Any Thoughts on Why I Cannot Score on My Home Course

[GB72]

This is becoming an issue for me.

Send me out on a strange course and I can play under my handicap by some considerable way. This has not been a one off thing but pretty much every away round this year.

Send me out on my home course though and I am looking buffer zone at the very best. If it were not for my away card from Breadsall Priory, my handicap would have gone up this year.

This is now getting embarassing at times, during team matches I am getting subtle but intentional bandit jibes. even got a few looks after the GM Centenary event. I am not a handicap protector, a card goes in almost every week.

It is not the pressure of having a card in my hand because my away rounds have been in comps or matches.

So, I am open to suggestions. Why might it be that I cannot put a home round together but I can on away courses or what can I change in my approach to my home course that may improve my scores.

 

[chris661]

I am kinda the same played a few rounds at various courses and played them 6,7,8 over kinda thing but at my own place it can be a bit of a struggle.On saturday I was 1 over after 8 and finished just making the buffer by virtue of the css being reduced

 

[FaldosJumper]

Surely it's just concentration?

lack of attention when it matters because you've played it numerous times?

how to get over it though is a different matter, maybe taking a different club off the tee to leave you different yardage and something to think about?

 

[NWJocko]

Expectation perhaps?

Do you expect to score well on your own course and over think things?

Playing a different course you tend to just play what's in front of you without thinking about anything else as you're blind to a degree.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

Don't worry mate. Get drawn with me at the Forest of Arden and I'll bring your away form crashing down to my level. Guarantee there'll be no bandit jibes then!

 

[griffgolf]

One possible cause may be that you play each hole so much the same way that you have made up your mind what club you need for the next shot and lose your focus.

Try next time you play a round with just a half set of clubs ( driver, 3 wood, 3,5,7,9,PW putter )or similar leaving out some of your regular clubs.

This may make you think a bit more and focus more.

Just a thought

 

[GB72]

Don't worry mate. Get drawn with me at the Forest of Arden and I'll bring your away form crashing down to my level. Guarantee there'll be no bandit jibes then!

Might not be a bad thing, some of the looks I was getting at the meal after the 43 points of a 20 handicap were pretty barbed. I was sat away from the other forumers and you coudl see that several thought that my handicap was artificially high.

 

[AuburnWarrior]

When I was a junior at Mitcham GC I couldn't put a decent score together at home for love nor money.

You put me on an unfamiliar course and I tore it up!!

I realised that there were too many holes at Mitcham that had beaten me before I'd even tee'd off.

Maybe something similar with you are your home course??

 

[GB72]

Certainly one hole that fits that description but it is a longish par 3 so I do not have much choice as to how I play it. Suspect a few bad thoughts enter my mind on that tee.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

When I was a junior at Mitcham GC I couldn't put a decent score together at home for love nor money.

You put me on an unfamiliar course and I tore it up!!

I realised that there were too many holes at Mitcham that had beaten me before I'd even tee'd off.

Maybe something similar with you are your home course??

Know what you mean. I always fancied myself to tear up the holes over the railway line and usually hacked my way round them. Could never play them well

 

[HickoryShaft]

I was struggling on a few holes always being over my H/C allowance so I tried something new to me recently which was try and play my own course to 'how my handicap expects' me to score.

Actually pretty hard to force yourself to do but it was a friendly round and I ended up under my handicap courtesy of a couple of decent putts and a few close chips.

So on a par 4 with 1 shot, instead of taking driver I hit 7I, 7I and then wedge, on a par 5 I tried 3 irons and a chip on, on a very long par 4 took a driver and then 8 iron then wedge in etc - you get the idea.

Now I am not saying this is how to play but it made me think about a couple of holes very differently and those I was struggling on I now play in a different way to try and get H/C equalling scores - on the others where I am more confident I try scoring better than H/C.

It may help to give you some different options for the holes you are less successful on at present.

Word of warning though - I got a lot of stick for grabbing my 7 iron off the tee - my mate offered to get me a Babysham in the bar afterwards

 

[AuburnWarrior]

When I was a junior at Mitcham GC I couldn't put a decent score together at home for love nor money.

You put me on an unfamiliar course and I tore it up!!

I realised that there were too many holes at Mitcham that had beaten me before I'd even tee'd off.

Maybe something similar with you are your home course??

