The (No) Sixes Challenge

[DeadMan]

I've done it. Shot an even par 71 last year. Just looked up the round. I had 2 birdies, 2 bogeys, and 14 pars. Bogeys were on a par 3 and a par 4. When I get home, I'll see if I can dig up the scorecard.

Great idea for a challenge, though. If you can keep 6s off your card, you are probably going to break 80. And I always get annoyed when I make a 6 on a par 5 (sometimes, more annoyed than on a par 4, because you have the chance to recover from one shot and make a 5 on a par 5).

Edited October 4, 2017 by DeadMan

[iacas]

7 minutes ago, DeadMan said:

I've done it. Shot an even par 71 last year. Just looked up the round. I had 2 birdies, 2 bogeys, and 14 pars. Bogeys were on a par 3 and a par 4. When I get home, I'll see if I can dig up the scorecard.

Great idea for a challenge, though. If you can keep 6s off your card, you are probably going to break 80. And I always get annoyed when I make a 6 on a par 5 (sometimes, more annoyed than on a par 4, because you have the chance to recover from one shot and make a 5 on a par 5).

I am not saying you were asking for it, but yeah, that doesn't count. Challenges only get awarded the victory if they occur after the challenge is issued.

This challenge is good because:

• It lets you **** up a par three.
• It makes you at least give yourself a par putt on a par four.
• It makes you take advantage of the par fives, by at least never bogeying them.

Good players have a lot of rounds without sixes. I had one today. Shot 72 from the black tees at Whispering Woods… because if I screw up one of the first two shots on a par five (the only tough shots, really), I realize that I have a few more shots to get back some ground. Tee shot in a bad place? I should be able to advance my ball enough to have a wedge third shot, and from there, I'll make birdie or par. That sort of thing.

Hell I had a no-six round once when I hit a tee ball OB on a par five (took a nice big bounce). Here it is: https://www.gamegolf.com/player/iacas/round/1820560?hole_id=34323670. I hit a hybrid from 235 and holed the 12-footer.

[DeadMan]

10 minutes ago, iacas said:

I am not saying you were asking for it, but yeah, that doesn't count. Challenges only get awarded the victory if they occur after the challenge is issued.

Ah, okay, that wasn't clear. This will be a good challenge to think about during the Newport Cup (although getting a 6 in fourball might not be a terrible thing).

And, actually, thinking about this. If you have a bad tee shot on a par 4, just changing it to a par 5 in your head could help you here. I've gotten better at avoiding the crazy hero shot on par 4s, but the temptation is still there.

Edited October 4, 2017 by DeadMan

[iacas]

13 minutes ago, DeadMan said:

And, actually, thinking about this. If you have a bad tee shot on a par 4, just changing it to a par 5 in your head could help you here. I've gotten better at avoiding the crazy hero shot on par 4s, but the temptation is still there.

I was never good at lying to myself there. I mean, it's a bogey. Give yourself a par putt.

[woodzie264]

On 10/3/2017 at 6:52 PM, iacas said:

I may make this an actual challenge (with a winnable award thing).

Concur 

[iacas]

6 minutes ago, woodzie264 said:

Concur 

I already did.

[saevel25]

Well, this happened, http://www.gamegolf.com/player/saevel25/round/1874173?hole_id=35026712 

Shot my personal best round. No sixes on the scorecard. Today was really a play test on changing what I think about for my swing. I was inspired to try something new after writing out my post in this thread, 

I went from thinking about a mechanic swing feel to thinking about hitting certain ball flights. I started at the range messing around with this concept, and realized that when I was trying to hit a push cut I hit a pretty good push draw or slight push. So I thought, that'll work on the course. It ended up working out pretty well. 

I started off pretty consistently. I was hitting the driver really good and giving myself easy shots into the green. 55% FIR when I hit driver on every par 4 and par 5 is really really good for me. Especially with my distance off the tee. A few holes stood out to me in getting this no six round. 

Hole #5, I flared the driver right. Really I am not sure if the hole is a driver off the tee. If I hit my start line I am going towards the green and will have at worst a bunker shot. Anyways, I had to punch a 5 iron and run it up between two bunkers. I hit a really good shot, and the ball ended up about 5 yards off the green, on the other side of the green. I hit a pretty good chip that almost went in. From a poor position, I was able to advance the ball to a position where I left myself with an easy short game shot. I was pretty comfortable hitting this punch shot. It's shot I know I can hit. I felt like even if I ended up in the bunker I could get the ball on the green for a par chance. 

Hole 8, I got overconfident and tried to cut a corner when I couldn't. I smoked this drive and ended up in a bunker you do not want to go in. I hit the next shot kinda heavy and ended up in another bunker, leaving myself about 55 yards. I hit a halfway decent shot, but hit the side hill of the green and it left me with an up and down for bogey. If the ball was about 5 yards farther its on the green for a par putt.  I struck the next pitch pretty well, but just left it shorter than I liked. I was able to drain about a 15 footer for bogey. This was more luck than skill. Poor game planning almost cost me here. 

