WOOHOO shot 11 under my handicap

[MellowYellow]

I'm not a very good golfer, I'm 26, this is my 2nd year playing on real courses (2 years ago i started out on par 3s only)

Anyway, last year I got to where I was shooting under 100 pretty consistantly, but after 3 months off for terrible weather, i couldnt break 100 again, my handicap was bouncing around at about 29. My main difference was my drive was getting me into lots of trouble i couldnt cure the slice, but I felt my putting was better and my chipping was GREATLY improved.

Last Friday, 1 week ago. We went to my home course, I generally aim to get a bogey on every hole, if I get a par I think of it as a birdy since all bogeys (90) would be a great score for me.

I was on in regulation on the first hole and putted from 20 feet away and hit the hole DEAD center but too fast it bounced up and JUST DIDNT quite stay in and I got a par to start off. so for the rest of the front 9 i managed to stay out of trouble and never have a terrible hole and just played smart golf and ended up with 44 on the turn, My best start EVER. I tee off on the 10th, get to the fringe in 2 and manage to start the back 9 off with ANOTHER par.

I get to the 17th hole looking great one under bogey golf for the back 9 as well. It's a par 3 and I end up about 5 feet short of the green, BUT its up front so I'm thinking PAR the whole way as I walk up, I try to do a nice little bump and run chip (my specialty) and i FINALLY have a big mistake and chunk it, Now I'm left with about a 12 foot put for par on a STEEP side hill green, I think I have a great line and then somehow, I have NO IDEA how, I CRUSH THE PUTT like a DAMN cannon, I missed a 12 foot putt by about 20 feet it was INSANE. I putted back and hit the hole but again lipped out and took a disheartening double bogey.. Back on pace for bogey golf.

Then 18 (a par 5) I hit 2 good shots and am 130 yards out just off the fairway in 2. I pull out my 9 iron and SH*T!! It goes off the toe 50 yards the wrong way, I pull out the sandwedge to get on and still be ok, SH*T!! it happens again WHAT THE??? I finally manage to scoot it under some limbs onto the green and 2 putt for ANOTHER double bogey and finish with

44 and 46 - 90 BOGEY GOLF a MASSIVE personal record.

Now of course I've been at the driving ranges non stop, going back Saturday and Monday... Hopefully Im on here again Monday night raving. :D

[mrgilmore]

nice job. such a good feeling to destroy your handicap.

wouldnt that have been nice to shoot that in a comp.

[Craig Mac]

Must be nice, I was 5 over my handi today...Great playing, keep that up and you wont be shooting 11 over your handicap for long

[bogeyhitter25]

Great job man. The lowest I've gone is 101, but I'm hoping to change that over the weekend. But 11 under your handicap is extremely impressive. Congratulations. My handicap score is 106, so the biggest difference for me is 5 under my handicap.

[cvlngineer]

Congratulations! Sounds like you had a great round.

[effektz]

Congrats man, I sometimes struggle with consistency too. Just remember what you did today and keep it up :D

maybe practice your long putting a little bit and cut a few more strokes off that bad boy

[Dent]

good show man! That is really impressive. Best differential for 18 I've gotten was 7.1 (Currently .3 under my HDCP) but at the time it was around 1 stroke under.

[MellowYellow]

thanks for all the replies guys, I really dont have many golfing buddies, so I always want to bounce golf comments off someone but they all just kind of go "yeah... sweet.... anyway about that underaged prostitute i was talking about...." and that's that..

when i first posted this i was thinking I'd get the same reaction, and was like, No one cares why did you write that crap.

Anyway yeah it was really exciting to do so well, bogeyhitter, i suspect if you are like i was when i shot 106 all the time that if you WANTED to you could just use your 8 iron or 9 iron for ALL your long shots over 130 and just keep hitting with that and crush your score, using whatever club you are most comfortable with, but if you keep getting that high of a score you realize that you shouldnt play to try and get a 99 or something because that really isnt the goal and you always have to keep trying to use the right club for the situation... So even though you KNOW that if you use your 9 iron twice from 240 you'll be on in 3 you pull out your 5 wood knowing you'll likely hit it like crap and be 155 out after your 2nd shot... hang in there man and I hope you start hitting the ball cleaner and get below 100, I know it was a cool feeling for me when i finally escaped triple digits and once i did it i hardly ever went back over again for the rest of that playable season (except for the reallly tough courses)

Dent, Thanks for the comments and everyone else as well, but I guess it's a LOT more possible for ME to shoot 11 under my handicap when my handicap is more than +1/hole :D thanks just the same though :D I sometimes wonder if it's less interesting/fun once you are shooting about +7 or so everytime....

[MrSandman]

1. Don't think about this round next time you play. Don't get upset with yourself in your next round if things don't fall in place as it did in this round. This can lead to unwarranted frustration which is never good for your golf game.

2. Don't be surprised if you are able to do this again. Once you get over a hump, the floodgates tend to open. Not always in your very next round(actually, usually not, as you set expectations too high), but in your next few rounds you should see the trend continue.

