'Better player' mentality

[Jake O'Reilly]

A bit of a random one, but I was wondering at what stage did you 'better players' start referring to your round in terms of gross, rather than nett?

For example, at the halfway hut an 18-handicapper at 9-over gross would likely say he was level, where as, in my experience anyway, at level handicap at the same point, a 4-handicapper would most likely say he was 2-over, referring to the gross.

 

[garyinderry]

I found, once you get to around a 12 handicap you usually need to be compiling a pretty good gross score even if you are playing stableford.

Ive always stated, people coming down through the handicaps should just concentrate on getting good stableford scores, good gross scores naturally follow.

 

[pbrown7582]

i'd agree it is around the 12 mark.

 

[Ethan]

Once you see little difference between playing a medal and a stableford.

 

[patricks148]

i think once i got below 10 i started to look a gross scores.

 

[JustOne]

I never knew until I joined the forum that anyone referred to their score in 'net' terms, it was always gross, and always will be.

 

[ManinBlack]

My best gross was when I shot 144 at about 12 years of age.

I think you start counting gross when you get near to shooting under 80. To me, 79 just sounds so much more respectable than 80. It's a real psychological target for me, I hate shooting over 79 but do it on an all too regular basis unfortunately.

 

[Deleted member 17920]

Once you see little difference between playing a medal and a stableford.

I agree with that one, Its not how many points its what you are over par.

 

[sawtooth]

I have always thought gross scores tbh, I was lucky enough to be 16 handicap when I first started playing. I agree with what has already been said, if you are eyeing breaking 80 then gross is on your mind not so much net.

 

[duncan mackie]

it's an interesting question as ever Jake.

I see gross scores as an absolute and tend to reference questions like 'how did the round go?' and 'playing well?' with a response in gross terms.

When asked what did I score in a comp I always answer in the relevant terms ie points or nett score.

The question is the corollary to the question 'what's your handicap?' and how people respond. Here the low handicapper will generally state the handicap first, whilst the higher handicapper will start along the lines " I shot 83 last week (or 44 points etc) and require prompting to establish that they are off 27.

gross scores and handicap = this is how good I am

nett scores and points = this is how I am currently playing

 

[Deleted member 15344]

I think when I got to single figures

 

[FairwayDodger]

I've always only been interested in the gross score, even when I struggled to break 100. Anyone asks me my score, I tell them the gross.

 

[guest100718]

Never interested in anything but gross score since i started play the game.

 

[CMAC]

A bit of a random one, but I was wondering at what stage did you 'better players' start referring to your round in terms of gross, rather than nett?

For example, at the halfway hut an 18-handicapper at 9-over gross would likely say he was level, where as, in my experience anyway, at level handicap at the same point, a 4-handicapper would most likely say he was 2-over, referring to the gross.

From DAY ONE!

if I hit it 89 times then thats my score- it cannot be anything else.

I have referred to only gross score since before I had a h/cap and after my first h/cap of 18 as the h/cap is only how the club/congu categorised me. I have always categorised myself as scratch (even though I dont play to that)

 

[Birchy]

It always depends who is asking. When people at the club ask who barely know me I believe they are interested in the Nett score.

Apart from that im always looking to shoot a score in the 70s gross.

 

[DaveyG]

My best gross was when I shot 144 at about 12 years of age.

I think you start counting gross when you get near to shooting under 80. To me, 79 just sounds so much more respectable than 80. It's a real psychological target for me, I hate shooting over 79 but do it on an all too regular basis unfortunately.

I know what you mean but its all relative to the par... I have shot 73 before and that would make me sound like a bery decent player... I regulatly shoot low 90's high 80's

The 73 came on a good round at a par 63 which stretchs 4500 yards...

If you compare that to a course over 6500 yards a 73 would be a very different score in my opinion

 

[IanG]

Gross is the only real game in town that matters - I'm way more excited about bettering my PB gross than winning a comp courtesy of my handicap.

In practice though for a higher handicap player like me, counting your score against par as you go through the round can be a bit demoralising as it is all one way traffic, inexorably more over par after each hole - birdies are rare so little prospect of recovering the count.

In the past I've found counting against 'fives' quite useful. Firstly it is very easy - always a plus for me. Secondly you have a good chance to recover some ground (albeit only psychologically) with a few 3's or 4's. Thirdly it puts you in a better frame of mind to say you are one under 5's rather than 6 over par. And let's face it the real target for many of us should be to keep the doubles and worse off the card, if we can do that the scores will take care of themselves. 5 is rarely a bad score for mid handicap player, and certainly is never a disaster, so counting against fives helps keep that perspective front and centre.

 

[Swinger]

I personally can't remember as it seems liek forever but thinking about how people talk to me about how they got on during a medal round I'd say people from 14 downwards tend to mention gross scores and in a stableford people under 5/6 talk about gross scores at the same time as points.
Having said that people only generally want to talk about it if they have had a good day and I doubt the 13 handicappers want to talk about the gross 98 they just shot, I know my gross 84's don't get talked about too much unless people are telling me I'm finished as a half decent golfer. You can bet there will still be one or two tour quality shots in there though!

 

[bladeplayer]

Not classed as a "better" golfer but Probably when i got to single figures and the reality of winning nett comps disappeared id say , nett score didnt matter any more and in reality i could shoot better scores more often so thats what i judge my game on

 

[ger147]

Only ever counted gross scores since Day 1.