TigerTime
Active member
I have moaned and groaned plenty about my game on this forum over time. I have also posted some good things about my game occasionally. I previously kept strokes gained stats from ShotScope in 2021/2022 - I binned that last year. I am seriously tempted to get up and running with it again as I did find it useful in the sense that I'd learn my weaknesses and my strengths and I'd correlate the stats with where I mentally felt my game was at.
This morning I had a bit of a stinker round and it made me look at my stats. I keep a spreadsheet of all my WHS scores since 2021 - I think this is another method or measuring progress and trying to align it with how I feel about my game. I created the sheet this year to see if I had any improvement as I'm taking monthly lessons for the first time ever and to confirm my thoughts that last year was a bit of a regression. Have monthly lessons this year and have seen improvement so here's hoping. The last couple of months I do feel it's getting worse again though.
So, some stats, courtesy of excel. I don't have stats for casual non counting rounds so can only really go by these.
Some Shotscope stats from 2022/2023. Don't have putting - as by the end of using the device I just typed in number of putts and didn't bother with pin positions or distances etc.
So a decent improvement of about 4 strokes on average from 2021 to 2022, likely down to just gaining experience and playing regularly. I did feel in 2023 I regressed a bit and this kind of shows that - I'm putting it down to the stupid bout of speed training I did at the start of the year that ruined any ball striking ability I had.
So, arguably the lessons are working. Must admit it doesn't really feel like it though. Haven't felt like I can strike a golf ball well for a couple of months. My putting has got worse this year too. My 'bad' days are just as bad as they were in 21/22/23. My 'good' days are a bit better now I guess, but the good days seem to be about 2/3 in 10 rounds. I guess I stopped practicing as much once the better weather arrived in May, so can I really complain that I'm not playing well if I'm not hitting the ball as well as I was back in April? I've not been to the range in well over a month I think. If I see the opportunity for a few holes in the evening I go out and play, when maybe I should be at the range once or twice a week and just doing a couple of practice sessions.
Other things to note: I can't seem to score well at my home club. All my counters this year have come from places like Carnoustie, Gleneagles, Kingsbarns, St. Andrews and Gullane to name a few. Yet my shorter, parkland home club I struggle to break into the mid to low 80's constantly. There are far too many mistakes in every round resulting in doubles or worse. I'd have shot mid 70's if I didn't have a triple and 3 doubles on one round - that was a real missed opportunity to break 80 properly. I can't eliminate them, whether its making a mess of the tee shot or approach, having a bad day putting, duffing the odd chip or bunker shot. It's not really one single thing that is causing these mistakes - it's a bit of everything and it's making a bad round worse, and it makes a good round a missed opportunity. Of course, we will all make mistakes, but mine seem to be the most punishing from a scoring point of view. Driving has always been a decent part of my game, along with my short game and putting - but it has been absolutely woeful for a while. I am spraying the ball all over the place at times with a 4 way miss (left, right, short, long). I'm not even trying to do different things with the driver - I literally just want to play my little pull cut shot that worked so well for me previously. My iron play was in a good place for most of the year and I believe this is what has helped lower my scores a bit but - it has recently fell to crap again. Had a playing lesson on a par 3 course, shot 2 under. Went out played the medal later that day and couldn't hit a green to save myself.
The point of this post? Honestly not sure. I love/hate this game and at times it's the best thing on earth, and at others it just makes me think 'what's the point'. It gives you so little back from what you put in, but I guess that makes the special days the special days. It would be nice to feel that way. I know people who have cut 10 shots off their handicap in a year, or 7 or 8 etc, yet I seem to struggle. I don't want/expect to be a scratch golfer - I'd just like to live comfortably in the mid single figure range. Maybe someone here can give me a bit perspective, that I have actually improved a lot, but comparing to others, my progress seems very slow, and at times stagnant.
