Looking for quality shots and swing over low scores

[newtogolf]

I enjoy hitting good shots if they lead to lower scores.  I like the feeling of hitting a great drive or approach shot but in the end I'm trying to score lower and reduce my handicap.  Great shots only show up on the score card if they are followed up with good to great shots.  

I'd rather have a round of average - good shots and score in the low 90's to high 80's than a mid 90 round with a few flush shots.  

[Jeremie Boop]

5 minutes ago, newtogolf said:

I enjoy hitting good shots if they lead to lower scores.  I like the feeling of hitting a great drive or approach shot but in the end I'm trying to score lower and reduce my handicap.  Great shots only show up on the score card if they are followed up with good to great shots.  

I'd rather have a round of average - good shots and score in the low 90's to high 80's than a mid 90 round with a few flush shots.  

See, I've had rounds where I score decent for me, but the whole round just felt bleh because I didn't really hit the ball well. I'm always happy with the score but not really the round. Strangely, I feel better about rounds where I hit a lot of good shots but may not necessarily score as well because I lost a ball or two. I guess that's because I'm actively working on improving my swing so I'm more likely to be accepting of a few bad results as long as progress is being made. However, I expect that in the end, the better shots/swings will directly lead to better scores.

[xcott]

I would rather make a great shot with the wrong club and blast it OB over the green than a terrible shot with the right club which happens to end up in a good spot via luck.

[bkuehn1952]

3 hours ago, DaveP043 said:

I enjoy individual good shots, but I'd say I enjoy shooting low scores more.  One is a very short-term thing, the other is the aggregate of several hours of effort.  Ultimately, golf is either defined by your score in medal play, or by winning or losing a match in match play.  If its only about hitting a few pure golf shots, you can stay on the range and do that.  And hitting pure golf shots is only one of the tools you use to shoot low scores.  I prefer the total game to the individual success.  Of course, the more good shots you hit, and the fewer bad shots, the lower your score will eventually be.

This for me also.

[Dave2512]

Good shots should lead to good scores so...But it wouldn't work for me I hit maybe one or two really good shots a side. Only once have I ever hit a bunch of good shots and that was the day I shot 72. If you go out and shoot 85 or whatever you aren't hitting many good shots.

[Jeremie Boop]

I agree with the first part, good shots lead to good scores, however:

3 minutes ago, Dave2512 said:

 If you go out and shoot 85 or whatever you aren't hitting many good shots.

That's not very accurate, it only takes about 4 bad shots to add 5-8 strokes to a score. 4 bad shots out of 77-80 swings is a pretty good ratio. It all depends on how you got that score.

[Dave2512]

1 minute ago, Jeremie Boop said:

I agree with the first part, good shots lead to good scores, however:

That's not very accurate, it only takes about 4 bad shots to add 5-8 strokes to a score. 4 bad shots out of 77-80 swings is a pretty good ratio. It all depends on how you got that score.

Not my experience. I average 80 strokes a round and it's always a bunch of decent misses but few really well struck shots. I break 80 often and if you watched me hit every shot but didn't know my score you'd think I was a 20 handicapper.

I only know one guy that hits a bunch of good shots and he's a 1 handicap. Every shots has the same flight, every shot sounds good and his results are predictable. Good shots for higher handicap golfers are happenstance, little more than good fortune.

[Jeremie Boop]

1 minute ago, Dave2512 said:

Not my experience. I average 80 strokes a round and it's always a bunch of decent misses but few really well struck shots. I break 80 often and if you watched me hit every shot but didn't know my score you'd think I was a 20 handicapper.

I only know one guy that hits a bunch of good shots and he's a 1 handicap. Every shots has the same flight, every shot sounds good and his results are predictable. Good shots for higher handicap golfers are happenstance, little more than good fortune.

