Post by fredsc on Nov 16, 2008 22:21:53 GMT -5
In another thread started by NoChinDeluxe we ended up with conversation about NC and eventually a few of us started coming up with some tips & strategies to share. Following his suggestion, am making a sticky with what it started with. I urge anyone with some nice tips & strategies to reply & contribute to this thread and help others with the transition into NC play that is now part of the league. Also feel welcome to throw in specific nc questions and i'm sure you'll get some useful answers.
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I'm really impressed with how much people were willing not only to give NC a chance, but how they've embraced it. It's not just about being more challenging, it's about realism all across the board and hopefully just plain making the game more enjoyable & satisfying, with all your great shots being assist free.
Maybe to help some w/ the transition, here are some tips off the top of my head.
1. Putting&Approach: Remember w/o putt preview how much slopes can hurt. Often times, and i do this A LOT, it's ok to hit to part of the green that has very little slope rather than close to the cup, and as much as possible land downhill from the cup. Sometimes I'll aim to land 20ft from the cup and hit up hill with little slope, rather than hit 7 ft from the cup with downhill & hard slope. Also harder you hit the ball the less slope affects it so uphill is slightly easier when feasible.
2. Putting: Use old billiards trick, cheating the pocket. No not real cheating In pool, you often want to hit the ball not dead center in the of the pocket, but toward the side of it with least angle in, so if you're off by a hair it doesn't hit the sharp side and rattle at the mouth. In golf that means basically use the slope to help you. If teh ball will slope hard left to right, I'll aim more toward the left side (my left) of the cup, where the ball will be curving in from. When the ball decelerates it curves more and is will be more like falling straight in if you're aiming to that side. If you aim for the center looking straight at it, it's really like aiming at the bottom edge, which will likely cause a lipout as it rolls under. Something you didn't really need to worry about with assisted hole outs on, but factors in with nc. We're talking maybe only an inch or two difference but seems to help me. Also take that deceleration & extra curve into account at the end.
3. Approach: When needed make use of extra loft & maybe clubbing down with overswing. Don't forget that the green is bouncier than the fw, and your natural club distance will be longer when first bounce is on the green. More loft & stronger swing, even if need to club down can reduce the chance of bouncing off the back when you can't add extra backspin to stop you.
4. Laying up: Lots of people in standard tend to go for huge distance and a short wedge onto the green knowing they can use spin to make huge adjustments to their short approach. w/o spin, sometimes it's best to lay up a bit in order to use favorite or more controllable clubs. Especially with greens that slope hard back to front. Tougher at least for me to control a sw or lw on those than to layup and let the forward momentum of a longer iron stop the ball w/o fear of rollback. Since switching to no spin in NC, I probably use my driver about 40% as much as I used to just because I layup so often. If there's 50 ft of green before the cup on a par 4 or 5, I might go for a lofty 6 or 7i even if I could have gotten in LW range.
5. Approach: Careful of fw speed on approach. You can often use the fringe to help your ball bounce on when not much green to work with and no spin to help you. But be careful when on slow fw. Unless approaching with a wood your ball will likely only bounce a few feet after hitting fringe/fw if it's soft. But on medium/fast fw, use it to your advantage when not alot of green to work with.
Notice most of these all apply in standard too, they're just magnified or more useful when you don't have the spin/aiming/assist aids available to help you. Tho playing & getting good at NC will help your standard game too, just don't go wild with the spin. Easy on the spin and your natural improvement will take care of the rest
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I'm really impressed with how much people were willing not only to give NC a chance, but how they've embraced it. It's not just about being more challenging, it's about realism all across the board and hopefully just plain making the game more enjoyable & satisfying, with all your great shots being assist free.
Maybe to help some w/ the transition, here are some tips off the top of my head.
1. Putting&Approach: Remember w/o putt preview how much slopes can hurt. Often times, and i do this A LOT, it's ok to hit to part of the green that has very little slope rather than close to the cup, and as much as possible land downhill from the cup. Sometimes I'll aim to land 20ft from the cup and hit up hill with little slope, rather than hit 7 ft from the cup with downhill & hard slope. Also harder you hit the ball the less slope affects it so uphill is slightly easier when feasible.
2. Putting: Use old billiards trick, cheating the pocket. No not real cheating In pool, you often want to hit the ball not dead center in the of the pocket, but toward the side of it with least angle in, so if you're off by a hair it doesn't hit the sharp side and rattle at the mouth. In golf that means basically use the slope to help you. If teh ball will slope hard left to right, I'll aim more toward the left side (my left) of the cup, where the ball will be curving in from. When the ball decelerates it curves more and is will be more like falling straight in if you're aiming to that side. If you aim for the center looking straight at it, it's really like aiming at the bottom edge, which will likely cause a lipout as it rolls under. Something you didn't really need to worry about with assisted hole outs on, but factors in with nc. We're talking maybe only an inch or two difference but seems to help me. Also take that deceleration & extra curve into account at the end.
3. Approach: When needed make use of extra loft & maybe clubbing down with overswing. Don't forget that the green is bouncier than the fw, and your natural club distance will be longer when first bounce is on the green. More loft & stronger swing, even if need to club down can reduce the chance of bouncing off the back when you can't add extra backspin to stop you.
4. Laying up: Lots of people in standard tend to go for huge distance and a short wedge onto the green knowing they can use spin to make huge adjustments to their short approach. w/o spin, sometimes it's best to lay up a bit in order to use favorite or more controllable clubs. Especially with greens that slope hard back to front. Tougher at least for me to control a sw or lw on those than to layup and let the forward momentum of a longer iron stop the ball w/o fear of rollback. Since switching to no spin in NC, I probably use my driver about 40% as much as I used to just because I layup so often. If there's 50 ft of green before the cup on a par 4 or 5, I might go for a lofty 6 or 7i even if I could have gotten in LW range.
5. Approach: Careful of fw speed on approach. You can often use the fringe to help your ball bounce on when not much green to work with and no spin to help you. But be careful when on slow fw. Unless approaching with a wood your ball will likely only bounce a few feet after hitting fringe/fw if it's soft. But on medium/fast fw, use it to your advantage when not alot of green to work with.
Notice most of these all apply in standard too, they're just magnified or more useful when you don't have the spin/aiming/assist aids available to help you. Tho playing & getting good at NC will help your standard game too, just don't go wild with the spin. Easy on the spin and your natural improvement will take care of the rest
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