On a side note, Erik writing this post made my think of my dad. This past weekend, I was playing a round of golf with my dad and he mentioned that his goal is to post a score with no doubles on the card. Not really a no sixes, but similar. Most of the holes are par 4's anyways. My dad is 63 years old, plays 6000-6200 yard courses, and shoots in the low to mid 80's. He doesn't lose many golf balls, he advances the ball towards the green, and he's a pretty good putter. 

[iacas]

9 minutes ago, saevel25 said:

I went from thinking about a mechanic swing feel to thinking about hitting certain ball flights. I started at the range messing around with this concept, and realized that when I was trying to hit a push cut I hit a pretty good push draw or slight push. So I thought, that'll work on the course. It ended up working out pretty well. 

Congrats. Award granted.

This is what I've been telling you. No swing thoughts, just hitting the ball solidly and somewhat straight. I've been telling you your swing is good enough to hit a LOT better scores than you have been shooting. Glad you finally listened even if it was by hearing it a different way.

[phillyk]

I don't have game golf or really keep scorecards but I did have one hanging around from a couple years ago becuase one of the 9s was a -6, 30.  I'm sure I had a no 6 round before, but now I have proof. Woohoo!

I do like par 5s though. I usually score really well becuase of my length off the tee. 

[Shindig]

6 hours ago, iacas said:

I am not saying you were asking for it, but yeah, that doesn't count. Challenges only get awarded the victory if they occur after the challenge is issued.

This challenge is good because:

• It lets you **** up a par three.
• It makes you at least give yourself a par putt on a par four.
• It makes you take advantage of the par fives, by at least never bogeying them.

Good players have a lot of rounds without sixes. I had one today. Shot 72 from the black tees at Whispering Woods… because if I screw up one of the first two shots on a par five (the only tough shots, really), I realize that I have a few more shots to get back some ground. Tee shot in a bad place? I should be able to advance my ball enough to have a wedge third shot, and from there, I'll make birdie or par. That sort of thing.

Hell I had a no-six round once when I hit a tee ball OB on a par five (took a nice big bounce). Here it is: https://www.gamegolf.com/player/iacas/round/1820560?hole_id=34323670. I hit a hybrid from 235 and holed the 12-footer.

Well, way to make that seem achievable, even for me.  My home course only has three par-5s anyway.  Okay, I'm on for gameplanning this.  It sounds like a great goal.   At very first thought, I think I have 3-5 sixes per round -- knocking one or two of those away would help quite a bit, even if I don't achieve the sixes goal.  

[p1n9183]

I´m 5 rounds in a row with a 6 or worst in my scorecard. That includes a 7 and a 9 on Par 4´s.
In the last 2 rounds i made 25 pars, 3 birdies, 6 bogeys, 2 doubles, 1 triple and the 9. Not good..

I will win this challenge!
 

[allenc]

I don’t think there are any game planning or mental tricks for me to avoid a six.  I’ll just keep playing and if the 1/1000 chance comes in (or I improve a lot) then it might happen.  It’s not like I go around aiming near ob or trying to carry 200+ yard water hazards.  Don’t know if I’ve ever even parred 4 par 5s in my life.

[billchao]

43 minutes ago, allenc said:

Don’t know if I’ve ever even parred 4 par 5s in my life.

You don't have to par them, you know 

[allenc]

2 minutes ago, billchao said:

You don't have to par them, you know 

Well of course I’ve had 3 eagles and a birdie, but who hasn’t?  

[onthehunt526]

I'm in... It'll be tough, especially at Newman, but I'll give it the old college try.

[colin007]

Never gonna happen. I can hit it OB off the tee or lose a tee shot on LITERALLY ANY hole.

[onthehunt526]

12 minutes ago, colin007 said:

Never gonna happen. I can hit it OB off the tee or lose a tee shot on LITERALLY ANY hole.

So hit your 2-hybrid with the blue PURE Grip on it. It's not cheating... It's just a knowing your shot zones.

@iacas Do you suggest the golfers who are say 9.1-17.9 Handicap to try this from a more forward tee first? Or stick to their normal tee?

[iacas]

19 minutes ago, onthehunt526 said:

So hit your 2-hybrid with the blue PURE Grip on it. It's not cheating... It's just a knowing your shot zones.

@iacas Do you suggest the golfers who are say 9.1-17.9 Handicap to try this from a more forward tee first? Or stick to their normal tee?

Yeah, if you're comfortable to claim the award, my only stipulations are:

• Not an executive course.
• 18 holes.
• Rules of Golf.

I think playing forward tees is a great way to do it, so long as it doesn't turn it into a ridiculously short executive length course.