Shooting level par

[syders]

I play off 21. I’m better than that but as soon as I get a card in my hand I go to crap. I know it happens to a lot of people but it’s really frustrating as I played 9 holes the other day and shot level par. Just wish this stuff would happen in comps.

 

[vollrathian]

just had to bogey the 9th the shoot even par LOL

A lot of it is mental. It might help to just think about playing the course instead of playing to not screw up.

[jamgam]

Put the card down. Stop thing about where you are during the round. Thoughts like "I'm +3 after 5 so if I par out I can break 40" will kill you. Just play and write down a number. Most people can remember score for every hole after the round anyways. You'll be amazed how much better your scores get and how much more stress free you'll play. I can't shoot par but have shaved a lot of strokes off not thinking about where i'm at during a round

[uitar9]

Don't know if it will let me shoot par,,,this year I just write -,1, 2, -1, 3LOL and don't tally until the end. I'm coming to grips to what a 20 hcp means...and it doesn't mean par on a par 72 course.

[2bGood]

Was it legit? Followed all the rules, no muli's no give-me putts?

If so - Great for you and build off it.

 

If not then this help you find the razor thin difference between playing well and poorly. I fugue if I would be able to replay 2 shots per round I would be a + cap rather then a 3.

 

[MelloYello]

I agree with the above. One of the big problems with being a bogey golfer is falling into that trap of counting shots as you go.

 

It's good to be conscious of your mistakes. Most golfers want to minimize the number of mistakes they make. But it's also true that you won't make yourself hit better shots by applying more stress.

 

To me, that's one of the benefits of playing "honest" golf where you putt out every hole and count every stroke. You don't have to hide from yourself. If you look back at your card and see you made triple bogey on a hole, you know that it happened. It came from something you did. There's no explaining your way out of it. It's part of your game.

 

Owning your mistakes can be a really helpful thing in that it can clear your mind. If you have the courage to really look at your mistakes you will learn not only what your tendencies are but how to correct for them coming down the stretch when you need it.

 

That's why it's so important in golf to (1) keep your real score and (2) try your best on every shot. If you do that your scorecard gives you accurate feedback about where you need to get better.

 

 

In any case, you also need to learn to close it out which takes some understanding of your swing. This past weekend I shot 78 after starting with 4 straight bogeys. During those first 4 holes I totally chunked a LW approach and pretty much yipped a testy little 3-footer.

 

It was a disappointing start for sure. But I stayed with it and made a bunch of pars before making the turn and continuing on that run making a couple birdies along the way. I'm proud to say that I knew coming down the stretch I had to play well and actually did!

 

I knew going into my last 3 that I could only afford to drop 1 shot if I wanted to be in the 70's. I hit a bad drive on #16 so I punched out safely and made bogey. I then birdied the Par-4 17th which felt amazing because I had gotten that stroke back.

 

So I went into the impossible Par-4 18th knowing I just needed bogey. Long story short, I hit 2 good shots and got up and down sinking an 8-footer for par to close out the day.

 

I started +4 over the first four holes and played the final fourteen in +2. That's not exactly par golf but it shows how I was calm and didn't press.

 

There was definitely a time when I didn't have enough control over my game to play that kind of golf coming in. So just be honest with yourself about how you're doing and try to put together a game you can trust. If you do those things you'll shoot your best.