3. As always, play the holes and let the numbers add up at the end.

[artfulgolfer]

good advice by mrsandman! and in response to your comment:

"I sometimes wonder if it's less interesting/fun once you are shooting about +7 or so everytime...."

1) it never gets less interesting/fun... there's neverending room for improvement.

2) when you do get down to shooting about +7, you never shoot it EVERYTIME ;). In fact, once you start shooting lower scores, you're much more likely to shoot 11 OVER your handicap!

[Dent]

1. Don't think about this round next time you play. Don't get upset with yourself in your next round if things don't fall in place as it did in this round. This can lead to unwarranted frustration which is never good for your golf game.

Ya dude, Sandman here gives great advice. I've made that mistake and now its almost like an addiction, I seem to be all about numbers. I'm still enjoying the game but these numbers thoughts come into my head. I even go on my handicap tracker before I go out to see what I need to shoot for it to lower. I'm too tied up in this stupid little number! I mean, it's just a number right? Noone knows how you play until they see you on the course.

Forget you even shot 11 under your HDCP, get out there, have fun and the score will come. Also: Don't look at your stats often, it really kills your game. Dear god someone help me...

[MellowYellow]

Wow, I went and had a short 30 minute lesson on Sunday, the guy told me I was standing with my feet WAY too far apart which was hurting my balance and that I need to swing on a circular plain, instead of trying to swing straight back and straight forward which I always thought was what you were supposed to do. It made a lot of sence, turning in one piece with the shoulders etc. Basic concepts like this sometimes pass me by since i have NO family and few friends that golf.

Obviously it usually makes you worse before better when learning new stuff like this, but I went with my gf to a par 3 that night and was hitting ok, but sometimes pulled my shots a little left since i wasnt used to coming in like that.

But today I went back to my course where i just shattered my old score with 90 and shot an 87!

43 on the front 9, started off with a double bogey on 1 when i was only 15 feet off the green and 10 feet from the edge of the green to the pin in 2 but sucked on my next TWO chips (yes TWO chips from 10 feet out) but then parred the next 3 holes, and after a double bogey on 7 I parred 9 coming in 2 under bogey golf at the turn,

A par on 10 and I was feeling great but then I get a double bogey on the next TWO holes... I bogeyed the next 4 holes which bummed me out since i needed a par to be back on pace for bogey golf on the back 9, and several I SHOULD have parred but choked on an approach shot, a chip or a putt. Then finally I parred 17 and 18 and ended up 1 under bogey again for the 87! I actually wasnt even very happy with my chipping at all which is usually my strongest point, so now that my irons were going a bit better, Im pretty sure I could even score a tad lower in the next few rounds.

uhm... WOOHOO!

[MrSandman]

It is called a scoring barrier. And once you break it, you have a tendency to be over the hump. Not instantenously, especially if you think of your previous round too much, but sounds like you are over the hump.

Congrats, enjoy some time at this level, and start worrying about shooting an 85 or better.

[iron mike]

I just joined this forum and what I really like about it is how positive everyone seems to be - very refreshing. I don't have any stories about crushing my handicap by that margin (gets really hard on single figures) but one piece of advice I wish I could give all new golfers or those really struggling is:

Hey, we're ALL struggling. Many times I've invited a new member or new golfer to join our group and they are reluctant because they think everyone will be watching them and they're embarrassed not to be flushing it and attacking the pins. Or they think people will look at their swing and be critical or judgemental. Every experienced golfer knows it's not like that at all. We all (even the guy with the sore knee) were at the same place you are now - struggling to break 100, 90, 80 or whatever. We all want to be more consistent and improve, but the best part is - we're so busy figuring out what to do with our own swing to pay ANY attention to yours.

We'll watch where your ball goes (as you will ours - thanks!) and if you ask after the round we'll be happy to mention anything obvious we see, but most of the time we're too busy wondering why we can't get off the bogey train ourselves, so don't sweat it.

Also great advice about forgetting about the numbers. Don't think about your last round, your last hole or even your last shot. And don't get too far ahead either. Before I learned this, I had 3 or 4 opportunities to break par (genuine ones, like 1 under with 2 par-5s to play, or 1 under playing the last, a medium-length par 4) and didn't do it because I was focusing on the outcome, not the process. Make a golf swing, let the ball get in the way and let the numbers work themselves out. Good luck, and good golfing.

[MellowYellow]

Thanks for the advice/support guys.

So... when do you start getting all the chicks? I used to think it was 100, got there and... hmm not much of an increase... Now I've shot under 90.. and although I THOUGHT i saw some girls up at the club house after 18, they turned out to just be a few ladies that worked in the restaurant... what's going on here?

[Craig Mac]

Thanks for the advice/support guys.

you get the chicks when you get the checks

[Dent]

Thanks for the advice/support guys.

ugh! you forgot the number one rule... You need a pink tee on the first tee of course!

According to my calculations, you need a 83 to get 1 girl, after you break 80 you get around 3.

[shortgrass lover]

well i've broken 80 six times this summer, and only a couple of girls to show for it...