What your potential really is!

[kid2]

Looking at the replies to the Lowest Score thread it got me thinking.....

Is your lowest score a true measure of your potential or are they just flash in the pan rounds?

 

[macca64]

judging by my play at the moment,def flash in the pans,

 

[wookie]

I hope neither to be honest - hoping to go lower than 89!

But for the guys who have shot properly low scores I would say its probably potential - can 4 hours / 18 holes of consistent play really be a flash in the pan?

 

[pbrown7582]

If you've done it once you can do it again, so it's a genuine marker to aim for regularly.

 

[RGDave]

Is your lowest score a true measure of your potential or are they just flash in the pan rounds?

F.i.t.h.

I've played to 3/4/5 before. It ain't gonna happen again. I was off 8 or 9 at the time though.

I guess if you can do it once, it can be done again, but where's the time frame on all this.

Tiger Woods has had a 59 in practise and a 61 on the tour. But that was the old Tiger.

Also, a low score around a mickey mouse track is hardly any great measure is it.

 

[JustOne]

Is your lowest score a true measure of your potential or are they just flash in the pan rounds?

It's not a flash in the pan if your lowest is only a shot or two below your 50 other 'best ever rounds'.

 

[chris661]

According to Rotella it shows your true potential when you have a "hot" run/round but the key is not to think about it. I have stood on the 12 tee at my place 1 over gross, which for anyone that has played it is an achievement. So I am inclined to think/believe that that is my potential and not just a flash in the pan.

 

[JustOne]

I have stood on the 12 tee at my place 1 over gross, which for anyone that has played it is an achievement. So I am inclined to think/believe that that is my potential and not just a flash in the pan.

That's when you need to be thinking 3 more birdies... and maybe an eagle :thup:

 

[hackerjack99]

For mid to high handicappers the low score is probably a flash in the pan but in the case of the guys who can go properly low it is probably potential.

 

[DaveM]

I was playing off 6, when I shot my lowest 2 under the course par. But that was a long time ago. No chance of anything like that now. Would be lucky to play to 10 H/c now, once in a blue moon.

 

[chris661]

That's when you need to be thinking 3 more birdies... and maybe an eagle :thup:

Yeah, it was the first time I was on for a proper score maybe even level par but instead of carrying on as I was started thinking about it. Ah well tis always a learning day I suppose.

 

[ScienceBoy]

I had a rare glimpse of what I can do last night at a local par 3. It didn't seem to matter what I did, getting the ball to flight properly and stop feet from the flag was almost as natural as breathing. Result was 4 birdies and a nice collection of tap in pars!

 

[chrisd]

I'm in the "you've shot low you can do it again " camp. I have shot in the mid 70's gross several times this year in competition and other games and my lowest handicap has been 11.

My game, like most, can be fragile but I know there is a single figure golfer lurking somewhere in me

 

[Hobbit]

If you have birdied stroke index 1, assuming its the hardest hole, you can birdie them all. And you could do it all in the same round. Perhaps a bit of a stretch but that is your potential.

As for those that say, "it was years ago since..." I didn't think I'd hit 5 birdies in a round again but had 6 on Saturday.

 

[louise_a]

I believe that if I have parred or birdied a hole once I can do it again, its just a cast of doing it all in the same round. If I did I would go round in the mid 70s. Sadly believing it and doing it are of course completely different.

 

[HawkeyeMS]

It is a sign of your potential IMHO, whether you realise that potential is a different matter. I've always said golf is a series of good and bad shots. Sometimes, the good shots happen in the same round and you score really well - that is your potential. Sometimes bad shots happen all in the same round and your score really badly (I guess that's negative potential?). Most often. Good and bad shots are combined in the same round and thay's when you shoot close to your handicap.

A lot of people bemoan playing under h'cap for 9\12\15 holes and messing up. My opinion is if you can shoot well under h'cap for 15 holes, that's your potential. More often than not, the mess up is a mental thing which prevents you realising your potential.

 

[Doon frae Troon]

I peaked at 21 years old in 1969.
First Amatuer handicap I got was 2 in 1976 and apart from one cut from 4 to 3 in 1987[ish] my handicap has only gone in one direction to my present 14.
I had a round with 10 pars [7 on the trot] and two snowmen a couple of years ago.

 

[BTatHome]

I shot 74 last year (par 72, and I was level on the last tee), at the time it seems very easy, and if I hadn't bogeyed so many it would have easily been under par. I wasn't sure if that was going to be the lowest I would ever shoot.
In the last 3 weeks I have been level par thru 12 and 13 holes on two occasions (both Matchplay that finished at that point), I now know that a good score around level par is possible and just need to wait patiently for the day that it all fits together again.

 

[Monty_Brown]

In contrast to the old adage of "it's not how, it's how many"... on this subject of your lowest score reflecting true potential, I'd say the "how" bit IS really important.

If you shot your lowest score with loads of long putts dropping, chips dropping after smacking the pin at 30 mph, lucky bounces etc, then the odds on getting that lucky again are slim I'd say.

If however, your best score was based on great ball striking, hitting fairways and green in reg and then nice two-putt pars, then that is based on consistent play rather than lots of luck and should be a realistic achieveable target again in future.

 

[Birchy]

82 Is my lowest in a friendly game and 92 in a medal iirc. I know in my own mind that i can reach single figures handicap in time. I havent been playing that long and feel im learning lots every time i play which is a good thing.

I think potential is whatever somebody wants it to be. I believe most things are possible if you put enough time and effort in. Theres is a small minority of people who are just useless at certain things but thats the exception rather than the rule imo.