Zero Visibility Golf = Tear It up Golf

[Malcolm Mckinnon]

I had an incredible round of golf one summer in Maine in Fog so thick I could not see more than 150 to 200 yards.

Hit and hope was the only recourse, yet the ball this day somehow found it's way. I drove the ball out into the miasma, then strode off looking for the result. My only guide was my own feel after executing the shot of whether it was left, right or center. Once the ball was found, the green would be barely visible. Again, I would hit and hope and walk and surprise! there it iwas on the green 15 feet from the flag.

This went on for the entire nine hole round. If I remember I finished three over par.

What an unusual round of golf!

Did the lack of visibility help

Why?

[Mac Plumart]

Interesting thread Malcom.

One of my best rounds ever was from the tips at Tobacco Road.  The way the course lays out there are a ton of blind shot.  Instead of aiming at the flag or a particular bunker, I would simply look up in the sky, the trees something really vague and simply hit it in the general direction of the green.  I killed the ball that day. 

Maybe there is something to your zero visibility=tear it up golf.

[Jud_T]

Perhaps it's easier to put a sharper focus on your swing and balance when you don't have the visual element to rely on/distract you.  A lesson from blind golfers everywhere...

[Tim Martin]

Probably just one of those crazy things that happen in golf. Hard to believe there is anything about playing in these types of conditions that would result in better ball striking and scoring. Additionally you only played 9 holes and did not mention that it has happened more than once. Regardless it had to be fun and satisfying.

[Ed Oden]

I had a similar experience a few years ago at Roaring Gap.  Fog was so thick you could not see 50 yards in front of you.  Balls could not be followed after impact.  It is remarkable how much you can tell about a shot based entirely on feel.  You know if you hit it fat or thin, you know if you heel or toe it, you know if you pull or push it.  Almost every time, we could walk to the area where we thought our balls would be and find them nearby.  I don't recall any lost balls by anyone in our group other than a few mishits so bad they likely would have been lost with perfect visibility.  No doubt sharpened focus was a big part of it.  But I also think everything just slows down a bit.  You rely almost entirely on feel rather than power, which seems to instinctively breed rhythm and tempo.  For me, that is when I usually play my best.

[Tom_Doak]

I agree with Ed, that it gets a "feel" player really into his element of having to feel every shot.

I've had a similar experience several times, in slightly different circumstances ... finishing the last 2-3 holes in the dark, for example, I almost always seem to play great.  However in most of those cases I've already developed a good feel during the course of the round ... I'm not sure I could perform as well for a full 18 holes that way.

[David_Tepper]

While ignorance may not be bliss, it can be blissful!

[Andy Troeger]

I almost always make a good swing when faced with a blind shot, especially those not from the tee. I pick out a target line, figure out a yardage, and execute the swing without worry of what's on the other side of the hill/obstruction. Occasionally I discover that my line wasn't very accurate, but the swing itself is much better than my normal one. Might be a lesson there somewhere.

My best nine holes ever didn't have much to do with visibility, but I discovered when I got home that I had a fever between 101 and 102. I pretty well knew I was oblivious to the world, but 32 was pretty fun! Never been able to reproduce it, of course.

[jonathan_becker]

I recently had a round at Pac Dunes which was in dense fog for all 18 holes.  You could see the ball travel 75 yards then it was gone.

With fog, figuring out how far your irons fly is tougher with the thick air and also the greens tend to slow down tremendously.  Sure, there's no wind to gauge, but for myself, these conditions don't make it any easier.

Also, there's a huge difference between not being able to see because of fog and a blind shot.  Both you can't see, but like I said the fog makes for harder distance control.  A blind shot under normal conditions is just trusting the yardage.

[Travis Dewire]

i agree with all the already mentioned posts. I however, am stuck on the chord of the mental game, so that is where I look. The fog you described gave you zero visiblity, you did not know where the ball would go after you struck it, unless you felt it properly. The point is, you already have no idea where the ball is going - before you start filling your head over the ball with the "i hope I dont slice/hook, I hope this is a good one, thoughts. The loss of visibility refocuses the brain away from "concious" thoughts about the swing, positions, tempo, and every other thought that plagues a player's mind. Instead the brain is now refocused on hitting, feeling, and finding, the ball. I would guess that all low visibility situations, could yield similar results. With that said, it could have worked the other way. If you had reacted much more hyperactively to the weather, instead of calmly hitting your ball into the unkown (because even a good ball, you don't know where it goes), you would be overly worried and fearful of hitting an unkown direction flying ball, into the unkown.

In this instance, mother nature certaintly was on your side!!!!!

[Ben Sims]

All pilots fly better in the weather.  This is not a new idea.  It forces a cross check and situational awareness that you simply don't have when you're VMC.  Senses and feeling become sharper because they have to be.  I suspect this is the same as playing golf in reduced visibility conditions.  I became a better ball striker (back when I was beginning) by hitting balls at night, with nothing lit up but the small area I was standing in by an electric lantern.

