Play a few rounds by feel only?

Who here has played a couple of rounds (or more) recently where you didn’t gauge a single yardage?

Thats right - no sprinkler head pacing, no range finder, no slope calculation - nothing.

Years ago I used to play largely by feel before my jenky home course tagged all the heads. I had markers at 100/150/200/250 and that’s it.

I think I had better feel then - I never asked myself questions like “is this 204 or 209?” or “what’s the carry through the end of the fairway?”

I just hit what felt right or looked right.

Now I try to play more by “feel” at less by exact yardage with some frequency. It makes you think, get in tune with yourself and the conditions as well as forces you to be very confident when you make a club selection.

Anyone else do this? What have been your results?

I play basically every round like this. I do estimate using the markers on the course but I dont pace anything off.

I play off a 0 index

I never shoot yardage's under 100 yards. I'm not good enough to think I can hit a wedge 96 yards.

I always look at it like, does it really matter if I am 163yd or 168yds if it's a relatively center pin? I just take a 165yd club and hit it. I'm not good enough to hit the EXACT yardage so if I'm a little short I have a putt from beneath the hole, and a little long I'm above the hole

It mostly makes no difference

If there is major trouble somewhere I'll adjust a bit and make sure I hit it shorter if I need to.

I'm not sure if I did it would such a big deal - I've played the course I've normally played for around 25 years so really no surprises. If I'm out by myself I don't pull out the rangefinder (but it's hard to miss some of the shrubs that I know are certain distances from the greens from back in the days before they put out some markers, marked a few sprinkler heads) and again, know the course too well. But most of the time I'm checking or someone else will call over the yardage to be helpful even if I don't pull it and I haven't found I play any better or worse with it or without it on my home course.

Totally agree knowing it's around 40 yards or 80 yards or 120 vs. 44, 74 or 126 isn't going to matter that much to me.

Imagine if you actually knew your distances you would be a +2

I would have to be able to actually hit a ball the exact distance I want to. That is the challenging part.

Knowing something is 178yds exact doesn't necessarily help if my shot variance can be 171 to 181. It's just as easy to guesstimate the shot is 175yds . And I can do this for the most part just using the course markers

Hitting exact distances outside with all the variables for an amateur, is next to impossible IMO. So having an approximate is good enough for me

Absolutely no disrespect to Jeff but it's a long way from a 0 to a +2.

There’s some truth to that but you can get pretty dialed in at a 0.

Ive always liked getting a specific number in mind for distance. If I know I have 157 yards and that’s basically stock 9 iron then in my mind I’m trying to hit it 157 yards, standard 9 iron and execute. Do I always hit it the exact number? No. But having that degree of focus on something specific helps me.

Its kind of like picking targets. Saying “hit it in the fairway” just isn’t specific enough for me. I need to aim at a specific tree, edge of a bunker, etc. That way if I miss my target, I’m still probably going to be ok (unless you just hit a really bad shot - which also happens ?)

Going out and playing by feel does help though - clears the mind a bit. Kind of like doing drills on the range where you hit a 5 iron to the 75-100-150-200-225 pins... helps your feel quite a bit.

I'm not just talking distance I am talking height relative to the hole as well, just not the number....

Let's see Jeff plays a new track and he has a range finder, he is going to take all the guess work out especially if there is wind. Hitting into an elevated pin with wind on a new track..... Come on now. Jeff is going to shoot better with the range finder.

If Jeff is a 0 HDCP and he counts them all, then he has more than enough accuracy to benefit.

With the new handicap rules maybe not LOL. I think its 7 of 20 rounds now right?

I just get a couple of great rounds in a 2 week span I might be a +2 next season!

Not that someone struggling to break 100 can't have some real insights into anything related to golf, but come on - your aren't realistic in other threads about your own game, equipment, and on and on.

I'm giving a scratch golfer the benefit of the doubt when it comes to self-awareness and knowing what works for them. Not saying golfers at every level don't have whatever issues they have, but your throwaway comment that someone who is scratch will become a +2 by using a rangefinder (thought you were kidding but obvious you weren't) just isn't made with context or experience that seems relevant. Playing a new course is a different issue than claiming a rangefinder is taking two shots of someone's handicap but if you are playing a lot of strange courses and saving a shot here or there you may see some improvement in your handicap, but rangefinders aren't all that takes the "strange" out of a strange course, not sure it will level out the other differences.

First time playing a new course it will be beneficial for sure , mostly when I'm far away from any markers and it's a true blind estimate

Could he'll for extreme uphill and downhill too yes

Scratch players aren't THAT accurate necessarily. Again anything over 150yds a 10yd variance in swings especially considering wind etc...I dont think that is a big stretch

Pretty much everything inside 150 is feel for me. My 9i can carry 150 down to 130 with a full swing depending upon where I put it in my stance and how much I try to get under it for spin?

Then again, maybe Too much “feel” is why I’m still shooting around 80? LOL

There was one round in the high desert where everything looked farther than reality. Every approach was too long until I finally ranged the pins and “cured” that round finishing with a reasonable 82. My tee shots were all as good as ever, too bad.

i think that’s more-less spot on.

once you have the number then you decide what to hit taking all into account multiple factors for a given shot.

i.e. you have 114 yards. Out of range for the L, in range for the 52 and 56. Do you want to flight it down? One-hop-and-stop? Trouble long or short? Etc.

