Golf Random Irritations

[Imurg]

I agree with you to some degree Ian but with the new handicap system, and the slope adjustment just adding to the misery, today I'm off 18 off the whites!

Under the old I'd be off 15 which I could easily play to and expect to reduce as the summer moves on, my game normally being at it's best around September time. I am beginning to feel that the slope change has affected my thinking and the speed that my handicap is increasing is being affected by rounds I played in 2019.

I've got a stretch of counting scores due to drop out my 20 quite soon.
All from a good patch last September
7 of my next 9 rounds to drop are counting scores..
I could be into double figures by August...
I feel I could be quite dangerous with an index of 11.1 and 14 shots off the whites..

 

[Orikoru]

I've got a stretch of counting scores due to drop out my 20 quite soon.
All from a good patch last September
7 of my next 9 rounds to drop are counting scores..
I could be into double figures by August...
I feel I could be quite dangerous with an index of 11.1 and 14 shots off the whites..

This is one aspect of WHS I really dislike. In the old system you knew that any good round you get at some point will see you cut. But now there's this pressure of knowing when your other good rounds will drop off the radar. I don't like going out and knowing in the back of my mind I have to shoot 82 or go up a whole shot. When it was 0.1 you weren't bothered and always felt I had plenty of time to shoot a good one. ?

 

[Tashyboy]

I've got a stretch of counting scores due to drop out my 20 quite soon.
All from a good patch last September
7 of my next 9 rounds to drop are counting scores..
I could be into double figures by August...
I feel I could be quite dangerous with an index of 11.1 and 14 shots off the whites..

Am sure fragger will read that and is plotting a way to give you an infraction so we dont get to hear of your future victories ?

 

[Imurg]

Am sure fragger will read that and is plotting a way to give you an infraction so we dont get to hear of your future victories ?

That won't happen Tash...he'll be getting 35 shots by then..

 

[Tashyboy]

That won't happen Tash...he'll be getting 35 shots by then..

?????????

 

[bobmac]

This is where your pre-shot routine plays its part, you don't panic and forget stuff.

Just say.........To hit a good shot you need to check 3 things in your set-up and 2 thoughts during your swing. If you forget one, you'll hit a bad shot.
However, if you build the 3 things in your set-up and the 2 thoughts during your swing into a pre-shot routine, you won't forget them, less chance for the duff.
Watch the guys on tv approach a shot, they have a routine. If they are distracted by something, they will start their routine again.

Bottom line is, get a routine and stick to it, especially when things start to go off the rails.

 

[BiMGuy]

I'm certainly finding the same.

41 shots on the first 9 and 49 on the 2nd 9 on Sunday in the last comp but I think comparison with Rory isn't helpful. He plays, practices every day and is a natural golfer, he expects to shoot (say) 5 under each round so every round worse than that puts him in the same frustration level as us with the " where/why did it all go so wrong" . Maybe, and I certainly feel it, when it all starts to implode I get a " here we go again" in my head, start to doubt that I will pull a shot off rather than be confident.i also do stupid things like taking a wrong club on some tees - playing the 1st (started on 10th) I took the driver as my first nine had gone well - I nearly always hit my 19° rescue club better off that tee so hooked the drive and lost the ball - why ???

I could do with a caddy for a round, I'm sure I'd make better decisions and less mistakes but I certainly find that my head goes for 3 or 4 (usually consecutive) holes in most rounds when the " I'm due a mistake " gets into my head.

Why - how do I change that?

Do you play with any kind of plan?

I find I fall apart if I don't. I have a plan in my head before the round. Then I try to plan and execute each shot. Specifically picking a starting line and landing spot.

I'm finding more that if I don't do this, I don't feel comfortable over the ball and generally hit poor shots. This usually leads to a blowup hole.

Monday was the first time in a long time I managed to concentrate properly on every shot. And scored much better because of it.

 

[Tashyboy]

This is where your pre-shot routine plays its part, you don't panic and forget stuff.

Just say.........To hit a good shot you need to check 3 things in your set-up and 2 thoughts during your swing. If you forget one, you'll hit a bad shot.
However, if you build the 3 things in your set-up and the 2 thoughts during your swing into a pre-shot routine, you won't forget them, less chance for the duff.
Watch the guys on tv approach a shot, they have a routine. If they are distracted by something, they will start their routine again.

Bottom line is, get a routine and stick to it, especially when things start to go off the rails.

If I had followed this I may well have won yesterday, overall. tricky Trev was 3 shots up with 6 to play I had pulled 2 back and missed a couple of other chances. Our 8th ( second to last hole, course played in reverse yesterday) is the easiest par four and thought I would take the tiger line. A big oak said no. Instead of taking me punishment. I played a shot only a plank would play and put me self neck deep in the brown stuff. I came off with a 6 for 1, Trev came off with 3 for 3. I was mad with myself.
ironically Trev screwed up on the last and I finished on 38 points, Trev on 39.
But why when we are playing well do we take it to the next level and inevitably fail.
I have a theory that a lower handicappers mentality and shot decision making is far batter than the average 15.8 handicapper.

 

[chrisd]

Do you play with any kind of plan?

I find I fall apart if I don't. I have a plan in my head before the round. Then I try to plan and execute each shot. Specifically picking a starting line and landing spot.

