Golf is Like Groundhog Day

One of the things about golf is that, if you are like me, you can keep learning the same lessons again and again, like in the movie Groundhog Day.

This happened to me playing golf yesterday. I know that if I hit a hot off the fairway and end up blocked by trees or other obstacles, I need to safely hit a short shot to get back in play on the fairway, knowing that I have lost a stroke to par with the error I made on my last shot. Yesterday I did that the first time I pulled one to the left of the fairway in some trees. I tapped it back out and resumed play. Two in my foursome had hit lovely drives far along the fairway, but then proceeded to get themselves in trouble on approach shots.

Now for the Groundhog Day part. I stayed largely out of trouble until the back nine. Again I hit into the woods, but found my ball. I could have chipped back into the fairway through a large hole in the trees or advanced through a smaller opening in the branches, risking hitting a tree or ending up in a lake on the right. Guess which one I chose...I ended up in that lake.

Perhaps writing this post will make me more likely to take the smart shot next time. But then again, those trees are mostly air...

Believe it or not, golf guru Dave Pelz wrote an entire book about how to get yourself out of trouble on the golf course: Dave Pelz's Damage Control: How to Save Yourself Up to 5 Shots Per Round. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.