Forum > General golf topics

Matt Collins

Russell Middleton

Congrats on a great score.

I often have a run of say four or five holes where I get par or better.

Russ

Robbie Allison

My target is to par 6 on the bounce at my club.

I have managed 4 so far.

Drew Falkner

Stuart Govan

Jim Dorrington

Certainly can be done, I've recently been hitting a bit of form, I say form as it could easily go as quickly as it's come! Last week on my home course I hit 6 pars in a row, shooting my best score there overall with a 71 (it's a short par 60, SSS 57) so definitely below my handicap. Then on Saturday in our league match I did hit 3 birdies on the front 9 (not in a row) but did mean I achieved the front 9 in only one over par. Now I must admit that is more in line for a shout of "bandit", however had a couple of scrappy holes on back 9 and we lost our match on the last hole (so the opposition could be seen wearing sombrero's as well!)

Basically what I'm saying is the last couple of weeks I have hit hot streaks a couple of times which is very pleasing, the practice is paying off. However back on subject once anyone has developed a certain level of coordination in this game then a string of pars is definitely achievable, it's trying not to let your mind then wander and let the game bite you in the behind straight away to frustrate you once more!!

Just grab joy from the successful holes you have and feed off that for future improvement!

Chris Brannon

Mike Emery

I managed 5 in a row the other week, and a total of 8 pars.. Still finished on +18 though! Not quite as consistent as I'd like, but I did manage 17 holes bogey or better the day after so I must be getting somewhere!

Marc Davies

Paul Everett

Chris Salter

John Pettitt

Christopher Watmore

I had 3 Pars then a Triple Bogey and then 5 Pars after that on the trot the other week in a 9 Hole Matchplay Competition.

Made my opponents sick despite them getting 9 Shots off me and also I hadn't played a round of golf or hit a ball in the 8 week prior to that.

Paul Everett

Matt Collins

Today I played absolute Bobbins-it was soul destroying.  Putted great to make it seem worse-where was the putter when I was playing great-typical never get the putts going in when the rest of my game is good.

Anyway, I still had 5 pars in a row-in fact that was preceeded by a 3 putt bogey 4 and at the end of the run I got a bogey after smashing a drive and leaving a nine iron.  So should have been 7 pars.

And I scored an 88!!!!!!!!!!!!  3 x 8 in there-oops.

So I think this ends the argument once and for all-mid 14-16 handicappers can and do get runs of 5 or 6 pars.

Shame you just haven't seen it Martin-if you fancy a round give me a shout, muhahah.

Chris Hooley

As you can see my handicap on here is currently 25 but I've not put my last two rounds in which will bring it down to 22.

Last week I hit 3 pars and then a birdie all in a row and today I hit 4 pars in 5 holes. Its certainly possible and even a higher handicapper like myself can do it when they start to play well.

Granted my play to's for the last few rounds have averaged 18 (today was 17) so you could call me a bandit I suppose if I played off this....but it still relies on me playing well.

Having said that I'm putting 3 cards in for a club handicap this week (finally got a membership) and I expect my handicap to be around 18.

Andrew Guyton

I think that it just goes to show why golf is played (and you are handicaped) over 18 holes.  Also proves that golf is played 90% in the head.

 A while ago playing off an 8 in the monthly medal I was having a blinder and 3 under after the first 9 holes (still the best 9 of my life).  The bloke marking my card (nice young lad from the junior section of the club)said "Wow, you could shoot 11 over on the back nine and still play to your handicap!!". 

 Sure enough the mind went and I shot 9 over round the back....

Matt Collins

Find the yound lad and teach him a lesson.  Throw him in the nearest river with lead weights tied to his legs-that should do it. Hahahah.

I do it all the time-after a good nine I think "ohh thgis could be a cracking score" and go to pieces.

Andrew Guyton

lol, could do but as it was back in NZ it's a bit far to go! Besides it was about 12 years ago so he won't be such a young lad now and might end up throwing me in the river....

Worst thing is I make a point of not counting my score until the finish so I don't trip myself up.  The lesson I learnt from that experiences that I tell my playing partners I don't want to know my score until the end. 

Still I imagine if I am ever 3 under for 9 again I would know how good I was going anyway.

