Lucky golfer vs Not so lucky golfer

[minty18]

Played in Captains day on the weekend at my club, was in a friendly fourball with two 19handicaps, myself (off 21) and another fella (off 24).

Basically the bloke playing off 24 came in with 39pts even though he had the most horrific swing and unbelievable luck!

It got to a point where it was annoying me so much that it affected my game (a huge mental weakness on my part i admit).

So the first hole he pulls his tee shot left into loads of trees, it bounced right out giving him a full shot. Then he pulled his second shot and exactly the same thing happened. I played a perfect drive and 9 iron onto the green and had a stupid 3 putt for 2 pts, he ended up with a 6 for 1 pt.

So i'm going along with 2ptss a hole till the 6th when I hit a slice and my ball bounces OOB into the field, he does exactly the same but hits a bush that lines the OOB and comes back to the middle of the fairway. I blob the hole he takes a 6 for 2 pts.

So at the turn he had 19 pts I had 17pts, with two blobs on my card.

I finished up with 28 pts striking the ball lovely but getting some dodgy bounces/lies, after a load more luck he finishes up with 39pts. Was it just a case of him having the luck on the day? Should i be happy that with my swing in the long run I will be much more capable of lowering my handicap?

The round just left me deflated and annoyed with the golfing gods who seemed to be against me on the day.

 

[Ethan]

That is way the breaks go sometimes, but eventually they even out and he will have a day where every bounce takes his ball into deeper trouble.

 

[minty18]

Maybe its just me having the hump with my inability to get near my handicap in club comps, shot a 86 on friday with mates but seem to be unable to reproduce my form in club comps.

 

[beck9965]

I went on a pyschology night and one of the parts of the presentation was about the types of golfer you will encounter, they were;

1:Untrained swing / Untrained mind.
2:Trained swing / Untrained mind.
3:Untrained swing / Trained mind.
4:Trained swing / Trained mind.

Number 3 was explained as someone who has a terrible swing and seems to take loads of shots but at the end of the round has somehow beat eveyone and you think to yourself how the hell did that happen? It happens because the player has the correct mindset and does not allow bad shots or play to faze them and this type of player will always most definitly win.

 

[minty18]

Good Post but with the help of Bob Rotella i would have liked to have thought I fell into the 4th category but it appears I still have work to do on the mental side.

Must read more Rotella books.

 

[viscount17]

sod's law. the luck will always go to one player in a group and it will never be you.

in the last medal, playing the first I hit a lovely straight (unusual) tee-shot, a good solid 6-iron to follow hits a hard patch and ricochets into the lake.
my playing partner, scuffs every shot, hits trees all round the course and every one puts him back on the fairway.

it's life, at least you're not in the office.

 

[Herbie]

Whats worse is when you play someone who is jammy all the way round, yet you play one of your best rounds ever and on the 18th you have 37 and he (jammy git!) has 34. You tee off and what seems to be a good drive turns sour and you bounce into the thickest rough on the course, you get out only to go in fairway bunker, you get out then take your 4th to the green only to see it run through the back (you dont have a shot on the hole) you need it to go down but end up with nothing on the hole but you have 37 points.
Now mr jammy on the other hand, topped his tee shot, it scampered down the fairway and had enough momentum to roll into the bunker and out again, then you see him hit a four iron, again along the grass, where it hits the rake handle pertruding from bunker he was heading for, it kicks left and finishes 6" from the hole.( He has a shot on the hole!!!)

I know how you feel Minty!

 

[minty18]

Its a cruel game, It did seem like he got every single break and I got every single bit of bad luck. Oh well, roll on the weekend where I can go through it all again.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

It has to even itself out in the long run I guess. I played rubbish on Sunday expecially in the 2nd round in terms of ball striking and yet got the 17th 7 over gross. OK I hacked it down the par 3 for a 7 (tee shot OB and 3 putts) but I rode my luck.

Played the day before in my normal Saturday group and hit the ball much better and scored much worse.

Interesting post about the four golf minds though. I'd never looked at it like that and it does explain a lot. I think thats why higher handicappers do so well in gold letter events or majors where there is lower levels of expectation and they are use to hitting bad shots so it doesn't faze them. If a mid to low handicapper hits a few bad ones there isn't the same shots to play with to recover and a real bad shot from nowhere can play havoc with the mindset

 

[kid2]

Maybe its just me having the hump with my inability to get near my handicap in club comps, shot a 86 on friday with mates but seem to be unable to reproduce my form in club comps.

Id chance another four ball again this weekend Minty with the same 4 players and see what happens
See if the lightening never strikes twice in the same place theory doesnt actually work

 

[thecraw]

Is this not a case of you just looking for someone else to blame, for instance your 3 putt was your error, nothing to do with this dude comming out of trees twice.

Golf has a habbit of making us look on the down side and its easy to blame someone else.

I'm sure in the cold light of day once you reflect rationally you will realise that "you got away with that one" you didnt quite get the whole of the ball but it still made the green etc.

Some days you get the rub of the green sometimes you dont but it tends to level itself out over a season and as I said its easy to look for excuses.

 

[minty18]

I couldn't agree more Craw, I think its my inability to get my head down and score, thats the problem.

Society day this saturday so i'll go out and shoot 40pts to help forget last weekend.

 

[freddielong]

Play your own game, stop thinking about what someone else is doing and you may not have to rely on luck in the future

 

[Smiffy]

Mate of mine, Ray Taylor, is the luckiest bloody bloke I know. If he hits a massive hook or slice into the trees you can guarantee it will hit something and bounce back out onto the fairway. Always. Every time.
Played at Royal Cinque Ports once, had a Stableford going between the 12 of us. He was leading after the first round and was going along steadily but started to get a bit wayward towards the end. Longish par 3 came up, he was getting a shot. He hit his 5 wood off the tee, it was gone, history. Big hook into the crap he was never going to find it. Elected to hit 3 off the tee and took a 4 iron "for safety"...he thinned it, it didn't get more than two feet off the ground, hit the front of the green and rolled for what must have been 50 feet before dropping in the cup for a 3. He won the Stableford by one point.
He's a jammy git.

 

[MizunoMan]

Mate of mine, Ray Taylor, is the luckiest bloody bloke I know. If he hits a massive hook or slice into the trees you can guarantee it will hit something and bounce back out onto the fairway. Always. Every time.
Played at Royal Cinque Ports once, had a Stableford going between the 12 of us. He was leading after the first round and was going along steadily but started to get a bit wayward towards the end. Longish par 3 came up, he was getting a shot. He hit his 5 wood off the tee, it was gone, history. Big hook into the crap he was never going to find it. Elected to hit 3 off the tee and took a 4 iron "for safety"...he thinned it, it didn't get more than two feet off the ground, hit the front of the green and rolled for what must have been 50 feet before dropping in the cup for a 3. He won the Stableford by one point.
He's a jammy git.

Thats a great story.

 

[thecraw]

I know somebody who sliced out of bounds only to hit a passing ambulance with its blues and twos going and bounce back into the middle of the fairway at Ayr Bellisle.

It is still the funniest thing I have witnessed on a golf course!

 

[Herbie]

Playing alongside a jammy dodger can be very annoying, but it should be taken and accepted as part of the game because it happens to everyone who plays the game in one form or another, no matter how well the game is played there will always be elements of luck by all, trouble is its not nice seeing joe jammy get his years luck in one round..