[mike_beene]

I am very nearsighted.Maybe I should start playing with out my glasses.

[Travis Dewire]

All pilots fly better in the weather.  This is not a new idea.  It forces a cross check and situational awareness that you simply don't have when you're VMC.  Senses and feeling become sharper because they have to be.  I suspect this is the same as playing golf in reduced visibility conditions.  I became a better ball striker (back when I was beginning) by hitting balls at night, with nothing lit up but the small area I was standing in by an electric lantern.

Very well said. Cross check and situational awareness !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I love it!!!!!!!!!!!!! Situational awareness is what golf is alllllll about

[C. Squier]

Back in high school, a few buddies of mine and I would play golf well after dark.  Granted, we were playing 36 or 54 holes a day and were striping it....but it was amazing how with a little practice you could really learn your swing by "feeling" where the ball went since you couldn't see it. 

Also, if I'm going through a rough time putting, I'll start closing my eyes for anything under 20 feet.  By not watching what's going on, you cure a lot of faults and muscle memory takes over. 

[Alex Miller]

My best zero visibility moment came at likely the best course I ever played.

We teed off around 4:00 and sunset was 7:30 or so. We were able to finish fifteen just as the darkness really set in, but our host was gracious enough to offer that we try to finish since we were out there anyways. So I proceeded to stripe a drive on 16 that my partners saw but I did not. I found the green pin high, but was 40 ft away since I couldn't see the flag from the fairway, 2 putts later I had a solid four. On 17 I hit my drive and knew I caught it solid. We walked up to find my ball in the middle of the narrowest fairway on the course some 300 yards from the tee. I pulled my approach just left of the green and was shortsided but with a simple enough shot. I then chipped in for birdie. Finally on 18, my partners having already picked, I hit another one down the middle. I ended up bogeying the 18th, but playing 3 difficult 440+yard par 4s in the dark even par was pretty great. The darkness definitely helped me get out of my own way.

Also, anyone ever play those glow in the dark or light up balls? While they don't fly great they serve their purpose!

[Pete_Pittock]

The only time I played in dense fog was at Spyglass in 1970, with about 75 yards of visibility. It is the only round there, and  I had a yardage book. I birdied #1 and #3, parred two and four and then the fog broke and I barely beat 100. John Vanderborght has said that one of his better rounds was when there were no flagsticks. From this meager sampling I intuit that a lack of a true target releases your brain and lets muscle memory kick in. 

[Travis Dewire]

The only time I played in dense fog was at Spyglass in 1970, with about 75 yards of visibility. It is the only round there, and  I had a yardage book. I birdied #1 and #3, parred two and four and then the fog broke and I barely beat 100. John Vanderborght has said that one of his better rounds was when there were no flagsticks. From this meager sampling I intuit that a lack of a true target releases your brain and lets muscle memory kick in. 

Pete,

I agree with your last sentence here. I think there is too much of a stress on the target, and the "narrowing your focus" on a very small tree branch. I feel that this can lead to unwanted tensions, and unwanted pressure on "the target"

[Doug Siebert]

Malcolm,

Was it a course you were familar with?  I think this is something that's a lot easier if you are familiar with the course so you know approximately where "pulled that one off the heel a bit" goes from experience.  The first time you play the course, especially if it isn't well marked for distance in the fairways or you don't really know/trust what the length of the hole from the tee is, it is hard enough finding a ball you see flying until it starts decending quickly, let alone where you only see it start out, and can't look back at the tee to get your bearings.

When I played Kingsbarns it was very foggy the first 6 or 7 holes.  It was so bad you couldn't even see the green on the first par 3, we had to guess based on bunker locations.  On the par 4s I hit a 1 iron to try to minimize the distance I hit it and keep it more under control.  I foolishly pulled a driver on the first par 4 and pulled it left.  It was somewhere on the hillside left of the fairway but I couldn't even figure out where the drive should be distance-wise, let alone how far up the hillside it went, so there wasn't even any point in looking for it.  If I'd played a course a dozen times I'd probably have a pretty good idea where to look and just walk up and down the hill within a 20 yard area and find it - the rough wasn't so thick you had to step on the ball, but you certainly had to be within a few feet of it to have it.

[Malcolm Mckinnon]

The golf course was Castine Golf Club in Castine, Me.

Typical Penobscot Bay weather for August where the Fog would linger densely in the morning and usually dissipate by midday. For a primer on Penobscot Bay living in summer I highly recommend Robert McCloskey's childrens book "Time of Wonder" which sums it up nicely.

Not my home course and at the time had probably played three rounds or less there. However, a golf experience which I remember vividly.

