The woulda/coulda/shoulda thread......

[David in FL]

I honestly didn't know how to even talk about my round yesterday.....it certainly cried out for more than my normal quick post in the "What did you shoot today" thread, so I thought I'd start this....

We all have those woulda/coulda/shoulda rounds, but some are more notable than others, and this one takes the freaking cake for me:

My home course.  Not a monster, but a good little track.  Do NOT get out of the short grass or you're almost guaranteed to lose a stroke.   6,610 yards.  71.1/121 from the one-up tees we play.

In 45 years of golf, I've never shot under par for 18.....plenty of sub-par 9's, but never put it all together.  My only even par round was earlier this year at the same course where I made birdie on 18 for my 72.  Needless to say, breaking par would be a BIG deal for me. Oh yeah, I've never had an Ace either.......remember that too.

Started with a routine 2-putt par on the opening par 5.  Blocked my drive into the deep crap right on 2, and made a real mental error in trying to carry a far too aggressive line over a large waste area out of a REALLY cruddy lie.  Buried in the lip of the waste bunker.  Absolutely dead.  Dropped back in the bunker under penalty and ended up with a triple on the hole. That's a triple .....you'll note that my ESC max is a double......you can remember that too.  Played pretty well from there until 8 where I absolutely wiped across a simple 3 foot putt for par that didn't even come close to touching the hole.  Finished the front in 40 as a result of those two holes.

Lit it up on the back.  Birdie on 10, a very tough par 4.  11 is a short par 3, playing 148.  THE number for my 8 iron.  One of the best swings I've made in 3 months.  Lands just short of the pin, releases 3 feet, and the ball disappears.  We think it's in.  It's not.  The ball rolled past the pin..... on the high side , and stopped one INCH behind the cup, in the shadow of the flagstick.  Not too often I'm disappointed with a kick-in birdie, but that one hurt.  Made a 30 foot snake to birdie 13.  On 14 my 10 foot birdie putt lips out, again on the high side.  Make a 15 footer for birdie on 15, and then par out the remaining 3 holes to post 32, my personal best for 9.

Now, let's add it all up......  40 on the front and 32 on the back.  My 2d ever even par 72.  You gotta be happy with that right?  Well not so much.  Here's the woulda/coulda/shoulda:

Take away the head-up-my-ass triple on 2 and replace with an EASY bogey.....make the silly putt on 8.......the ball goes in on 11......the putt falls on 14, and I shoot 67 with my first hole-in-one!  A round for the ages....

To add insult to injury, I had to post an ESC adjusted 71 due to the triple on 2 (my first ever negative differential) but still can't claim an under par round.  Great round for me.  So why do I feel like I just kissed my sister?!

Alright, can you beat that?  What's your epic woulda/coulda/shoulda?

[kw purp]

haha damn the 3 footer has to hurt the worst. That back 9 had to have been fun though, gotta love when you catch fire like that. Had a birdie par par eagle birdie stretch yesterday. For such a quiet and slow paced game that can really get adrenaline going

[boogielicious]

David,

You violated one of your own rules to never follow a bad shot with a bad decision.  Still, great recovery.

I have broken 80 once and hit 80 three times.  In all instances I had the same issue of not scoring lower.  Bad decision trying to be a hero instead of smart and trying for an up and down from 100 - 150 out.  I should write it on my bag or clubs or something.

[dbuck]

Lately my wedge play mostly, and supplemented by a couple of poor decisions/concentration lapses, has made every round a coulda/shoulda/woulda!

[David in FL]

Originally Posted by boogielicious

David,

You violated one of your own rules to never follow a bad shot with a bad decision.  Still, great recovery.

I have broken 80 once and hit 80 three times.  In all instances I had the same issue of not scoring lower.  Bad decision trying to be a hero instead of smart and trying for an up and down from 100 - 150 out.  I should write it on my bag or clubs or something.

Absolutely right!

Same line and just hit a solid 7-iron puts me 30 yds off the green.  Up and down probably close to half the time and never more than a bogie.  Then I'd be telling everyone about shooting 70......

[Maddog10]

I can't top that story. I did post a 74 last week that included a ball out of bounds, two bogeys on easy par 5s, and a missed 2 foot putt (in my defense, it had a ton of break for a 2 foot put, but still have to make it.)... It should have been an under par round, and I also have never shot under par. That's a good score for me, but like you, I wasn't thrilled with it.

[Slice of Life]

Was on fire (for me) and ended up shooting my best round (at the time) of an 87. Got a 10 on a par 5. A 10. A hole that should be an easy bogey even for me, and would have put me at an 83.

