Scoring well stableford but cant score well at medal

[asru1927]

Hi peeps,

So been out quite a bit lately and seem to scoring well at stableford with consistently getting between 30-36 points off my 22hcp. The problem I have is my medal scores tend to be over 100 as my no-score holes are mostly in the double figures... Is anyone else in this boat and how do u combat the disaster holes?

 

[shortgame]

First thing would be to honestly assess what is causing the bad holes

Is it just bad swings (which we all make to some degree)? Or, more likely, is it:

Being too adventurous when you're in a bad spot rather than taking your medicine?

Panic causing you to get flusterred and have a series of bad shots/holes?

Following a bad shot with a stupid shot?

Usually it's the compounding of bad shots that stacks up big numbers...

 

[pokerjoke]

I play with high handicaps on a regular basis and some things I see are obvious why they get the double figures.
1.Not knowing how far they hit each club
2 Four putting,3s bad enough for anyone.
3 Rushing,take your time.
4.No disrespect on this one,but trying to hit shots their handicap suggests they can't do.

Street it as a Stableford and try and score points on all holes keeping the double figures off the card.

 

[User101]

This is why I believe higher handicap players are unlikely to become lower handicap players, stableford allows them to blow up.

In medal play you need to think your way round, turn sevens into sixes, sixes into fives, fives into fours, stableford really allows players to play with next to no course management, something you can't do in medal play when you have a lower handicap.

Good luck anyway in your efforts.

 

[DCB]

Could it be that you are trying to play to Par ? Forget what's on the card, use your strokes wisely and play to your allowance. You will have for holes where you double stroke, don't chase a par four go for a six.

Play sensible golf and you'll soon eliminate those dreaded big numbers.

 

[SaintHacker]

This is why I believe higher handicap players are unlikely to become lower handicap players, stableford allows them to blow up.

In medal play you need to think your way round, turn sevens into sixes, sixes into fives, fives into fours, stableford really allows players to play with next to no course management, something you can't do in medal play when you have a lower handicap.

Good luck anyway in your efforts.

Absolute rubbish. You still need to keep doubles off the card if you're going to score well in stableford

I would take Pokerjokes advice, take it hole by hole and think from a stableford point of view, avoid the blobs!

 

[virtuocity]

This is why I believe higher handicap players are unlikely to become lower handicap players, stableford allows them to blow up.

In medal play you need to think your way round, turn sevens into sixes, sixes into fives, fives into fours, stableford really allows players to play with next to no course management, something you can't do in medal play when you have a lower handicap.

Good luck anyway in your efforts.

Handicaps are adjusted according to stableford scores, mate. Doesn't matter what your medal score is (other than either winning or losing the comp) for handicap purposes. So, you could shoot level par thru 17, then score 20 on the last hole. This might have ruined your medal score, but you'd still get a cut.

I've been cut twice with an NR, for example.

 

[User101]

Handicaps are adjusted according to stableford scores, mate. Doesn't matter what your medal score is (other than either winning or losing the comp) for handicap purposes. So, you could shoot level par thru 17, then score 20 on the last hole. This might have ruined your medal score, but you'd still get a cut.

I've been cut twice with an NR, for example.

I understand that, but I believe, and to be fair I've been pretty consistent with this, putting a score together is what makes you a better player, 18 holes, keeping it together, that is what becoming a better player is about, not 15 holes and 2 or 3 tens on the card.

 

[User101]

Absolute rubbish. !

Remind me of your handicap again ?

 

[Val]

Treat a medal score like stableford and the scores will come in time

 

[clubchamp98]

This is why I believe higher handicap players are unlikely to become lower handicap players, stableford allows them to blow up.

In medal play you need to think your way round, turn sevens into sixes, sixes into fives, fives into fours, stableford really allows players to play with next to no course management, something you can't do in medal play when you have a lower handicap.

Good luck anyway in your efforts.

To be fair I have played with low men who have tried the Seve escape shot and blown most of their shots on one hole.

But the rest of the advice is sound.
It takes discipline to take your medicine chip out on the fairway and start again.
Good course management is part of lower scores plus knowing your limitations, don’t go for shots you can’t play!

