Playing better than you score....

Achilles

Achilles

Challenge Tour Pro
Joined
Feb 9, 2011
Messages
733
Location
Cirencester, Gloucestershire
www.cirencestergolfclub.co.uk
I'm sure it isn't just me.... :D

How often do you feel you play far better than you score, or is that just a load of old crap?!

After the last couple of rounds I have felt that I've played well but my scores are far from reflecting that. Tonight, off the tee, I was relatively consistent (by a high handicapper's standards) hitting 8 fairways and being just off on all bar two which were uncharacteristic slices into trouble. Ball striking was generally good, with a few duffed shots. Putting wise, I had 2 x 3 putts from less than 8 feet thanks to firing the ball past the hole :mad: but other than those, nothing really jumped out as being poor...yet I scored a paltry 24 points. I don't know what is happening but I'm finding it frustrating as I know what I am capable of but can't quite seem to pull everything together. I'm still enjoying my rounds which is the important thing but feel there is no answer to getting everything to click. It's either crap off the tee / putt like a pro, or straight and long off the tee and completely unable to score from good positions (tonight). I have a lesson on Saturday but don't know what to target as I'm feeling quite happy with most areas....just not the whole, if that makes sense?!?! :D

Any advice welcome! :D
 
Very easy to do, all it takes is a few missed short putts or a poor chip or two.

Playing well ie hitting fairways and striking irons is only half of golf. Most of our shots occur within 20 yards of the pin, 20 yards is a pretty big target to get within if your hitting a 6 iron in but a 3 inch cup is tiny from 10 foot with a putter and taking 3 from there is easy!

A good long game never = a good score

It only sets up the chance of you shooting a good score! Even if you are putting well or chipping well it ALL has to come together!
 
I agree with you whole-heartedly ScienceBoy....and this week I have spent about 80-90% (at least 2 hours) of my practice time on the chipping area and practice green....and feeling very good with how things have been going. I am well aware of the importance of a good short game, but for some reason, despite feeling like I've done well, the scorecard is telling me otherwise. I guess it's times like these when keeping stats comes in handy....

Time for bed now so hopefully the answer will come to me in a dream. Who knows...the answer may even be delivered by a naked Angelina Jolie drizzled in chocolate sauce :p
 
I'm probably hitting the ball better than at any other time in my life, (loving my 800 pro's!), but I think I'm now on my 7th straight 0.1 increase..... :(

Can't wait until I get used to these new yardages..... :D
 
Yep, it's very easy done, as is scoring well without actually hitting it too good. As above it all comes down to chipping and putting. We all have rounds where we miss all the 6/7/8 footers and that can add up to 5 or 6 shots in a typical round compared with the one where you hole the lot. In other words you can play exactly the same tee to green and have +3 one day and -3 another quite easily.
 
I know what you mean but, to be honest, I've been the complete opposite recently where I'm not playing particularly well but managing to put a score together.

As citizen scienceboy said, this is mainly due to chipping and putting pulling me out and saving par etc.

Missing a lot more greens than I ever have, the constant winds we've been playing in don't help. If I did any practice I may work on my alignment!
 
Most of our shots occur within 20 yards of the pin, 20 yards is a pretty big target to get within if your hitting a 6 iron in but a 3 inch cup is tiny from 10 foot with a putter and taking 3 from there is easy!
Click to expand...

No wonder you're having problems , you need to have a word with your club and get them to put out proper sized holes :D
 
Afraid to say it Achilles but you are not actually playing better than your score, that's a misperception. If you were then you wouldn't be scoring 24 points. For me there are four elements to golf:

Tee
Approach
Short Game
Putting

From the description you give above the thing that stands out is that you were good off the tee. I now recognise that I need at least two of the four points above to be in good nick to score ok and at least one of them has to be short game or putting. If I get three going then I'm on for a really good score.

Keep plugging away at the short game practice fella and things will get better :)
 
Afraid to say it Achilles but you are not actually playing better than your score, that's a misperception. If you were then you wouldn't be scoring 24 points.
Click to expand...

Tiger, this is what I have been expecting to hear. I only got thinking about this after one of my playing partners turned round to me and said he didn't think my game looked like 24 points...and I agreed! So why do we tell ourselves we played better than the score suggests?

I'm playing again tonight and might try and slice, top and hook my way to 40 points. What's the worst that could happen?! :D
 
Agree completely, played 9 last night. My friend even commented on how well i was hitting the ball, yet on the 9th a long par four i hit a brilliant tee shot by my standards 200 yards straight down the fairway. Second shot a 7 iron put me just short of the gree. I then chipped over the green down down a hill. I then fluffed my next shot, ended up shooting an 8. Just a couple of errors can ruin your scorecard, but thats golf!
 