Missed 2 easy putts this past weekend on the back 9 and ended up with a 40. Would have been my first ever sub-40 9. Shot a PB 86 though, so I was happy about that...

[Golfingdad]

Originally Posted by David in FL

I honestly didn't know how to even talk about my round yesterday.....it certainly cried out for more than my normal quick post in the "What did you shoot today" thread, so I thought I'd start this....

We all have those woulda/coulda/shoulda rounds, but some are more notable than others, and this one takes the freaking cake for me:

My home course.  Not a monster, but a good little track.  Do NOT get out of the short grass or you're almost guaranteed to lose a stroke.   6,610 yards.  71.1/121 from the one-up tees we play.

In 45 years of golf, I've never shot under par for 18.....plenty of sub-par 9's, but never put it all together.  My only even par round was earlier this year at the same course where I made birdie on 18 for my 72.  Needless to say, breaking par would be a BIG deal for me. Oh yeah, I've never had an Ace either.......remember that too.

Started with a routine 2-putt par on the opening par 5.  Blocked my drive into the deep crap right on 2, and made a real mental error in trying to carry a far too aggressive line over a large waste area out of a REALLY cruddy lie.  Buried in the lip of the waste bunker.  Absolutely dead.  Dropped back in the bunker under penalty and ended up with a triple on the hole.     That's a triple.....you'll note that my ESC max is a double......you can remember that too.  Played pretty well from there until 8 where I absolutely wiped across a simple 3 foot putt for par that didn't even come close to touching the hole.  Finished the front in 40 as a result of those two holes.

Lit it up on the back.  Birdie on 10, a very tough par 4.  11 is a short par 3, playing 148.  THE number for my 8 iron.  One of the best swings I've made in 3 months.  Lands just short of the pin, releases 3 feet, and the ball disappears.  We think it's in.  It's not.  The ball rolled past the pin.....on the high side, and stopped one INCH behind the cup, in the shadow of the flagstick.  Not too often I'm disappointed with a kick-in birdie, but that one hurt.  Made a 30 foot snake to birdie 13.  On 14 my 10 foot birdie putt lips out, again on the high side.  Make a 15 footer for birdie on 15, and then par out the remaining 3 holes to post 32, my personal best for 9.

Now, let's add it all up......  40 on the front and 32 on the back.  My 2d ever even par 72.  You gotta be happy with that right?  Well not so much.  Here's the woulda/coulda/shoulda:

Take away the head-up-my-ass triple on 2 and replace with an EASY bogey.....make the silly putt on 8.......the ball goes in on 11......the putt falls on 14, and I shoot 67 with my first hole-in-one!  A round for the ages....

To add insult to injury, I had to post an ESC adjusted 71 due to the triple on 2 (my first ever negative differential) but still can't claim an under par round.  Great round for me.  So why do I feel like I just kissed my sister?!

Alright, can you beat that?  What's your epic woulda/coulda/shoulda?

Cannot even come close to this!  LOL.

The clos-EST I can get is my round up in Montana earlier this year.  (Apologies if you've already heard me tell this story)  Playing an unfamilar, very tough, course, (par 72, 7,211 yds, 73.8, 129) I came to the 14th hole 1-over for the round and hit a decent drive that ended up in the fairway bunker.  Hit my best shot of the day, a UW from about 120 to 6 feet, leaving myself an easy opportunity to get to even par with 4 holes remaining on arguably the hardest course I've ever played.  Of course, I miss the putt.  Then I butcher the next hole, a 605 yard par 5, for another bogey, hit another good approach from a bunker on the long par 4 16th only to 3-putt for a bogey, but then recover on 17 with a nice par.  Even struggling home, all I have to do is hit a decent drive on 18 (411 yard par 4 with an elevated tee) and a par should be fairly routine, with birdie as a possibility as well.  I somehow manage to hit not only my worst drive of the day, but one of my worst drives (if not the worst drive) of the year.  A giant push slice that goes right of the fairway, then right of the practice hole that separates 18 from the driving range (and is in-bounds) and somewhere out onto the driving range (which is not in bounds ;)).  (According to google earth it's somewhere in the vicinity of 120 yards laterally from my target to the driving range where my ball ended up!)  The rest is a blur, but I struggled home in 5 more after that for a closing triple bogey 7.  Final tally: 78.  My posted 77 score is still a 2.8 differential, which is just about my best ever anyway, but dangnabit, a par would have given me a zero or negative diff!

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The bright side for you David is that you went 40-32.  Imagine if, instead, you went 32-40?!?!

[bkuehn1952]

A fine would/coulda/shoulda.  I can't top it but I do have a sad tale to tell.

