The "Stop Conning Yourself" Thread

[Lihu]

It depends li hu some guys hit it 235 yards are seniors and play to a scratch and others guy's are pro athletes who hit it 320 yards and look like pro's and play to a legitimate 11 handicap.

That makes sense. . .

[JonMA1]

This is definitely something a lot of us fall into. You get into a groove and you think "this is really how I should be playing". I know at any point I could start on a streak of pars with a birdie or 2, but I also know that's not my typically level of play right now. I know I have the ability to get there but just because I do it now and then doesn't mean it's my norm. It is, however, becoming more and more frequent to string pars together and score a birdie now and then. That's just how I know that I am actually improving.

I did this more when I first started and didn't understand that improvement doesn't just happen. After a couple of years of experiencing good and bad stretches, it's become much easier to not get overly excited or really depressed about them. 

[Jeremie Boop]

 

 

Well that's a good point guy but your a 20 handicap miles from my level; Iv'e been playing since I was 9 years old and have play professional and collegiality. If you shoot a 100 and hit 2 great shots per round thinking I can go pro might have your head in the clouds a bit I will agree with that. 

Actually, two points.

1. I'm not a 20 handicap.

2. I don't hit 2 great shots per round and think I might go pro. I hit quite a few great shots per round and think I may be able to make it to single digit handicap some day. I have realistic goals.

I would say I'm much more realistic in my expectations than you are, there is a huge difference between a 5 handicap and a +5 handicap. It's by far a much larger gap than it is from my handicap of 18.3 to yours of 5.  I'm not trying to downplay how much better a golf you potentially are than I am. Not that I expect you to believe that, but it's just the honest truth.

[saevel25]

It depends li hu some guys hit it 235 yards are seniors and play to a scratch and others guy's are pro athletes who hit it 320 yards and look like pro's and play to a legitimate 11 handicap.

No it's not. It is much much harder to lower your handicap when you become a 5 HDCP golfer than it is when you are a bogey golfer. 
 

 I hit the ball well enough to shoot a 65 yes just inconsistently. The people who con themselves are the toppers and duffers who think they are a 10 handicap because one time they made a few putts and broke 45 on 9 holes.

No you don't. If you did you would. Thinking you can do something when you can't is conning yourself. The primary driver of handicap is your ability to hit the golf ball solidly. If you had a +5 HDCP ball striking ability then you would never be a 5 HDCP you claim to be. 

[JonMA1]

Thinking you can do something when you can't is conning yourself. 

This^^^^

It's precisely what this thread is about. While many of us suffer from conning ourselves, most of us at least have the ability to own up to it.

[Mike Boatright]

I have a completely different view primarily from being dyslexic and high iq it's just the way I am. I'm never delusional and have been getting better every 2 years steadily because then I was a 12 handicap and hit the ball 250 yards now I'm a 5 hitting it almost 300 again with training after back injuries and some family tragedy. I live by a never give up never give in mentality and will keep getting better no matter what any nay sayers do or say. To me anyone speaking of can't or you can't be serious is just upset about personal failures or just lacks ambition for success.

[mvmac]

I'm never delusional and have been getting better every 2 years steadily because then I was a 12 handicap and hit the ball 250 yards now I'm a 5 hitting it almost 300 again 

I thought you said you played professionally.

[Jeremie Boop]

I have a completely different view primarily from being dyslexic and high iq it's just the way I am. I'm never delusional and have been getting better every 2 years steadily because then I was a 12 handicap and hit the ball 250 yards now I'm a 5 hitting it almost 300 again with training after back injuries and some family tragedy. I live by a never give up never give in mentality and will keep getting better no matter what any nay sayers do or say. To me anyone speaking of can't or you can't be serious is just upset about personal failures or just lacks ambition for success.

I'm curious about your stated handicap. Since you said you take mulligans, does your handicap include rounds where you've used mulligans? Also, you said you use an online calculator to figure your handicap, is that just with your good rounds put in or is that with all your rounds put in? Saying you have are at a 5 handicap but also saying you take mulligans tends to make it difficult to know how legitimate your handicap is. 

[mcanadiens]

The fact that you keep your own score provides the most fabulous way to con yourself. We all know people that take mulligans, fluff every shot, take liberal drops and then proclaim what a great score they had at the end of a round. Some of these even put these "scores" into a HI. These are golf's biggest self cons. If you simply have the discipline to play by the rules and post proper rounds that HI won't lie.  

I get frustrated when stuff starts going particularly badly. At the end of the day, I only need to look at that large number over to the left and remember who I am as a golfer at this moment.

 

[Lihu]

The fact that you keep your own score provides the most fabulous way to con yourself. We all know people that take mulligans, fluff every shot, take liberal drops and then proclaim what a great score they had at the end of a round. Some of these even put these "scores" into a HI. These are golf's biggest self cons. If you simply have the discipline to play by the rules and post proper rounds that HI won't lie.  

