Pleased, but gutted!

Monday, I'm standing standing on the 179 yard Par 3 18th at Ruislip on 95. So only need a bogie to break the ton for the first time ever.

Not my greatest ever tee shot, abit short and usual slice to take it wide right into the 2nd cut, but not too badly placed. Any reasonable PW shot onto the green will do please. I should be able to get down in 2 more hopefully for the magic 99.

So what do I do? Probably anxious to see where it's going, head came up too early? - and to my horror it's a terrible slice into the pond, nowhere near the line. So it ends with a 6 and 101. I should be pleased to be only 1 over my PB, but it could/should have been better!

I'd missed 2 gettable par putts earlier in the round, plus a couple of other putts for lower hole scores, so other chances created but not taken. So I must go on believing that eventually I'll get it right and eventually manage to get below 100 and then the challenge becomes getting off 28, which means doing 96 or better!

bob, feel for you fella, been there too many times, but did finally get below the 100 mark, keep on trying mate it will come and by christ does it feel good when it does !!

Bob, the problem is that you're just putting pressure on yourself. Stop counting your score as you go, just mark it on the card and move on to the next hole. Only count up after you've finished, that way there's no pressure on the closing holes to achieve a score.

It's what I always do, although I do tend to do front 9 and back 9 now. Just as an aside my best score (79) was when I was accompanying a pair who were playing a matchplay game, all I did was jot my shots down and added up afterwards - no pressure and it just happened (and yet to be repeated sadly)

Tim is spot on Bob. Just keep marking your card and add it up at 9 or 18 (preferably 18). You wont feel the pressure coming down the stretch then. Good luck; its only time now.

The thing is Bob you are now nearly there. I bet a short while ago the magic 100 seemed impossible. I have broke it a few times, my best score being 94 and I could not believe it. My fellow player was one shot behind on 95. The strange thing is I have not played much the last few months due to family commitments and I have played terribly, my putting lets me down the most taking 3, or sometimes 4 putts on most holes. Keep trying though Bob, because your milestone is now just around the corner.

Don't add up after 9 holes. I'm not sure why this happens as its a game of 18 holes. What does it matter if your 3 under after 9. Its like being 2-0 up at half time, you havent won until the final whistle.

Must have taken me around 15 to 20 rounds of golf to break 100. All I kept doing was 100, 101, 102, etc.

Then one day it happened, think I actually got a 98 on the score card.

After that it happened on a regular basis.

Keep plugging away and it will certainly come your way.

Russ

Hi Bob, unlucky mate, the double digit round will come soon enough. Just to echo what others have said, the worst thing you can do is keep a mental tally or keep checking the score. Just play free, think of something other than numbers and you'll be surprised with what you can achieve. Whenever I have scored well, my mind has been blank. Just played each hole on it's merits, and gone on gut instinct each time. (I should point out my GS handicap is massively skewed by one amanzing round last year... club HCP is 17)

Hi Bob, Ive played Ruislip quite a few times and it always strikes me that the 16th is a very similar hole to the 18th and yet without the psychological edge of having a small pond short right of the green it seems to play so much easier. That pond seems to somehow make me hit a slice, the ball is drawn to it like a magnet! And yet on the 16th I hit the green playing the same shot with the same club more often than not. The longer I play this game the more I realise at least 50% of it happens between my ears.