Last year on my 60th birthday I treated myself to a day of golf.  Played and walked 18 in the morning (free!) and then decided to try out a course I had not been to in many years.  A shade over 6,000 yards, par 71, 69.2/125.  Since I had already walked 18 I decided to take a cart.  The course was empty.  As I rolled through the holes I was having a great day with both ball striking and putting.  I wrote down the scores without keeping a tally.  A few bogeys along with a bunch of birdies and pars.  Hole 18 is a par 5 that goes through a chute of trees.  I couldn't recall how the hole played and I was a bit unsettled on the tee because I couldn't see much of the hole.  Almost topped the tee shot and my line drive barely cleared the cross hazard off the tee.  I went into damage control mode, hitting a 3-wood up the fairway and laying up with my 3rd to 100 yards.  Misjudged the distance to the pin position and came up just short of the green.  An indifferent chip and two putts gave me a double on the last hole.  Still, a pretty good day.

I went into the clubhouse to have a beer and look at the score card.  I figured I had shot around 75 or 76 but when I totaled it all up I was at 71.  Even par, something I had done a few times but not for several years.  A great birthday present to myself.  Not bad...except...a par on the last hole would have made it 69. I have never managed to break 70 in 50 years of golf and I had been a couple of shots away from the magic land.  Plus I had missed a 4 foot birdie putt somewhere in the middle of the round.  If only I had taken a bit more time over the 4-footer and maybe gone forward to check out the 18th's layout before teeing off.  Sigh ... it's always something.

[David in FL]

Originally Posted by Golfingdad

Cannot even come close to this!  LOL.

The clos-EST I can get is my round up in Montana earlier this year.  (Apologies if you've already heard me tell this story)  Playing an unfamilar, very tough, course, (par 72, 7,211 yds, 73.8, 129) I came to the 14th hole 1-over for the round and hit a decent drive that ended up in the fairway bunker.  Hit my best shot of the day, a UW from about 120 to 6 feet, leaving myself an easy opportunity to get to even par with 4 holes remaining on arguably the hardest course I've ever played.  Of course, I miss the putt.  Then I butcher the next hole, a 605 yard par 5, for another bogey, hit another good approach from a bunker on the long par 4 16th only to 3-putt for a bogey, but then recover on 17 with a nice par.  Even struggling home, all I have to do is hit a decent drive on 18 (411 yard par 4 with an elevated tee) and a par should be fairly routine, with birdie as a possibility as well.  I somehow manage to hit not only my worst drive of the day, but one of my worst drives (if not the worst drive) of the year.  A giant push slice that goes right of the fairway, then right of the practice hole that separates 18 from the driving range (and is in-bounds) and somewhere out onto the driving range (which is not in bounds ;)).  (According to google earth it's somewhere in the vicinity of 120 yards laterally from my target to the driving range where my ball ended up!)  The rest is a blur, but I struggled home in 5 more after that for a closing triple bogey 7.  Final tally: 78.  My posted 77 score is still a 2.8 differential, which is just about my best ever anyway, but dangnabit, a par would have given me a zero or negative diff!

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The bright side for you David is that you went 40-32.  Imagine if, instead, you went 32-40?!?!

Ok.....gotta say, I've never had to use Google Earth to try to track an errant shot before!

BTW.....that negative differential, even though it's only -0.1, is gonna stick around and cost me $'s for the next 20 rounds!

[MEfree]

Breaking par is also a goal of mine- During the tee it forward experiment (5359 yard gold tees at Keystone River) last summer, I carded a +2 73 with 3 lost balls/OBs- including, a skull wedge on 5, and simi-shank 7i from the tee on 6.

On Tuesday this week, from the whites (6003 yards) in my opening round of the Passholder Matchplay tournament at the same course, I fired a +1 72.  My opponent conceded to me a 2-2.5 footer on #3 and a similar length on another hole, but I putted everything else out.  Started the day missing a 15 footer for eagle on 1 and hit the ball great with no blow up holes, but I made some very tentative putts when I knew that 2 putts would win- i.e. I had a 3-3.5 footer for birdie on 7 that he offered to conceded as he was in with bogey, but I said I wanted to make the birdie (knowing that it would put me -2)- I then get over the putt I think that I don't want to roll the downhiller by the cup and put an anemic stroke on it.  On 8, I have an easy 10 footer where 2 putts wins and leave it short in the jar.  Bogies at 9 & 10 put me at +1 for the day (and 5 up in the match)...I then hit the last 8 greens in regulation including a 3 putt par from off the edge at 13 and missed birdie putts from inside 10 feet on 12 and 17.  I had a 6i into the par 5 18th for my second shot and only made par and had several other birdie looks in the 10-25 foot range.