Anyway, stupid game and we go again tomorrow
This morning I had a bit of a stinker round and it made me look at my stats. I keep a spreadsheet of all my WHS scores since 2021 - I think this is another method or measuring progress and trying to align it with how I feel about my game. I created the sheet this year to see if I had any improvement as I'm taking monthly lessons for the first time ever and to confirm my thoughts that last year was a bit of a regression. Have monthly lessons this year and have seen improvement so here's hoping. The last couple of months I do feel it's getting worse again though.
So, some stats, courtesy of excel. I don't have stats for casual non counting rounds so can only really go by these.
| 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | |
| Number of WHS rounds played | 22 | 19 | 29 | 27 |
| Number of golf courses | 1 | 3 | 13 | 9 |
| Average score | 95.36 | 91.26 | 88.93 | 91.40 |
| Average to par | +25.36 | +21.26 | +22.44 | +20.90 |
| Average score differential | 23.21 | 19.56 | +20.56 | 18.18 |
Some Shotscope stats from 2022/2023. Don't have putting - as by the end of using the device I just typed in number of putts and didn't bother with pin positions or distances etc.
| Strokes Gained vs a 10 hcp | Tee Shots | Approaches | Short Game |
| 2022 | -0.22 | -4.67 | +1.13 |
| 2023 until June | +0.49 | -4.29 | +0.48 |
So a decent improvement of about 4 strokes on average from 2021 to 2022, likely down to just gaining experience and playing regularly. I did feel in 2023 I regressed a bit and this kind of shows that - I'm putting it down to the stupid bout of speed training I did at the start of the year that ruined any ball striking ability I had.
So, arguably the lessons are working. Must admit it doesn't really feel like it though. Haven't felt like I can strike a golf ball well for a couple of months. My putting has got worse this year too. My 'bad' days are just as bad as they were in 21/22/23. My 'good' days are a bit better now I guess, but the good days seem to be about 2/3 in 10 rounds. I guess I stopped practicing as much once the better weather arrived in May, so can I really complain that I'm not playing well if I'm not hitting the ball as well as I was back in April? I've not been to the range in well over a month I think. If I see the opportunity for a few holes in the evening I go out and play, when maybe I should be at the range once or twice a week and just doing a couple of practice sessions.
Other things to note: I can't seem to score well at my home club. All my counters this year have come from places like Carnoustie, Gleneagles, Kingsbarns, St. Andrews and Gullane to name a few. Yet my shorter, parkland home club I struggle to break into the mid to low 80's constantly. There are far too many mistakes in every round resulting in doubles or worse. I'd have shot mid 70's if I didn't have a triple and 3 doubles on one round - that was a real missed opportunity to break 80 properly. I can't eliminate them, whether its making a mess of the tee shot or approach, having a bad day putting, duffing the odd chip or bunker shot. It's not really one single thing that is causing these mistakes - it's a bit of everything and it's making a bad round worse, and it makes a good round a missed opportunity. Of course, we will all make mistakes, but mine seem to be the most punishing from a scoring point of view. Driving has always been a decent part of my game, along with my short game and putting - but it has been absolutely woeful for a while. I am spraying the ball all over the place at times with a 4 way miss (left, right, short, long). I'm not even trying to do different things with the driver - I literally just want to play my little pull cut shot that worked so well for me previously. My iron play was in a good place for most of the year and I believe this is what has helped lower my scores a bit but - it has recently fell to crap again. Had a playing lesson on a par 3 course, shot 2 under. Went out played the medal later that day and couldn't hit a green to save myself.
The point of this post? Honestly not sure. I love/hate this game and at times it's the best thing on earth, and at others it just makes me think 'what's the point'. It gives you so little back from what you put in, but I guess that makes the special days the special days. It would be nice to feel that way. I know people who have cut 10 shots off their handicap in a year, or 7 or 8 etc, yet I seem to struggle. I don't want/expect to be a scratch golfer - I'd just like to live comfortably in the mid single figure range. Maybe someone here can give me a bit perspective, that I have actually improved a lot, but comparing to others, my progress seems very slow, and at times stagnant.
Anyway, stupid game and we go again tomorrow
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