I'm not saying that it's typical to have a score of 80+ and still hit a lot of good shots, I'm just saying that there are a lot of ways to score that high without necessarily hitting a lot of bad shots. A few missed putts, an OB or two, one in the water can all add plenty shots on an otherwise really good round. Even an OB and/or ball in the water doesn't even mean the person hit the ball poorly, bad bounces and/or fliers happen. Even on the pro tour those guys will occasionally put up a score in the 80's and I'm fairly certain a majority of their shots are pretty well struck. Also, "good shots" is somewhat subjective depending on the general ability of the person playing. I sort of doubt that I'd question our handicap if I watched you play, but then again I play with enough people who are legitimately not good to know the difference *myself included*.

Like I said, I'm always happy with a lower score, but that doesn't always mean I'm happy with the way I struck the ball.

[Lihu]

47 minutes ago, Jeremie Boop said:

I agree with the first part, good shots lead to good scores, however:

That's not very accurate, it only takes about 4 bad shots to add 5-8 strokes to a score. 4 bad shots out of 77-80 swings is a pretty good ratio. It all depends on how you got that score.

In my experience, 4 good shots a round is just about right for a 10HC. It also depends what you mean by good shots?

[14ledo81]

16 hours ago, Valleygolfer said:

After evaluating my game, I seem to enjoy biomechanical perfection over low scores. I know I am probably far from perfection but I am moving towards it. After a day of golf, although I appreciate a low score, my memories of the day are that of the few flush shots I hit during the round.

I can only gather this is the (selective of course) perfectionist in me. Anyone else on the same page?

 

 

I am.  Without a doubt.  

Maybe partially because I am not good enough to shoot low scores?  I can hit a couple of decent (flush) shots per round though.  That is definitely what keeps me coming back.  I am always thinking, "I did it a couple of times, what if I could hit 20 of those shots a round???"

[Jeremie Boop]

1 minute ago, Lihu said:

In my experience, 4 good shots a round is just about right for a 10HC. It also depends what you mean by good shots?

As I stated, a "good shot" is sort of dependent on the person. I don't think it means it's tour level striking. A solid strike that goes where or close to the intended target = a good shot for most people. I have well over 4 good shots a round, unfortunately I probably have equally as many bad shots per round because my shots are based way more on timing the flip than solid and repeatable mechanics. The problem for me is my bad shots cost me 2 strokes per typically because they are lost/OB. I know I don't exactly fit into the typical mold for someone of my handicap index though.

[Lihu]

18 minutes ago, Jeremie Boop said:

As I stated, a "good shot" is sort of dependent on the person. I don't think it means it's tour level striking. A solid strike that goes where or close to the intended target = a good shot for most people. I have well over 4 good shots a round, unfortunately I probably have equally as many bad shots per round because my shots are based way more on timing the flip than solid and repeatable mechanics. The problem for me is my bad shots cost me 2 strokes per typically because they are lost/OB. I know I don't exactly fit into the typical mold for someone of my handicap index though.

I don't mean tour striking either, but a good shot is one that goes the right distance and not too far left or right. For example, I kind of expect a good shot with a 9i to land 140 yards with decent spin. Long with too little spin or short and too high is not a good shot. It should ideally hit the green too, and that only happens 6-8 times a reasonable round for me anyway. So, half to 2/3 of my greens are what I think are good shots. The other ones are lucky to be on the green. At least that's what I tell the ball.

My drives all suck, I get one good one per round at most, and usually in the wrong direction.

 

[GolfLug]

If this mutually exclusive relationship between good ball striking and good scores exists, then I am yet to experience it. For the ones in 'a few great shots' vs. 'a great score' camp, if score is not great, you just did not hit enough great shots. Of course, there are exceptions to the rule but not likely.

Never had a great round (mid-upper 70s for me) without consistently good ball striking, which to me is all of these -ball flight, distance, sound of contact, lack of big curve, etc. Short game was always an afterthought in those instances, like putting finishing touches on a good hole each time.       

[Lihu]

21 minutes ago, GolfLug said:

If this mutually exclusive relationship between good ball striking and good scores exists, then I am yet to experience it. For the ones in 'a few great shots' vs. 'a great score' camp, if score is not great, you just did not hit enough great shots. Of course, there are exceptions to the rule but not likely.

