Playing with strangers

[kevin.chan]

It is funny and flattering sometimes.

Last Sunday i was paired with a Korean Couple and a gentlemen from Hong Kong . We are members in the same club but we never meet before .

I birdies the 1st 2 holes , a par 5 ( 2 on ) and a par 4 which are low index.

The Korea couple asked me if I am a pro .

I pared the 3 hole and fornthe next 3 holes I hit 2 double bogeys and a triple bougeys.
It is totally a yo-yo performance on the 1st nine nad closed with a 42.

On the 2 nine I birdied the 1st 2 holes again and things are more under control and closed the back nine with even par 36.

My driving was long and straight , short games was not too bad had 31 putts .

The only mistake I made was 3 wood that i hit into hazard and a poor 8 iron that I shanked badly into the sand .

It is nice to get compliment from strangers but sometimes when things go the other way..it is kinda putting a lot of pressure in the head and on the shoulder.

[Fat Slice]

You are right about the pressure! I am not a good player at all, but that doesn't mean I cannot rip off a couple of pars and even a birdie to start a round. Or, I might drain a long putt on the first green. When I do that and some unknown playing partner starts laying on the compliments, it feels like you have to live up to them. It's a relief to stick one in the woods after that - take the pressure off.

[joesephcho]

A few times I get "nice swing" but then my shots go wayward.

[alo1984]

Saturday I played with two guys I'd never met and shot my personal best 74. That included a 1 under 35 on the front nine. I eagled the par 5 9th hole too! These guys were really laying on the compliments and even played a scramble between the two of them to see if they could beat me on one hole the back nine. They weren't any good so I had no problem beating them with my 39 on the back. It was fun but also pressure packed because they kept saying how good I was. (And I kept expecting to come back to earth haha!)

[nevets88]

I can't explain it - if I get paired with good players, I usually play very well and shoot as low as I'm capable of. I shouldn't let outside influences alter my behavior, but I get into a I don't want to look stupid because good players notice everything mode and my concentration kicks up a notch.

[case31]

I've had good luck getting paired up with other people too, both in score and in meeting friendly people. A couple weeks ago I decided to play one of the more challenging (and expensive) courses in the area. I got paired up with 3 players whom I could tell had some game. It was a true scrambling round: no birdies, 10 putts for par from about 6', and I was 10 for 10. I shot 74.

Two guys that I have been playing with regularly for years were people I got randomly paired up with. I can only think of one time where I was paired up with people that were not fun to play with.

[ejimsmith]

  nevets88 said:

I can't explain it - if I get paired with good players, I usually play very well and shoot as low as I'm capable of. I shouldn't let outside influences alter my behavior, but I get into a I don't want to look stupid because good players notice everything mode and my concentration kicks up a notch.

I have the same issue, I play better with better players. Bad players almost make me play bad. I think its the "don't want to look stupid" reason. With bad players, I'll get a bogey and they'll say nice hole.

On my Palm Desert vacation/golf spree in August, I played 2 days w/ the same single-digit handicapper. I had my best round ever the 2nd day (an 83), I played more focused in all my life.