# card in hand for medal -  tips



## connor (Feb 20, 2012)

been having a bit of a mare recently. There is a medal first weekend in march which I am only considering to play in as dont want h/cap up any more all ready 27.2.  What tips would you suggest to help me out?  It would be my first medal in comp due to injury last year and then avoiding them as was struggling to play consistant when got back so only went in stablefords
Apart from playing a full round with nothing longer than a 6i i cant see me being cut but i want to rock in less than a 100 for some kind of satisfaction. Also i got to remind my self im not called seve and to take my medicine


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## FairwayDodger (Feb 20, 2012)

Might help you to know that _for handicap purposes_ there isn't any practical difference between a stroke play medal and stableford. If you make a rickets of any hole it will at worst be taken as a net double bogey when calculating your score vs handicap.


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## G1BB0 (Feb 20, 2012)

can't help you Connor as my stroke average for medal play is diabolical, its as if someone has put a hex on my card to only score double bogeys (or higher) 

Also got 1st medal of the year on the 4th so hoping the recent lay off may help instead of hinder, good luck


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## HomerJSimpson (Feb 20, 2012)

Course management. Treat every hole as a par 5. If you can shoot level 5's (90) then you'll win but even if you end up a few over you'll still have a good score. What you lose on the longer holes you can hopefully make up on the shorter ones.

If you get in trouble just get it back in play. Don't try and hit the green in two on long par 4's. Try and get the drive away even if you use a 3 wood, 5 wood or iron to keep it in play. Try and lay up to around 100 yards and use a short iron to find the green

Above all, don't get too hung up about it. Its suppose to be fun (?) and the more you worry how well or badly you are doing the worse it will get. Hit it, find it and hit it again and worry about the score at the end


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## DaveM (Feb 20, 2012)

All I can say is. Just relax take a deep breath before each shot. Remember its the same for everyone, just remember that.


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## connor (Feb 20, 2012)

FairwayDodger said:



			Might help you to know that _for handicap purposes_ there isn't any practical difference between a stroke play medal and stableford. If you make a rickets of any hole it will at worst be taken as a net double bogey when calculating your score vs handicap.
		
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yeah but if i get a dreaded 10 surely that bumps my score right up and if i end up with that and a couple 8s that puts me right out of the buffer zone?

ive never played a medal comp yet only ever stablefords as they felt "safer" but this season i really want to crack on with my golf and get low 20s at least


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## FairwayDodger (Feb 20, 2012)

connor said:



			yeah but if i get a dreaded 10 surely that bumps my score right up and if i end up with that and a couple 8s that puts me right out of the buffer zone?

ive never played a medal comp yet only ever stablefords as they felt "safer" but this season i really want to crack on with my golf and get low 20s at least
		
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No, say you take a 10 on a par 4 where according to stroke index you would get a stroke. The worst you will be credited with for handicap purposes is a net double bogey. i.e. a 7 in this case.

All I'm saying is that if you feel more secure in a stableford it's worth considering that handicapping works the same in stroke play. Going back to that hole in the previous example, if you were playing stableford and picked your ball up you'd be credited with a 7 for handicap purposes.

The beauty of stableford is that a disaster hole like that doesn't mean you're out of the competition whereas in stroke play you'd be stuffed but for handicap it's all the same.


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## connor (Feb 20, 2012)

arrhh right ideal get you now.  Not to fussed about winning the comp would be nice but cant see it happening lol

So i can have a nightmare hole but still just quietly go along with my season plans of getting cut and not being called a bandit which i am deffiantly not.

Cheers for explaining that.

Guess its like people say just relax and use my shots i have and not try and out hit my self


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## Ethan (Feb 20, 2012)

Play every shot on its own. No matter how good bad or indifferent the previous shot has been, treat the next one as a brand new effort and don't try to play a shot you can't carry off just because the last one wasn't very good and you need to make up for it. You won't, you'll just dig the hole deeper.


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## Imurg (Feb 20, 2012)

I don't know whether this is the right or wrong way but I just go out and play.
I hit the shot that's needed and try to get it round in as few shots as I can - Medal, Stableford or Social
I know it's a bit different because I don't tend to rack up a double figure score on 1 hole but I don't go out thinking " this is a Medal - I must play well".
That just puts more pressure on yourself.


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## Slicer30 (Feb 20, 2012)

Connor - Having a plan worked for me.  Cant seem to just play and then tally up at the end. I need to know what I am doing on my way round.