Never had a great round (mid-upper 70s for me) without consistently good ball striking, which to me is all of these -ball flight, distance, sound of contact, lack of big curve, etc. Short game was always an afterthought in those instances, like putting finishing touches on a good hole each time.       

Sure it exists. You can hit the normal amount of greens and just 3 putt more than usual. In fact, you could stick even more greens when the greens are slow which makes for really bad lag putting conditions. Of course, it doesn't mean you are hitting really good shots, but maybe just good shots for your handicap.

I think the OP is saying that if you get all caught up with only score, then you lose out on the good feeling of hitting decent strikes from having a decent swing.

17 hours ago, Valleygolfer said:

After evaluating my game, I seem to enjoy biomechanical perfection over low scores. I know I am probably far from perfection but I am moving towards it. After a day of golf, although I appreciate a low score, my memories of the day are that of the few flush shots I hit during the round.

I can only gather this is the (selective of course) perfectionist in me. Anyone else on the same page?

 

[CarlSpackler]

Hitting a few quality shots doesn't do much for me. I care mostly about what is on the scorecard at the end of the day. I actually find perverse pleasure in stealing strokes from the course. For instance, if I hit a bad drive and put my next shot on the green and make par, that brings out my inner happy. Missing the green after a beautiful drive brings out my inner grumpy. Chipping one close to tap in range... happy.

[Lihu]

I think it boils down to two camps:

1) People who feel better when they score lower no matter how it happens.

2) Those that only feel better only when they make good shots.

My assertion is that a 10HC (mid-handicap) doesn't hit enough good shots in any round to be in the second camp and be happy playing golf.

[Jeremie Boop]

2 minutes ago, Lihu said:

I think it boils down to two camps:

1) People who feel better when they score lower no matter how it happens.

2) Those that only feel better only when they make good shots.

My assertion is that a 10HC (mid-handicap) doesn't hit enough good shots in any round to be in the second camp and be happy playing golf.

I don't know, I think that's a pretty personal evaluation to make. Someone like me who's actively working on improving can find significant happiness in only hitting a few perfect shots in addition to however many good/decent shots we hit even during a poor round. Heck, recently I have had some pretty bad rounds that I walked off the course feeling OK about because I knew I hit some pretty good shots while playing. Now, not too terribly long ago I was so obsessed with shooting lower scores and dropping my HC that it stopped me from enjoying golfing. Even if I had several good holes in a row it only took one or two bad ones to ruin the entire round for me. Now that I focus on the good shots I find it much easier to move on from a bad shot/hole. This has also led to me being able to salvage decent scores even when I do struggle, because I don't let myself dwell on the mistakes.

[Lihu]

18 minutes ago, Jeremie Boop said:

Someone like me who's actively working on improving can find significant happiness in only hitting a few perfect shots in addition to however many good/decent shots we hit even during a poor round. Heck, recently I have had some pretty bad rounds that I walked off the course feeling OK about because I knew I hit some pretty good shots while playing. Now, not too terribly long ago I was so obsessed with shooting lower scores and dropping my HC that it stopped me from enjoying golfing. Even if I had several good holes in a row it only took one or two bad ones to ruin the entire round for me. Now that I focus on the good shots I find it much easier to move on from a bad shot/hole. This has also led to me being able to salvage decent scores even when I do struggle, because I don't let myself dwell on the mistakes.

Sure, but you're not any different than the rest of us blogging on this site. We're all working to improve our swings and our games.

What I was agreeing with @Dave2512 was we don't really hit more than 4 or 5 good shots when we score 85. The only time an 85 shooter will hit a higher percentage of good shots is on the driving range. More good shots and the lower the score, less good shots the higher the score.

So, just enjoy the game and your swing improvements for what they're worth, and don't get all wound up with score. At least, wait until you're like a 4 or 5 handicap before winding yourself up because of a bad score. . .