[dwestemesse]

I keep dreaming for a day when everything is well on more than one hole.

[ebBPxIai]

Wow that's a first - Craig and Harry have something in common.

[unatkot]

My very best scores have been a surprise to me. Either I wasn't keeping my own score, or I just jotted down the score on my way to the next hole without thinking about it at all. I got to the end, added it up and went, "Wow, I didn't realize I was playing that well."

In my old group, if one of us was playing particularly well, it was an unwritten rule that no one would say anything about it for fear of jinxing the balance of the round.

[risyGreeple]

This is an interesting thread. Playing competative golf for most of my playing years it was all about scraping together the best possible score. "there are no pictures on a score card" was the mentality that was driven home.

Now that I play more casual rounds than I do competative I take more away from a good ball striking round even if the score doesn't reflect it. This is even more true now that I am going through the swing changes with my new coach. I spend more time trying to work the changes in and strike it well and my short game is taking a bit of a hit right now.

[forebirdo]

In reality, if you shoot a low score, didn't you play well? I like to shoot low scores. As low as my ability allows. If I hit the ball well all day and card a crappy score, that doesn't make me happy. Leaves me with a case of the "should haves". I should have made that putt, or that putt, or that putt.

Kevin

[soprofaxelbis]

In reality, if you shoot a low score, didn't you play well? I like to shoot low scores. As low as my ability allows. If I hit the ball well all day and card a crappy score, that doesn't make me happy. Leaves me with a case of the "should haves". I should have made that putt, or that putt, or that putt.

Kevin

I doubt if many people come off the course having shot a personal best and think that they've played badly. What happens in my case I think is I have days when I come out and I feel like I have two left hands on the club. Just don't know what I'm doing with myself, but I hit the ball straight. It just feels bad. Then there are also days where I come out and it just feels right. Everything clicks and it's like it's easy. When that first one coincides with a good putting day, you can shoot a very low score, but feel like you didn't play that great. If the second comes along with a poor putting day, you can shoot a higher score, despite feeling like you had it on a string. Every now and again you get the second one and a good putting day coming together. Those are very, very good days to be on the golf course. Sadly, they don't happen all that often.

[forebirdo]

I understand what you're saying. In my case, low scores are what make me happy. Well, that and watching my daughter play. You can second guess the heck out of most any round of golf. I don't feel particularly satisfied when I hit the ball well and don't score. I feel like I wasted a chance at a nice score, and the older I get, the less I like to waste them. I actually find it pretty satisfying if I can't get around in a decent score when I'm not hitting the ball well. Means I made something out of not much.

Kevin

[soprofaxelbis]

I understand what you're saying. In my case, low scores are what make me happy. Well, that and watching my daughter play. You can second guess the heck out of most any round of golf. I don't feel particularly satisfied when I hit the ball well and don't score. I feel like I wasted a chance at a nice score, and the older I get, the less I like to waste them. I actually find it pretty satisfying if I can't get around in a decent score when I'm not hitting the ball well. Means I made something out of not much.

Kevin

It's a whole lot more infuriating for your opponent when you do that too. Which is nice.

[forebirdo]

It's a whole lot more infuriating for your opponent when you do that too. Which is nice.

Ten or twelve years ago I was in a game against a guy much younger than me. Early 20s. He was a relative of a friend of a friend. Big hitter, loud talker, was going to show us older guys how it was done. We put a couple bucks on the line.

I just missed 7 or so greens in a row. Chipped up to within a a foot or two on every one and made pars on every one. When he lost the first part of the nassau he was so close to crying he couldn't speak. I think I shot a 75 or so and only ended up hitting about five greens. I remember that round fondly.

Kevin

[Uzezqelj]

Ten or twelve years ago I was in a game against a guy much younger than me. Early 20s. He was a relative of a friend of a friend. Big hitter, loud talker, was going to show us older guys how it was done. We put a couple bucks on the line.

I just missed 7 or so greens in a row. Chipped up to within a a foot or two on every one and made pars on every one. When he lost the first part of the nassau he was so close to crying he couldn't speak. I think I shot a 75 or so and only ended up hitting about five greens. I remember that round fondly.

Kevin

All good golfers know how to grind out a win when they have to. I once absolutely had to shoot 38 or better on a back nine to make a cut in a tournament and I ground out a 37 which included at least 4 one-putt greens.

Afterward, I felt elated for sure, but I knew that being able to do that was eclipsed by HAVING to do that because that meant that other parts of my game were sorely lacking. Shooting a score when everything is humming along is a helluva lot easier on the mind than having to grind out a score most of the time. This is why I feel that playing a round where my ball striking and mechanics are solid is in many ways more satisfying than grinding my way to a great score.

Both have their appeal, but only one offers the peace of mind needed to play this game well over a long period of time.


-JP