Stuart Govan

Jim Dorrington

Andrew Guyton

 That is the theory anyway, and when I am playing well seems to work.  I find it is much harder to put into practice if I have had a bad hole or bad bit of luck then the demons take over! 

Happened on a recent round at Birchwood Park, was about 2 over after 8, hitting it really well, especially off the tee. Got to the 9th hit driver just left of the flag, both myself and playing partner thought it would be on the green, got down there and could not find it.  Had not hit a provisional as there was no way it could be lost (so I thought) so had to blob the hole.  The next 5 or so holes were a write off.

 If someone can tell me how to stop that I would be most grateful!

Stuart Govan

Ha ha Jim, you're confusing me with you

I shall try thinking of just the shot ahead but to be honest I think I am doomed now. I have been keeping score in my head for years now and it has become an ingrained habit. For a long time I knew at any point in the round how many over or under 5s I was. Now I do it to par, which is progress in terms of positive benchmarking I suppose!

Matt Collins

Drew Falkner

John Pettitt

Seeing as I mark my score down on a scorecard it is impossible not to know how I am doing and as the score is the most important part I am pleased to know. When I could play the game better than I do now I always kept the score in my head by relating everything to 4's, This is easy to keep in ones head, although now it is easier for me to relate to 5's and hope that I am under level 5's.

Remember a shot, once played, is history and you are only as good as your next shot.

John Flood

I only bother with my score after the first 9 holes. I know if I'm playing good or bad so it's just a check to see how good or how bad. I use this as an incentive for the back 9.

For instance on Saturday we had a medal qualifier & after 9 holes I was 6 over. I just thought about having a decent back 9. I then went Par, double bogey, par, bogey, bogey, bogey, 8, bogey, bogey.

I got the 8 on the 16th where after 2 shots I was 60yrds short of the green & managed to shank it into a bunker & the rest is history . My mistake was checking my score on the 16th tee!!

Instead of playing the agressive golf I had been doing I thought "ooh if I get a 5 here & then par, par I'm in with a chance of winning" & decided to play safe!!.

We live & learn.

Gary Hand

When playing in a comp where the score is really the only ones worth counting I just stick my number down in the markers column and never total my front or back nine scores till the very end.

 I allway do my partners as we go along incase they ever want to know but I just leave mine. I know if I drop a shot over 5's say I then try to hard to make it up and on the other hand if I'm way under play to conservativly and end up makng slack lazy swings.

You know when you are playing well or just hacking it up looking at a score card just puts extra pressure on what you should alrady know from the way you are swinging the club and how willing the ball is to go in the hole.

Patrick Bourke

 I think that a lot of 'mid handicappers' put themselves under immense pressure when they talk about pars on the trot and I bet they're thinking whether they'll beat their personal best after two consecutive pars have been safely puy away. My advice, and I know it's difficult at first, is to have an entirely different mindset. DON'T PROJECT OR PLAN SHOTS UNTIL YOU'RE ABOUT TO TAKE THE SHOT.

 I was in the fortunate position last Friday of being one under par after four holes with the fifth a reachable in two par 5. I like to think I had the above in mind but if I'm honest I was really thinking this is a birdie ...ended up with a bogey.

 Trust your swing and if you must at least wait 'til the 9th to tot up as Chris Perry mentions.

 The game can be sressful enough without any further self imposed strain.

Chris Waterworth

I'm a mid handicapper and I managed a few runs of pars at Gorsty Hill on Saturday

As you can see I had my thought of, this could be an amazing card around the 15th and then shot a bogey, double, bogey on the next 3 holes.  Missed a birdie chance on the last for a 79!

It can be done!

Patrick Bourke

David Lythgoe

A good way to keep score in your head and gain confidence is touched on by John P.

Work out your score in your head against all 4's, 5's or 6's. "Level" is then 72, 90 or 108. So a 15 Hcp'er on a Par 72 SSS 72 should use 5's and end up 3under. Just think how you would feel stood on the 15th Tee 5under, rather than 9 over Par(?) and knowing 4 x 5's is your target and not what the course Par is.

TheLyth

Chris Hooley

I use the 5's approach all the time.