Yesterday, during the final round of the Copper Creek Men's League Club Championship, my only bogies were at the 339 5th, 508 par 5 13th and 332 yard 14th.  Had reasonable up and down chances at all 3 holes.  Lipped out a birdie at 2 and left a 20 footer just short for eagle on 9.  Had several other good birdie putts where second guessing my original read proved to be the wrong move as well as a few that were short online.  +2 for the day with my only birdie being the tap in at 9.

[David in FL]

Originally Posted by MEfree

Breaking par is also a goal of mine- During the tee it forward experiment (5359 yard gold tees at Keystone River) last summer, I carded a +2 73 with 3 lost balls/OBs- including, a skull wedge on 5, and simi-shank 7i from the tee on 6.

On Tuesday this week, from the whites (6003 yards) in my opening round of the Passholder Matchplay tournament at the same course, I fired a +1 72.  My opponent conceded to me a 2-2.5 footer on #3 and a similar length on another hole, but I putted everything else out.  Started the day missing a 15 footer for eagle on 1 and hit the ball great with no blow up holes, but I made some very tentative putts when I knew that 2 putts would win- i.e. I had a 3-3.5 footer for birdie on 7 that he offered to conceded as he was in with bogey, but I said I wanted to make the birdie (knowing that it would put me -2)- I then get over the putt I think that I don't want to roll the downhiller by the cup and put an anemic stroke on it.  On 8, I have an easy 10 footer where 2 putts wins and leave it short in the jar.  Bogies at 9 & 10 put me at +1 for the day (and 5 up in the match)...I then hit the last 8 greens in regulation including a 3 putt par from off the edge at 13 and missed birdie putts from inside 10 feet on 12 and 17.  I had a 6i into the par 5 18th for my second shot and only made par and had several other birdie looks in the 10-25 foot range.

Yesterday, during the final round of the Copper Creek Men's League Club Championship, my only bogies were at the 339 5th, 508 par 5 13th and 332 yard 14th.  Had reasonable up and down chances at all 3 holes.  Lipped out a birdie at 2 and left a 20 footer just short for eagle on 9.  Had several other good birdie putts where second guessing my original read proved to be the wrong move as well as a few that were short online.  +2 for the day with my only birdie being the tap in at 9.

One of these days.......!

Originally Posted by bkuehn1952

A fine would/coulda/shoulda.  I can't top it but I do have a sad tale to tell.

Last year on my 60th birthday I treated myself to a day of golf.  Played and walked 18 in the morning (free!) and then decided to try out a course I had not been to in many years.  A shade over 6,000 yards, par 71, 69.2/125.  Since I had already walked 18 I decided to take a cart.  The course was empty.  As I rolled through the holes I was having a great day with both ball striking and putting.  I wrote down the scores without keeping a tally.  A few bogeys along with a bunch of birdies and pars.  Hole 18 is a par 5 that goes through a chute of trees.  I couldn't recall how the hole played and I was a bit unsettled on the tee because I couldn't see much of the hole.  Almost topped the tee shot and my line drive barely cleared the cross hazard off the tee.  I went into damage control mode, hitting a 3-wood up the fairway and laying up with my 3rd to 100 yards.  Misjudged the distance to the pin position and came up just short of the green.  An indifferent chip and two putts gave me a double on the last hole.  Still, a pretty good day.

I went into the clubhouse to have a beer and look at the score card.  I figured I had shot around 75 or 76 but when I totaled it all up I was at 71.  Even par, something I had done a few times but not for several years.  A great birthday present to myself.  Not bad...except...a par on the last hole would have made it 69. I have never managed to break 70 in 50 years of golf and I had been a couple of shots away from the magic land.  Plus I had missed a 4 foot birdie putt somewhere in the middle of the round.  If only I had taken a bit more time over the 4-footer and maybe gone forward to check out the 18th's layout before teeing off.  Sigh ... it's always something.

Ugh.....!

[460CompMark]

Had a junior tournament when i was about 17.  Top golfers from around the area were there.  Even Hunter Mahan.  I got off to an awesome start.  Was -1 thru 6.  On 7, my approach stuck maybe 1.5 feet from the pin.  While our group was walking up to the green one of the guys told me that I was really good and asked what college i was going to play for.  I missed that 1 footer for birdie and went on to shoot an 83...

Everything that could happen, did happen.  You name it.

[Bobtrumpet]

My woulda/coulda/shoulda is that I should NOT have quit playing golf for 20 years after my older son was born. :-(