sheer luck and great misses

[flopdarock]

if you play this game frequently... you have to believe in luck...
other wise tiger would be making aces on every par 3 he came across...
the other day i almost broke 80 with sheer luck and great misses...
the day before i felt like i was ball striking exceptionally well... and scored 88

would you take luck over skill?

obviously with 8 strokes... i think ill take luck... what can i say... i like surprises... id be bored without them

[Stacey_E]

I'd take luck ANY DAY. But unfortunately luck is fickle and I can't control it. Skill is something within my control...to a certain extent.

Example:

Yesterday I went 46 on the front with THREE triples, a double, a birdie and the rest pars. The back was 39 (yay me) with 7 GIRs in a row (11-17), three 3 putts (ALL the pins were cut on ridges) and a par save. That was the weirdest 18 I have ever played. Thus all of the parenthesis and commas.

[iacas]

I'll take skill over luck. Skill is rewarding and satisfying, luck is not. One of my dreads is that if I'm ever fortunate enough to get a hole in one, that it will come on a shot I shank off a tree or something.

[Stacey_E]

One of my dreads is that if I'm ever fortunate enough to get a hole in one, that it will come on a shot I shank off a tree or something.

Really, no aces? We have something in common!

[Fourputt]

You can't depend on luck... just ask a gambler. You can depend on skill, even when luck deserts you. I'll take the skill and let the luck come and go as it will.

Even a pro will tell you that making an ace is mostly luck... but if you have the skills, you can put yourself in the path of luck more often.

[ChiChiIsMe]

One of my dreads is that if I'm ever fortunate enough to get a hole in one, that it will come on a shot I shank off a tree or something.

while playing all alone.....

Gimme skill w/ a dash of luck.

[flopdarock]

You can't depend on luck... just ask a gambler. You can depend on skill, even when luck deserts you. I'll take the skill and let the luck come and go as it will.

that makes absolute perfect logical sense to me...

but i almost broke 80 with the best misses ive ever had... topping balls that ran straight an far down fairways... great bounces off cartpaths... chip ins from absolutely horrendous lies... then the day i thought 'damn the ball is going where i want it to go' or 'woo that was a pretty shot'... where my 'skill' was exceeding my expectations... im thinking 'this is the day i break 80'... i end up with an 88... its mind 'bottling' lol

[Spackler-esque]

Skill over luck. Though I love it when luck happens to be on my side on any given day.

I think it was Thomas Jefferson who said, “I find that the harder I work, the more luck I seem to have.” Works for me.

[Shindig]

I'll take skill over luck every time.

I'll take skill over luck. Skill is rewarding and satisfying, luck is not. One of my dreads is that if I'm ever fortunate enough to get a hole in one, that it will come on a shot I shank off a tree or something.

If I remember correctly, this makes us one short of Harry Vardon's career count. I think he took skill over luck, too.

[Jay-Bird]

I'll take skill over luck. Skill is rewarding and satisfying, luck is not. One of my dreads is that if I'm ever fortunate enough to get a hole in one, that it will come on a shot I shank off a tree or something.

The

first hole-in-one I had was a terribly struck, thinned 7-iron that burned it's way toward the green on a 150ish par 3. It was when the cotton woods were releasing their cotton and the air and ground were littered with little cotton balls - making it very hard to track the worm-burner. I was looking for my ball, which I figured was over the back side of the green - when one of the other kids (at the time I was 17) in my group screamed that it was in the hole! It was cool to write down the "1" on the card, but I knew it wasn't deserved. I enjoy the occassional lucky bounce, the deflection off a tree into the fairway, the hit rock in a water hazard that bounces the ball onto the green...but I much prefer the skilled, planned and executed shot that comes off exactly as imagined.

[mad max]

I'll take skill over luck. Skill is rewarding and satisfying, luck is not. One of my dreads is that if I'm ever fortunate enough to get a hole in one, that it will come on a shot I shank off a tree or something.

I once played with a guy that was terrible but swung really hard and he was hitting a PW on a 150 yard hole, he sculled it and the ball hit a tree about 90 down the right side of the fairway bounced of the tree and still had enough force to bounce once and hit the flagstick. He ended up about 4 feet from the flag and he said "that was the closest I ever got to a hole in one."

I also played in a sort of tournament with about 15 friends called ladies night where we played from the most forward tees we could and I just had visions of one of us getting our first hole in one from the ladies tees.

[Zeph]

Consistent play is the only thing I want. I know I can drive it straight and far, I know I can putt well. If I only managed to do it consistently I'd be very pleased. You will always have those lucky shots, but the bad shots outweigh them pretty well.

[denver_nuggs_15]

The better you are, the luckier you get. Without a doubt, I'd rather be good than lucky.

[flopdarock]

good and lucky is where i wanna be... hahaha

[Zeph]

I agree that the better you play, the bigger are your chances of getting lucky. Playing badly you may get lucky by hitting it to the woods and have it bounce back. Play good you may hole the second shot on a par 4 for your eagle. Now that's the kind of luck I'm wanting.

[TMO]

I would rather have a little bit of luck on most days. I was playing in a tournament a several years back and pured an 8 iron over water from 151 out. It hit the cup on the fly and then proceeded to bounce back into the water. An inch here or there this would have been either an eagle or at least a birdie. I ended up with a triple (I was a little flustered).

[Fourputt]

I would rather have a little bit of luck on most days. I was playing in a tournament a several years back and pured an 8 iron over water from 151 out. It hit the cup on the fly and then proceeded to bounce back into the water. An inch here or there this would have been either an eagle or at least a birdie. I ended up with a triple (I was a little flustered).

If I was a plus handicap, then I'd vote for the luck side too, 'cause the skill would already be there.

But until I reach that point (unlikely) I'll take all the additional skill points I can find, wherever I can find them.

[flopdarock]

today my shots were going where i wanted them to go... but the bounces were terrible... bad luck till i got to the 18th and got a lucky eagle... i must have hit every sprinkler head/yardage marker/tree root on the course for 16 holes... hahaha