Said another way, the precision of the yardage allows a player to really think through how they want to play the shot. If it’s just a 10-15 yard window that you’re aiming for, I see that as a solid way to simplify the decision making process but also kind of marries you to one type of shot or the “go to club” for said yardage window - or at least to some extent.

So do you not get yardages? Just curious, this thread has me thinking on a wind blown post-blizzard morning.

A 100 yard shot can be done a lot of different ways and feel comes into it for me, but I still know the "number" most of the time.

The OP said using on-course markers didn't count (was acceptable in the premise). So you'd know you have a 100yd shot because you'd be on/near the marker

I definitely use the markers

Yeah, I use a rangefinder. It’s like a security blanket for my already uncertain game. Then wind adds even more uncertainty for me. I was talking no wind and ideal temperatures and humidity. Unfortunately, my strikes aren’t good enough to take those into account on purpose. Most of the time “near the green” is the best I can do in adverse conditions.

Used to. Nowadays my eyes can fool me. It's good to have for me.

This would be the way I play all the time, using whatever markers the course offers - I can't be bothered to pace off yardage so I just visually guess seeing 10 yard increments and go with whatever feels right. A lifetime of football playing and watching sure helps!

My party trick is calling yardage for my fellow players before someone gets their laser out to get the exact number. I'm never off by much at all so it reinforces that my technique is fine for my level of golf ability.

When someone offers to scope for me I'll always say no thanks, I'm good. Luddite golf is how I roll.

Thanks, that's what I was getting at - just was trying to figure if you just kind of knew you were at 150 and after that all feel meant no actual yardage references. Given you are shooting around 80 I'd say the feels are working pretty darn good.

Aren't most of us that way? (I guess that sounded like a challenge, lol). A "normal" 75-ish yard shot I'm hitting with my 54 degree wedge, but depending on wind or approach to the green or how much I ate after the turn might on an 80 yarder take out 52 degree or PW and hit it a little different and I don't really have a chart or anything "firm" that tells me it's 52 vs. PW vs. 9.

I can play by feel on my local muni where there is not much in terms of hazards and stuff. Most other courses, you need some yardage to go by.

I just saw an interview with Lanny Watkins about this very thing. He was talking about the five minute discussion he watched between player and caddie before a shot was hit. He said, those two just said more words to each other than I did to my caddie in a whole round. He went on to say that he can't imagine what the hell they were talking about.

Basically he said that he got the yardage from his caddie, then he selected the club and shot shape and feel he was going to play. His caddie just went away after giving him the yardage. So he was discussing the difference between a feel player and one that is not.

Today's players are not, according to him. They work off numbers and basically for the most part hit the same shot shape because of the ball and equipment dictates that you can do that now. He didn't say it was wrong. It is just the way these younger guys grew up playing. He played the way golf was back then. I know most younger guys at my club, play with range finders and practice with numbers and monitors. It's just the generation difference.

I have always played by feel. I don't own a range finder or a launch monitor. I have a basic idea how far I hit everything and I agree that 5 yards in either direction does not make a bit of difference to the Am. player. Most of us are not good enough to be that exact. I'm a 3.4 and not good enough.

Lannie was a notoriously fast player so not surprised.

Guessing Nicklaus never hit a shot without knowing the exact yardage.

Each to his own.

Yeah,

I followed Lanny one year at the players in FLA. He was fun to watch. I couldn't imagine working for him. He basically came across as a world class A Hole. On 18 he hooks one into the water. His caddy throws him a ball and he tees it and swings again without lining it up or taking any time at all. It goes three miles right, ends up with a double bogey. LOL

I'm sure they downplay the process. Every generation thinks they do it better than the previous one.

Well, if you play your same/home course, it's not fair in the sense that I've played my course for 22 years and don't even need a laser range finder to know what club to use from almost any spot. Now, try that with a new course you visit, and then you can say 'you're playing by feel'.

Whether you’re a feel player or a more analytical one, you need a certain degree of distance information. Even on your home course. I agree that overanalysing data at our game level might be useless. We can hit an iron within a 10 yard distance span, let alone directional misses. Then you’ll find the player that needs a little info to hit a shot and then the newer players that will use multiple gadgets to gauge distance to the flag. I’m old school and I grew with yard marks and nothing else so that’s what I’m used to. I personally don’t care about rangefinders or distance apps. But I do need yardage reference.

I always know the exact distance but that distance is seldom an absolutely stock anything. Therefore the little bit extra of little bit off to get pin high is a matter of feel.

Steve

I play by feel but never without a yardage. There's the yardage to the pin and then there's the yardage you need to hit the ball and they're very rarely the same thing.

I'm assuming this is for a new course because most regular players should be able to gauge their distances on their home courses.

For me, I guess it depends how much allowance I would give myself. If I was ok with being off by a club a few times in the round, that would be fine. The bigger problem might be doglegs and hidden/tucked pins. I would then have to walk to where the pin would be visible and then go back to the ball. That would be tiring and might be inconsiderate to the group behind.