Top ways in which new golfers keep inaccurate scores?

[mangohead]

I went out with a beginner golfer.  He was all over the place, hooking 2 fairways over, topping balls, losing balls, etc.   It was obvious he did not keep an accurate score.

[MelloYello]

I would say picking up at Net Double is probably the most common. 

Virtually every friendly game or weekday men's league has some rule like that. Considering that's how the handicap system would score it anyway, it's not really even bad. It certainly keeps pace of play up which is good.

 

But if guys had to more regularly play out those 8s, 9s and 10s, especially the struggling mid- or high-index player, we'd see it pretty routinely and I think it'd effect their mental games a lot, too. Come tournament time, when players have to record that 10 on their card, you do see it affect them. 

 

I actually think this is one of the most difficult things about going from being a 5-6 index to a 1-2 index. The guy who's a 5-6 can blast it out of bounds once a round knowing that the system will effectively assume he makes par with the next ball so it's not even really all that bad for him if he's happy being a 5-6. The guys who's grinding for a near-scratch index can't really afford those OB balls at all.

 

Trust, me when OB is a real penalty or you have to tee up that second ball in a tournament after just hitting your first into a hazard, you'll learn a lot about your abilities, LOL.  

 

 

.

Edited July 6, 2023 by MelloYello

[BrianMcG]

Not counting mulligans or counting penalty strokes. 

Edited July 6, 2023 by BrianMcG

[Ferguson]

They lie and they don't putt everything out. 

[smashdn]

Obviously and innocuously. 

[dfeldss]

Taking gimmes and probably not playing OB as stroke and distance if i had to guess

[AzRoger]

Beginner golfers shouldn't even be keeping score. Most of them are struggling and working on just getting the ball in the air, insisting they play every hole out and count every stroke will do more harm than good.

Edited July 6, 2023 by AzRoger

[Ironman_32]

if you're playing a match, you need to be accurate. If you're just playing in a foursome, don't worry about it. Can get annoying when someone doesn't count all their strokes and they "magically" beat you or get close to your score, it is what it is, take pride in you being accurate. 

 

Couple years ago I use to play with a bunch guys, one guy would probably take close to 15 swings a hole and walk away with bogey or double. We weren't playing for anything so it wasn't that big a deal, just had to brush it off or not help them look for every ball. Stuff like, hit a ball off that tee that may be lost, hit another that goes to the same area, try to play the second ball through a tree, hit the tree, second ball lands next to the first ball off the tee, goes on to play the first ball, repeat. Or not counting a lost tee shot, or a put (I know sometimes I'd take a 3 footer and they'd then take ~8 footer.)

[LBB]

Most beginners or weekend hacks aren't playing for anything or entering their scores into GHIN, so it doesn't really matter what their score is, if they know how to count stroke and distance for OB, or if they simply can't remember how many swings they took.

 

For people that are just starting to enter club play, or tournament play, they know how to count, they know the rules of how much a penalty stroke is and what not.  The biggest foul I see (even with some experienced golfers in club play) isn't that they don't know how to take an accurate drop when hitting into a lateral hazard or taking an unplayable lie.

 

I regularly see guys who hit it 230 on their best day when they hit it dead straight...when they hit a banana slice into the water, they will drive up to not the point of entry into the hazard...which is probably 175 yards from the tee...they'll drive up 220 yards from the tee, then drop their ball like 5 yards from the hazard line in a nice flat spot where a tree is no longer in their line f sight to the green.  This is especially true on dog leg holes where they try to cut the corner with their drive and it crosses the hazard line maybe 70 yards from the tee box...but they'll drive up to the corner of the dog leg as if their ball just barely crossed the hazard line as if they were not cutting the corner.

[DNF]

Tough crowd, I gotta say I was fortunate to play with a friend who made me play strait-up. Taking provisional on iffy OB's off the tee, counting the chunks, bad chips, 3/4 putts, etc.

 

One thing I can say is that I never focus/ed on other players scores unless were playing skins or it's actual competitive play. I could care less if a beginner says they made a hole in one on a par 5. So they 5 putted and held the group up...... I've seen good players have bad days on the green also.

