1st Hole - Score for the round

[Slab]

Just a random thought, some of you might keep stats & others just educated guesses

If you played your opening hole over and over 18 times to make up your 'round' of golf, how would your scoring be for the round compared to a regular round and would your handicap change much? (if at all)

 

[Fabia999]

I've been playing about a year (6 months at my club) so I have only birdied about 4 different holes, one of those being the first, about 5 times. So I would take that type of golf all day. I could probably do that with about 3 clubs.

1st hole: par 4, 360 yard, SI 11.

 

[Lord Tyrion]

Great question. I score well on our opening hole, a par 4 with a bit of shape, it is a good opener. If I replicated that across the 18 I reckon I would be around 5 shots lower. It is not necessarily an easy hole but it is not punishing, it eases you into the round. I often par it, at worst single bogey.

A drop in concentration levels may affect scoring over 18 holes but I still think that I would score better than my handicap. IMO the first and last holes should be visually strong and a little gentler than the others.

 

[Bwgan]

Our 1st is a Par 5 502yards
Last 18 comps: +1,-1,-,-,-,-1,-,+2,+1,-,+1,-,-,+1,+2,+2,+1,+1
which adds to: 10 over
current h'cap 12

So actually play better generally.

 

[Deleted member 1147]

It’s a par 5, so I imagine I’d be off a lower handicap if I played it all the time, as I average closer to par for par 5’s, & in some cases under par.

 

[Dan2501]

Very, very bad and handicap would definitely go up. Our first hole is a tough start but I've not been playing it well at all, averaging 2.1 over par this year, not parred it in a medal. So yeah, I would be strongly against this idea

 

[Rlburnside]

If I played our 1st 18 times my score would be worse and my handicap would be higher, it's a par 4,I've only parred this hole once this season.

If I get a decent drive away I'm usually left with a second shot of around 190 yards with a slightly downhill lie, deep rough to the right a penalty ditch running across fairway around 50 yards from green and deep rough and out of bounds left.

I usually lay up short of the ditch and hope to hit the green from there and 2 put for a 5 which I'm happy with for the first hole.

Just had a look at my last 23 competive rounds I've only parred this hole 4 times so a tough start.

 

[Imurg]

Straightforward par 5, although it is a dogleg.
If I played it 18 times I reckon I'd only be 3-4 over tops....maybe even closer to par.

 

[anotherdouble]

I am very happy to bogey it so on that principle yes my handicap would change

 

[jim8flog]

Doubt is if mine would change much.

Our first is stroke 10 on difficulty so there are easier and harder holes on the course so it woud probably even out.

One point though is that a player would know where the pin is and I would expect the players putting stats to improve.

 

[IanM]

I'd be worse! Our opener isnt tough, but I usually it a poor drive there through lack of warm up!

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

No stableford points on our 1st is not a great portent for the round...it is a pretty straightforward par 5. And our 2nd is a real tough par 4 to be followed by a par 3 that is a difficult par if green is missed. On Saturday - blobbed first and after four holes I had amassed a total of 1 pt (if it is possible to 'amass' 1 point )

Of course there is an element of 'self-fulfilling prophecy' about it all. 1pt after 4 holes and I can forget it as far as any comp is concerned - and so the stableford scoring will, with me, almost inevitably deteriorate. And so it came to pass that on Saturday 17pts was all I could cobble together for the round. Though truth be told I wasn't bothering that much after four - just trying to enjoy myself (difficult - being a bit of a golfing miserablist at the moment)

 

[Orikoru]

Our opener is a par 3 so I'd probably go round in about 75 instead of high 80s, ha. It's quite a tough one though, I usually bogey it, have birdied a couple of times, don't often par it. Occasionally double bogey if I get the tee shot all kinds of wrong. Honestly that's probably reflective of my golf generally, so I imagine I'd be the same.

If you want to bring stats into it, my average score on that hole this year is 3.867, so 0.867 over par. My average round this year is 91.1 though, which is an average of 1.283 over par per hole. So in fact my handicap would be lower if I only played the first. This would not have been the case last year though as I used to be much worse on the first hole - average 4.542 last year. Nice to see that I've made an improvement on how I start the round.

 

[Imurg]

I'd be worse! Our opener isnt tough, but I usually it a poor drive there through lack of warm up!

Ah..but by the 3rd time playing it you'd have warmed up and dropped to a 7 iron off the tee.....

 

[Wolf]

I'd definitely be be worse. It's a straightforward par 4 really, 2 fairway bunkers right in driver range means playing to the right of them which brings in thick rough and lots of trees. Should be a straight forward hole but amount of times I bogey it is unreal.

 

[sunshine]

Our opener is a par 3 so I'd probably go round in about 75 instead of high 80s, ha. It's quite a tough one though, I usually bogey it, have birdied a couple of times, don't often par it. Occasionally double bogey if I get the tee shot all kinds of wrong. Honestly that's probably reflective of my golf generally, so I imagine I'd be the same.

If you want to bring stats into it, my average score on that hole this year is 3.867, so 0.867 over par. My average round this year is 91.1 though, which is an average of 1.283 over par per hole. So in fact my handicap would be lower if I only played the first. This would not have been the case last year though as I used to be much worse on the first hole - average 4.542 last year. Nice to see that I've made an improvement on how I start the round.

What would your score be if you had to play the 2nd hole 18 times?

 

[sunshine]

My course's opening hole is a 500 yard par 5. It's usually into the wind, but when downwind I've been able to hit the green with driver and as little as a 5 iron. It's the easiest hole on the course although I think it is SI 9 so many people start a stableford with a 5 for 3.

If I had to play it 18 times I'd be a scratch golfer

 

[Orikoru]

What would your score be if you had to play the 2nd hole 18 times?

Well my average score on that one this year is 6.267! Carry that ratio across 18 holes and I'm shooting 108. Coming to terms with the fact I no longer get two shots there after my last cut either!

 

[Kaizer_Soze]

Our 1st is the only hole on the course I've never birdied off the medal tee, a medium length par 4 with a right to left dog-leg and 2 tier green approach can be anything between a 4 iron and wedge depending on conditions, that said if I had to play it 18 times I'm sure I'd birdie it having had a chance to warm up properly

 

[Britishshooting]

I currently play 2 courses, but looking at my shotscope data:

Course 1:

Over the last 18 rounds I’ve had:

- 6 Birdies
- 10 Pars
- 2 Bogeys

Course 2:

Over the last 18 rounds I’ve had:

- 8 Birdies
- 8 Pars
- 1 Bogey
- 1 Double

The bogey and double both came from blocking my tee shot out of bounds and playing 3 off tee. Both of which came from not sticking to my routine and playing 3 wood off the tee which isn’t necessary.

4 iron on the first leaves me with 100 to 120 in typically which is the best part of my game and the yardage I like to leave myself. I honestly feel if I was to play it all day i’d Only par or birdie it unless I hit an extremely errant shot which isn’t typical.

But we all saw what Stenson and Rose did over the weekend. This is what can happen to me once every few hundred shots so it would only be a matter of time for a bad swing or mental issue to creep in.