I had good success with this - Take a scorecard the week before the comp, and put a score on every hole that you'd be happy to produce on the day.  Dont go overboard with pars and birdies    stick bogeys and worse case the odd double bogey.

The idea is to see what the scorecard would look like.  For me I used to put an 85 on there, 8 shots lower than my handicap.  I then try to play against that rather than the par score of the course.  It was also good to see what an 85 looked like  as I was getting no where near it.


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## bigslice (Feb 20, 2012)

same as ethan, i never worry about my card. i even trick my self into not remembering anything (or im brainless). just enjoy playing and the card WILL sort itself out. played my best golf 2011 and didnt even no i was level par on the back nine!!! to card a 74 nett 56:cheers:


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## daymond (Feb 20, 2012)

Only one thing to add to the good advice above. Check that your fellow competitors are looking when to play your shot to sight the ball. Nothing more annoying than not seeing where your shot has gone and then find out that the others were doing other things.
And if this does happen declare and play a provisional ball immediately.


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## AmandaJR (Feb 21, 2012)

connor said:



			arrhh right ideal get you now.  Not to fussed about winning the comp would be nice but cant see it happening lol

So i can have a nightmare hole but still just quietly go along with my season plans of getting cut and not being called a bandit which i am deffiantly not.

Cheers for explaining that.

Guess its like people say just relax and use my shots i have and not try and out hit my self
		
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You can even decide to pick up if the nightmare hole is gaining mammoth proportions. You don't have to submit a no return from there but play on and whilst you can't win the competition your card is still considered for handicap purposes (the nett double bogey score is assumed). Sometimes Stableford feels easier on the mind as you can pick up and move on...but you can do that on medal rounds too.

Edit - or at least I think so and as my tenure as handicap secretary starts in April I hope I'm right!


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## Scottjd1 (Feb 21, 2012)

FairwayDodger said:



			No, say you take a 10 on a par 4 where according to stroke index you would get a stroke. The worst you will be credited with for handicap purposes is a net double bogey. i.e. a 7 in this case.

All I'm saying is that if you feel more secure in a stableford it's worth considering that handicapping works the same in stroke play. Going back to that hole in the previous example, if you were playing stableford and picked your ball up you'd be credited with a 7 for handicap purposes.

The beauty of stableford is that a disaster hole like that doesn't mean you're out of the competition whereas in stroke play you'd be stuffed but for handicap it's all the same.
		
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I only recently found this out and it does help as say you have a 14 footer for  a 7 on the above example, if you are portecting your score you might just roll it up close so you think I dont want worse than an 8, you might as well be positive and go to hole it out as if you miss it doenst really matter beyond that score.

Im not that bothered with winning comps but wanna get cuts so thats how I loook at it. Also I try to write my score on each hole but try to not think where I am at certain points in the round as you get ahead of yourself. its hard but its my main focus this year.

The tot up at the end and start crying....


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## Oddsocks (Feb 21, 2012)

without sounding negative, given the recent weather id ask yourself how your course is playing, and more importantly what is the likelyhood of your shooting buffer. my course is a craphole at the moment, so with that in mind i chose not to play our medal this sunday. The course was in poor conditions, loads of tempt tees meant the course was playing short and was therefor a non qualifying comp.

No cuts to be had, so no entry.

What i found funny is a net 60 won it, 8 under par.


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## tarmac (Feb 21, 2012)

HomerJSimpson said:



			Course management. Treat every hole as a par 5. If you can shoot level 5's (90) then you'll win but even if you end up a few over you'll still have a good score. What you lose on the longer holes you can hopefully make up on the shorter ones.

If you get in trouble just get it back in play. Don't try and hit the green in two on long par 4's. Try and get the drive away even if you use a 3 wood, 5 wood or iron to keep it in play. Try and lay up to around 100 yards and use a short iron to find the green

Above all, don't get too hung up about it. Its suppose to be fun (?) and the more you worry how well or badly you are doing the worse it will get. Hit it, find it and hit it again and worry about the score at the end
		
Click to expand...



got to say this is the way all 'higher' handicapers should play....bogie golf,an sooner or later those 7's turn into 6's,6's into  5's on so on.but you have to enter comps to get used to havin a card in your hand.you never get better playin bounce games.


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## chrisd (Feb 22, 2012)

My tip, my 6 handicap mate always plays to - if you rate the chances of pulling off the shot at more than 60% then go for it but less than 60% play a more careful shot into a better position


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