The one-armed bandit

Maybe you've walked through a casino and looked on with disdain at the people who come back day after day to feed money to the slot machines. Oh, they win from time to time. In fact, the payoff rates are carefully calibrated by behavioral psychologists, who measure what the payoff rate must be to keep you coming back to play again and again, remembering the jackpots, forgetting the times you came up with nothing.

Switch to golf course. The high handicapper (let's say 20 or higher) grabs the driver. Why?

I just finished 18 holes. I grabbed the driver 10 times. Of those ten times, I didn't hit three good drives. I hit three *magnificent* drives. I hit three drives where the ball sailed 280-300 yards, straight where I aimed it, and landed in the best spot I could've hoped for.

The other seven drives were ****. They were gross slices deep into the trees, or pull hooks that went screaming into the ground. About 100 or yards away.

Did the three gorgeous drives save me any strokes, compared to what I might have had with a straight 5w for example? Maybe. Maybe 2 strokes. Did the seven **** drives cost me any strokes? Um...yep. They cost me at least 7 strokes to hit out of trouble. Realistically they cost me about 10.

So how am I different from the suckers at the slot machines, who keep coming back for the jackpot because they "hit" every so often? Answer: I have a tan!

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Todd
Philadelphia, PA
USA

The reason the pro tells you to keep your head down is so you can't see him laughing. ~Phyllis Diller

Hi Tod

LOL, Tan, so do I but funnily enough not on my left hand for some reason

Your analogy of the risk element in using a driver with a large percentage failure rate is good. It would be better to consider playing the course to your personal par rather than the standard scratch in these cases.

If you can hit a regular drive with a 3 or 5 wood that gets you on the short stuff more often than not then use them. Consider a course par 4 as your personal par 5, a par three as a four, a five a six. If it's a four then think of a GIR as three shots with two to sink it, and so on.

Using this methodology you should be aiming to avarage 5 shots per hole for the round, this would be the equivelent of an 18 handicap.

Work the course to suit your game and take off the pressure.

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Best Regards
Brian

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Funny o'l game!