What’s the point of competing?

[srixon 1]

Later this week I shall be competing in the County Seniors (55 and over) Championship. This is 18 holes off scratch.
There are 80 competitors and we are allocated tee times in handicap order, lowest off last.
I am ranked 30th out of the 80.
Lowest two chaps are +1.3 and +1.9. Both former County Champions. Both had periods as a pro in their younger days.
That means that I am 6.8 shots away from the favourite in a scratch event.
So why do I bother? Why do the other 50 above me bother?
I do it to see how much above 30th place I could finish.
Last year I tied 7th place.
I tied 2nd place in the 60-64 age group.

That is what I call competing. I love it.
I might not do as well as last year, but I will compete all the same.

I have the same mentality in club nett events.
In Saturday's club board comp I finished 26th place out of 114 and got a 0.3 cut to the HI. That's a win for me.

If I did not think this way, I would probably not play golf at all.

Good luck. I’m 62 and came 8th in our county seniors (scratch) this year. 36 holes over two days. Like you, I love competing more than just knocking it round for fun.

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

I know I can par every hole…that I haven’t done all 18 in one round is just golf…but I know that I am capable and so I have faith that one day I will. And if I happen to do it in a competition there will be a good chance that I’ll win the competition. So I’ll just keep plugging away…one day.

 

[NearHull]

I know I can par every hole…that I haven’t done all 18 in one round is just golf…but I know that I am capable and so I have faith that one day I will. And if I happen to do it in a competition there will be a good chance that I’ll win the competition. So I’ll just keep plugging away…one day.

Slight thread drift.

In my eight years at my club I have birdied every hole and eagled four of them at various times and in various casual and Comp play. ( mid teens handicap). My ‘career’ eclectic is gross 50. I was chatting to our pro about it when he mentioned that he was still lacking three holes on his eagle tally around the course, so currently gross 39.

But of course, these scores are only equivalent to Kim Jong Un’s usual rounds.

 

[srixon 1]

I know I can par every hole…that I haven’t done all 18 in one round is just golf…but I know that I am capable and so I have faith that one day I will. And if I happen to do it in a competition there will be a good chance that I’ll win the competition. So I’ll just keep plugging away…one day.

It can be done, although I have never done it myself. My best is 17 pars and one double which came on the 5th.

 

[bobmac]

It can be done, although I have never done it myself. My best is 17 pars and one double which came on the 5th.

I had 16 pars and 2 birdies in a medal once.
Didn't win a thing.
Got cut to 2 though.

 

[AussieKB]

I have had 18 pars......the last hole was very nerve racking, had a birdie putt but was not sure if I wanted it to go in.

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

Liking the examples. And so I work on my game to improve. As I (hopefully) improve so does my consistency and the regularity at which I par any one hole increases. And in time I reach the point when I regularly par the most difficult hole on my track…as it happens I’m not quite there yet…I par our 2nd maybe 25% of the time.

But once I get to par’ing that hole a bit more frequently (I did it yesterday) I know that the 18 pars in a comp is definitely on, and more importantly as the 2nd can be a bit of a card stumbling block for me - as it is for almost every member…a higher level of success on that hole will be a manifestation of the improvement I seek to make me more competitive at scratch comp level.

For as much as I enjoy handicap comps, I’d really like to be competitive at a scratch level. I already can be to a reasonable extent in matchplay - and that’s where I’m looking to rather than strokeplay…expectation management as I doubt I’ll ever be able to compile a 2 or 3 or better under par round (though you never know )

Note that nowhere in the above have I mentioned any handicap aspirations I might have.

 

[chrisd]

A couple of years ago I played our back 9 and par'd every hole - no birdies or bogeys. Now I think I've done well if I shoot 90!

 

[HomerJSimpson]

Competing is important to me. It is a test of my golf on any given day and how I handle myself, my round and react to good and bad breaks. If I can come off a course knowing I was good mentally (something I am working hard on improving) and played as well as I could then I am happy. It is a very insular sport at heart and while we can all enjoy the company of others when we play, it is all about us against the course and our emotions

 

[srixon 1]

I had 16 pars and 2 birdies in a medal once.
Didn't win a thing.
Got cut to 2 though.

I did this last year, and like you I didn’t win.