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Pops - Do you take advantage?

KY Golfer

KY Golfer

It's for Kentucky, Lol #Paradise4Life
Albatross 2024 Club
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Louisville, KY
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Bourbon
So coming off the WWC at Briggs Ranch, I was looking at the scorecards and one thing really stood out to me about my rounds. Then after thinking about it more it’s something that happens to me often. I play terrible on holes that I get pops on. For example, I shot an 80(+8) on Saturday at Briggs, and +5 of those were on my 3 pop holes. 2 Doubles on Par 5’s & a bogey. It was the same for Friday. I can’t put one specific reason on it. I know they are the harder holes but I hit the ball so well both days. I finally asked @baylrballa to quit letting me know Lol.

So how about you THP, do you take advantage of your Pops? Do approach those holes differently? Sure seems like I do without really knowing it.
 
In stroke play I hardly ever know where my pop holes are anymore. In some 2 man team events I have had over the last few years I have tried to pay a little more attention but generally the pops just take strokes off my score at the end of the day.

In match play I know where the pops are.
 
At my home course when we play events I never take advantage of my pops because those particular holes eat me up.
 
No. Everyone gets em but me.
 
Wildcat said:
No. Everyone gets em but me.
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Pity Party Whine GIF by SpongeBob SquarePants
 
I hate knowing when I get pops. Same situation as you. I always seem to play them worse when I know
 
As a pop getter if I didn’t take advantage of them I would never win anything.
 
I used to have the problem of wanting so bad not to "waste" my stroke holes that I'd play super, super conservative and just try to do no worse than bogey.

Not sure how I finally wised up but eventually I realized that "trying not to make a big number" is actually a good way to, in fact, make a big number. It's not good mental hygiene to treat certain holes are more important than others as a routine habit of thought.

So I seem to be over it. Yeah, sometimes I'll still hit my tee shot OB on a stroke hole or whatever but so what. Once in a great while I'll make a birdie on a stroke hole and there's nothing sweeter! But on average, I play my holes with "pops" about like I'd play the same hole straight up.

P.S. I play with a few guys who love to complain that whoever assigns the stroke indices are doing it all wrong, yada, yada, yada. See my above comments, worrying about that sort of thing is just self-inflicted mental wear and tear. I couldn't care less if they assigned the stroke index totally at random when they print the cards...
 
I always love getting pops in a match. I hope that I can take advantage more often than not and at minimum halve the hole. Nothing worse than losing a hole getting a pop.
 
KY Golfer said:
So coming off the WWC at Briggs Ranch, I was looking at the scorecards and one thing really stood out to me about my rounds. Then after thinking about it more it’s something that happens to me often. I play terrible on holes that I get pops on. For example, I shot an 80(+8) on Saturday at Briggs, and +5 of those were on my 3 pop holes. 2 Doubles on Par 5’s & a bogey. It was the same for Friday. I can’t put one specific reason on it. I know they are the harder holes but I hit the ball so well both days. I finally asked @baylrballa to quit letting me know Lol.

So how about you THP, do you take advantage of your Pops? Do approach those holes differently? Sure seems like I do without really knowing it.
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I never seem to take advantage of pops. On one hand I don’t want to live and die by them so I just go play my game and hope for good scores on holes where I’ll be getting pops. It’s all mental but if I see a dot on the card you would think it frees you up but it doesn’t
 
I do a pretty good job of using them in skins with my group I play with. We play .5 pops and I get a skin most rounds. I get a full pop on 2 or 3 holes depending on where my HC is and I consistently win one of them by throwing a par up and getting a net birdie.
 
I try to concentrate more on the holes I am popping. It does not necessarily mean I will take advantage of said pop...
 
Why wouldn’t everyone try and take advantage of @Pops like his boss does in retirement 😂

I really try not to pay attention to pop holes. I make a lot of pars and bogies with some doubles thrown in. Sometimes the pars land on pop holes
 
I haven't gotten enough pops to know what it's like
 
I don't, more often than not. I tend to get too aggressive or too cautious when I know so I try not to pay attention to them. Play my best and see what shakes out.
 
I've been paying more attention to those holes in my club tournaments, usually skins cash to be won but do I ever play them well to take advantage, no chance

I do look at them as saying I have an extra shot to make par and on those days it works out well you can get some nice rewards.
 
oumagic said:
Why wouldn’t everyone try and take advantage of @Pops like his boss does in retirement 😂

I really try not to pay attention to pop holes. I make a lot of pars and bogies with some doubles thrown in. Sometimes the pars land on pop holes
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@oumagic i was able to reduce my hours recently. Had to make some budget cuts so I decided to cut my hours from 120 to 80. It takes 18 of those 80 to do the commute each time. Thought when opportunity knocks might as well take advantage. 🤣🤣🤣 Curious if I fire myself can I get unemployment.
 
I certainly try to. Sometimes it goes my way and sometimes it doesn't. That's why I'm the one getting pops. I play in a match play league and I know which holes I'm likely to get pops on. I don't have a special plan for those holes because I'm getting pops though. It's the same plan as when I'm not getting pops. For me it's about sticking to the plan and hitting good shots. I try not to think about the pops and just shoot the best score possible on that hole. The only thing I might do different is be a little more conservative if I'm in trouble. Half a point is better than no point.
 
I don't even look at the scorecard in my match play league that gives pops. Usually the guy giving them, knowing so can make me press to hard. I am better of just playing like its heads up and let the holes fall where they may. I keep my own scorecard in my pocket and mark it, then compare it to the official card before signing.
 
I only get them at my course on a few holes, and they’re the same holes everyone else gets too usually: all four par 5’s. It’s tough to take advantage of that when it’s really just cancel out their pops.

Sometimes it’s easier to not think about them, so then you just go out and play your own game with less stress and not worrying about pops or not.
 
KY Golfer said:
So coming off the WWC at Briggs Ranch, I was looking at the scorecards and one thing really stood out to me about my rounds. Then after thinking about it more it’s something that happens to me often. I play terrible on holes that I get pops on. For example, I shot an 80(+8) on Saturday at Briggs, and +5 of those were on my 3 pop holes. 2 Doubles on Par 5’s & a bogey. It was the same for Friday. I can’t put one specific reason on it. I know they are the harder holes but I hit the ball so well both days. I finally asked @baylrballa to quit letting me know Lol.

So how about you THP, do you take advantage of your Pops? Do approach those holes differently? Sure seems like I do without really knowing it.
Click to expand...
As a high cap, I'll be honest: I have no idea or the skill level to intentionally take advantage of pops. I just play golf, man. If I do decent on the hole, I do decent on the hole and, I guess, a pops advantage has been taken. If not, it's just another in a string of crappy holes that I've played. But, as to the question of playing a hole differently because I get a pop? That doesn't even compute, for me. I'm trying to play it the best I can every single time. I can't ever think of it as "a stroke to play with". 🤷‍♂️
 
I try to not let knowing I have a pop change how I plan to play a hole, I’m a bad enough golfer I could blow up anywhere, but I don’t seem to take good advantage of the pops I’ve had in THP events. I’m planning on changing that in September.
 
Overall I bet mine would probably be close to 50/50 but sure seems like I don't take advantage of them.
 
On POP holes - if it is a tournament - I will tread lightly and shoot for bogie. a tap in bogie or a par is the usual outcome and I go to next Tee happy.
 
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