This is not a course punctuated by many dogleg holes. Seven of the nine hole play pretty much straight away. As I recall the green complexes could be barely seen and sometimes just intuited during the round.

[Garland Bayley]

An alternative title, Jordan Wall explained. I have shared this explanation with Jordan, and he thinks it is an interesting idea. Jordan was a highly skilled youth pitcher before he took up golf. He quickly became quite talented at golf. My explanation of this and why often times it is baseball pitchers that become skilled at golf and not the sluggers.

As a pitcher, Jordan learned not to steer the ball while taking the time to windup and throw. This is opposed to a hitter who is pure instantaneous reaction. When given time to address a ball and make a golf swing, the hitter will tend to try and steer the shot, instead of just letting it fly.

As a skilled basketball player, one would think my ability to get the ball in the hoop would be analogous to Jordan's talent as a pitcher. However, as a player that lived in the paint, my shots were quickly released on an instantaneous sighting of the hoop. Contrast that with Lynn Shackelford's ability to set up in the corner and take a shot, which I believe to be analogous to Jordan's pitching talent.

I think this also may be a partial explanation to why average golfers like blind shots, whereas those who have learned to control the reflex to steer the ball (tour pros) don't.

[Doug Siebert]

I thought pitchers became good at golf because they only have to work every four days

[Tony_Muldoon]

Similar experince.  I turned up for my first round at Seacroft - a links - on an Easter Saturday to find a local fog with visabilty of about 130 yards.

The pro said I could go out and play with a scorsaver, because he didn't think there was anyone on the course. 


I went out hoping the fog would lift, but after parring the first started to really enjoy myself. Lost only one ball and played in 3.5 hrs.  A wonderful experience.

[Travis Dewire]

A baseball swing produces no release of the hands, am i wrong?

I think this is the fundamental reason baseball player's struggle to hit it straight. Especially with the driver. Short Irons require less hand and forearm rotation, so the lag in the hands do not hurt the swing as much.

Do the best hitters in baseball "steer the ball"? Or do they swing freely at it - regardless with which field they are hitting to?

I think it is unfair to say pitchers make better golfers, because they learn to freely release and not steer. I wager that any good hitter knows how to freely swing and not steer at the ball

[Garland Bayley]

A baseball swing produces no release of the hands, am i wrong?

I think this is the fundamental reason baseball player's struggle to hit it straight. Especially with the driver. Short Irons require less hand and forearm rotation, so the lag in the hands do not hurt the swing as much.

Do the best hitters in baseball "steer the ball"? Or do they swing freely at it - regardless with which field they are hitting to?

I think it is unfair to say pitchers make better golfers, because they learn to freely release and not steer. I wager that any good hitter knows how to freely swing and not steer at the ball

How do you steer a ball that is coming at you at 80 mph? It is more of an instantaneous reaction.
As far as pitchers being better golfers, that is what I have oft read in the sporting news. I didn't make it up. I could be that they only work one in four days, like surmised above, but I think not.

[Travis Dewire]

Exactly! The instantaneous reaction is what the mind should strive for on the course. Your ball is on the tee, the fairway is there, hit the ball to where the fairway is. The 30 seconds that it takes to execute this task, is when the problems arise. Fear, swing thoughts, off the course problems, etc.

Both positions rely ultimately on unconscious competence. That means your mind is free of thought, and your body is completing the action with out consciously thinking about doing so. The pitcher throws to the catcher, with an intended target, with a strategy on pitch selection. The pitcher is not thinking about how to throw to the target, he is simply throwing. Or he is throwing balls. A hitter swings at a pitch, with an intended destination (field, HR, etc.), and he is reacting to the pitch. The batter is not thinking about how to react in which way to the pitch, he is simply reacting. This is ultimately the free release and no steer situation described

A hockey player, Brett Hull for example, uses the same reaction to a one time pass, as does the hitter. He reacts to the puck coming his way, with an intended target on the net. When the puck approaches, he is not thinking about the puck, or the target, he is just hitting - no steer.

Wow, thinking about this even further. Well, so if all good athletes rely on the free release and no steer, in their respective sport, what is different about the pitcher? The pitcher is in a similar situation to that of the golfer, where there is a lull before action, and ample time for the mind to wander. But I guess that could also be said for the batter, he too has the same time to wait it out before action. It is hard for negative thoughts to creep in "right before" a shot, when you are running back and forth on a basketball court. There needs to be that downtime and emptiness, leading up before execution of play. I guess thats why baseball players produce the best golfers, they learn how to handle that mental similarity found in golf - who knows.

I would agree that the pitchers are better than the hitters, but you can not complete discredit them. I also do not think you can discredit them for their lack of "not steering". They too certainly rely on freedom of motion and not steering, to have any hopes of good contact or a good swing. I also do believe that the anti release in the hands of the baseball swing is the fundamental reason why baseball players struggle with the golf swing. It is however, very similar.