Just how much do double bogeys kill your handicap?

jamielaing

jamielaing

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I know double bogeys are my achilles heel. They happen far to often to me and destroy good rounds I am putting together.

With plans of really improving next season I have done something I've never done before- stats. I pulled together all my medal rounds and am looking at problem holes etc.

But here's the shocker. I play off 6 and have a lot of double bogeys. What if I could have limited all of those to bogeys? I'd be off +1 now.

I know it's not that simple and you will always have doubles, there's no way to remove them altogether but that is a scary stat. Even halving their frequency would be huge.

So, if like me, you have a lot of doubles, they're hurting you even more than you think!
 
every round DB kill me. i have been so close to having that round which would help smash my hcap. But then mr Double bogey turns up. there are four holes on my course that the wind plays a massive factor in them it is usually two of those four which help towards the damage on my scorecard.
 
I tend to double bogey the holes where I don't get a shot for some reason,so makes it difficult to get the shots back.
 
They wreck me.

Trouble is i'm off 13 i work on the basis of 5 pars a round a double bogey or two makes this much harder to achieve.

As much as anything it is the mental aspect of the double meaning i am trying too hard to catch up then making more mistakes...
 
What's a double bogey?

I'm not sure I understand this thread....

More to the point, what are you doing to make them... is there a picture emerging?

I play with a chap (we pair up sometimes) who seems to either make par or double. It's a complete mystery. He makes a good few birdies too.

I guess you make doubles chasing par or better. I don't chase pars as soon as I can see trouble, so I understand we play a different game, mentally (and physically I'd imagine)

A good card for me is 10 pars and 8 bogeys.... so as you can see, I'm hardly in a position to comment. :o
 
They hold me back massively, I'm good for between 6-8 pars, just like today (8), but 4-5 doubles and at least 1 blob negate those extra points and stifle me, I know what I did wrong today that cost me so I'll hopefully take that on board and not make those mistakes in my next round.

Every rounds a school day 🏌
 
They certainly cost me, I need 6 pars to play to handicap, so every DB makes it so much harder, my main aim in a competition is to not have any, but I have only managed it once.
 
Fish said:
They hold me back massively, I'm good for between 6-8 pars, just like today (8), but 4-5 doubles and at least 1 blob negate those extra points and stifle me, I know what I did wrong today that cost me so I'll hopefully take that on board and not make those mistakes in my next round.

Every rounds a school day 🏌
Click to expand...

It is. I just back off the holes where I know I've made doubles and play like a normal person on all the other holes.
The trouble with 'choosing' to play for a 5 is that inevitably you will make a 6 soon enough. I make some 4s too, mind you. Not many, but they are sweet... 4i, 5i wedge, one putt.... the card never lies. :)
 
RGDave said:
It is. I just back off the holes where I know I've made doubles and play like a normal person on all the other holes.
The trouble with 'choosing' to play for a 5 is that inevitably you will make a 6 soon enough. I make some 4s too, mind you. Not many, but they are sweet... 4i, 5i wedge, one putt.... the card never lies. :)
Click to expand...

My errors today was that there were a lot of forward (red) pin positions, in colder weather and as most handicap golfers, I was predominantly short bringing the greenside bunkers or hazards into play, which I caught too many times, I should have gone for the middle of the green at least and took them out of the equation rather than pin hunting, schoolboy error cost me a good card today.
 
jamielaing said:
I know double bogeys are my achilles heel. They happen far to often to me and destroy good rounds I am putting together.

With plans of really improving next season I have done something I've never done before- stats. I pulled together all my medal rounds and am looking at problem holes etc.

But here's the shocker. I play off 6 and have a lot of double bogeys. What if I could have limited all of those to bogeys? I'd be off +1 now.

I know it's not that simple and you will always have doubles, there's no way to remove them altogether but that is a scary stat. Even halving their frequency would be huge.

So, if like me, you have a lot of doubles, they're hurting you even more than you think!
Click to expand...

Tell me about it, I didn't play a comp round this year without one.

My last comp round was 1 under gross and even that had a double!!!!
 
It depends. As a mid handicapper, if it's a shot hole, assuming for a second it's a stableford, then i'ts still a point and I feel I'm still moving on. It's the bigger scores that kill me. I can't keep a couple of real car crashes off the card. As the handicap lowers then of course it will stop momentum, especially if you aren't a player that makes a lot of birdies per round. I guess it depends how these doubles come about. Is it always an errant drive or being too greedy and taking on flags that should be left alone?
 
jamielaing said:
I know double bogeys are my achilles heel. They happen far to often to me and destroy good rounds I am putting together.

With plans of really improving next season I have done something I've never done before- stats. I pulled together all my medal rounds and am looking at problem holes etc.

But here's the shocker. I play off 6 and have a lot of double bogeys. What if I could have limited all of those to bogeys? I'd be off +1 now.

I know it's not that simple and you will always have doubles, there's no way to remove them altogether but that is a scary stat. Even halving their frequency would be huge.

So, if like me, you have a lot of doubles, they're hurting you even more than you think!
Click to expand...

a couple of extra birdies... problem solved;)
 
Doubles are fine (now I'm off 12...)

It's the trebles that normally kill me - but then again when I avoid any doubles it's my opponents that get the guns out :thup:
 
Capella said:
Well, I'm playing off 32 at the moment, so double bogeys are nett pars for me on most holes. :D
Click to expand...

This made me smile - would be nice to play of that.....must be fun. Unless your a low cap I think targeting the total eradication of doubles is foolish. Its not to often a pro has a round without the odd bogey (double to us). I'm happy enough if I can keep them at or below 2/3 a round. Can sill score decent enough from that assuming I pick up that odd birdie and several pars (which I also expect). As many have stated on similar threads the clean round is the exception, not the rule.
 
It's very rare that I'll have a good score if there's a double on the card. If there's a double, there's usually plenty of singles too.

A few weeks back I started with 7 pars then threw in a double. My head dropped and by the time I regrouped I'd gone to 6 over after 13 holes. I think I finished 8 over but it was the run in the middle of the round that spoilt it.

I can have a run of bogies and not be too bothered but a double just gets under my skin.
 
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