An Individual Score Is a Random Result

[krupa]

20 minutes ago, Carl3 said:

you will have good days and bad days and knowing that helps his game

Maybe. That's how I look at it. Everyone has their worst, best, and average scores and the majority of your rounds will fall in the average area.

To me, using the word "random" just obviates personal responsibility. If I'm playing poorly and really think about it for a second, I tend to realize that I'm thinking too much about a bug in my software or my back is tight and unconsciously changed my swing to avoid pain or something. But it's never just "random".

[Patch]

My scores are more consistent than they are random.. I hit the ball, and putt the ball pretty much the same everytime I go out. It matters little what course I am playing. 

Now if I were spraying the ball. All over the place, and shooting scores 10-30 shots apart, then maybe a good shot, or score might be considered random. 

I just don't think "consistency", and "random" collide very well with each other..

[iacas]

3 hours ago, Carl3 said:

Maybe what the OP was trying to say is that you will have good days and bad days and knowing that helps his game.

If that's what he wanted to say, it's not like it takes a literary genius to craft such a sentiment.

"You'll have good days and bad days" is also not the same as "the outcomes, within a range, are random."

The latter states that you have very little control over the actual score per hole that you get, when that's simply untrue.

[ljog]

I think the main disagreement in this thread comes from how people perceive the word "random". Most people understand it to mean something like, "completely decided by chance". That's not the way the word is used in statistics.

A random variable will follow a certain distribution, which can mean that some outcomes are more likely than others. E.g, rolling a pair of dice. Before rolling, you don't know the outcome, but you know you're more likely to roll a 7 than a 2. Just because all outcomes aren't equally likely doesn't mean the variable isn't random.