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Questions for the 0-8 handicap


Jasonbolt
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- What do you think about or do when you start off bogey, bogey. ( or par, double)

- How do you not let nerves get to you when your on the 18th tee box and need a par to shoot your lowest round

- Best tip you've been given

Thanks!

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Starting our with a few bad holes is normal, and it's important to leave the bad shots behind you.

Today I had 2 doubles and a string of bogeys in route to a 76, but I also had 4 birdies throughout the day.  To grind out a decent round, you need to have confidence in your ability to hit good shots.  This is hard to do if you dwell on the poor shots.

My advice whether you're on the 18th tee or 3rd tee is to focus on solid golf.  Don't think about the hero shots, or the risky drives on tight holes.  Focus on getting the ball in play off the tee, and close to the green in regulation.  The putts and chips will fall as you practice, and solid, consistent golf will usually prevail over risky play.

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why 0-8, why not 0-9 you elitist ;b

Start off Bogey Bogey, i just think, i start off bogey bogey, whats the next hole, and what can my ability get me here. The worst thing you can do is get down and try to force something.

18th hole teebox, depends on the hole. nothing really bugging me in my landing zone, let it rip, free swinging. If not, i will club down, or play away from trouble. Thats my normal thought process. So basicaly, nothing changes.

Best tip, "You can lay up when your dead"  ;b

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It happens ...... at my home course we start with a long par 5 (head wind mostly) followed by a 215 yds par 3 with a critical landing area ...... it is so easy to start with bogey bogey, but there are plenty birdy chances in the next two holes and the 5th is a par 4 of nearly 450 yds, for most toooooo much, so if you play around par after 5 holes ..... you are going for a good score ..... I am never woried by a few bogeys, playing about 11-12 pars, maybe a few birdies and a few bogeys ,,,,,,,, hc 6 is no big deal.

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2 over after 2 isn't that big a deal.  I'll just try and make a few pars on the next holes and maybe sneak in a birdie if possible.  If I'm 2 or 3 over after 7-8 holes, I can live with that.  If you have a score in mind as a goal, the key is not to let it get away from you too soon.  Just stick with it and play your game.  Worst thing you can do is try and make up for too quickly or put yourself in a bad spot.  Then the 2 can turn into 7 real quick.  My goal when I step on the course is to break 80.  2 over after 2 isn't going to hurt those chances.  6 over after 5 and I have to rethink things.

18th hole and need a par...play it safe.  Hit the fairway, hit the green, two putt.  Don't try and do anything fancy, or something you wouldn't normally do.

Best tip...learn how to choke down on the club and use an abbreviated swing.  You can turn one club into three and are able to cover any yardage under any circumstances.

I will judge my rounds much more by the quality of my best shots than the acceptability of my worse ones.

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1. Being a 7 handicap, I'm going to make a lot of mistakes even in my best round.  I accept those bad shots by not pressing on the remaining holes.  My best score is a 1 under 69 on my par 70 home course.  That round included 2 double bogeys a couple of 3 putts.  That round made me realize that you can make a lot of mistakes and still shoot well.

2. Having a good pre-shot routine is essential to calming a nervous situation.  Focusing on the process and not the outcome is the key.  My thought however, is that you can only minimize the anxiety of the situation but not eliminate it.  Its an unpleasant by product of success ;-)

3. "The better you putt, the bolder you play."  That quote has always stuck with me.  Your ability to putt affects your whole game.  A lot of mistakes can be cleaned up on the green with good putting.

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Originally Posted by Jasonbolt

- What do you think about or do when you start off bogey, bogey. ( or par, double)

- How do you not let nerves get to you when your on the 18th tee box and need a par to shoot your lowest round

- Best tip you've been given

Thanks!

Ok.... I don't qualify for the 0-8 handicap, but I think I know a bit about the game after playing for nearly 40 years and playing tournament golf for 21 of those years.

1)  One of my most memorable rounds I started bogey, bogey, quad.  6 over thru 3.... I then went just 2 over for the remaining 15 holes.  It involves being able to deactivate your short term memory and just play the way you know you can. I can't define it any better than that.

2)  I've been there when it worked well, and I've been there when the pressure got me.  Don't really know why.  Best thing I can tell you is just stay in your routine - that will give you the best chance of success.

3)  Not sure I've ever been given a quick fix tip I couldn't hate.   The best advice I've heard for when things go bad is fall back on the fundamentals - generally grip, stance, ball position and the beginning of the takeaway.  That is where a lot of swing issues originate.

Rick

"He who has the fastest cart will never have a bad lie."

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Bogey bogey start I usually think there's a lot of golf left to get those strokes back. If I'm on the 18th tee with a low round going I usually don't get to nervous because I've been hitting well all day so why would it stop now. If I had something like a course record going I'd probably feel some nerves but I'm pretty far off from getting to that point.

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Originally Posted by Jasonbolt

- What do you think about or do when you start off bogey, bogey. ( or par, double)

- How do you not let nerves get to you when your on the 18th tee box and need a par to shoot your lowest round

- Best tip you've been given

Thanks!


Starting off +2 is not the best feeling in the world, but it is really not that big of a deal either unless they were both 3 putts (that would probably get to me a little).  I just figure that it is better to get them out of the way if anything.  I try to play the shot I am playing for nothing more than what it is worth, which is one stroke.  It doesn't matter if it is a tap-in or a drive they all count the same.  I find that I lose my concentration at times and it probably costs me 2-3 shots per round.  On the 18th hole, with a good score going, I treat it as if it was any other shot and just concentrate on the target.  I make sure that I do not grip the club too tightly or try to hit a cute shot.  It is time to go with the reliable stock swing and make good contact.  This was something that took a while, and you can see in my blog how the last two holes would get me when I first came back.  Now I try not to think score, but to think contact.  It is nice to get off the 18th thinking you were around 80 to find out it is a 77.  My best tip is that when you are playing golf, always think positive...your mind does not know what don't means (as in don't hit the water) so you better think target, the more specific the better.