I'm sure it isn't just me.... :D

How often do you feel you play far better than you score, or is that just a load of old crap?!

After the last couple of rounds I have felt that I've played well but my scores are far from reflecting that. Tonight, off the tee, I was relatively consistent (by a high handicapper's standards) hitting 8 fairways and being just off on all bar two which were uncharacteristic slices into trouble. Ball striking was generally good, with a few duffed shots. Putting wise, I had 2 x 3 putts from less than 8 feet thanks to firing the ball past the hole :mad: but other than those, nothing really jumped out as being poor...yet I scored a paltry 24 points. I don't know what is happening but I'm finding it frustrating as I know what I am capable of but can't quite seem to pull everything together. I'm still enjoying my rounds which is the important thing but feel there is no answer to getting everything to click. It's either crap off the tee / putt like a pro, or straight and long off the tee and completely unable to score from good positions (tonight). I have a lesson on Saturday but don't know what to target as I'm feeling quite happy with most areas....just not the whole, if that makes sense?!?! :D

Any advice welcome! :D
Click to expand...

It's certainly possible to hit the ball well tee to green and not make the score that part of your game deserves but missing a few putts or duffing a few chips but when that happens I would expect you to be at worst 3 or 4 over your handicap (32 to 33 pts). I count those rounds as giving myself a chance to beat my h'cap.

I'm not sure it's possible to say that you've played well if you only score 24 pts. You say you had a couple of 3 putts, so 2 stabbing those gives you 26 pts, a couple of duffs, lets say gives you another 2 or 3 pts depending on the result of the duff but that still leaves you with only 29pts, 7 over your handicap? I think you need to have another review of the round because something else went wrong somewhere :D
 
That's the thing Hawkeye....I 'felt' my game deserved more and didn't think I'd made that many errors to warrant such a crap score, and even now can't put my finger on the reasons. Obviously the errors I did make were costly and I see where you're coming from. Had I hacked around all over the shop for most of the round I would probably feel less frustrated. I fully accept that I obviously didn't do enough but it's the feeling that I played ok that is the baffler! Maybe I was enjoying the game too much to not get wound up when I hit a bad shot...who knows! :D
 
Afraid to say it Achilles but you are not actually playing better than your score, that's a misperception. If you were then you wouldn't be scoring 24 points.
Click to expand...

Tiger, this is what I have been expecting to hear. I only got thinking about this after one of my playing partners turned round to me and said he didn't think my game looked like 24 points...and I agreed! So why do we tell ourselves we played better than the score suggests?

I'm playing again tonight and might try and slice, top and hook my way to 40 points. What's the worst that could happen?! :D
Click to expand...

I think it boils down to the fact that what we perceive to be good golf is actually pretty golf. And what is actually good golf is functional golf. People won't remember much about what happens to you around the green because they are focussed on their chip or putt. BUT off the tee or playing an approach your shots usually get their undivided attention.

Don't go pulling, hooking or slicing just continue to work on your short game and take a little bit more time over those shots. Bet you go out and have a stormer tonight!!! :D
 
Fingers crossed Tiger, as it's been a while since I played well...I mean scored well ;)

The funny thing is that I have thoroughly enjoyed these rounds and haven't once got home and sulked about it, like I had a tendency to do in the past. Maybe I'm putting less focus on bad shots and not noticing / focusing on them so much. Bob Rotella's tip of only remembering the good shots may have been taken a step too far!! Hopefully that's a good sign. One thing is for certain - I'm confident that a good score is lurking, just need to tease the bugger out! :D
 
You can have a great long game, hit the middle of the fairway, approach to 20' and still 3 putt for a bogey.

You can also hit driver out of the heel into the rough, knob a mid iron somewhere up near the green, and a good chip and putt can still save your par.

I've had rounds where I strike the ball as well as I ever think I have and score crap, and also rounds where I think I've never hit it much worse but still return a good score.

It's ALL down to chipping and putting.
 
A good long game never = a good score
Click to expand...

Don't agree entirely on that.

Horses for courses i.m.o. Someone with a predictable long game (off not too many) requires a good short game that day to make a score. Higher h'cap players can shoot the lights out if their long game holds up and they chip and putt the same as usual.

All my best games have come when my long game has been on top form. If my long game and short game came together every week, I'd be off about 5. It is both (I agree) but keep the ball in play and even a tepid short game will see you make a good score.
 
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