score or quality of play?

[TheNatural]

If i blade 10 balls and hit 10 worm burners and card an 80, then the grace of the golf gods has shown upon me, could be pity too.

It would be nice to card an 80 with decent ballstriking, but to score that low I still need to sink 30 or fewer putts and do a lot of other things fair. SO the lower the score the better.

[David in FL]

I may be in the minority, but the purpose of the game is to get the ball in the hole, not to strike the ball well, a lot of times. I'd rather have an ugly 74 than a pretty 84.

Most of us don't hit on all cylinders every day. Scoring well when you're struggling with one aspect of your game is evidence that you're able to maintain focus, recover, and adjust......important attributes, especially for those aspiring to single digit or lower handicaps, at least IMHO.

[opie]

Playing well. If I'm hitting it well the scoring will come

[lumpuckeroo]

  opie said:

Playing well. If I'm hitting it well the scoring will come

My feeling as well.

[brotekind269]

I always have fun when I go out, so that isn't a problem.
I'm going to have to go with scoring.
I played a round and hit every ball thin, but they were going straight and I ended up with a good score.
Another round I was shooting "lights out," but completely blew up on a couple holes and ended up with a bad score. I used a whole lot more swear words, and felt more stressed on the round I didn't score well.

[Zeph]

  David in FL said:

I may be in the minority, but the purpose of the game is to get the ball in the hole, not to strike the ball well, a lot of times. I'd rather have an ugly 74 than a pretty 84.

It's not my goal, at least not at the time. I'm working on the swing, so the only thing that matters is getting better, which primarily lies in becoming a better ball striker. If I hit a perfect shot, but get a terrible bounce and end up in the water, I'm still happy. Far happier than if I hit a lousy shot, but get lucky and end up on the green.

I'm currently shooting high and low, but I'm usually happy with my round since my swing is improving. If I'm on GIR and 4 putt, fine, I'm not working on my putting now anyways. In a tournament I might take scoring over playing, but on a casual round, which is 95% of them, my only goal is to get better, competing with myself. I play with others, but rarely against them. There is always a competition between your buddies, but my own game is what matters to me, not how I do compared to others.

[goblue107501]

Tough question. I ended up with score and bad play. For me there is something satisfying about feeling like I didn't play my best, but was still able to put up a good score. That makes me think that I am capable of scoring even better. As David in FL pointed out, I would rather get the ball in the hole playing bad, than not get it in the hole playing great.

On the flip side, if I would have went the other way I could say that I like playing great, but maybe one or two shots didn't give me the score I should have had. The best round I remember playing last year didn't give me the best score of the year. I hit three bad shots that cost me at least 5 shots. None of them were penalties, just missed the green by a few yards and ended up in a bad position.

[mrchiss]

score definately.ppl who would rather play well are usually those who depise the shrtgame and think putting should count less, but that live to strike the ball well. at the end of the day the scorecard has no pictures, and if u have a decent shortgame, ur scores will never be high!

[Zeph]

  mrchiss said:

score definately.ppl who would rather play well are usually those who depise the shrtgame and think putting should count less, but that live to strike the ball well. at the end of the day the scorecard has no pictures, and if u have a decent shortgame, ur scores will never be high!

How can a good shortgame save you from hitting into the woods, water and out of bounds? If your long game is so good that all the misses can be saved with a good short game, surely it will help.

[Fourputt]

Scoring well. If I shoot a good score, then it means that some part of the game was working well. In every round I'm going to hit a few poor shots... that's just my game. But if my recovery game is on, then I'll overcome those occasional misses and that's a typical round for me.

It's pretty much impossible for me to go through 18 holes hitting lousy shots and still end up with a good score. I may survive the ordeal, but it won't be a good score.

[mrchiss]

  Zeph said:

How can a good shortgame save you from hitting into the woods, water and out of bounds? If your long game is so good that all the misses can be saved with a good short game, surely it will help.

it cant in tht respect. however if u are able to keep the ball on the course with your long game, a good short game gives you your lowest possible score for that round is what i meant.

[youngskip40]

Scoring well, definitely. If you can scramble and save a good score from an ugly round, then you can invariably go low if you start hitting the ball well.

Honestly, when I think about it, it's a no brainer. I'd MUCH rather describe my round as one where I was hacking it around and couldn't hit a fairway or a green all day, but I made every putt I looked at to save par...

The alternative is that I hit the ball great, hit almost every fairway and almost every green and then can't make a putt all day. The original question was, what makes you happier at the end of the day... and for me, it's scoring. Leaving putts out there that don't go in and not being able to make anything outside of 5 feet is a long, frustrating day, ESPECIALLY if you are hitting the ball great. It leaves you wondering "what if" much more than a day where you make putts but your ballstriking isn't all there.

I've had both kind of days, and I'll take an ugly scrambling low score any day.

[iacas]

Very seldom do I care about score. If I hit the ball well, I'm happy, and the score usually takes care of itself.

[billm408]

Score always. For me, it's the only thing that counts. I get a lot satisfaction when my ball striking is not great, but I score well. It means that I scrambled well or that my short game saved me. Which is encouraging for those days when I'm hitting the ball well because it gives me an opportunity to put up a low number.

[DavidFehertysBike]

Well the number is the only thing that really matters, right? So if i put up a good number i dont care how i got it. "dont ask how, ask how many" sort of thing. If i put up a bad number while hitting the ball well, i dont see any victory in that. I did that last weekend in a round where i hit every fairway and only missed 3 GIR, but shot 82 because i couldnt get the damn ball in the hole. If anything i find rounds where i strike the ball well and score bad more frustrating that rounds i hit poorly and score well.

[Brakkus]

At this stage of my life neither,I'm just glad to be out there and yes I have found both options more important at different times.

However after some humble pie of golfing for 2 years,I'm grateful just to play this game.