Not every time will set you up for success. Some days, the game feels right against you and there is nothing you can do about it. Here are 10 reasons every golfer knows all too well. How many are you connecting to?
The ball hits the path of the cart and throws out of bounds
Take a solid hit and it takes a bad bounce off the cart path and it disappears. There was nothing wrong with the swing, maybe the shot was just a little offline, but an unfortunate jump turns a good shot into a penalty shot. Sometimes the cart path pays off in other ways; there’s still that 300-yard drive that broke its last 100 yards down the stretch.
The perfect guide in a cool divot
You walk in expecting an easy short iron into the green and your ball is sitting dead center of the fairway in a patch of dirt. You did everything right and you got punished anyway. Some say this is a golf rule that needs to be changed.
Connect in a bunker footprint
Landing in the sand is bad enough. Then find your ball sitting in someone’s footprint. While there are ways to play this shot, it is unfair that you have.
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Hardpan or just lies
No grass, no cushion, just dirt and a ball that you have to clean. If you are not great at low point control, you will struggle with these types of lies. It is also difficult to predict what the ball will do when it is hit by hardpan or bare lies. Practice some punches to get out of these situations.
Aerated greens
You show enthusiasm to play and the greens are covered with holes and sand. Putts bounce and wobble and there is no real way to read them. Some courses are great about communicating their schedule, but others are worried that you’ll cancel your tee time so you keep it quiet.
Bunkers soaked or inconsistent
Some days the sand is rock hard and the ball slides. After a storm, it is wet and heavy, and sometimes you have both conditions in the same bunker. If you’ve ever played a course that was recently renovated or is brand new, sometimes the sand is so soft that your ball disappears. The key to great bunkers is some consistency. If all are similar, you can at least adjust your game for that day.
Water remains in the fairway
This happened to me recently. My home course is a little wet right now because it has been a little over the winter months and the seed grows best when it is kept wet. I hit a great drive and my ball was in standing water in the fairway. I had a free drop but my shoes were wet and muddy and the nearest relief point gave me a completely different line in the hole.
Rain and lightning
We can’t control the weather and sometimes we can’t even plan around it. Another scenario I remember is when the siren goes off because the lightning is near, but it hasn’t started raining yet (and it might not). Those pop-up storms in the southern United States can make a shift during the late afternoon in the summer. A little rain never bothers me, but the lighting alarm absolutely does.
Late afternoon bumpy greens
You read the putt perfectly, the shot perfectly, and jump offline on a spike mark or a patch left by a full day of foot traffic. I play golf a lot in the afternoon and there is not much I can do to avoid this. I just try to focus on the fact that I made a good shot and hope that the course gives me back with a good bounce on the next hole.
The slow group that never comes back
Get the group in front and they end up waiting for every shot as they take practice swings and never turn around to see who is behind them. If there is space in front of you and you don’t look back, it’s not right. Take time if you need it, but be aware of others.
What was I missing? Let me know in the comments.
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