Tournament play - better performance

[Nutsmacker]

Do you guys seem to play better or worse when playing in a tournament?  When I play a round with my golf buddies on the weekends, I am generally a low 80's golfer.  My scores were typically be between 80-85.  However, when I play in stroke tournaments I play immensely better.  I am also playing with strangers that have similar handicaps.  The first time I played in a stroke play tournament last year at a club championship, I put up my best two rounds in years where I shot a 74 on the first day and a 77 on the second.  I easily won my flight with those scores as no one else was even in the 70's.  I have since played in about 6 other stroke play events and all but one of them I have shot in the 70's and even the round that I didn't, I shot an 80.  I am not sure if it is the fact that I am playing with strangers, or similar caliber players, or I am simply concentrating much harder but my best scores are in tournaments.    

The last event I played in I won our local club event by shooting a 76 on a specific course.  Me and my buddies went out and played the same course the very next day and I shot an 86.  I would like to be able to translate the good rounds into my weekend rounds but it doesn't seem to happen for me.  Based on my handicap, I am shooting fairly normal with my friends...but when I play in the stroke tournaments I am playing better than my handicap almost every time.  

I am just wondering if anyone else has had a similar experience.  I have heard from others that players typically play worse in tournaments than they do informally.  

Edited July 12, 2017 by Nutsmacker

[David in FL]

You sound as if you do better under pressure.  If that's the case, you should find ways to add pressure in your more casual rounds.  Adding a significant bet could do it, but it needs to be enough that you care if you lose.  

Even if your buddies don't want to bet, you can tell them that you'll give each of them $20 if you don't break 80 that say.  Instant pressure, and as an added benefit, you'll never have a problem finding people who want to play with you!  

 

[bkuehn1952]

1 hour ago, Nutsmacker said:

...but when I play in the stroke tournaments I am playing better than my handicap almost every time.  

I am just wondering if anyone else has had a similar experience.  I have heard from others that players typically play worse in tournaments than they do informally.  

I can't speak to your situation but over the years our club has had a few individuals who displayed a similar pattern.  Whether it is changing one's style of play for tournaments, playing up to the level of their competitors or some other factor at work, their play improved significantly when playing our handicapped tournaments.

Typically, the expectation in handicapped events is that virtually all competitors, over time, will play to or beat their handicap 20-25% of the time.  It is always disappointing to the field when a handful of players seem to have the ability to "flip the switch" and beat their handicap repeatedly. For this reason, we just switched to using a "Tournament Handicap Index" based solely on our member's tournament play.  While this approach may be unfair to the competitor who has ice water running through their veins or a preternatural ability to raise their level of performance on demand, virtually all our members are happy with the change. 

[Nutsmacker]

2 minutes ago, bkuehn1952 said:

I can't speak to your situation but over the years our club has had a few individuals who displayed a similar pattern.  Whether it is changing one's style of play for tournaments, playing up to the level of their competitors or some other factor at work, their play improved significantly when playing our handicapped tournaments.

Typically, the expectation in handicapped events is that virtually all competitors, over time, will play to or beat their handicap 20-25% of the time.  It is always disappointing to the field when a handful of players seem to have the ability to "flip the switch" and beat their handicap repeatedly. For this reason, we just switched to using a "Tournament Handicap Index" based solely on our member's tournament play.  While this approach may be unfair to the competitor who has ice water running through their veins or a preternatural ability to raise their level of performance on demand, virtually all our members are happy with the change. 

That is interesting.  The good thing is that in the club championships there is a gross score winner and a net winner.  That sort of removes the sandbagging element from it as you cannot win both.  Personally, I have no interest in winning the net.  I have always been of the mindset that the best score wins and that is it.  

1 hour ago, David in FL said:

You sound as if you do better under pressure.  If that's the case, you should find ways to add pressure in your more casual rounds.  Adding a significant bet could do it, but it needs to be enough that you care if you lose.  

Even if your buddies don't want to bet, you can tell them that you'll give each of them $20 if you don't break 80 that say.  Instant pressure, and as an added benefit, you'll never have a problem finding people who want to play with you!  

 

Haha.  I don't know if I want to do that.  Something seems wrong about that strategy.  We do play for cash with my buddies but the most anyone ever loses is 10 or 20 dollars.  We do teams with a bet on the cumulative score and skins with the best score of the two at the same time.  It usually evens out or so.  

[David in FL]

9 minutes ago, Nutsmacker said:

Haha.  I don't know if I want to do that.  Something seems wrong about that strategy.  We do play for cash with my buddies but the most anyone ever loses is 10 or 20 dollars.  We do teams with a bet on the cumulative score and skins with the best score of the two at the same time.  It usually evens out or so.  

So, no pressure.

Add pressure.  You have to care if you win or lose.  

[DeadMan]

I tend to play slightly better in tournaments than I do when just playing casually. However, I think that's mostly because I tend to go practice before tournaments. The extent of my practice for casual rounds is a 15-20 minute warm up at the range.

[WUTiger]

12 hours ago, Nutsmacker said:

Do you guys seem to play better or worse when playing in a tournament?

I have had it both ways, mainly in the local MAGA Amateur circuit. I have shot four strokes under my hdcp, and other times I have shot above my HDCP (unfortunately, once a season, I shoot waaaaay above my HDCP in a circuit event).

This season I have a shot at making the year-end championship if I can finish in top 10 in the last two rounds of the year.

The Amateur circuit has a semi-formal rota of courses we play, so if I play a course a second time I usually do better than the first time (don't forget learning curve!!!).