At any time during the round I know how many under or over my 5's I am so know what my projected score will be. Can't say it adds pressure on me but helps me to focus.

For example, yesterday I was 3 over my 5's going into the 8th and knew I needed to start picking up a couple of pars to keep my round low. Knowing that helped me slow down my swing on my drive resulting in a middle of the fairway drive with 120 yards to go and from there it was a simply and easy 9 iron in to the green where I putted out from 3 foot for birdie.

Andrew Guyton

Played in the Algarve last week and had a pretty good score.  Started on 10 and as you can see the end of the round was a case of holding on for dear life!  I knew I was having a good round but managed to keep it out of my head for the most part, but got a bit tentative with the putter on the front (my back) 9 and left a few short.

 I am pretty sure if I was keeping count I would have got tense and my swing would have suffered.  For me there is a big difference in that when I count my score as I go along I think about it more than hitting the shots.  

I guess it is similar to the pros where some look at the leaderboard and some don't.

Paul Williams

I've found of late that if i just keep an eye on stableford points against a target i set myself pre-round, i play better without putting myself under any real pressure. This allows me to play hole for hole and shot for shot instead of chasing my score.

Paul.

John Pettitt

John Flood

Chris Perry

Disappointingly, I have just spent a chunk of my Sunday lunchtime deleting posts from this thread.  A few of them were fine by themselves, but I felt it best to delete all that were related; an example of this is a post mde by Russ M telling people to behave like adults.  I apologise if you have had a post deleted on which you had done nothing wrong but was related to the content I had to delete.   

I refer EVERYONE to the AUP for use of the forum.  I don't enjoy reading the stuff that has been posted and do not want to waste my time deleting it.  I will let Darren decide on what action should be taken on those which have broken the AUP. 

Chris Perry

John Flood

Agree Chris.

I played West Mids last week & hit almost every fairway, when I hit the green in regulation I made par. Where I struggled was from about 110yrds where I either tried to hit a full wedge or take a bit off a 9 iron which resulted in missing the green!

Can't moan though I shot a gross 83 & got 38 points, only to find out I'd been beaten by 1 point by someone who was in front of us & didn't hardly hit a fairway & had some 'dubious' drops. For example on the 3rd they hit their tee shot way over to the right over the trees only for him to say "I think I'll find that"!! & his mates going "well if you don't just drop one down there"

I didn't say anything at the time as in previous outings this 24 handicapper has never broken 30 points so when he came in with 39 points pipping me by one I thought if I said anything it would have sounded like sour grapes. What can you do?

John.

David Lythgoe

Speak to the Comp Sec\Committee,

Tell them what you heard ( "If you can't find it drop another" ). It maybe the guys scored 0 points on that hole, a couple of 4 pointers would soon equal that out.

Let them sort it out, don't get involved further. You are passing on facts then, not accusing anyone.

TheLyth

Matt Collins

Of course the regularity of the runs of pars is a different story.  I agree for low handicappers it happens fairly often, for mid hanidcappers it's fairly rare-this is obvious.

But to say it doesn't or shouldn't happen is not only wrong, but plain daft.  A great number of mid handicappers, including myself, can play very poorly for a few weeks and then pretty well the next few weeks.  The handicap reflects your average, well probably skewed towards your better play, but still, the whole point is that you are often a mid handicapper not because you are incapable, but rather because you are inconsistent.

If the handicap is to just reflect your best golf, then I would be off 7 and not be able to play to it 95% of the time.  I just don't see the point in that.

I see all the bickering posts have been removed-I am more than happy to leave all the nonsense behind and refrain from the childishness.  Are you John?

Paul Williams

I think the idea is to leave it as is, without asking anymore questions of each other.

I agree that for 90% of handicap golfers above 9/10 inconsistency is the main problem.

Recently I've noticed when playing i have and know i can par most holes, but actually doing this is rare indeed.

I believe my faults lie not within my swing but my mental approach. Although the swing can be improved, I find i have to approach the course with confidence in myself to perform.

How many of us simply drive to said course, get clubs out of the car with a quick warm up then play?

John Pettitt

Well,Matt, handicaps used to be based on your best performance under summer conditions, but now that seems to have gone out of the window and that is why we have players with excellent striking abilities masquerading off of handicaps that are way to high for their ability.

