1st time under 100

Hi all,

I played my local course, Southern Valley in Kent, yesterday morning and shot a round of 92.

I have never shot under 100 before and my previous best was 101.

I should have got under 90 let alone under 100.  Now I can't wait to get back up there and do it again.

I think the combination of reading everyone's tips on this site and also some of the pro tips in Golf World etc made me think about each shot that I was taking rather than just trying to smash it towards the green.  I will definately be taking my time (not too much time) on each shot from now on and hopefully shoot in the 80's next time.

Well, play like that a few more times and watch the HC plummet.

Well done.

Richard - well done for breaking the ton - and welcome to the world of the competetive golfer.  You've done the transition from a hack round to being conscious of the score - the remark that you should have broken 90 was the clincher - the torment of knowing that if only you hadn't have gone for that 200 yarder to the green and ending up with a 7 instead of a par - rerunning the round in your head trying to see where you could have saved shots etc

Hi Rich, I did exactly that the first 2 games I had of 2008.  After that the season was ruled out because of some other stuff but hope to sort it in 2009.

I think Pat is spot on, play the course and then the scores will drop.  I rue the day I played with a few members on here at Mottram Hall last year, I just played my game ignored my scores and ignored the fact my playing partners had 12-20 strokes less than me on 27   I had a great opening 9 holes and walked off the 9th with 20+ points.  I was then told my score and couldn't hit a ball until about the 14th.  Think I scored 7 points on the back nine   That day golf was definately 'a game of two halves'  :0

 Well done Richard. All good info above. You should now have a good idea of what your weaknesses and strenghs are. When practicing concentrate on your weaknesses as it's easy to get into the ego boosting comfort zone of hitting the shots you know will produce good results.  

Thanks for all the comments.  I know a big weakness of mine is my short game and I know that this is where you can shave a lot of shots off your score.  My pitching and chipping is starting to get better and I think that's what helped yesterday but I have already been up the driving range today practicing the shorter shots - 10 to 75 yards - so that I can start to feel more confident when faced with these shots on the course.  My putting leaves quite a lot to be desired sometimes but hopefully the more I play the more comfortable I will get with putting.  I was thinking of buying a new putter as I have tried a few and have found some that feel a lot better than mine.

I should also add that I counted my scores before teeing off on the 17th and knew what I needed to do on the last two holes to get below 90.  I am sure that if I hadn't of known what I had scored already that I probably would have done better!

 Richard, maybe or maybe not. For me there are enough mind games (self inflicted) without adding more. As you get lower you'll know how you're doing in a medal or stableford anyway. For the time best concentrate on the shot in hand. 

Congratulations on beating 100 for the first time.

And from reading your post it is obvious that you can see where you dropped a few shots and could have been on a sub 90 round!

The main thing here is that you now know you can do it, so will end up beating 100 more often.

Russ

Well done for breaking the "barrier"! onwards and upwards (or downwards) depending on which way you look at it.

For my next round (not until 14 March unfortunately) I will not be totting my score up along the way.  One hole at a time for me now.  I have also started to keep a record of how many putts, GIR and FIR I get so that I can have a closer look at the round afterwards.  Strangely I had about three 3 putts and they were all on the par 3's.  A few less putts and there would have been a few more pars.

Shaving a couple of shots Si?  I'd call that a complete overhall of your score.  Nice to see you playing better golf.  Your short game is definately better than mine but I am improving.  Going for the sub-90 round on Saturday and nailing the 17th with at least a par.  We'll be on the PGA tour at this rate! (ok, maybe not :-)

I will definately keep that in mind Martin.  I used to work for Gravesham Council too but left in Feb 2007.  I took part in the GBC Golf Day in Oct 08 which was good fun and they may be organising another in the coming months.