself take that shot again, and do it right, to get me confident that I really can and should make that shot.

BTW, I have really gotten good at punch shots from under and behind the trees!

__________________
Ted Kessel in Columbus, OH
Ping G5 12deg driver (currently only used at the range!),
Ping G5 3 Wood,
Ping Rapture 18 deg., 21 deg., 24 deg. hybrids,
4-PW Rapture Irons. Ping Eye Sandwedge.
Ping Ug-Le Putter.