Do you tell yourself the big lie?

[Javs]

I found this article very interesting. We all want to play better. Many of us expect to play well. However, how many times after we blow a round do we try to justify in our heads that it should have been 5 to 8 shots lower? I think if we acknowledge our real games we can actually play better golf. What say you? Do you agree with this article?

https://pluggedingolf.com/the-biggest-lie-in-golf/

[Cfhandyman]

2 hours ago, Javs said:

I found this article very interesting. We all want to play better. Many of us expect to play well. However, how many times after we blow a round do we try to justify in our heads that it should have been 5 to 8 shots lower? I think if we acknowledge our real games we can actually play better golf. What say you? Do you agree with this article?

https://pluggedingolf.com/the-biggest-lie-in-golf/

Javs, lots of truth to the article. Half the battle is knowing your data.  Hence, I use Arccos to help identify my strengths, weaknesses and my distances.  The other half of the battle is course management and playing within yourself. I still remember one of my coaches advice. Avoid the hero shot where you have a 10-20% chance of success and instead hit the smart shot, the shot you can make 8 times out of ten. That may mean playing for bogey, but takes the big number (double or worse) off the table.

[Erin B]

1 hour ago, Cfhandyman said:

Javs, lots of truth to the article. Half the battle is knowing your data.  Hence, I use Arccos to help identify my strengths, weaknesses and my distances.  The other half of the battle is course management and playing within yourself. I still remember one of my coaches advice. Avoid the hero shot where you have a 10-20% chance of success and instead hit the smart shot, the shot you can make 8 times out of ten. That may mean playing for bogey, but takes the big number (double or worse) off the table.

I’ve been working on the exact things you talk about. No hero shots, course management, play within my capabilities. Thanks for the reminder!

[Javs]

2 hours ago, Cfhandyman said:

Javs, lots of truth to the article. Half the battle is knowing your data.  Hence, I use Arccos to help identify my strengths, weaknesses and my distances.  The other half of the battle is course management and playing within yourself. I still remember one of my coaches advice. Avoid the hero shot where you have a 10-20% chance of success and instead hit the smart shot, the shot you can make 8 times out of ten. That may mean playing for bogey, but takes the big number (double or worse) off the table.

100 percent agree. Plus if you hit the shot, then accept it and move on. 

[Josh Parker]

Good article and think a lot of it is true.  I think you can reflect on a round and see what you messed up or missed a simple shot that on a "normal" day you execute 9 out of 10 times. It's about being realistic with your game and yourself. Being willing to work on the weaker areas of your game to improve. 

[PPP]

I definitely notice a difference between negative and positive self talk regardless of the shot. Learning how to accept the shot and its circumstances helps focus on getting yourself back into play and what’s done is done. Move on 

[RetiredBoomer]

31 minutes ago, PPP said:

I definitely notice a difference between negative and positive self talk regardless of the shot. Learning how to accept the shot and its circumstances helps focus on getting yourself back into play and what’s done is done. Move on 

I totally agree. 
If only it were possible to do.

[PPP]

There’s a great book by Shad Helmstetter 

 

What to say when you talk to yourself 

 

it’s not based on golf but personal development 

[Javs]

5 minutes ago, PPP said:

There’s a great book by Shad Helmstetter 

 

What to say when you talk to yourself 

 

it’s not based on golf but personal development 

Thanks for sharing!

[PPP]

Just now, Javs said:

Thanks for sharing!

You’re welcome! 

[Steve F]

Excellent article @Javs, and very much true. I have always said (heard it somewhere and can't agree with it more...) my biggest issue isn't with the possibility of the 271 yard drive (my longest to date), it's with the 6 inches between my ears. While I've only been playing a short period of time, I've come to realize my strengths and weaknesses, practice to decrease the possibility of the weaknesses cropping up, but accept what happens and play on from there. Like the article said: If I hit one thin, I give myself that wry smile, find the ball and play on! 

Thank you for sharing and bolstering what I'm trying to do! 

[cksurfdude]

Yep read that article (get his newsletters) and yep do agree that expectations management is a key part of the game!

Be aware of what you realistically can .. and cannot .. pull off on the course at your current level. Accept the outcome .. good or bad .. and then try to learn from both good and bad shots... Put it all into the mental data bank for future use.

