Beginners' Scoring System

[Dornenglanz]

I went out for 9 holes this morning, with the intention of hitting a goal that would mark my progress towards breaking 100.  However, after three holes, I had shot 5, 7, and 8, and was playing badly and getting angry about it.  Rather than persist in this frame of mind, I decided to reframe how I was thinking and playing.  For the last six holes I didn't score, and started setting different goals, such as "no penalties", or "stayed calm", or "played more than one good shot in a row".  By the ninth hole I had come up with a scoring system that would represent a different way of measuring my progress.  So, I went round again, using it.  I found it really useful, and I enjoyed myself, and I felt as if I played much better.  Here's the system:

For every hole, award a mark from 0-4 for the following areas:

Mental Game:

0: Bellowed with rage, threw clubs about, swore wildly etc

1: Became very angry, several times, had major effect on hole.

2: Swore, allowed bad shots to influence subsequent shots.

3: Reacted to shots, played impatiently, winced at missed puts, nearly swore.

4: Stayed completely calm, even in the face of poor shots.

Course Management / Club Selection:

0: Made ridiculous club selections; played wildly inappropriate shots

1: Made very serious errors in club selection; selected a number of very risky shots

2: Made a poor club selection and played an unnecessarily risky shot

3: Either club selection, or hole strategy less than ideal

4: Sensible, conservative club selection and hole strategy

Full Swing Shots (on average):

0: Missed the ball completely, severely topped the ball, or hit the ground first

1: Wild shot, hooked or sliced, incurring penalty

2: Reasonable swing, but suboptimal impact, resulting in thick, thin, or poor aim

3: Good swing and contact, advanced the ball in the right direction

4: Perfect swing and contact, hitting green or fairway in regulation

Short Game:

0: Missed the ball completely, severely topped the ball, or hit the ground first

1: Poor shot, thick or thin, with little control, of distance and direction

2: Reasonable swing, but suboptimal distance or direction, requiring another shot

3: Good swing and contact, landing on green within two putts, or on fringe.

4: Perfect swing and contact, landing on green within easy putting distance

Putting:

0: Putted in > 4 shots

1: Putted in four

2: Putted in three

3: Putted in two, or putted a simple shot from within a club length

4: Putted in one shot from more than a club length

On holes where there is no need to make a full swing (such as some of the par 3 courses I play), simply don't count full swing shots.  On holes where more than one full swing shots are needed before short game comes into play, simply take what seems to be a reasonable average.

You can then work out a precentage performance for each hole.  My theory is that in order to be at a point where one is getting close to breaking 100 (9 bogies, 9 double bogies), that all holes will be around 70% or more.  I will experiment and see if this is born out

I found on my second 9 that my mental approach changed.  I found myself thinking: there are free points here - keep calm, make a sensible shot selection, that's 8/20 already.  Then, by not trying too hard, and not trying to work miracles, the shots were more relaxed and less likely to result in a 0 or 1.  Putting was largely  3 anyway.  I made far fewer mistakes, and generally played better.

I anticipate that this system and the scoring criteria  might need some tweaking, but I'm going to try it for a while.  Hopefully it might be of interest or use to others.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[allenc]

I would offer the following scoring suggestions:

 

1 hour ago, Dornenglanz said:

Mental Game:

0: Bellowed with rage, threw clubs about, swore wildly etc

1: Became very angry, several times, had major effect on hole.

2: Swore, allowed bad shots to influence subsequent shots.

3: Reacted to shots, played impatiently, winced at missed puts, nearly swore.

4: Stayed completely calm, even in the face of poor shots.

 

Not everyone really needs this part but I assume OP does.  I wouldn't award points to 1-3 because they are all various degrees of bad.

- Fist pumps good shot: 1pt

- Laughs at bad shot:  1 pt

- Swears:  -1 pt

- Throws club:  -3 pts 

 

1 hour ago, Dornenglanz said:

Course Management / Club Selection:

0: Made ridiculous club selections; played wildly inappropriate shots

1: Made very serious errors in club selection; selected a number of very risky shots

2: Made a poor club selection and played an unnecessarily risky shot

3: Either club selection, or hole strategy less than ideal

4: Sensible, conservative club selection and hole strategy

 

Again, too many points for doing poorly imo.

- Aim well away from or well long or short of bunkers:  1pt

- Aim well away from or well long or short of water:  2pts

- Aim well away from Ob or hit shorter and straighter club:  3pts

1 hour ago, Dornenglanz said:

Full Swing Shots (on average):

0: Missed the ball completely, severely topped the ball, or hit the ground first

1: Wild shot, hooked or sliced, incurring penalty

2: Reasonable swing, but suboptimal impact, resulting in thick, thin, or poor aim

3: Good swing and contact, advanced the ball in the right direction

4: Perfect swing and contact, hitting green or fairway in regulation

Sounds pretty good.  I might move the "incurring penalty" part up to zero pts.

1 hour ago, Dornenglanz said:

Short Game:

0: Missed the ball completely, severely topped the ball, or hit the ground first

1: Poor shot, thick or thin, with little control, of distance and direction

2: Reasonable swing, but suboptimal distance or direction, requiring another shot

3: Good swing and contact, landing on green within two putts, or on fringe.

4: Perfect swing and contact, landing on green within easy putting distance

 

If we're talking inside 30 yards or so then the fringe is not a 3 pointer.  I would combine a couple of the above.

terrible contact/useless shot:  0

Bad/mediocre contact but gets the ball closer:  1

Good contact, bad distance:  2

great shot:  3

1 hour ago, Dornenglanz said:

Putting:

0: Putted in > 4 shots

1: Putted in four

2: Putted in three

3: Putted in two, or putted a simple shot from within a club length

4: Putted in one shot from more than a club length

One, two, three, or four are good or bad depending where you started from (well 4 is always bad).

