Great Expectations!

[minty18]

Is there anything better than the expectation as you walk from the pro shop to the 1st tee thinking maybe just maybe this could be the day I have the perfect round....

I say that because today i really thought I was equipped to shoot my best ever score.... I had been on the practise green for 20 mins then 4 putted on the 1st, how is that possible?!!

 

[TonyN]

practice green faster than the 1st

Sorry, dunno, that happens to me every game, still tryin to figure it out

 

[Gasp]

I often find that great expectations can be disastrous for my golf...

http://www.golf-monthly.co.uk/blogs/asprey/George_Asprey_Acting_Up_blog_article_152590.html

 

[billyg]

good one

Think of it as character building - you get out and stand on the first tee filled with the joys of spring...and spend the next four hours like a demented masochist battering the will to live out of yourself for about £30.

Sometimes I feel like it would be easier to just flush the greenfee down the loo and spend four hours berating myself in front of a mirror.

Not being a natural optimist I often feel i'm starting the game with a mental ball and chain strapped to my bag before I even swing a club but am frequently astounded by the brains' ability to find a seed of hope in the marsh gas of my despondency by the time the game is over.

A more effective development of self delusion or the spawning of a healthy optimism? you decide.

I'll take 4 putts and duffed irons over the guaranteed soul destruction of telly and shopping any day.

bill

 

[HomerJSimpson]

As I have huge problems with our front nine at the moment (if I was half as consistent as I am on the back I'd be in contention more often but usually the damage has been done) by the time I walk from pro shop to the 1st tee I can almost hear my clubs laughing at me and my brand new Titleist balls agreeing amongst themselves which hole they would commit golfing hari-kari on.

I thought last week I had cracked it though. Playing with realgolferuk I drove the 220 yard par 3 for par and then birdied the par 5 second. Two doubles and a single bogey and the wheels began to fall off. I think I ended up shooting 18 for the front nine when 22 or 23 were within reach.

Strangely it was the back 9 that let me down with only 16 points. By this time the suspension was shot as well as the wheels coming off and it was only a couple of pars (net birdies) on the last few holes that rectified the score.

Still its stableford competition time on Sunday and I'll make the walk from the shop having paid my entry fee jaunty in step and happy in heart thinking that maybe, just maybe this is the week.

 

[brendy]

Do you ever get the feeling that no matter how hard you try you are just destined to play tripe so on the last hole you stand up ready to batter the living daylights out of the ball only to hit it as far left or right as it does forward?

 

[billyg]

Theory : I used to do Tai Chi and the phrase 'beginners mind' seems useful. A beginner has no expectations, can't be disappointed, has no knowledge base of past failures to compare to and spends their time more aware of the surroundings that familiarity has dulled in others.

Practice: I think the purchase of Nookie Bear ( this reference no use to anyone under 30) might be in order as i'm becoming a master at muttering expletives under my breath.

Some of those air balls for garden use might be a good idea as you can welt your frustration out on them while no one is looking - they only travel a short distance, carry almost no weight so can't hurt anyone (or thing), cost pennies and are made in retina retarding colours so it's almost impossible to loose them......unless you chip with them in a garden in which case they seem to get lost almost instantly and turn up attached to the cat two years later

 

[RGuk]

I tend to have either a very good feeling or that sinking feeling of "I'm going to have to keep my wits about me today, or I'll bogey the lot" syndrome.

I was well keyed up today....new irons, my latest swing change beginning to show, nice weather, all the good signs.

I was going great until the 6th, had two bad holes then tidy 8th and 9th. The first 9 is the tough nine, could have gone on to play the lot, but didn't.

I often start a comp' with high hopes and find myself 6 over or something for the first 6, but don't lose my head and grind out some pars 'til the picture looks more decent.

 

[minty18]

How on earth did that happen billy? Maybe you cat stored them all somewhere so it didnt have to sit and watch your scary swing!

Any way i'm all ready looking forward to my next round and this time maybe, just maybe i'm going to have the perfect round!

 

[theeaglehunter]

Haven't played an actual round in a while but have been putting in a fair bit of practice, so am certainly expecting great things from ym next round. My iron play has never been better, my putting is currently superb and off the tee I can control my driver pretty well now. If it all coems together I'm in for a good round and a serious handicap cut. So yes I do sometimes go out with great expectations, althoguh not usually, this is just under circumstances where everything seems to be going right. I can see it happening already though...out onto the course and it all goes to pot. Let's hope otherwise

 

[HomerJSimpson]

Perhaps we need Uri Geller to come on the forum and do one of his so called psychic readings so that at say 10.00 we all think of the word birdie and he makes it happen

 

[minty18]

Perhaps we need Uri Geller to come on the forum and do one of his so called psychic readings so that at say 10.00 we all think of the word birdie and he makes it happen

Just as long as he dont make my clubs bend in the middle like he did with the bloody spoons. i have to eat my cereal upside down since that fiasco.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

Actually not my best idea. If our watches get stopped we'll all pick up penalty shots or DQ's for being late on the tee.

Oh well back to blind faith and prayer

 

[billyg]

How on earth did that happen billy? Maybe you cat stored them all somewhere so it didnt have to sit and watch your scary swing!

Any way i'm all ready looking forward to my next round and this time maybe, just maybe i'm going to have the perfect round!

To borrow a phrase from an popular author (against the grain) I have almost no time for otherwise:- ' Golf is not a game of perfect'.

Note to author: FFS give it up with the Tom Kite name checking. It's boring and largely irrelevant.

I couldn't think of anything worse than playing a perfect round - the rest of ones golfing life is down hill from there. There can't be many even amongst the professional ranks that could make such a claim.

Executing a shot in the way I planned it or the endorphine and musculo-skeletal/chemical 'hit' of striking the ball through it's sweet spot (which sucked me in originally) will do for me. That and spending a few hours pursuing a largely pointless, (superficially) comical and irrelevant past time in the company of friends and in the face of an encroaching recession will do me. The Herons, Coots and Canada geese are nice to watch too

IMHO & FWIW - it's not all about the bottom line of a score card. I would rather be a rubbish content golfer enjoying the moment than a strung out, frustrated,target driven dreamer. That's just me though. Whatever works for you I guess.

bill

 

[medwayjon]

I expect nothing when I walk to the 1st tee, I just get on with it and carry on as I go round.

 

[bobmac]

Einstein once said
"The definition of an idiot is someone who does the same thing every day and expects a different result".
If you have toothache, you go to the dentist. £80
If your car breaks down, you take it to the garage. £200 +
If you slice, you buy a new driver £140 +
30 minute lesson £15

 

[viscount17]

billyg your really on form, some wonderful visualisation going on

Do you ever get the feeling that no matter how hard you try you are just destined to play tripe so on the last hole you stand up ready to batter the living daylights out of the ball only to hit it as far left or right as it does forward?

brendy, oh how true. I never total my score as I go round so last round approaching the 18th I'm positive it's gone to pot after a dreadful start to the back 9. Do exactly as you say, complete wreck of a score on 18, finally total the card when I'm back home . . +1