Should it feel like this?

[chrisd]

I have now had both hips replaced and feel fitter than for the last 4+ years. I have worked hard on my game, particularly since Christmas and have won some good comps etc with good scores with a few iffy ones thrown in and last week got a handicap cut to 10.5 for a competition win with a nett 64.Today I played a bounce game and was one over par gross after the 1st 9 holes and ended up with a 76 (par 71) at the end. My last few rounds (gross) have been 76, 24 points, 78, 76, 91, 76

The point was that today it felt as though I was comfortable at that level of play. It didn't feel that I was lucky or struggling to make pars but that, I was capable of playing real golf . That is not to say I didn't have to concentrate and I did foul up a few shots when the levels of concentration waned in the heat.

The question is - is this the way you got to feel to play single figure golfer?

 

[JustOne]

Yes, sort of. You shouldn't be scared of making 6,7,8 or 9 pars in a row. You can bogie every 3rd hole and provided you chuck in a couple of birdies you'll only be 4 over par...... which then gets you wondering if you could turn pro LOLOL

 

[Region3]

The more often you have a good score, the more you feel like this is the real you rather than just a purple patch or flash in the pan.

For at least the last 2 years I've felt like I was capable of how I've been scoring lately. Occasionally I even did it, but it always felt like I had to shoot the lights out to achieve it.
Now, whether I'm striking the ball well or not I feel like my ex-great scores are now what I can turn out regularly.

My potential best maybe isn't any lower than it was 2 years ago, but I feel much more comfortable scoring low than I did back then.

Confidence breeds confidence, and the more you do it the more you realise you don't really have to do anything special to keep the scores in the 70's.

Breaking the single figure barrier for me was a big thing, but looking back it shouldn't have been and I think it stunted my handicap progression because I allowed it to become too big a thing. Easier saying that now though.

 

[JustOne]

The better you get the better choices you tend to make, the course management can literally change over night and you also feel that even if you DO make a bad judgement a) it will have been considered thoroughly first b) you'll feel like you'll have chances later in your round.

It's just those lapses in focus/choice/concentration that can bite sometimes.... if you hit a shot and ask yourself "why the F did I do that?" then you've had one of those moments.

 

[chrisd]

great comments guys thanks, and it seems that you do more than play well to be a single figure golfer, it is a state of mind too. I hope that the results continue to get me where I feel I should be

 

[Imurg]

The better you get the better choices you tend to make, the course management can literally change over night and you also feel that even if you DO make a bad judgement a) it will have been considered thoroughly first b) you'll feel like you'll have chances later in your round.

It's just those lapses in focus/choice/concentration that can bite sometimes.... if you hit a shot and ask yourself "why the F did I do that?" then you've had one of those moments.

I like this.....

I was a steady(ish) 10 handicapper 18 months ago. Always capable of breaking 80 but often just missing.
Then something changed - I have no idea what - and I started scoring better. The 83's became 78's and the 79's became 74's and the really good rounds of 75 became 70's or less. All of a sudden the "run-of-the-Mill" stuff became, well, "run-of-the-mill.....
I was able to focus a little more on where I wanted the ball to be and where I wanted to miss if I was going to miss.
Now, even a bad day see's me in the low 80's, I'm still able to put a resemblance of a score together. And I'm much more capable of stringing a long run of par holes together - and it almost seems normal. You still get to screw it up, that bit never leaves you, but, generally, the screw-ups are not quite as bad as before, although, funnily enough, they can do more damage.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

Not quite in the dizzy heights of some on here but gradually getting more and more good holes together. Even shot level par for the front nine recently. The better I focus without being intense the better I play and I do seem to make a lot more "good" decisions as a result which helps maximise any damage

 

[granters]

I think a big part of it is the way you approach the game. I play off 5 and i genuinely never think i'm out of a round even if i know i have to be 4 under on the back 9. I think it's all about believing in yourself and not letting the bad holes affect you. If i have a double bogey, i look at getting 2 birdies to get back in. I've played with a lot of 10-15 handicaps that are equally as good as me but i just seem to score better.

Interestingly, i also see a lot of higher handicaps beating themselves up over poor shots,which they then compound by over thinking it. i accept i'll have bad days and play to it. I played with a 4 and a 5 handicap at the weekend and i can honestly say it was the most chilled round i'd had in ages- we all concentrated like mad on our shots and then had a good old chinwag in between.

i suppose if i have a bad round, i know a good one is around the corner, and thus don't get too upset about it.

 

[chrisd]

I find the answers on this some of the most enlightening that I've seen on the forum because it confirms that being a low handicap golfer is not entirely about how well you play but also is a state of mind and that is what interests me. As I said in my OP I really felt comfortable being 11 holes played and level par gross, I had a run of 4 holes where I went bogie, double bogie, bogie, bogie and then parred the last 3 holes to finish 5 over. I suppose that to be good at a game you do need a lot of self belief and confidence, not necessarily arrogance, to feel that you deserve to be there

 

[RGDave]

The question is - is this the way you got to feel to play single figure golfer?

All I can add is that way back when, I always knew when I had the game, and just went out and kept cool even if I went on a bogey run. I distinctly remember being things like 4 over after 5 and envisaging being way off target, but roll in a birdie, par a few and suddenly you're 3 over after 9. Once the pars come without luck or some other intervention, up comes the confidence and then you can relax.

Shame that was a long time back - I liked it.

 

[duncan mackie]

when you instinctively realise that your best option to make par is also your best option to avoid a double bogey you are on the right wavelength!

related to the confidence point raised above - I know that I have a good chance of getting down in 2 from 120-130 yards; well realistically it's probably less than I think but in the long run it works for me! this influences my shot selection away from iffy lies in the semi with a hybrid from 215 to a tricky greens to 9 iron/LW/putt - guess which one pays off? The clue is that the more you go this route the more likely it is that it will pay off!

 

[pbrown7582]

All I can add is that way back when, I always knew when I had the game, and just went out and kept cool even if I went on a bogey run. I distinctly remember being things like 4 over after 5 and envisaging being way off target, but roll in a birdie, par a few and suddenly you're 3 over after 9. Once the pars come without luck or some other intervention, up comes the confidence and then you can relax.

Shame that was a long time back - I liked it.

i know exactly how you feel same for me.


Chrisd Its great you are thinking and playing like a SFG just one more great round with card in hand to confirm it good luck hopefully this weekend when played and glad you are reaping the rewards of your hard work.

 

[chrisd]

i know exactly how you feel same for me.


Chrisd Its great you are thinking and playing like a SFG just one more great round with card in hand to confirm it good luck hopefully this weekend when played and glad you are reaping the rewards of your hard work.

I wish it was just one similar game, but, I lost 1.2 with a nett 64 (css 70 par 71) so even if I did the same again it would still only, this time, possibly lose me a 1 shot reduction to 9.6. depending on the css, which can often fall to 69 - must just keep plugging away!