I'm finding more that if I don't do this, I don't feel comfortable over the ball and generally hit poor shots. This usually leads to a blowup hole.

Monday was the first time in a long time I managed to concentrate properly on every shot. And scored much better because of it.

I have just returned from playing a club Stableford this morning. I hit the ball ok but went in bunkers on four of the first five holes - no great issue as I came out of all four but each cost a shot. On the 4th (played off the 10th first) hit the best drive in ages, about 270 yards, saw the ball bounce run and stop, looked for my pp ball in trees, got to where my ball stopped and it had gone missing, no doubt picked up by a player off the 3rd going the other way!

It just seems that the only luck I get is the bad kind! It's quite normal for me to play better in late summer but my handicap just keeps spiralling upwards and no I dont have a plan as meticulous as yours but I've played at my place for over 20 years now and reckon I know how best to play it

 

[Pants]

As I said above, I looked at Rory at one comp purely at random. The point was that even the top golfers in the world can be 10/15 shots different between 2 rounds on the same course.

Just trying to make some of you feel a bit better about your inconsistency

 

[BiMGuy]

I have just returned from playing a club Stableford this morning. I hit the ball ok but went in bunkers on four of the first five holes - no great issue as I came out of all four but each cost a shot. On the 4th (played off the 10th first) hit the best drive in ages, about 270 yards, saw the ball bounce run and stop, looked for my pp ball in trees, got to where my ball stopped and it had gone missing, no doubt picked up by a player off the 3rd going the other way!

It just seems that the only luck I get is the bad kind! It's quite normal for me to play better in late summer but my handicap just keeps spiralling upwards and no I dont have a plan as meticulous as yours but I've played at my place for over 20 years now and reckon I know how best to play it

My plan isn't as meticulous as I made it sound.

In my head I decided how aggressive I want to be and roughly my strategy off the tee before the round.

Then, during the round. For every shot, I try to envisage a shot shape that will find the landing spot I pick. Then for the starting line for that shot I pick a target a metre or so in front of the ball. That becomes my target and is what I use to line up.

It works for me. But sometimes for whatever reason I forget and rush a shot.

 

[chrisd]

My plan isn't as meticulous as I made it sound.

In my head I decided how aggressive I want to be and roughly my strategy off the tee before the round.

Then, during the round. For every shot, I try to envisage a shot shape that will find the landing spot I pick. Then for the starting line for that shot I pick a target a metre or so in front of the ball. That becomes my target and is what I use to line up.

It works for me. But sometimes for whatever reason I forget and rush a shot.

Yep, I do pretty much the same

 

[Boomy]

People who claim to hit a 7 iron over 200 yards but fail to mention it’s got 21 degrees of loft ?

 

[Smiffy]

3.30 tee off time. Group who tee off in front of you are the 3.20's. You step up onto the tee once they've gone and then two knobs come down to the tee and declare they are off before you. Their tee time was 3.10. It's 3.25.

 

[Wilson]

3.30 tee off time. Group who tee off in front of you are the 3.20's. You step up onto the tee once they've gone and then two knobs come down to the tee and declare they are off before you. Their tee time was 3.10. It's 3.25.

I hope you declared that they’d missed their time?

 

[Neilds]

3.30 tee off time. Group who tee off in front of you are the 3.20's. You step up onto the tee once they've gone and then two knobs come down to the tee and declare they are off before you. Their tee time was 3.10. It's 3.25.

Had similar last week, even when we showed them the app with our times on they still claimed they had booked in. Turned out they were 3 slots late!
And one was wearing his cap backwards!!!!!

 

[chrisd]

More woes yesterday!

Played in the monthly Stableford, it was playing pretty hard and the course is still struggling after horrendous leatherjacket issues. Played off my new HI of 16.1 (so 18 h/c for slope, minus 1 for % adjustment =17). 29 points in a fairly low scoring competition and an issue with a ball obviously picked up on si3 which was my best drive of the day and potentially cost 3 points. Handicap index goes up another .8 in one round so now off 19 HI next time out, and a rise in playing handicap of 5 shots over 9 rounds - without the new hc system I'd be off 15 and comfortable with that!

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

Perhaps Mr Kipling could help you.

… if you can meet with Triumph and Disaster, and treat those two impostors just the same; yours is the earth and everything that's in it.

Or a bit of the serenity prayer

...grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference.

I use it a lot...before going out - but during a round especially after I’ve just hit a ‘Lucy locket’ or racked up a horror score on a hole and faced with a new hole or the next or a difficult shot.

 

[Bdill93]

More woes yesterday!

Played in the monthly Stableford, it was playing pretty hard and the course is still struggling after horrendous leatherjacket issues. Played off my new HI of 16.1 (so 18 h/c for slope, minus 1 for % adjustment =17). 29 points in a fairly low scoring competition and an issue with a ball obviously picked up on si3 which was my best drive of the day and potentially cost 3 points. Handicap index goes up another .8 in one round so now off 19 HI next time out, and a rise in playing handicap of 5 shots over 9 rounds - without the new hc system I'd be off 15 and comfortable with that!

With all due respect, if you're scoring 29 off 17, why would you want to be off 15 and scoring less?

 

[harpo_72]

Why is when you hit a monstrous tee shot into a fairway that the second shot is utter pooh? Is it expectation? Or just a fact of life … ?