May I suggest you try playing Chris Perry matchplay off his handicap.

Matt Collins

To be honest I just use my handicap as a personal indicator.  I don't play in any comps at the moment.  My only interest is getting better and enjoying playing.  I kind of challenge myself to play better and know my own ability and weaknesses.  I have a good idea of where I am and where I want to be.

People seem so obessed with competitions, what others are doing and the like.  To be honest I'm just not bothered.  My only goal is to get to hanidcap of 7 and that will be much more rewarding to me than a plastic trophy!  There's always going to be cheats, bandits etc.  To be honest I'm just not sure what a handicap is meant to mean now, every club/society does it different.  My definition of 7 is someone who averages 7 over SSS (well probably a little worse than this due to buffers).  My club is so paranoid about bandits that they initially handicap you well lower than what you are, and you aren't allowed to win a prize until you have been a member for a whole year!!!

Martin Devlin

Matt Collins

Martin Devlin

Marc Davies

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Russ Metcalf

Matt

 there is no point trying to get down to 7 if you are not going to be in competitions for a Plastic Trophy as you put it .....playing to 7 in a knock about and 7 in a competition is a different ball game....you will become a better golfer in comps in my opinion.

Russ

Marc Davies

Matt Collins

I recently played with a guy who just cheat.  he cheats himself mainly. 

If the ball goes in the trees he kicks it out.  He tees it up on the fairway.  He changes the scores on his card.  He then has to go around mouthing off about how he improves all the time.  He doesn't-he just cheats.  I wouldn't mind, but he never shuts up with his ignorant uneducated babble. 

This guy is so obessed with score that he fails to understand about the game and practicing-he is too busy cheating, himself and his partners.  It could be ignorance of the rules, due to a low intelligence.  But surely he know changing the scores on his card is cheating?

And I quote "I'm going to hand in three blag cards coz I want to get me handicap down la"  IGNORANT.

This same guy treats playing partners who don't like his cheating ways like dirt.

CHEATS NEVER PROSPER

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Matt Collins

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Matt Collins

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Matt Collins

I take the point about being a better golfer through being in comps.  But there is still a point in wanting to improve yourself.  Its just good to know you are improving.

Marc will know there's a lot of cheating that goes on in these comps anyway.

Golf is about playing yourself ultimately.

Paul Williams

Are you trying to gain golf friends or a hate mod or even a hit list?? I can't work you out???

Why not try and get along and try and put your point across in a more sophisticated manner? Just a suggestion.

Paul

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Marc Davies

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Marc Davies

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John Flood

Marc,

don't waste any of your energy any of the above replies. I unfortunatley got caught up in a 'slanging match' over the weekend which I won't be repeating.

John.

Matt,

if you felt so strongly about the cheating why did you not say anything at the time?

John Flood

You can't compare a 7 handicap casual golfer to a 7 handicap comp player.

The 2 scenario's are completely different. In most cases a 7 handicap comp player will more than likely play lower than that in casual golf.

I'm not sure how you can get your handicap down anyway without entering any comps? (OK there are cuts on general play but they don't happen as often as if you enter a comp)

Chris Perry

Why have I just had to waste even more time editing/removing posts? 

I haven't deleted the whole thread because it has, in general, been a fair and reasoned debate.  I won't waste my time if it happens again, the whole thread goes.  You ALL know better.  This is an open forum who can be read by anyone.  Posting inflamatory, inciting or abusive comments will not be tolerated.  If you aren't sure of what is or isn't allowable, read the AUP at the link below ->

http://www.golfshake.com/forums/forumHelp.php

Matt Collins

John Flood

Matt,

I didn't realise Santo had sold the putter on!

John.

Matt Collins

Marc Davies

John Flood

Marcus Dolman

Martin Goodman

I can't let that go without congratulating you.

As you can see, I have a very similar handicap to you and I fantasise about the sort of golf you describe.  Usually I am of the type another poster mentioned in another thread - doesn't play anywhere near handicap at all, has handicap doubted - but you've rekindled my belief that we all have a killer round in us.

Well done.

Marcus Dolman