Dec
22
2008

Your Most Dreaded Shot

Posted by Double Eagle in Mental Game

I got to thinking the other day that golf presents a lot of challenges that can cause some anxiety, fear, nervousness, dread, and any other negative emotion that might apply.

Certainly, a good mental approach is to train our minds to not be results-oriented and to play one shot at a time and to stay in the moment and all that.  Let’s be realistic, though.  If we amateurs were good at that, we’d play a lot better than we do.

Every player has individual strengths and weaknesses.  Better players have fewer weaknesses and the weaknesses that they do have are not as severe. Less skilled players might have huge holes in their games to the degree that they simply cannot play certain shots.

I’m fascinated to know what your most dreaded shot is.  In fact, I’ve changed up the poll in the sidebar so I can get a tabulation.  If you don’t see your most dreaded shot listed, then leave a comment here or e-mail me and I’ll add it to the poll.

I know for me, right now, my most dreaded shot is anything with my 2-iron.  Everyone tells me to get a hybrid because amateurs can’t hit long irons.  Well, this amateur can hit long irons.  I didn’t have this problem before I started monkeying with my swing.

My 2-iron was like a precision instrument.  I could easily hit it 240 yards, sometimes more.  I could turn it either direction or hit it straight as a laser beam.  I could hit it nice and high.  I could hit it with confidence on a tight driving hole.

Now, half the time I either smother it or top it.  The other half of the time, I clunk it forward somewhere, usually way, way short of what I used to hit it.  I barely pull it out of my bag anymore and when I do, I find it difficult to suppress the dread that I feel.

When I start working with my pro again in the spring, I’m going to make it a priority.  I might switch to a hybrid this year, but not before I can hit that two iron again.  Does that make sense?  No.  But it’s the principle of it.

So which shot do you dread the most?  Again, take the poll in the sidebar and if your dreaded shot isn’t there, let me know and I’ll add it.

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There are currently 5 responses to “Your Most Dreaded Shot”

  1. 1

    Bruce > The Big Desk said:

    You still use a 2 iron? My 2-iron is in the forest (in 2 pieces) at Hemmingford!
    Bad clubs usually depend on the day but the one I get most frustration with is my sand wedge. When I was younger I used it everywhere and got good at it, became my all-purpose, go-to club. I get frustrated now when I have an off day with my wedge because my expectations remain high with it even though I don’t play nearly as often as I used to. (and frequency is need for great touch).

    Posted on December 22nd, 2008 at 4:28 pm

  2. 2

    Mal said:

    My dreaded shot isn’t so much the type of shot on the day but more the club that I use. It use to be my 3 wood but since changing my swing to become more accurate and consistent with my irons it’s not my driver. Whereas I use to be ultra reliable with my driver I now only pull it out on ultra wide fairways.

    Thankfully my 3 wood will take my 255 yards so not being able to use my driver isn’t really a problem when scoring – in fact, I score better when I leave it in the bag. But as you mentioned, it’s the principle of it, so I continue to persist with it.

    Posted on December 22nd, 2008 at 4:54 pm

  3. 3

    LadyGolfer said:

    I have 2. Downhill chip with a downhill lie to a close cut pin. 50-75 yard wedge shot over water.

    Posted on December 23rd, 2008 at 11:32 am

  4. 4

    Andy Brown of GolfSwingSecretsRevealed.com said:

    Its not about the shot I think, it is more about the situation. Golf is undoubtedly the toughest game when it comes to discussing the mental side of various sports. For starters, in no other game will a player who has a comfortable lead on the final stretch mess it up as gloriously as a player can in golf. The history of the game is littered with many such instances of players frittering away a dominant position when it comes to battling it out with the nerves on the finishing holes.

    The game could leave you distraught, frustrated and wondering what else you have to do to achieve a win. At the same time, there probably is no other game, which gives you more satisfaction for a win than golf. While all other sports are high on adrenalin, this is one sport that will drain all the strength from you in the end purely because of the mental anxiety it causes. The only other sport I can think of is chess, but many argue that is not even a sport. Recently at a tournament, after the players endured a grueling 36-hole playoff in the finals, the eventual runner-up could not believe his luck after he saw his opponent’s ball chipped in from the bunker wall, finding its way to the bottom of the cup, leaving his four-foot par putt inconsequential and what should have been a tournament win turned out to be a disappointing loss. Such is the power of the sport.

    Play well.

    Andy Brown
    GolfSwingSecretsRevealed.com

    Posted on December 28th, 2008 at 9:05 am

  5. 5

    Ajay said:

    Hello Mike.

    My most dreaded shot is the Drive. I learned with a 7 iron, so most of my iron shots are decent. Unfortunately our instructor never went into wedge shots, putting, driving etc. He taught us the basic swing.

    Hopefully, I will get to work more on my drives, in Spring :)

    Ajay
    PS: Thanks for answering my email. Sorry I never got around to officially replying to your response. I really do appreciate your taking the time out to email me.

    Posted on December 31st, 2008 at 2:25 pm

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