 

[SaintHacker]

Remind me of your handicap again ?

18. Whats your point?

 

[PJ87]

18. Whats your point?

Don’t feed the troll mate

 

[Deleted member 15344]

This is why I believe higher handicap players are unlikely to become lower handicap players, stableford allows them to blow up.

In medal play you need to think your way round, turn sevens into sixes, sixes into fives, fives into fours, stableford really allows players to play with next to no course management, something you can't do in medal play when you have a lower handicap.

Good luck anyway in your efforts.

As had been explained to you a number of times your HC is calculated by your Stableford points so you can still “blow” up in a medal and still get a HC cut

 

[duncan mackie]

Well im afraid i agree with what i believe Cabby is saying (although his original choice of phrase was a little confusing!)
I also disagree with those advocating hole by hole!

The crux of the issue is that to put together a medal score you need to take it shot by shot; and for stableford you will always have the background of scoring a point when considering the stroke you take on. As a higher handicap it's entirely likely that you will have quiet a few situations in the round where one approach is valid in stableford, but entirely wrong in medal.
It's worth noting that taking the stableford option also has an inevitable negative of the mental hit on your next stroke of having hit the last one less than satisfactorily. (Note, if you hit them all satisfactorily then it probably was the right shot in medal as well!)

Playing the percentages, course management or whatever you want to call it, is a vital skill to master in order to improve as a golfer overall (over and above your ball striking etc) and it's generally not encouraged in the stableford game in the way it is in medal.

Which is what I believe Cabby was trying to get over (I'm sure he will advise)

 

[Foxholer]

This is why I believe higher handicap players are unlikely to become lower handicap players, stableford allows them to blow up....

Ridiculous!

Many many low guys were originally high capped ones!

The comment about 'course management' is about the only thing that really makes sense! It's not a case of turning 7s into 6s, but limiting possible 10+ to significantly less - even nett bogie!

Course management for high (mid 20 upwards) cappers is all about 2 things!
First is playing conservatively! If there is danger about, use a club that you are confident will avoid it!

Second is to simply recover safely from the first error rather than compounding it by trying a much more difficult shot, which is more likely to compound the problems!

By adopting that philosophy, you'll be much more likely to limit your poor holes to much less than your current complete blow-outs, though you may not, initially, perform quite as well on the ones where you are currently scoring better than 2 Stableford points. Emphasising short game practice should help! There's not many better feelings than chipping close then sinking the putt to 'save' a hole imo!

Once you reduce your handicap to around 18 - certainly once it's below that 'shot per hole' value, it's likely that you'll have to adjust your approach! There's probably a couple of other points where a 'different' approach to scoring needs to be taken, but that tends to vary for every player. However, the value of the short game cannot be over-emphasised! Several (very) top coaches recommend that for every hour you practice your 'long' game, you spend 3 hours practicing your short game. I dropped 5 shots in less than a year following that advice!

Good Luck in your efforts to improve! I hope they pay off!

 

[SaintHacker]

Don’t feed the troll mate

He won't reply as he's had a mare yet again. Don't know about his golf handicap as he won't tell anyone in case he gets called out on it, but his trolling handicap has gone up a fair few 0.1s recently!:rofl:

 

[User2021]

Remind me of your handicap again ?

You have a real problem with anyone who in your elitist world has a handicap above you.
Golf is for everyone, regardless of age, sex or ability.

Perhaps instead of continually putting people down you should pass on some of your experience so we can all one day be lucky enough to be deemed good enough by you to play the game and contribute to this forum.

 

[Foxholer]

Remind me of your handicap again ?

Er... What's yours?

 

[asru1927]

Thanks for the sound advice to everyone, its really appreciated. From what it has been said I think my issue is the mental side of things that is stopping me put a decent medal round together. My hole blow ups come in clusters which is usually after a bad shot which has made me drop shots due to lost balls. In those situations instead of putting the mistake out of my head and carrying on swinging, i tend to tense up and thats when more bad shots come. 3/4 holes later i start to relax again and my good golf shots come back. My goal is to drop to 18 and I think its achievable with how I am swinging, so will try to revert to playing to my “go to” shots/clubs in patchy spells of a round and limit the damage.