Outside 20 ft:

- inside 10% original distance: 2pts

- inside 15% original distance: 1pts

4 - 10 feet:

- make: 3 pts

- zero to two ft past the hole: 1pt

2 - 4 ft:

- make: 1pt

[CarlSpackler]

I've heard of something similar, but it was an additional scoring. On another part of the score card, put tick marks in columns for similar behavior, then add these to your score. It makes you cognizant of self-destructive behavior and trains you not to do it. 

[No Mulligans]

That's a lot of bookkeeping.  How about using Stableford scoring which just awards the good (i.e. doesn't penalize the bad).

Double bogey or worse = 0 points

Bogey = 1 point

Par = 2 points

Birdie = 3 points

Eagle = 4 points

You could modify the point system however you want.

 

[dzclarkcpa]

I set up my own par for each course, going to so far sometimes of actually crossing out par on the scorecard and making my own par. If I was shooting for 100, I made par 95. it was amazing to me how 380 yard par 6 was to make a "birdie 5" but when it was a 380 yard par 4, I would make 6-7 every time.

I applaud you for finding a way to make the round enjoyable.

[Patch]

Golf for most golfers is meant to be fun. What ever a player does to make their game more enjoyable for themselves is a plus. Of course the disclaimer here is as long as the player having fun does not do things that will piss off a whole bunch of other,  more serious golfers. I'd probably keep that "pissed off" player number at under 5. 

Even in more serious rounds, personal par is not a bad thing, as long as the actual stroke numbers are kept accurate. 

As for setting a personal par higher than the course par, nothing wrong with that. I think it was Willie Nelson said at his golf course, par is what ever he decides that day. ( he also said a foursome with more than 12 golfers is not allowed unless........)

I have an over all scoring goal eveytine I go out. It's never going to be 70-72.  I will never see those numbers again. I think my individual hole averages out to be 4.5 strokes per hole. That or 27 per 6 holes. 

Yep, having fun is not a bad thing when playing golf. 

Edited July 22, 2016 by Patch

[Papa Steve 55]

My first couple years I kept a score in my head assuming a par of 5 for every hole. The 3's were a chance to cash in, the 5's a struggle. I was looking at a round of 90 as 'even' par.

[David in FL]

I just like to count every time I make a stroke, and add 'em all up...

...the lower the number, the better.

 

[mcanadiens]

I like scoring based on strokes.My ability to keep my temper under adverse conditions is a thin silver lining at best. 

For beginners, I would advise relaxing (but not ignoring) some of the typical rules of golf. Until the beginner gets things sorted out, a mulligan per side sounds good. Let em take casual drops and gimmes after two putts. It keeps them moving and makes things more enjoyable. 

At the same time, it's important for them to understand what playing by the rules really means. When (or if) they are ready to play by the rules, they'll know the difference.

[Club Rat]

Other thoughts, when I was learning golf years ago, I would sometimes play two balls when I was alone and the course was wide open.

On ‎7‎/‎22‎/‎2016 at 11:58 AM, Dornenglanz said:

a different way of measuring my progress

Call ball #1 Player A and ball #2 Player B. Keep the score for both players and maybe keep a personal record of which player wins over a period of time.

It's a fun method, you could also play a One Man Scramble counting Players A & B.

[krupa]

Progress is overrated.  There's nothing wrong with wasting a couple/few hours whacking a ball around the course for nothing more than the pleasure of being outside in a pretty place.

[Piz]

If you start the round with 6 balls and finish the round with 4...you are 2 under.  If you finish with 8...you are 2 over.  This system rewards those who take their lumps and soldier on...while penalizing those who spend more time looking for golf balls than playing.  

[Patch]

4 minutes ago, krupa said:

Progress is overrated.  There's nothing wrong with wasting a couple/few hours whacking a ball around the course for nothing more than the pleasure of being outside in a pretty place.

Not sure about the "progress" part of your post, but the "pleasure" part I am 100% in agreement with

[krupa]

10 minutes ago, Patch said:

Not sure about the "progress" part of your post, but the "pleasure" part I am 100% in agreement with

For any hobby/pasttime the constant pursuit of "progress" can produce a diminishing return.  I'm fighting it right now.  I've been practicing a lot and watching my scores get worse and getting fed up.  But why should I be working so hard and getting frustrated at a game that I'm supposed to be playing for fun?  This past weekend at a member meetup I shot a "stellar" 122 and had a blast doing it.  And that's the real point, isn't it?  Having fun?  If you're playing golf "for fun" (i.e., not to put food on the table and roof over your head) but need to somehow reward yourself when you don't swear at bad shots, maybe your focus in the wrong place.  That's all I'm saying... I may be wrong.

[Patch]

2 minutes ago, krupa said:

For any hobby/pasttime the constant pursuit of "progress" can produce a diminishing return.  I'm fighting it right now.  I've been practicing a lot and watching my scores get worse and getting fed up.  But why should I be working so hard and getting frustrated at a game that I'm supposed to be playing for fun?  This past weekend at a member meetup I shot a "stellar" 122 and had a blast doing it.  And that's the real point, isn't it?  Having fun?  If you're playing golf "for fun" (i.e., not to put food on the table and roof over your head) but need to somehow reward yourself when you don't swear at bad shots, maybe your focus in the wrong place.  That's all I'm saying... I may be wrong.

No you are not wrong. In your situation you are getting exactly what you want out of the game. That's a good thing.