 

[Shrek74]

16 hours ago, Javs said:

I found this article very interesting. We all want to play better. Many of us expect to play well. However, how many times after we blow a round do we try to justify in our heads that it should have been 5 to 8 shots lower? I think if we acknowledge our real games we can actually play better golf. What say you? Do you agree with this article?

https://pluggedingolf.com/the-biggest-lie-in-golf/

I read this yesterday when I got their morning email. It's so true. I hear it from others I've played with in the past and I'll admit I've made the comment more than a few times over the years. Now it's more of a "I need to stop the 7's and snowman holes" than "I'm better than that." This article just reiterates that we are what we score, that day. Can we do better? Sure. Can we do worse? Yup. But we are what our score says we are.

[Hacker60521]

@Javs thanks for sharing this. It’s a nice reminder that we’re all human and can make mistakes. How you respond to the mistake says a lot about your character. I really don’t understand players that get really angry when they don’t hole a 15 footer, miss an approach shot from 180, etc.

 

The life lesson here is “The full grown version of The Lie is the player who says, “Well, I shot 94, but…” and then explains how they actually shot 85.  It shows a detachment from reality that won’t help them improve”. This goes beyond golf. I’ve always been reluctant to hire or work with people who are always the victim or blame others for their failings.

[Javs]

2 hours ago, Steve F said:

Excellent article @Javs, and very much true. I have always said (heard it somewhere and can't agree with it more...) my biggest issue isn't with the possibility of the 271 yard drive (my longest to date), it's with the 6 inches between my ears. While I've only been playing a short period of time, I've come to realize my strengths and weaknesses, practice to decrease the possibility of the weaknesses cropping up, but accept what happens and play on from there. Like the article said: If I hit one thin, I give myself that wry smile, find the ball and play on! 

Thank you for sharing and bolstering what I'm trying to do! 

Glad it helps! I like sharing these type of articles!

[Javs]

7 minutes ago, Hacker60521 said:

@Javs thanks for sharing this. It’s a nice reminder that we’re all human and can make mistakes. How you respond to the mistake says a lot about your character. I really don’t understand players that get really angry when they don’t hole a 15 footer, miss an approach shot from 180, etc.

 

The life lesson here is “The full grown version of The Lie is the player who says, “Well, I shot 94, but…” and then explains how they actually shot 85.  It shows a detachment from reality that won’t help them improve”. This goes beyond golf. I’ve always been reluctant to hire or work with people who are always the victim or blame others for their failings.

My Dad always told me that if you want to know a persons true character play a round of golf with them. 

[Nick_Chilelli]

A long time ago, I transitioned the “I’m better than that” thought into “I’m smarter than that”. What that’s taught me, is to be a lot more calculated with my decisions of when to attack a shot with high risk, and when to accept my medicine with a safe shot. This isn’t to say that I no longer attack a shot with a lower probability of success, but I choose to do it when there is an acceptable miss. It’s also a much different mindset when playing a competitive round, versus a day on the course with buddies. A lot of folks want to go on the course and have a good time, but then get down on themselves when they aren’t scoring. Showing off in front of your friends always makes you smile, but you have to also accept that most of the time the shot you’re attempting isn’t going to work out in your favor if you have to make the perfect swing for it to happen. Taking a thoughtful approach to scoring will almost always produce better results, it may not be the flashiest round of your life, but if you’re shooting lower scores, then who cares?

[Shrek74]

14 hours ago, Cfhandyman said:

Javs, lots of truth to the article. Half the battle is knowing your data.  Hence, I use Arccos to help identify my strengths, weaknesses and my distances.  The other half of the battle is course management and playing within yourself. I still remember one of my coaches advice. Avoid the hero shot where you have a 10-20% chance of success and instead hit the smart shot, the shot you can make 8 times out of ten. That may mean playing for bogey, but takes the big number (double or worse) off the table.

I use Shot Scope (although considering a change to Arccos with the free sensors I have) for my data and know most of my faults at this point.

