How do you do it?

[bobmac]

We see lots of swing advice given on here (I make a few guesses myself from time to time) and some people do improve, but if you can play well in bounce games but crumble in medal all that work is to no avail.
So, my question is can anyone help those who have trouble playing to their full potential with a card in their pocket?

I'm not really after any "read this book or that book" posts, just good practical advice that works for you.

I think not knowing your exact score as you go round is a great start but quite hard to do at first.

 

[Macster]

Last year was the first year I have ever managed to play Medal rounds really not worrying about it all, and lo & behold, I dropped from 12 to 9.2.

I think you really have to find a way of 'not caring', whilst at the same time, making the right decisions to keep yourself in play and in with a shout of making a decent score on each hole.

I just now tell myself, 'Whats the worst that can happen ?' 0.1. - thas'all.

 

[HawkeyeMS]

For me, there were 3 things...

First, I stopped worrying about the result of the shot. You have to pick the shot you want to play and 100% comit to that shot. If you're worried that it isn't the right shot, pick another shot. Never hit a shot with doubt in your mind.

Next, if you hit a bad shot, it's a bad shot, it's gone and forgotten. You're gonna hit bad shots. A bad shot is different to the wrong shot. If you execute the shot you wanted and get a bad result.i.e. you hit it too short, don't beat yourself up, take the positives from it and learn for next time.

Finally, there's always the next round. No one gets hurt if you played badly.

 

[kid2]

I think not knowing your exact score as you go round is a great start but quite hard to do at first.

This is one thing i always do...
I dont add up until im off the 18th...
That i find brings less pressure on you during the round....Just pencil in your score stick the card in the pocket and walk off to the next tee.


Another one i was given was to play to your handicap..i.e play every hole 1 over its par....Play a 3 as a 4 , a 4 as a 5 and a 5 as a par 6....If you play to this you'll walk off with 36 points off an 18 handicap...Not a bad days work and no pressure on you again over the 18 holes. Also its an added bonus if you do actually par the hole.

 

[johng]

I've just found that the more comps' I played in the more comfortable I felt and the scores became less important, the focus was on having fun. As a result my scores improved.

It also is a case of playing each shot at a time and try not to count them up as you go, wait until the turn or the 18th as mentioned earlier.

Also - play your own game and don't try and beat your opponent on the day - outdrive him etc - or worry about how he's scoring. This only distracts me - especially when it's a junior who scores a gross 68 playing off 9, GIT!

Try to have fun and remember it's only a round of golf and it's meant to be FUN.

works for me - mostly.

John.

 

[JT77]

This is an area I have been trying to improve on. My mental game is not a strong as it was last year.

I try to not count my score, but somehow I always know what it is, I seem to auto accrue the scores as I go.

I do however have the ability to let bad shots go, or forget bad bounces, if I pick the right shot but get the wrong result, or fail to exicute it, I can focus on the next shot no problem . I find this very useful, but would love a way to play a more passive round with less intensity, so that maybe a could forget the score I am and stop chasing a better score, or trying to hold onto a good one.

 

[Parmo]

Try and think positive and keep out of my own way.

 

[RGDave]

I see a lot of daft playing going on in proper comps. Some through inexperience, some through frustration, some through ego.
I have to admit a lot of it is inexplicable to me; it's almost as if a total madness descends on people, where their desire to perform simply outweighs rational and pragmatic course management.
Medals get us all, mentally, and I include myself. I play too conservatively and others play the opposite.....

i.m.o. I will never win anything much off my h'cap so I play to get a place in my division and if that means grinding out 36 points with a hint of negativity, so be it. I stand on the tee to make par or better (apart from impossible holes), once that's gone, I fight to avoid big disasters. I simply don't push my luck. I actually have a lot of admiration for those players that go out week in, week out and get nowhere near their h'cap but occasionally come in with 45 points. I'm not even close to making this sort of score (that'd be like 3 over gross)....maybe I'd feel differently off 18.

 

[USER1999]

I put each hole behind me after I have played it, and then regroup, and think ok, I can par in from here. Often works. I have parred in the back nine quite often. I just need to get going earlier, before I have shot my entire handicap in the first 7 holes.

Also, stop writing the victory speech on the 12th. There are more holes to go. Stay in the present as much as possible.

Also, accept that a cut of 0.4 will eventually add up to a decent cut, rather than trying to shoot the lights out and come down 2 shots in one go, and then melting when you realise you can't actually shoot a gross 70.

 

[RGDave]

Good post Murph. I played in an Open at a club many years ago and bogeyed every hole on the front 9. I was utterly despondent. I played the back 9 to level and came in the top 10 with a -2 nett.

I was asked a few days later what I reckoned my best might be, if I was to go back and play it again. My answer was "9 over".......

That may sound odd, but I could have gone par/bogey the whole way round and played to 9. To play better than that would have required LUCK, pure and simple.

I feel that sometimes I have no control over the golfing Gods and the order in which I make a score.....I never give up.

 

[jammydodger]

Personally I stopped getting to my ball too early. I then approached it with a fresh mind and selected the club and hit it without over thinking the shot and options available to me. I hate standing there contemplating several scenarios and then ultimately going with one that i'm not clear on. I now try to get to my ball in time to check the yardage , check the lie/wind and then get on with it. No time to stand there thinking if I can get a 3 here and a 4 on the next I will shoot xyz

 

[Macster]

Oh, and I'll add that my own Handicap reductions from 12 to 9 happened when I ditched the Driver and stuck with 3Wood.
Whilst its great to hit Driver and leave a 7iron to the green, its so often mishit leaving a chip out and then a pressured short iron to get close to save bogey.

