Single figure golf - too much pressure?

[Tommo21]

...Par 4 4 4 4 4 3 4 4 5 4 4 4 4 3 4 3 4 4 70
Score 8 4 4 5 3 4 4 3 5 5 4 5 5 3 5 3 4 5 79

From How did I do.....Playing off 6 at the time when I started with an 8...still got it round in 79.

 

[Gregolf]

I'm going to make a confession, sorry of this dissapoints anyone...

I'm a 1 handicap golfer and I often struggle to enjoy my golf. I think when you get to a low handicap everything changes. I just feel like mediocre golf is not good enough and get frustrated.

When I hear others say they're just out to enjoy themselves etc I can't do that. I feel under pressure to play good all the time. I've had a gross 63, I was once -8 through 11 holes in match play and shot three consecutive rounds in the sixties in the club champs. Forgive me if that sounds like grandstanding but it's just to say that when you know you can play good but don't its just soooooo frustrating....

I often think I enjoyed my golf more when I had a higher handicap.

Did you shoot that 63 with 15 clubs in your bag? (looking at your signature)

 

[Deleted member 1147]

I gave up golf 7 or so years ago because it bored me, I played off 9.8 at the time.
I came back to the game about 5 years ago, had lessons, and aimed purely to enjoy the game.
However, as I have gotten lower I find i need more luck to score low as I'm just not as good as other 5/6 handicappers (largely because I don't practice).
Last season (2009/10) I came down quite a bit and got to a 5 handicap but as others have said once I had a bad hole that seemed to be it.
2010/11 season I was unable to put together 18 decent holes without blowing up. But, just as I got annoyed during the round, I would go home after and think about the round and realise I had just played some really good golf but for say 2 or 3 bad shots.

So basically I reckon that the lower you get the more you need to work on your game in order to remain low and carry on enjoying the game to the fullest.

 

[barrybridges]

I'm a million miles away from being a single figure golfer so can't really comment, other than from the opposite perspective: which is that I can see how there might be more pressure for higher handicap players.

If you're a low handicapper, you know you have the ability to handle a range of situations out on the course - and one bad shot doesn't signal defeat. You should have the core skills necessary to recover from a wayward tee shot or approach, and can scramble to salvage a par should you lack the accuracy to begin with.

For a higher handicapper, there's a lot of pressure because - and maybe I'm in a minority here - you always think you *deserve* to play better than you do. And when you hit a wayward shot, you seem to think that you can recover, and put immense pressure on yourself to recover with a hero shot which - inevitably - goes wrong.

I read one of the GM editorials about 9 months ago and I think really summed this up: golf is a game where you arrive with hope, have any sort of hope destroyed during the round, but at the end seem to forget the disappointment and start believing that next time you'll have 'the round'. For a newcomer, you almost expect to improve with each round only to find that you don't - and that puts pressure.

When you DO play well, you start thinking 'could this be a turning point' and any good scores you make put you under huge pressure not to throw it all away, which - inevitably - you do.

At least if you're single figures you know that - pretty much - no matter where your ball ends up, you stand a chance to making something from the next shot. For us higher handicappers, once you're in the rough off the tee, or miss the green on your approach, there's much less confidence that you'll scramble a result.

 

[HawkeyeMS]

What you need to remember is that the only pressure most of us have is the pressure we put on ourselves. No one else really cares if you play badly, if it's really bad you might get a bit of a ribbing at the clubhouse but no-one really cares.

Golf is a random series of good and bad shots. No matter what level you are at you will have days when the random shot generator throws up more good than bad, that's when you play well.

 

[Achilles]

Some very interesting points and as a high-handicapper, I can understand exactly where Barry is coming from and can relate to that point of view. My first handicap was 28 and when I started playing in medals etc I struggled to play to it. There was always at least one blow-up hole, often a couple and it was incredibly frustrating. In bounce games with no pressure I was shooting mid nineties more often than not. I went into every competition EXPECTING to break the duck, but I couldn't. I then took at look at things and decided to go out and not bother worrying about my score, enjoy myself and let fate do the rest, as cliched as that sounds. Unsurprisingly, I then got my first cut (after about 3 months of trying) and my h/c dropped from 28 to 21 in the next few months. Confidence was a massive factor in that I'd proved to myself that I was capable of performing when it mattered, thus alleviating some of the pressure.

Whenever I play in medals now, I always go out with the intention of having a good time, with no expectation of scoring well, simply to avoid those constant glances at the card. So far, so good.

For me, learning how to deal with pressure is an important step in improving, and I hope it's something that gets easier with experience. Time will tell!

 

[HomerJSimpson]

The simple answer is I'll tell you this season when I get there. I feel pressure everytime I have a card and pencil in hand to try and beat my handicap. I want to beat my handicap every time and if not I want the buffer zone as a consolation. Its now not the end of the world and I don't beat myself up if I chop it round. When I get to single figures (and I will) the focus will remain the same

 

[RGDave]

Although I think it's a great achievement getting that low, I'm not sure that I would enjoy the game as much.

What do you think?