I agree about the hero shot. I used to always try it when I was younger (and dumber). I've learned that if I find myself in the trees, just get out the best way possible and move on. Don't turn a bogey into a double trying a dumb shot. I've tried really hard to play smarter golf the last couple of years - no hero shots, club up more, etc. Now to fix my iron swing and I'll be good.

[DashingDane]

Lots of truths in that article. I think everyone has a tendency to think about what they could have scored "if only" but what you do with it is what matters. You can either get down on yourself and let it effect your game or have it become a motivation. I tend to go through every hole on Arccos after I play and I actually think it gets me hyped to go play again. Mentally, I find it encouraging to see how "easily" I could have improved my score if I only [insert improve course management, focus on a duffed shot etc.] I've found that if you shift your thinking and have it be a positive, it can be quite powerful.

[KC Golf]

18 hours ago, Cfhandyman said:

Javs, lots of truth to the article. Half the battle is knowing your data.  Hence, I use Arccos to help identify my strengths, weaknesses and my distances.  The other half of the battle is course management and playing within yourself. I still remember one of my coaches advice. Avoid the hero shot where you have a 10-20% chance of success and instead hit the smart shot, the shot you can make 8 times out of ten. That may mean playing for bogey, but takes the big number (double or worse) off the table.

I agree with you, Arccos has been a game changer for me.  It tells you what’s good and what’s bad about your game on a timely basis.  

Like the article says you can’t take this game too seriously.  But forgetting the bad is hard to do.  I find with golf there are great days when the bounces go your way or there are bad days when even good shots don’t get rewarded for one reason or the other.  

You just have to accept the good and the bad…  golf is a hard game no matter how good you think you are…

[Javs]

35 minutes ago, KC Golf said:

I agree with you, Arccos has been a game changer for me.  It tells you what’s good and what’s bad about your game on a timely basis.  

Like the article says you can’t take this game too seriously.  But forgetting the bad is hard to do.  I find with golf there are great days when the bounces go your way or there are bad days when even good shots don’t get rewarded for one reason or the other.  

You just have to accept the good and the bad…  golf is a hard game no matter how good you think you are…

I have not used Arccos and may have to look into it more. I agree forgetting the bad at times is extremely hard. I have shot 63 and I have shot 88. Same guy just a mental breakdown. Hit one hozel rocket and you can turn into a basket of emotion. It’s hard to say is just one bad swing move on. Then you get down on yourself and find you don’t even want to be there. Next thing you blew the day and have nightmares that you lost your swing. The best days are when I can fight past a bad swing. Play each shot as they come and post a good score on a day that I had to battle. Occasionally, that good guy shows up and the game seems easy again. Love those days!

[KC Golf]

1 hour ago, Javs said:

I have not used Arccos and may have to look into it more. I agree forgetting the bad at times is extremely hard. I have shot 63 and I have shot 88. Same guy just a mental breakdown. Hit one hozel rocket and you can turn into a basket of emotion. It’s hard to say is just one bad swing move on. Then you get down on yourself and find you don’t even want to be there. Next thing you blew the day and have nightmares that you lost your swing. The best days are when I can fight past a bad swing. Play each shot as they come and post a good score on a day that I had to battle. Occasionally, that good guy shows up and the game seems easy again. Love those days!

I think the days when you don’t have the best stuff and you are able to grind it out shot by shot to post something decent is the best feeling. In many ways it’s better than the days where almost everything is just running on all cylinders. Golf is so addictive and the struggle is always real.

[Overspark07]

Good article! A few things that came to mind as I was reading:

1. I find myself doing this a lot, especially around the greens, which really wasn't the focus of the article but I say the same words. For some reason, I tend to look at getting to the green as the "hard part" and therefore get a little dismissive about the 3 strokes it takes to get in from 50ft.
2. I especially liked the quote you are aiming your whole shot pattern. Two things I've heard recently about this
   1. An observation that amateurs tend to come up short on their approach distances because that one time... The suggestion was to use center of green yardages for front hole locations and back of green yardages for center/back locations, but now that I think about it that might just be treating the big lie symptom
   2. For those that aren't using something like Arccos, I heard the idea of "Aimpoint from the fairway", which is to get an understanding of your left/right dispersion compared to the target line and represent that in "number of fingers left/right" of the target line.

