I was out on the course today and was playing a par 5. At about 210 yards to the hole is a hill connecting the upper and lower fairways. I had hit my drive out to the right and was blocked by trees in front of me. My first thought was to somehow hit to the left of the trees and squeeze it around the corner to get to the bottom level. Luckily, I remembered my last effort at trying that same little trick. I had not made it around the corner and ended up in the trees!

I had said to myself after that failed attempt that there was no need to try and hit it on to the bottom level. I could have just hit the ball 40-50 yards back to the upper fairway and left myself with 215-220 to the hole. With the downhill drop and the wind behind me, it plays like 185-190.

On this occasion, I ended up just chipping back on to the fairway. I left my third shot just left of the green and got up and down from there for par. After sinking my putt for par, I thought, “Now that was smart golf.”

The lesson here is that we often try to overcompensate when get into trouble. My first thought was to get as much back as I could after hitting my drive off to the right. Trying to bite off too much brought too much risk into the equation. If I pulled it off, I’d have 140 to the hole. If I didn’t, I was looking at bogey or worse on an easy par 5. Instead, I played conservatively after getting into trouble and did not worsen my situation. I chipped back on to the fairway and relied upon my long iron play and short game to rescue me.

If I had tried to pull off the impossible shot, I’m basically telling myself that I have no confidence in the other aspects of my game.

If you shoot scores close to 80 then you must have a pretty decent all-around game. Don’t be afraid to rely upon different aspects of your game when you get into trouble.

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