A more consistent 3W off the tee, accepting a longer second shot to the green, or at worst, a chip on leaving a possible Par putt, or easy bogey.

Negative - perhaps. Safer........for sure.

And it worked for me. leaving me now wondering why the Driver is back in my bag,..........

 

[DingleBerry]

Play every round like you have a card in hand even when u r playing for fun and b4 long it will be no pressure because of that dreaded Card!! Works for me!!

 

[HawkeyeMS]

I think not knowing your exact score as you go round is a great start but quite hard to do at first.

I seriously don't know how you can not know your score as you go along? If I'm playing well, knocking on pars with the odd bogey and the odd birdie I know I'm on for a good score. Saturday I was too over gross at the turn. I didn't have to add it up, I knew I'd only dropped 3 shots and birdied the 1st. Standing on the 15th tee, I knew I'd parred every hole on the back 9. It didn't take a genius to work out I was still 2 over, I didn't have to look at my card or add it up.

Plus, if you're on for a good round, there's a fair chance the person marking your card will mention it.

Fair play to those who can do it but I would just know, even if I wasn't writing the scores down, I'd know. Maybe it's because I play every round as a medal and after every hole I know how far over I am gross, whatever it is, I don't know how I could play without knowing my score. Actually, I think it would put me off as I'd want to know what my score was.

 

[bobmac]

I understand your point as 15 pars, 2 bogeys and a birdie are easy to remember.
It's the guys who are 8 over for the front 9 and 6 over for the back 9 so far who may be able to forget what their score is.

 

[Robobum]

^^^^^^^^^
^
^
Same as him, if it's so many that you can't keep count then the nerves aren't really a factor as there is little reason to be nervous on the way to umpteen over your handicap.

Not much help here because I've never really thought about what i do or think about during a good score as opposed to a bad one. I'm pretty comfortable at just dealing with the shot at hand.

Don't know where this is from, whether I've read it or was passed on the tip: When you feel your heart start to race as the nerves kick in (1st tee/ important putt etc) make yourself starting yawning intentionally 3 or 4 times.

I use it on the 1st tee a lot in big comps and it seems to work for me.

 

[19th]

When I played the Carnoustie Caley Club Winter League away day to Pitlochry, the golfers did not fill in a score card for either of the two rounds.
After the meal the Captain said a few words and started with prize giving...Morning Round Gents - 64?65?66? Up goes the lucky gent 67? Two this time -Inward scores? 33/34 Ok 33 it is and so on.
Every golfer knew their own score and their playing partners as well, as they were all scoring around par at every hole!!
The bar chat was instant recall of shots and clubs played at each hole.
Now they were real golfers and gentlemen and not a primma donna amongst them.
It is however so much easier to recall 68 shots than 98!!

 

[TonyN]

Good post and some good replies. I have this problem!

I dont play many medals and the ones I have, have been terrible. I can play to 10-12 quite regularly in bounce games and my PB was a gross 5 over... So why is my playing H/C 19.3?

I played a round yesterday with the intention to play it as a medal, It started well with me striking the pin on the first and holing the putt from 20 ft for a birdie 2, then went bogie bogie par birdie treble! I eventually went on to play to 12 but the treble just completly blew the card. I still played well, struck everything well but just found more hazards that a crash test dummie!

Its frustrating!

 

[HawkeyeMS]

Good post and some good replies. I have this problem!

I dont play many medals and the ones I have, have been terrible. I can play to 10-12 quite regularly in bounce games and my PB was a gross 5 over... So why is my playing H/C 19.3?

I played a round yesterday with the intention to play it as a medal, It started well with me striking the pin on the first and holing the putt from 20 ft for a birdie 2, then went bogie bogie par birdie treble! I eventually went on to play to 12 but the treble just completly blew the card. I still played well, struck everything well but just found more hazards that a crash test dummie!

Its frustrating!

If you don't play medals, your playing h'cap isn't gonna come down, get out there and play man!!!

Also, trebles happen. You're talking about the treble like it's a rare occurence and you birdied two of the 1st 5 holes? I dare say that isn't gonna happen every week either? Some days you'll make a few birdies, other days you won't, same with trebles. Take the rough with the smooth my friend. At the end of the day it's about the score after 18 holes, it doesn't matter how you got there.

I had 5 really good birdie chances on Saturday, all within 10 feet, I made one of them. On another day I'd make 3 or maybe 4, I shot 6 over with a double on 15. Do I blame the double for not shooting 4 over or do I look at the 12 footer I made to stop that double being a treble? I focus on the putt, you have to take the positives out of everythign and try to forget the rest.

You can say the treble ruined your round or you could say the birdies rescued it? You also made a 20 footer for birdie on No.1, I'd say that was a bonus, also, where was the ball going if it didn't hit the pin? I'm not picking, just trying to give you another way to look at your round.

If you struck everything well, what were you doing in all those Hazards, if it was just bad luck for all of them, a dodgy bounce etc then you have nothing to worry about, that won't happen every week. If you're hitting a load of bunkers to the side of the green then were you really hitting it that well? Good ball striking is about direction as well as contact. Only you know what really happened but 12 over with a treble and a load of hazards isn't a bad round (especially for a 19 handicapper ) and the treble didn't ruin it any more than the bogeys you made 'cause you missed the green and hit a bunker did?

P.S. Remind me never to play you for money

 

[StrangelyBrown]

I've only played in one medal, was having a nightmare and ended up being DQ'd because I/we didn't realise I/we couldn't play in a 4. Live and learn eh?

I didn't think it was me being tense because I was playing off the whites, I just had a generally very bad round. I've been equally as pish off of the yellow too