Speaking personally, I enjoyed it less the better I got.......can't explain why. The whole 24-down to-8 thing was such a buzz. Then I got stuck, so I quit. This time, I'm not trying.

 

[RGDave]

PS, Alchemy was a great player, and one of the nicest people I ever met on the Forum.
Somehow, launching a beautiful 220 yard 3 iron to single putt territory didn't get his enthusiasm going.
He found something else, and I expect he's bloomin good at that too.

 

[Region3]

At least if you're single figures you know that - pretty much - no matter where your ball ends up, you stand a chance to making something from the next shot. ​

It's not the next shot you need to try to make something happen on, it's the one after (if at all). I can't speak for others but personally if my ball lands somewhere nasty all I'm thinking of is get it on the fairway somehow and I have a chance to make par, and bogey isn't going to kill my card.

I felt the most pressure when I was on 10 or 11, thinking I 'ought' to be lower. Once I got down to 9 the pressure lifted, except a little bit playing a qualifier when my h/c was something .4

The hardest thing now - and it's way worse for the lower guys - is that I can be having a great round by my standards and one double or worse can turn it from being in contention to fighting to stay in buffer.

Keep the doubles or worse off the card and you don't have to play amazing golf to play to 9.​

 

[AuburnWarrior]

It's not the next shot you need to try to make something happen on, it's the one after (if at all). I can't speak for others but personally if my ball lands somewhere nasty all I'm thinking of is get it on the fairway somehow and I have a chance to make par, and bogey isn't going to kill my card.

I felt the most pressure when I was on 10 or 11, thinking I 'ought' to be lower. Once I got down to 9 the pressure lifted, except a little bit playing a qualifier when my h/c was something .4

The hardest thing now - and it's way worse for the lower guys - is that I can be having a great round by my standards and one double or worse can turn it from being in contention to fighting to stay in buffer.

Keep the doubles or worse off the card and you don't have to play amazing golf to play to 9.​

I played with a 1 handicapper the other day. Our 9th is a par 5. He hit driver and then something like 8 iron to 6 foot. He made birdie. On another day that would have been eagle.

The big boys can rectify a double very easily - either birdie, birdie or eagle.

 

[Region3]

I played with a 1 handicapper the other day. Our 9th is a par 5. He hit driver and then something like 8 iron to 6 foot. He made birdie. On another day that would have been eagle.

The big boys can rectify a double very easily - either birdie, birdie or eagle.

I agree with you, but I'm not a big boy

My point was you don't have to do anything special to score well if you keep nasty numbers away.

In fact, once you can get the ball somewhere near the green in regulation 'most' of the time it's shocking how bad you can actually play and still score well.

 

[BrummieFred]

Oh I sincerely hope not !

After years spent reducing my handicap from 28 to 18 I had a bad year and returned to 20, but then in July this year a single lesson gave me the key and in four months got cut to 14.

Now I have been notified that, as most improved senior, I've been rewarded with a two shot reduction under Annual review, so single figures must be the aim this year.

 

[2004Champ]

I play off 4 and I try not to put too much pressure on myself.

I just aim to par the four holes I get a shot at and throw in a couple of birdies at the rest.

I don't take crazy risks.I keep the ball in play.If it's better to hit an iron off the tee I will hit an iron.If there's trouble in front of the green I will take an extra club.If there's trouble at the back I will take a club less.

 

[FairwayDodger]

I haven't quite made single figures (yet) and I'm sure this issue becomes more prevalent for low single figures players. However, I came down from 16 to 10 last year and, initially, I found myself overly worrying after a bad start. But at ten, I really just need to par every other hole and lay off the doubles.

Mental strength seems important - I had an 11 at the second hole in our championship qualifier and went to pieces for a couple of holes after that (dropping more shots) but managed to calm down and get it back to 80 in the end; good enough to qualify with a decent second round.

I also shot 32 on the back nine in a team match to win on the 18th after being 3 down at the turn.

So now if I start badly I think of those rounds and know that I can pull it back. I enjoy the challenge and actually seem to play better with a bit of pressure rather than just a bounce game.

 

[leaney]

I started playing in June of this year and my aim is to get to single figures by the time I'm 30, 5 years from now.

I quite like the pressure that I already put on myself because how am I going to improve unless I put pressure on myself to do so.

What makes me practice as much as I do, is the prospect of getting to single figures.

Because I'm trying so hard to get my handicap lower, even when I play now, I feel I have no room for error because every round counts.

 

[Steve King]

My point was you don't have to do anything special to score well if you keep nasty numbers away.

I find I get really pumped up recovering a par or bogey, from what could have become a big number. Doesn't always happen but it's great when it does

I used to try and knock the skin off the ball when I was a higher handicap and got more of a buzz from driving a green or getting within a short chip on a par 4...these days I'd much sooner shoot a lower score.

I get my thrills these days from playing boring par golf...I don't seem to go for it as much as I used to and oddly enough stay in play a lot more...maybe that's an age thing...or cost of balls got too much

I also found when I first started out that I really only had one type of shot. Once I learned how to shape the ball, change the trajectory, hit knock down shots etc it became more difficult because shot selection came into play.