Biggest Mistake Average Golfers Make?

[DaveP043]

45 minutes ago, ncwoz said:

A buddy of mine I play with looks at me like I'm insane every time I take an iron off the tee. And almost every time, I'm in or near the fairway, only 150ish out, and he's looking for his ball in the woods or taking a drop. I've tried telling him so many times that driver isn't the right club off every tee, but it hasn't clicked with him yet.

If he's in the trees "almost every time", driver is never the right choice, unless he'd be in the trees with an iron too.  I'd rather be closer to the green in the woods instead of far from the green in the woods.  Knowing how to hit a driver moderately well is one of the most important skills a beginning golfer can develop.

[ncwoz]

1 hour ago, DaveP043 said:

If he's in the trees "almost every time", driver is never the right choice, unless he'd be in the trees with an iron too.  I'd rather be closer to the green in the woods instead of far from the green in the woods.  Knowing how to hit a driver moderately well is one of the most important skills a beginning golfer can develop.

I'm definitely known for some occasional embellishment, but unfortunately in this case I'm not. Particularly on holes narrow enough where I'm taking an iron, he's probably in trouble +75% of the time

[DaveP043]

58 minutes ago, ncwoz said:

I'm definitely known for some occasional embellishment, but unfortunately in this case I'm not. Particularly on holes narrow enough where I'm taking an iron, he's probably in trouble +75% of the time

Then I'll add another mistake average golfers make, NOT learning how to hit a driver in play.  

[Buffly]

3 hours ago, cnosil said:

Just add a stroke penalty to his score per rule 10.2 every time he asks.

But like you I have hit knockdowns and partial shots to throw my friends off.

We never play for money or competition style so adding penalties wouldn't affect anything. And, he says he doesn't keep score but, he is the first one to point out if he beat me on a hole - I just ignore it. 

[DiscipleofPenick]

Buying $300 a month in new clubs, trying to find their game, when 3 lessons for $100 would drop 10 strokes.
Buying a low-loft driver, and xstiff upgrade shaft, without even thinking about getting a fitting.
Playing from the correct tees.
At some of the courses, the blues are 20-30 yards longer same obstacles.
 
At others the blues can add 40+ yards and\ or other obstacles ( trees, curve, not able to carry over water).
 

I worked for Dick's Sporting Goods when TM was pumping out 5 drivers a year. No idea how many times a guy would walk up to me with a driver and say I want this. I would ask him what shaft and loft. Cue deer in headlights look and they would ask "you mean there's options???"

Take Dead Aim

[Jackal]

1 hour ago, Tsmithjr9 said:

I worked for Dick's Sporting Goods when TM was pumping out 5 drivers a year. No idea how many times a guy would walk up to me with a driver and say I want this. I would ask him what shaft and loft. Cue deer in headlights look and they would ask "you mean there's options???"

Take Dead Aim
 

Man, that is sad\ crazy.

We have a local store called The Golf Nut.

The owner won't sell you a club, unless you hit it on a simulator first.

He has a hard time when wives and girlfriends want to buy a club for someone.

It's a lot easier to fit a club,  than try to make it work after purchase.

He is a pretty good guy.

He mentions the situation you described a lot.

[SmoothG]

I'm surprised by how many people have no plan.  Especially when playing 2-man scrambles with buddies.  They just "blast off", find it and smack it again.  No concerns for what line to take off the tee, where the proper place to miss the green is, or where your up & down is dead.  

[SlowNLow]

In the beginning of our golfing experiences, we were all lousy imitators.   We had this imagery of how pros play from TV or media, and what we first came up on our own was not even close.  Like Bill and Ted jamming with the babes. 

Learning to walk was a little easier.  Wasn't it?

[Ath219]

Not getting lessons early on and developing bad habits that have to be fixed

[LeftyMatt89]

Not spending enough time in short game practice area working on chipping and putting. So many strokes can be saved there and I think people can improve quickly in this area. 

[tony@CIC]

Not spending enough time in short game practice area working on chipping and putting. So many strokes can be saved there and I think people can improve quickly in this area. 

when I go to the range, I see everyone just pounding away with their drivers and 3 woods. Rarely do I see a PW or other wedges coming out of the bag.


Sent from my iPad using MyGolfSpy

[2puttbogey]

On 10/4/2020 at 5:24 AM, Jackal said:

Buying $300 a month in new clubs, trying to find their game, when 3 lessons for $100 would drop 10 strokes.

 

Agree with the spending money on clubs part, and that lessons are a better investment. Three lessons dropping ten strokes is a bit of a stretch though.

[Jackal]

4 hours ago, 2puttbogey said:

Agree with the spending money on clubs part, and that lessons are a better investment. Three lessons dropping ten strokes is a bit of a stretch though.

I was referring to beginners.

When they have an average of 120-125 for 18 holes, lessons for a few months can drop them to a 100-105 real quick.

Usually by the time they get to mid 80s, they realize the strokes are harder to get rid of, and you can't buy a swing.

[Jackal]

When I started playing, there wasn't an internet.

You had to buy magazines, and wait a month for the next tips.

I thought the local players that were really good was because the had the nicest\ most expensive clubs.

Then, I found out from a demo day, those guys buy really nice clubs, because they are THAT good.

[Shapotomous]

13 hours ago, tony@CIC said:

when I go to the range, I see everyone just pounding away with their drivers and 3 woods. Rarely do I see a PW or other wedges coming out of the bag.


Sent from my iPad using MyGolfSpy

I see the same thing.  Unless I am in experimentation mode and trying out a new shaft or driver I only hit about 5 drivers when on the range.  I hit wedges to start and wedges to finish for the warm down and mostly 8 and 5 irons with a few hybrids in between.

[BNewton51]

On 9/29/2020 at 12:54 PM, PurePuttsGolf said:

What do you think is the biggest mistake average golfers make?

I don't think there are wrong answers here, I'm curious what everyone thinks!

I say alignment because of how all the problems that can snowball from poor alignment.

 

From my perspective, there are two very big mistakes that the "average" golfer makes.  And by that I am not associating a handicap to "average", nor an experience factor to be considered. 

First big mistake most average golfers make is they don't get fit for the right equipment for their game.  Ergo, they are not playing to their top potential because the fit between equipment and player is off.  I personally have some friends that fall into this category.  One that comes to mind insists he still plays an X shaft in everything tipped 1 inch.  He's 54 years old.  Now, it's possible that this would fit someone of his age and playing ability (he plays to about a 5) but frequently during any given round he can be seen struggling to square the face and his tempo is all over the map as the round goes on.  No doubt the weight of the clubs are getting to be a bit much for him to handle. 

Secondly, the other biggest mistake most golfers make that I've seen is not knowing their distance.  "We have a 300 yard par 4 trick hole that you can easily drive boys... I'm just gonna carry it on the green."  Never seems to fail that his 240 yard carry distance isn't resulting in 60 yards of run... especially in wet'ish conditions.  We all like to think we smash the ball on par with the pros.  Obviously EGO plays a huge role in that.  BUT, I think you will only play your best golf when you finally become accepting of your own unique reality and play to it.  I find that the more I own what I can and can't do realistically, my scores plummet down towards even par or below.  The moment I get a bit cocky and start trying to do things outside of my skillsets, well you know how that story goes.  So for me, I think that's a tale that we all can see or think about from our golf experiences as a HUGE mistake most golfers make. 

It's a great question and I'm definitely looking forward to reading the responses to this thread.  We can learn a lot from others shared experiences. 

Play well!!