[bobfoster]

In truth, I think for new golfers (like, first season new) half of their inaccurate scores may actually be inadvertent. Most within a few rounds will know the real basics - but you can count them on the fingers of one hand. 14 clubs in the bag. Farthest from the hole shoots first. Play it as it lies. Don't ground the club in the sand. A stroke is a stroke (i.e., no Mulligans). And yes, they'll often break even the most basic rules they know - usually because they just don't yet care that much yet. As maybe they shouldn't. A penalty for a foot wedge doesn't mean a whole lot in the context of a 125 - 130 round. Newbies are generally just trying to learn how to swing and make some sort of decent contact with the ball at least some of the time. 

 

They are likely completely blind to a lot of the RoG. Record a lot of inaccurate scores they do not even know are inaccurate. Learning more and more of the rules kind of goes hand in hand with getting better at golf. Probably not until someone is approaching breaking 100, or a year or two, before the difference between red and yellow hazards or where to drop if you're in an odd place on a cart path (or things like that) start coming into focus. 

 

In fact, the full RoG are ornate, and often obscure and convoluted. WRX has an entire forum devoted to Rules discussions, where lots of single-cappers (not exactly newbies) will have long discussions about the finer points of this or that rule. In fact, even PGAT pros (who do golf for a living, and who you would assume have the RoG practically memorized) still occasionally inadvertently break one, or need to call a Rules official over for an interpretation. 

 

Oops, off on a tangent. Point is, yes, I'd bet many - if not all - of the scorecards of new golfers contain inaccuracies. But I'd distinguish between inaccuracies that come from intentionally breaking a basic rule they know about, and those that come from the fact it does take some time (and often a number of rounds with buddies that are better golfers) before you start understanding more than the basics.

 

 

[mshills]

Not sure what the point is here. My wife is a new player, she got interested this year, took three lessons, and practices some on our township’s 3 hole course. She and I have played 18 holes together on a regulation course I think six times. @AzRoger has it right on here. 
 

Am I keeping track of the occasional whiff, adding penalty strokes for teeing it up in the fairway (she hits driver very well so why not?) and so on? Of course not, and it’s not just because she is my wife.

 

What good would it do for a very new player to card a 128 versus a 115? At this stage, she keeps pace, hits a few really good shots every round, and most important wants to come back, do it again, and keep getting better. 

[dabohammer]

It’s the OB rulings for sure. The 2 banger local rule is where I see brains explode 

[bobfoster]

42 minutes ago, mshills said:

Not sure what the point is here. My wife is a new player, she got interested this year, took three lessons, and practices some on our township’s 3 hole course. She and I have played 18 holes together on a regulation course I think six times. @AzRoger has it right on here. 
 

Am I keeping track of the occasional whiff, adding penalty strokes for teeing it up in the fairway (she hits driver very well so why not?) and so on? Of course not, and it’s not just because she is my wife.

 

What good would it do for a very new player to card a 128 versus a 115? At this stage, she keeps pace, hits a few really good shots every round, and most important wants to come back, do it again, and keep getting better. 

 

Spot on correct. Precision about rules and scores develops side by side with precision in the swing. The better you are, the more scores matter. While there is only a one stroke difference between both a 70 and a 69 and 128 and 127, the former somehow means immensely more than the latter. 

[MtlJeff]

A lot of beginners i've played with keep more accurate scores than many of the 6-7 caps i play with LOL....

 

I generally couldn't care less about beginners and accurate scores in general. These players hardly ever play in events, handicapped or otherwise. They are just on the course to have a beer, and get away from the misery and dread that is family life

[Ferguson]

17 hours ago, AzRoger said:

Beginner golfers shouldn't even be keeping score. Most of them are struggling and working on just getting the ball in the air, insisting they play every hole out and count every stroke will do more harm than good.

 

Why not listen to a 4.7 HC who was once a beginner himself?   

Or, did you come from the womb conveniently as a sub-5.

 

 

 

 

 

[Canyonaro]

12 hours ago, DNF said:

Tough crowd, I gotta say I was fortunate to play with a friend who made me play strait-up. Taking provisional on iffy OB's off the tee, counting the chunks, bad chips, 3/4 putts, etc.

 

One thing I can say is that I never focus/ed on other players scores unless were playing skins or it's actual competitive play. I could care less if a beginner says they made a hole in one on a par 5. So they 5 putted and held the group up...... I've seen good players have bad days on the green also.