I get frustrated when stuff starts going particularly badly. At the end of the day, I only need to look at that large number over to the left and remember who I am as a golfer at this moment.

 

It's against the ROG to do that. . .This is why I enjoy range practice equally if not more. You can enjoy those nice shots without them impacting your score. You can even be off line by 20 degrees and it still looks like a nice shot!

The biggest difference between someone who wants to improve in the game and someone who doesn't give a crap is following the ROG.

If you want to con yourself into thinking that you have the potential to get to a professional level or scratch or whatever, just stick with the range and hit those "great" shots. Improving on the course is very hard, and takes hundreds or thousands of rounds played by the ROG to improve to any decent level of play.

[rkim291968]

 

I have a completely different view primarily from being dyslexic and high iq it's just the way I am. I'm never delusional and have been getting better every 2 years steadily because then I was a 12 handicap and hit the ball 250 yards now I'm a 5 hitting it almost 300 again with training after back injuries and some family tragedy. I live by a never give up never give in mentality and will keep getting better no matter what any nay sayers do or say. To me anyone speaking of can't or you can't be serious is just upset about personal failures or just lacks ambition for success.

This is "stop" conning yourself thread, not to be confused with "start" conning yourself thread.  

[boogielicious]

 

This is "stop" conning yourself thread, not to be confused with "start" conning yourself thread.  

[Mike Boatright]

I have played on the Pepsi tour and don't take mulligans unless it's just a practice round? Come one guys why are you so combative? I knew this one golf teacher that deliberately told some people that they will improve but only so much. He was kinda a doof that's really a stupid thing to say it's about the will to get better not where your at now if you now your good enough then there is nothing wrong with having high expectations. 

 

http://www.pepsitour.com/open_home.php

 

Edited October 17, 2015 by Mike Boatright

[Lihu]

I have played on the Pepsi tour and don't take mulligans unless it's just a practice round? Come one guys why are you so combative? I knew this one golf teacher that deliberately told some people that they will improve but only so much. He was kinda a doof that's really a stupid thing to say it's about the will to get better not where your at now if you now your good enough then there is nothing wrong with having high expectations. 

 

http://www.pepsitour.com/open_home.php

 

It kind of depends upon what you mean by improve so much? And from what point in your game?

If it means going from a 28HC to an 11HC, then I would agree with you that you can improve by a lot. To a scratch player, that's not really a lot. In fact, to a scratch, going from an 11 to a 5 is pretty easy compared to going from a 3 to 0. At least, that's what they say to me.

[Lihu]

I have played on the Pepsi tour and don't take mulligans unless it's just a practice round? Come one guys why are you so combative? I knew this one golf teacher that deliberately told some people that they will improve but only so much. He was kinda a doof that's really a stupid thing to say it's about the will to get better not where your at now if you now your good enough then there is nothing wrong with having high expectations. 

 

http://www.pepsitour.com/open_home.php

 

No one was being combative, only two people questioned how a 5 handicap could think that he could easily shoot 65? Based upon the data you have been feeding us, not likely.

[JP golf]

So.. I conned myself today...   I had 220 carry over water with a nice bail out area left.  I aimed left to the bail area and put about a 235 swing on the ball (so I thought) and figured if I missed with my cut it would end up on the flag stick... If I hit it how I intended, I would be left of the green and a little deep with a chance to chip up and down for birdie....   NEGATIVE....  Splash...  ball cut right towards the flag stick but only carried 205 maybe 210 right into the water!

Thinking I could do more than I could - I still think it was the right play but I conned myself into thinking I knew how bad my bad miss would be and where...  Shot 77 though so it wasn't too bad...

(conned myself again by convincing myself it was the "wind" not my inability to hit it as far as I thought lol).

Edited October 17, 2015 by JP golf

[woodzie264]

My name is Jonny and I have been conning myself this past month. 

Over the course of the past 4-6 months, I have worked daily on my game and seen improvements as I worked to my goal of being a single digit HCP.  As of the last revision I achieved that goal and was quite proud of myself. However, since then I've shot 43, 44 on a pair of 9's wherein I lost a few tee shots right, thinned a few approaches, and three-putted 3-4 times. It's like I've regressed back to playing like a 14 (no offense to 14's).

I was kidding myself that I was better than I am. Looking back over the past few months, I've had 2 PR rounds in the upper 70's when I couldn't miss. It's almost like I was in a zone for a month or so and now I'm back to usual. While GHIN, at the moment, will display a 9.7 on my card, I'm not REALLY a single digit...yet. But I will be.

[Hacker James]

I believe the only thing I am conning myself with is the belief that I am not.

Reality check. I broke 80 twice a year or so ago, but probably will not this year even though I have witnessed recent improvement. The reality will be borne to life as more rounds are recorded and thus more scores averaged in according to GHIN rules. Looking at the spreadsheet now would show an index of 16.2 for the first 5 rounds, 17.9 for the next 3, but in just one more round it will be 18.5 unless I post a lower score.  So in a way, the index is a con in and of itself.