How to score well but play badly?

**denver_nuggs_15** · August 5, 2009

Pretty simple question. How do you score well while playing badly? It's easy to score when you're "on", but how do you scrap out an 83 or 95 or 72 or whatever when you're playing poorly?

Edit: poor title for the thread. Should be "How to score well while playing badly."

**ctw262** · August 5, 2009

Short game. Example.....you miss the fairway off the tee, miss the green with approach, but then get up and down for a par. Chipping and putting is the answer.

**daveh** · August 5, 2009

Short game. Example.....you miss the fairway off the tee, miss the green with approach, but then get up and down for a par. Chipping and putting is the answer.

I just did that for my best score ever. Missed most fairways and greens but chipped well enough to recover par or bogey on every hole.

**iammpspeer** · August 5, 2009

Hit a bunch of terrible shots and make the saves. Or hit wonderful shots and miss easy putts. Happens to me all the time.

**wedge player** · August 5, 2009

Pretty simple question. How do you score well while playing badly? It's easy to score when you're "on", but how do you scrap out an 83 or 95 or 72 or whatever when you're playing poorly?

i am very wild of the tee so for me i had to be able to control my irons like a surgeon which i practice daily.high,low,fade,draw,slice,hook same with short game practice everey shot you can imagine.

**plark** · August 5, 2009

Just watch tiger he's nuts. That shot at the buick open was insane from the other fairway and he hits it OVER TREES BLINDLY and gets like 6ft from the pin.. the man is inhuman lol

**CG031** · August 5, 2009

Short game. Example.....you miss the fairway off the tee, miss the green with approach, but then get up and down for a par. Chipping and putting is the answer.

Same with me. If I get hot with my putter and get up and down a bunch of times my score is never too bad.

**shortstop20** · August 5, 2009

Just watch tiger he's nuts. That shot at the buick open was insane from the other fairway and he hits it OVER TREES BLINDLY and gets like 6ft from the pin.. the man is inhuman lol

People knock Tiger for his bad driving but the reality is that he has a good enough recovery game to allow him to miss the fairway. Most don't have that luxury.

People are insane to knock it when he has 69 wins and 14 majors.

**plark** · August 5, 2009

People knock Tiger for his bad driving but the reality is that he has a good enough recovery game to allow him to miss the fairway. Most don't have that luxury.

I was obviously making a joke. So relax Tiger is an absolutely fabulous golfer, it was a joke. I don't expect the create of this Thread topic to be able to do anything Tiger does. It was sarcasm and the fact that tiger doesnt hit fairways.. that has nothing to do with Tiger being a bad golfer its his style cause he is that damn good and his short game is the best anyone has ever seen..

**shortstop20** · August 5, 2009

I didn't mean anything by it, I was just pointing it out. Sorry you got the wrong impression.

**c4m** · August 5, 2009

for me, ive mastered the art of scoring badly while playing well.. and the reason is my putting.. ill get 8 or 9 GIR and 3 put most of them for bogeys. so id say putting is the key

**pherg** · August 5, 2009

My key for scoring well when I'm playing badly seems to be to go with one type of shot.

If I hit the practice range and all I'm hitting is fades/slices, that's the shot I'll take out on the course. There's no way I can fix it during the round so I don't bother trying. I figure I'm better off to figure it out during the week. I just aim everything left and hit the fade/slice. This seems to work for me because when I'm playing badly I usually get into trouble because one shot goes right and the next left. Hitting the one type of shot can feel ugly and sometimes it looks ugly but it takes one of the big misses out of play.

**plark** · August 5, 2009

Its cool im sorry too

patath · August 5, 2009

Its always the short game that can bail you out. I've been trying to practice 70/30 short game to long game to improve scoring.

**SergioFan23** · August 5, 2009

Remaining calm.
When you hit a poor shot, it's not the end of the world. Letting frustration get the better of you will only make it worse.

Focus on making nice smooth contact with each individual swing and don't worry about adding up the final score until you have completed the round.

And always remember: you're out there to have fun, right?

**Shorty** · August 5, 2009

Assuming that you have a decent game to start with.... short game.
Today's round was a perfect example.
One of my playing partners (off 8) had one over par today and he didn't play (in general terms) that well, but his short game was awesome. He only hit 8 greens in regulation but had 10 one putts. One tee shot on a par 3 was so bad it was actually lost in the bush. He managed a double there. 3 birdies kind of balanced that out for him.
But.... he had 43 stableford points in the competition. He hit a couple of wayward drives, but he managed to get out of trouble each time. 72 on a par 71 course.
It came down to one thing. Short game.

**Adumb** · August 5, 2009

It's in the chipping and putting. Today I had a pretty decent score for me anyway. I played the tougher back 9. I started out with an ugly triple bogey on the first hole. I had another double bogey later. I ended up with a 44. I nearly had a birdie on 2 holes where I missed the fairway. The reason my score wasn't bad is because I normally have a few nasty 3 putts. However, today it was 2 or less. My chipping was decent too. So, yea, chipping and putting is where it's at.

**PiKapp23** · August 5, 2009

This is often the thing that keeps me playing - an ability to score well (OK, I guess) despite not playing well.

The first key is short game - pitching, chipping and putting. The ability to scramble and get up and down from inside 100 yards really saves many a round. Just look at all-time greats like Tom Watson, Phil Mickelson and Tiger. When those guys are off (or 'were off' in Watson's case) they have the short game to save themselves. Part of this is never losing the focus. Sometimes when we play bad we tend to lose focus or become frustrated which only exasperates the issue.

The second key is to play smart. When most players start playing badly they begin missing shots in a particular direction or with certain clubs. Suck in the ego and play smart. If the driver is the problem that day hit an iron or 3 wood. Aim as far from trouble as possible and embrace the bad ball flight. Again, this is often where frustration just makes us worse because we start to try to compensate or even hit the ball harder. If you just slow down and think you're way around course decent scores are still very possible. This is where the great players have differentiated themselves from us mere mortals - the greats can still shot sub-par rounds when they are off because they play smart (except maybe Phil...) I have had rounds where I couldn't hit driver so I went down to my 2H and still ended up with good score just because I didn't allow myself to post bad scores. Playing for safe bogey is better for your score than trying to hack out a birdie or par when you're not striking the ball well. Layup, hit to safe spots, and don't worry about the score and you'll likely be surprised at what you shot.

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