Does Your 1st Hole Score Affect Rest of Round?

[Slice of Life]

I am curious how you voted??  While you played very well the last 16, it does sound like your score on 1 had some effect on how you approached your drive on 2.

So it affected his next shot, not the rest of his round.

[vangator]

So it affected his next shot, not the rest of his round.

I voted no. I seem to be able to compartmentalize hole by hole. Maybe because I play so much match play in our league and practice rounds. The second hole is about 600 yards, but the right side is comparatively open (sparse trees and light rough), I felt like cranking one up. I play a draw, so I aim down the right side anyway. On a more difficult driving hole, I would have played a more conservative shot. I have a friend that I used to play with regularly. A good golfer. We'd play 666 (team with each of your foursome for six holes match play). I'd always want to get him for the first 6 holes because if he was having a rough round, he's start experimenting and goofing off the rest of the round. Like teeing off on a par five with a PW.

[The Recreational Golfer]

It used to until I realized by looking over my good scores that sometimes I played well at the start and sometimes I didn't. Besides, if you pillage the first hole, there are seventeen left to make up for it.

[CarlOwen]

I hit a drive on the first hole today that went about 25 yds to the left. I walked over to the adjoining tee box with my head down,  sucked it up hit a punch shot into the fairway, wound up with a double, but then par par par.

never give up.

[Uncle Peter]

I voted no, but it depends on the situation for me. If I shoot a high score I think nothing of it. After a bad first hole score, my friends and I always say to each other "no one counts the first hole anyways"

If I shoot low on the first hole (which happens less often), it might give me some confidence going into the next few holes and influence my next few shots a bit.

[BrownCoast]

I'm a pretty crappy golfer so good shots or even good scores tend not to sit with me too long. However if i shoot poorly on the first hole it will stay with me longer then i would like it to. My biggest problem is a lot of the time when I have a bad hole i'm wondering what I did wrong but when I have a good hole I'm wondering what I did right. Clearly I'm overthinking way too many options and should focus on the shot I'm about to take not the shot I just took. Sometimes thats easier said then done.

[BrownCoast]

If someone averages 90 that doesn't mean they shoot 18 over every round. So the variables would be a lot more than you are saying here. Also an average in golf is in constant flux especially if you are using the handicap system. Any round can be below or above the average and the first hole only truly affects it as part of the overall score of that round. Other than mentally of course which is what I am sure most people thought you were going with this originally.

I could be mistaken but how i took whatwoodtigerdo's post is that in the long run how does ones round/hole affect his/her round or average. most players with a 18 handicap give or take a few percentage points average 90 so how do they maintain that average. can walk walk away from a 7 on a hole and comeback with 3 pars. thats how I took part of the scenario. however on the flips side if someone takes a par on hole one in theory he should shoot 1 better then his average. at least that is how I understood what he was trying to say. but really each hole and every shot is better comparable to a roulette wheel because really every shot one takes is independent from the last...until you factor in the mind games we play with each other. A ball in the wheel can hit black or red all night, but somehow after a night of spinning or even a year it will average out to almost even.