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Originally Posted by Jasonbolt

- What do you think about or do when you start off bogey, bogey. ( or par, double)

- How do you not let nerves get to you when your on the 18th tee box and need a par to shoot your lowest round

- Best tip you've been given

Thanks!



- I usually start bogey, bogey or worse. Not sure why.

- I'm hoping to find out soon.

- Don't aim at the water.

Mizuno MP600 driver, Cleveland '09 Launcher 3-wood, Callaway FTiz 18 degree hybrid, Cleveland TA1 3-9, Scratch SS8620 47, 53, 58, Cleveland Classic 2 mid-mallet, Bridgestone B330S, Sun Mountain four5.

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Originally Posted by Jasonbolt

- What do you think about or do when you start off bogey, bogey. ( or par, double)

- How do you not let nerves get to you when your on the 18th tee box and need a par to shoot your lowest round

- Best tip you've been given

Thanks!



Even though I'm not in that 0-8 range, I will post only because I was in the same situation last weekend.

I started off with 5 bogeys in a row and tweaked my swing a little based on where my misses were going.  Fortunately, the tweak(s) worked and I played the next 4 holes +2 for a 43 on the front 9.  I played the back 9 very well (relative to my skill level) and I walked up to the 18th tee needing a par to break 80 which would be my lowest round ever.  Not only would it be my lowest round ever, it would also be the first time I shot even (36) for 9 holes--so, I was looking at 2 milestones that day.

It was kind of funny because here I was faced with reaching two pretty substantial milestones yet, I wasn't nervous or amped up.  Rather, I was just "ready"--I don't know how else to describe it.  I always script out each hole I play from the green to the tee.  As such, I script it out so that I have full swings for a majority of my approach shots because (again, at my level), it's more reliable than my partial swings.  I didn't do anything different; I just stuck to the same plan.

A GIR left me with two putts for par.  So, the first putt was to get the ball to the pin on the back tier (I was on the first tier).  I second-guessed my first putt (gave it "more") mid-stroke just because I didn't want to leave it short and have the ball roll back down.  Well, that didn't work so well because I ran it by the hole @ 9'.  Now, I had a downhill right to left putt with about 1.5' of break.  At this point, it would've been easy for me to bemoan my first putt or get caught up in needing to make this putt to have all this glory or failure blah, blah, blah.

Again, it was kind of funny because none of those thoughts entered my mind (in the past, they always did).  I was completely focused on the putt.  I envisioned the putt, aligned myself to the line and stroked the putt.  It went in.

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Originally Posted by Jasonbolt

- What do you think about or do when you start off bogey, bogey. ( or par, double)

- How do you not let nerves get to you when your on the 18th tee box and need a par to shoot your lowest round

- Best tip you've been given

Thanks!



- OK, let's get it back to level par by the end of the front 9

- Convince myself I am in that position because I'm playing well. Don't change strategy on that hole due to the situation. If the plan was to hit driver, I hit driver. I don't bottle it and grab my 3 iron to play safe.

- Always grind. A 78 is better than a 79, a 77 is better than a 78 etc.

"Success is going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm." – Winston Churchill

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I would rather start that way than finish that way. Golf is such a game of the moment. On of the best tips I can give is this, "The most important shot you are going to hit is the next one after you have made something other than par." Sent from my Xoom using Tapatalk

Happy Gilmore was a Hack!

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deep breath, you got 16 more holes to go. focus on the next shot, not what's been done already. best advice ever given is in my signature...

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already a lot of good tips. bogey bogey will get me down for sure. the thing I like to do if I have a bad start is to play smart, very smart. use a 3-wood off the tee. get onto the fairway and onto the green in gir. 2-putt and off to the next hole for the same. one shot at a time. try not to think of your approach shot if your are on the tee box. get your chip shots or putts close so you can 2-putt easily.

golf is a lot like life. the more you enjoy it, the better off you are. a3_biggrin.gif
 
 

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- After a bogey bogey start I would be thinking my game plan for the tee shot on #3.  That is how you have to think.  The most important shot is the next one.

-  On 18 tee with my best round in sight I looked at the scorecard for the first time (big mistake) I was one under for the back side and let that get into my head.  I finished with a bogey, but I learned that when you are on a roll you need to stay out of your own way and stick to your same routine that has been working all day.

- Best golf advice is from the book Paper Tiger , Tom Coyne was the author of the book and he talked about how you can't be thinking about making up for bad shots or holes because then you might be pressing the issue of bad shots/holes.  Instead you need to focus not on par, birdie, or bogey but each stroke being equal.  The three footer for birdie means just as much as a twenty footer for a triple.  Put all you effort into hitting your best shot possible for every stroke on the course.  This advice helped me out a lot, and I hope it helps you as well.

P.S. read Paper Tiger by Tom Coyne

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This is so true, but soooooooo hard to put into practice. Even pros putt differently standing over a putt for par or a putt for birdie.

Originally Posted by shakogolfer78

The three footer for birdie means just as much as a twenty footer for a triple.

"Success is going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm." – Winston Churchill

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Note: This thread is 4759 days old. We appreciate that you found this thread instead of starting a new one, but if you plan to post here please make sure it's still relevant. If not, please start a new topic. Thank you!

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