Know what you mean. I always fancied myself to tear up the holes over the railway line and usually hacked my way round them. Could never play them well

The 7th was a killer!! I was once 2 under gross standing on the tee - put two onto the railway!! Thanks very much.

 

[Hobbit]

Fear! You've got target fixation with certain holes on your own course, and are defeated before you tee off.

Or, could it be you are a member at a club/course that is difficult to play, and you xx handicap actually travels very well to easier courses.

 

[viscount17]

Certainly one hole that fits that description but it is a longish par 3 so I do not have much choice as to how I play it. Suspect a few bad thoughts enter my mind on that tee.

7th or 17th by any chance?

thing is you can play your course well, I've seen you do it - and been on the end of it! Making par on 7 (or 8) of the first 9 proves it. You can also play a number of the back 9 pretty well and some of those are far from gimmies. Getting one of those wrong isn't too surprising.
So it comes down to study time, where are you losing the shots, does familiarity mean you always play them in the same way?

I have a fairly good idea why I often play mine badly come medal time, I'm too prone to opt for Hollywood when I should be thinking Cricklewood!

 

[stef92]

I am exactly the same! I am off 13.5 at home, but will 80% of the time be well under that, possibly sub 80, elsewhere!

I used to play a lot round little aston, not an easy course at all, and I would say my handicap round there would be single figures.

Personally, I reckon it is down to not concentrating at home, as I have already been a member for 13 years, and there isn't much trouble either. So I relax and let things slip!

 

[bobmac]

Ghosts Greg

Shots you've hit on holes from the past come back to haunt your memory banks and beat you up before you even play the holes.
7th is a classic. And the 14th.

You are convinced these are tough shots and bail out, convinced you're going to hit another bad one. When you undoubtedly do hit a bad shot, your brain says "told you"

There are a few good holes at your course that will cost you dearly so here's what I suggest.

Go out by yourself and practice these shots that you normally have trouble with. Hit as many tee shots on the 7th as it takes to find a way of hitting that green or at least find a way of making a 4 net 3.
Then when you come to play the hole in a proper game, you will have some good memories to draw from.

 

[Happy_G]

I'm having a similar sort of thing happening where I'm up around 94, 95 on my home course but 85, 87 on away courses. I think it's because on unfamiliar courses I'm more likely to just get on and take the shot whereas at home I know where all the trouble is so think twice. I was playing an away match last Saturday and a few times was thinking to myself I wouldn't have gone for the green if I'd known how deep that bunker was - so in short ignorance is bliss!

 

[HRC99]

Your state of mind and focus, I'd say.

You go into auto pilot playing round your home course and don't focus and think as much as you do playing a strange course.

To combat this, I'll, from time to time, put my name down at a completely different time of day and play with some "strangers" at my club. I find that playing with people I don't know makes me focus better than with my usual 4 ball.

Just an idea.

 

[GB72]

Your state of mind and focus, I'd say.

You go into auto pilot playing round your home course and don't focus and think as much as you do playing a strange course.

To combat this, I'll, from time to time, put my name down at a completely different time of day and play with some "strangers" at my club. I find that playing with people I don't know makes me focus better than with my usual 4 ball.

Just an idea.

You could have a point with the 'playing with strangers' aspect. The one thing that all of the away courses have in common is that I tend to play with people I do not know and maybe that helps focus me. Trouble is, with no booking system and comps played in your own group it is often not easy to find another group to play with.

 

[HRC99]

Your state of mind and focus, I'd say.

You go into auto pilot playing round your home course and don't focus and think as much as you do playing a strange course.

To combat this, I'll, from time to time, put my name down at a completely different time of day and play with some "strangers" at my club. I find that playing with people I don't know makes me focus better than with my usual 4 ball.

Just an idea.

You could have a point with the 'playing with strangers' aspect. The one thing that all of the away courses have in common is that I tend to play with people I do not know and maybe that helps focus me. Trouble is, with no booking system and comps played in your own group it is often not easy to find another group to play with.

I reckon its worth a go just to see if it does help.

There is a casualness and a familiarity with my normal fourball that can affect my focus. In fact, the more I think about it, almost all of my good rounds have been when I'm not playing with them but with "strangers".

That's where I've been going wrong. It's not my fault I've played crap, it's theirs!

I've also noticed that I play better later on in the day too rather than first thing. Whether its because I'm more awake, looser, less rushed I don't know but that had an effect too.