 

I'm a 3 and on any given day, I could have 26 putts or I could have 38 putts. Golf is HARD. Even Dustin Johnson shanked one last week!

 

The culture of golf is supposed to revolve around courtesy. My approach is very simple - I'll accomodate my friends/playing partners. If you just want to have a good time, we're playing like JT, Jordan & Rickie on vacation. Just screwing around and preferably getting frequent visits from the cart girl. I'm paying ZERO percent attention to what score you write down & I'm tossing you a new ball onto the tee before your sliced drive even splashes the water.

 

If you want to play for money? USGA Rules but we're playing match play. I'm not interested in six hour rounds. And don't even think about pretending your ball crossed the hazard 30 yards ahead of where we all know it really crossed. Just concede the hole. 

 

IMHO less than 5% of golfers have any business playing a legitimate USGA Rules medal play round. The rules are written with scratch players in mind & make no sense for the average duffer.

[third-times-a-charm]

OB vs hazard; 1 vs 2 strokes. Along with the others above.

[Roejye]

I'm on the edge that @bobfoster spoke of where I'm playing well enough to start playing by more rules and I personally would say ob vs hazard would be one, others have mentioned taking a mulligan. My friend who's a beginner probably wouldn't count his whiffs.

[formerlydecentgolfer]

Definitely mulligans and lost ball/OB as lateral. The latter has only been more and more common with YouTube golfers playing that way for pace of play. 

[Velcade]

When I first started out it was difficult to count everything and focus on all the little things I needed to have in a golf swing.  If you're just out for fun, don't count.  And if they're inaccurate who cares, it's not hurting your score.

 

I still get to the green at times and need to recount my swings because it's not my top priority, luckily there is a few less strokes I need to count these days. 😄 

 

[DNF]

4 hours ago, Canyonaro said:

 

I'm a 3 and on any given day, I could have 26 putts or I could have 38 putts. Golf is HARD. Even Dustin Johnson shanked one last week!

 

The culture of golf is supposed to revolve around courtesy. My approach is very simple - I'll accomodate my friends/playing partners. If you just want to have a good time, we're playing like JT, Jordan & Rickie on vacation. Just screwing around and preferably getting frequent visits from the cart girl. I'm paying ZERO percent attention to what score you write down & I'm tossing you a new ball onto the tee before your sliced drive even splashes the water.

 

If you want to play for money? USGA Rules but we're playing match play. I'm not interested in six hour rounds. And don't even think about pretending your ball crossed the hazard 30 yards ahead of where we all know it really crossed. Just concede the hole. 

 

IMHO less than 5% of golfers have any business playing a legitimate USGA Rules medal play round. The rules are written with scratch players in mind & make no sense for the average duffer.

Absolutely. In reality scores are all irrelevant unless there’s a governing body overseeing the score cards. We all have to play by the honor rule and if you don’t then you are only cheating yourself. That’s not to say we all shouldn’t have a good time and enjoy the game. 
 

let the beginners take whatever score they want. Eventually they grasp the concept of the game and all the rules associated.

 

I’m still just as guilty as the rest. If I can find my ball in OB you can bet your ace I’m playing it. I’m not going to tell anyone I shot 69 but I’m playing the ball “as it lies” lol.

 

cheers

[charli]

The gimmie. Given way too often.

[Warrior42111]

If they're not posting the score and there's no bets or anything who cares.

 

Let them learn and hopefully have fun. As they start getting better and posting or competing yeah score matters. If not they're not negatively affecting anyone.

[hoselrocket256]

Played with a guy from work, first time out with him.  He hits 2 into the pond on a par 3, next hit is decent not far off the green. Chips and putts in.  Proceeds to tell me he got his "First par for the day."

[Golferpaul]

On 7/25/2023 at 1:32 AM, hoselrocket256 said:

Played with a guy from work, first time out with him.  He hits 2 into the pond on a par 3, next hit is decent not far off the green. Chips and putts in.  Proceeds to tell me he got his "First par for the day."

Maybe "par" for him is higher than what's listed on the card.

[tatertot]

Unless you're playing someone for money or in a tournament, why are so many people concerned about how others keep score?

[st1800e]

7 hours ago, tatertot said:

Unless you're playing someone for money or in a tournament, why are so many people concerned about how others keep score?

EXACTLY.  

[Augster]

Was there a question, or point, to this thread? 
 

In before the lock.