Would you rather...

[Deleted member 15717]

So, this will probably all be one sided, and come out the way I am expecting it to, however...

As you may have noticed, I fell out of love with the game early in the year, contemplated giving up blah blah blah, however, I persevered through (with numerous breaks!) and recently had a couple of lessons with a different pro and have played a few times. He's basically said, give me the whole winter and I'll be hitting it further, with less effort and with a lot more consistency than before.

I have had one hour lesson, and he has asked me to do various things, which I wont go into now, but I entered a competition at the weekend (well..why not!), shot 82 (my lowest score of the year so far) and managed to grab a handicap cut out of it, from 8.6 to 8.4, to drop me back to an 8 handicap. I feel great that I managed it, however, the 82 I shot was the toughest 82 I have ever shot. I wasn't striking the ball well at all, made a birdie when it wasn't really justified, and scrambled a bogey when it should really have been a lot higher...so it brings me to my question:

Would you rather shoot 82 (for example) striking the ball poorly, or would you rather shoot 82 and strike everything purely?

 

[woody69]

82 "poorly" as it suggests I have a much lower score in me if I was striking it perfectly. Although if you are hitting everything perfectly and still almost 10 or 12 over it suggests you need work somewhere.

 

[la_lucha]

As above. 82 Poorly for me, then you're aware that you can chop a couple of shots off and you have it in you. If everything was pure, you would have to wonder how you're going to shoot any lower.

 

[Deleted member 1147]

If I shoot 82 having hit the ball well I'd be very worried/unhappy!

 

[Imurg]

If I shoot 82 having hit the ball well I'd be very worried/unhappy!

Is the correct answer!

 

[Birchy]

If you shoot 82 when striking it pure get a putting lesson

In the case of the scenario mentioned I would be happy I kept going and battled to a respectable score etc. Its easy to just give up sometimes and let the score slide.

 

[drewster]

I don't think i've ever been a pure ball striker and still can get it round in low 80's on a monthly basis so therefore if i struck it purely i'd expect much lower. Only shot in the 70's twice ever.

 

[Foxholer]

No 'Neither/Either' options, so didn't vote.

Both options have their pluses and minuses for me. I've had a round where I struck the ball beautifully on the front 9 but couldn't score and thinned every iron on the back and was 1 under for the 9! Still haven't decided which I prefer - both being pleasurable!

I'd be looking at under 80 rather than 82 btw.

 

[Tarkus1212]

I'd have to strike the ball pretty well to shoot 82. If you're striking the ball purely and shoot 82 then that gives you a great basis to analyse where you dropped shots and to work on that. If you're striking the ball poorly and still shoot 82 then you've scrambled well and probably putted very well - but there's still lots to work on.

 

[Lord Tyrion]

I'll expand this further and upset half the people on here. Shooting 82 is out of my range but lets say for arguments sake I can do it. I would rather shoot 86 with pure ball striking than 82 hitting it badly. I get enjoyment from hitting the ball sweetly, so well that you feel as though you have barely touched it yet it races away on a wonderful trajectory. Far rather that than thin one 2" from the pin. Great on the card but I don't get satisfaction from that. Pure striking gives me more satisfaction than a good card. Combine the two......hubba hubba but striking over scoring.

 

[Break90]

82 is roughly a decent round for me, 4 under hcp on a standard par 72.

In a friendly bounce game I'd rather shoot 82 and hit it pure. Put a comp card in my hand and it would make absolutely no difference to me how I hit it

 

[Deleted member 15717]

I used 82 as a purely random number and to shorten the poll. You could look at it as "Would you rather shoot a score with poor ball striking, or shoot the same score with pure ball striking"

I thought about making it "shoot 80 with poor ball striking or 85 with pure ball striking" but I think everyone would much rather shoot a lower number....

At the moment, "Lord Tyson" is the only person to go against how I thought it would run. I have always been an advocate of the "pure striking" philosophy, however, beginning to come around to the thinking of "just get it round in as few strokes as possible"

Weird.

 

[duncan mackie]

this is a little like 'how do you feel about 3 putting for par?'

don't think there's a right or wrong answer; but if you were doing it frequently it would beg the question of why you didn't send time with a pro on your putting (yips exceppted of course)

 

[ADB]

Definitely would prefer to shoot 82 hitting the ball nicely than chopping it round - confidence to try and make a few putts next time out.

 

[Lord Tyrion]

At the moment, "Lord Tyson" is the only person to go against how I thought it would run. I have always been an advocate of the "pure striking" philosophy, however, beginning to come around to the thinking of "just get it round in as few strokes as possible"

Weird.

That's because most on here are competitive so and so's who are determined to lower their handicaps at all times. The handicap rules all. I do get that and I would like the lower handicap as well but as someone who came late to golf I get satisfaction from other aspects of the game, not just the scoring. Pick one of the sports I played as a kid and I would have taken a win any way I could get it, without cheating of course.

 

[ScienceBoy]

82 with poor striking, showing I am getting what I want from my practice which is making my bad shots better.

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

82 with good striking for me - as it'll be obvious where I need to improve. 82 with poor striking - luck!

 

[LanDog]

If I shot 82 hitting the ball well then my putting needs some work!

But then again if you're an excellent ball striker then you'll have loads of time to work on your putting!

 

[Rooter]

I would be chuffed to hit an 82 at the minute!

 

[full_throttle]

I would be chuffed to hit an 82 at the minute!

Me too,

the scorecard only shows how many, not how.