[fixyurdivot]

Yup, good article.  That said, I don't necessarily buy into you are lying to yourself when saying "I'm better than that".  If you do so on a regular basis then yes, but when you infrequently take some risk that does not work out, I see it as more of a "note to self" that the less risky option is, more often than not, the better play.

Most all of us have played in team formats where taking a higher risk shot makes sense.  Or, when you are chasing, running out of holes, and need to make up strokes.  My focus is making as many 'F' and 'G' annotations on my scorecard. The more FIR's and GIR's the lower the score - in most cases.

One thing I've done much better than years past is quickly forgetting a bad shot or hole.  I'll call myself a dumbass but then just re-focus and get back to business. This is probably because I'm playing way more golf than at anytime in my life... and I'd wear myself out scolding myself .

[cnosil]

1 hour ago, Overspark07 said:

An observation that amateurs tend to come up short on their approach distances because that one time... The suggestion was to use center of green yardages for front hole locations and back of green yardages for center/back locations, but now that I think about it that might just be treating the big lie symptom

Why is that treating the symptom?   This is simply a "smarter" strategy to play holes.  If you are hitting poor shots (fat/thin) then that is one problem.  If you hit decent shots and still think you should have shot better then  I think the biggest way to avoid the big lie is to optimize your mental game and course management since that is your weak area.

 

59 minutes ago, fixyurdivot said:

Yup, good article.  That said, I don't necessarily buy into you are lying to yourself when saying "I'm better than that".  If you do so on a regular basis then yes, but when you infrequently take some risk that does not work out, I see it as more of a "note to self" that the less risky option is, more often than not, the better play.

Shots don't always work out,  but I don't see that as the point of the article.  If you are saying after rounds I should have 4 , 5, or more shots better then you are living the big lie.  As mentioned above that is mental or course strategy issues.  

[Overspark07]

1 hour ago, cnosil said:

Why is that treating the symptom?   This is simply a "smarter" strategy to play holes.

I agree that it is a strategy that has good merit, one which I've used and seen success with. I think my tendency, particularly as relates to distances, is to consider what my best is with any given club. The reality for me at the moment is that my best might be as much as 10-15 yards over average. By picking an alternative further target, I might still be applying the same poor calculation of using my best distances, but it's caused me to club up and I've now fitted the flag target closer to my average shot. It's a tactic that works, but personally, I'd like to correct my reasoning about targeting in the first place.

[MCMSR]

Accept what you do — good, bad, indifferent. Hit the ball, find it, do it again … You are what the score is — No what ‘if’ or ‘had I done this (that)’  — I’ve found that taking ‘club up to back of green’ has been the best advice/recommendation/suggestion to higher GIR & lower scores. 

[cnosil]

39 minutes ago, Overspark07 said:

The reality for me at the moment is that my best might be as much as 10-15 yards over average. 

Dispersion depths can be deep:  https://hackmotion.com/shot-dispersion-in-golf/    Best to pick the middle and know that some will be short and some will be long.  

 

[fixyurdivot]

On 8/2/2024 at 3:18 PM, cnosil said:

Shots don't always work out,  but I don't see that as the point of the article.  If you are saying after rounds I should have 4 , 5, or more shots better then you are living the big lie.  As mentioned above that is mental or course strategy issues.  

You missed my point.

We just played an individual quota & skins in men's league Wednesday.  I took several more risky shots than I otherwise would have knowing that only a natural birdie or net eagle would win particular holes.  That's the downside to Golf Genius and a live leaderboard . A couple of them did not pay off and both cost me a stroke.

In situations like this, one is not lying to themselves saying their score would likely have been better not taking on the risky shots.  As with so many things, the article is not a universal truth.

[Middler]

I've learned not to. Although I may give away a few shots in almost every round, I also know that I make a couple long putts, great up and downs and/or better than expected recovery "hero" shots in almost every round too - it all comes to a wash most days. I keep more data than anyone I play with and work on those shortcomings, but I don't dwell on how I played after a round for more than a minute. There's no point IME. Every time I tee it up on #1, anything can happen, no matter what I shot in prior rounds.

But I will say I am amazed at the range of scores I turn in. I should be more consistent, but never have been...

Edited August 8 by Middler