How do you keep score?

[Shindig]

Hey all,

A few weeks ago, a friend of mine saw me adding up my score after 9 holes and suggested that I keep score relative to par instead of in absolute numbers. Then I just add the "relative to par" score to the course par and I have my final score.

To record any given hole, I count my strokes and subtract par from it, then write it. I find it easier to add zeroes, ones, twos, and the occasional 3s and 4s instead of 3s through 9s.


Does anyone else do this? Thoughts?

[teebuck911]

nope never herd that way of doing it always refered it to par,


tom

[CanadaGolf]

I keep it in my head relative to par, but always put my score on the scorecard.

[Fourputt]

  Shindig said:

Hey all,

I always record the actual strokes taken. If you do it any other way in a tournament, you will end up disqualified for an incorrect scorecard.

[chingali]

I always write it down on a scorecard but I also always know how I am going relative to par. I have heard it mentioned LOTS of times to forget about your score and just focus on the shot at hand but it's never going to happen to me, I just keep score regardless and there's no point fighting it!

[BritBoy]

THe top line of the score card I write my actual number, the line underneath I write, +1, -1, / (for par), +2, what ever the difference is between my score and par. It's a lot easier to add that way

[Fred99x]

The past couple of years I've started just entering the score relative to par. At a glance you can see where your good/bad holes were and I find it easier to add up at the end of 18 holes. I did find out that on any kind of competion, you must enter the complete score per hole.

[Shindig]

  Fred99x said:

The past couple of years I've started just entering the score relative to par. At a glance you can see where your good/bad holes were and I find it easier to add up at the end of 18 holes. I did find out that on any kind of competion, you must enter the complete score per hole.

Yeah. I keep my own personal score for my own record, and someone else can track scores for the tournament.

[Scott L]

I always write how many strokes over par I get. For example if its a par 4 and I took a 6.. I write 2. If I get a par, I write 0. Im not a scratch golfer so its easier for me to see where I am and count it up faster. When and if I ever get better and actually start hitting pars, birdies I might change... But for now it works good.

Iv only been playing a few months now and Iv decided Im going to also start keeping little notes. Like if I get GIR and how many putts, etc.... Dont want to make it too complicated, but Id like to look back and see if Im improving... Right now Im lucky to get 1-2 pars and 1-2 GIR a round....

any suggestions on a nice/neat/easy way to keep other information on the scorecard? Im sure others do this type of thing

[Cleveland Gunmetal]

Nah, I always just write down the score. I always know in my head what I have for score and in relation to par anyways. I think if I wrote down the score in relation to par it would be fine at first but too depressing as the round went on What sounds better? An 85 or +13? Sometimes I keep track of my putts, fairways hit, GIR etc but usually get too lazy to do that as well.

[teebuck911]

  Scott L said:

I always write how many strokes over par I get. For example if its a par 4 and I took a 6.. I write 2. If I get a par, I write 0. Im not a scratch golfer so its easier for me to see where I am and count it up faster. When and if I ever get better and actually start hitting pars, birdies I might change... But for now it works good.

not the best way to fill in you scorecard, if you play in a competition your will get disqualified no doubt,

tom

[Scott L]

here is what Im gonna start doing:

http://golf.about.com/od/beginners/s...corecard_3.htm

[MGP]

I used to keep score like that Scott, but I always found myself not really using the stats I had collected. At the beginning of this year I made a resolution to keep good stats and try to improve my game.

So I'm using an eCaddy to keep my score now.

I'm not a big golf gadget freak, but I added the eCaddy and a GPS to my tools to try and improve my game.

The eCaddy lets me keep all the stats you showed plus a few more, like where my tee shot went (left, right, fairway). The part I really like is that I can download the data to my PC in a few seconds.

So far I have only used it for one round but I really liked it and found it to be really easy to use. We'll see how it works out in the long run.

I think you have the right idea though, without looking at what shots you are really playing and tracking them over time it's hard to make sound decisions on what part of your game needs improvement.

[Shindig]

  Scott L said:

any suggestions on a nice/neat/easy way to keep other information on the scorecard? Im sure others do this type of thing

I have a row for "Relative to par", another for "# putts", another for "Fairway hit?", and one for comments (with my own abbreviations, such as "2S" to mean "two shots to get out of the sand"). Note that GIR is implicit by "relative to par" and "# putts". If relative to par - # putts <= -2, I hit GIR.

[Buckswin]

  Shindig said:

I have a row for "Relative to par", another for "# putts", another for "Fairway hit?", and one for comments (with my own abbreviations, such as "2S" to mean "two shots to get out of the sand").

I started to keep score that way, but it got messy when trying to keep score for everyone. Now, I use a different method. If I hit the fairway, I make a small "O" in the upper L corner of that hole. An "X" if I miss. In the upper R corner goes an "O" for a GIR ("X" for no). In the lower R corner goes # of putts, with penalty shots in the lower L corner. My score for the whole goes in the middle. Sounds crowded, but it's not. At the turn, I'll add Fairway, GIR and putts so that it's easy to add it up after 18.

I created a spreadsheet to track my handicap and stats (Fairway %, GIR %, Putts/GIR, Putts/MGIR, total Putts, # eagles, # birdies, # pars, # bogeys, # doubles, # others. I'm a 20.4 right now and my goal for this season is to be a bogey golfer. I've added a column to track # of holes at bogey or better for a round. My best so far is 15, which led to an 88 score.

[Shindig]

  teebuck911 said:

not the best way to fill in you scorecard, if you play in a competition your will get disqualified no doubt,

Certainly, in competition, you write down the actual number of strokes taken, and only that number. Most of the time I'm playing, I'm not playing in competition.

[Shindig]

  Buckswin said:

I started to keep score that way, but it got messy when trying to keep score for everyone. Now, I use a different method. If I hit the fairway, I make a small "O" in the upper L corner of that hole. An "X" if I miss. In the upper R corner goes an "O" for a GIR ("X" for no). In the lower R corner goes # of putts, with penalty shots in the lower L corner. My score for the whole goes in the middle. Sounds crowded, but it's not. At the turn, I'll add Fairway, GIR and putts so that it's easy to add it up after 18.

I like this (both ideas). The first idea doesn't actually sound crowded to me, but then again, I use the "nine dots" method for Sudoku.

The spreadsheet sounds like a great one. I've been keeping track of "pars or better" (fancy way of saying "pars" in my case; I've only had birdies at executive courses), but since my goal is bogey golf too, maybe I should be keeping track of "bogey or better."

[Black_Black]

I just write what I get on the hole with a pen. Sometimes scorecards get soggy in the morning and pencils aren't effective. I also keep track of GIR's and putts in the extra rows on the card.